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[GalaxyGuy]

Hi I'm having an issue with several of my dwarves dying of thirst.

This is inspite the fact that I am well-stocked with drinks and have two active wells as a backup.

I've checked the usual suspects, and can confirm for sure that the usual problems of madness/forbidding the drinks/burrows/locked doors are not the cause of the issue.

In fact I've observed what seems to be the issue:

After four of my dwarves dying mysteriously of thirst despite having uncompromised access to food and drink, I decided to observe some of my dwarves running around on the Habitation layer of the fort. I noticed one of my dwarves was flashing Hunger and Thirst and took a look at him. He was starving and thirsty, but he had an active Drink job and a rock mug in his hand, so I assumed he would take care of himself. However, upon following the Dwarf, I noticed that he was just running around randomly - into rooms, temples, the tavern/meeting hall, the food/drink stockpile, but never actually grabbing a drink (despite on several occasions being directly on top of barrles of wine and other drinks). He's just running around.
I've tried making a burrow on the food/drink stockpile and assigning him to it, but he won't cancel his Drink task to go to the burrow.
I even made a military squad and ordered him to move to the stockpile. No effect. At this point in time, he is still running around, now Starving and Dehydrated.

Has anybody else experienced this? Is it a bug?

I have a hypotheses (noted below) as for potential causes of the issue, but I'd like to hear some suggestions for solutions before I unpause the game and test my own hypotheses, as the testing will disrupt my fort's logistics, and most likely claim the life of at least this dwarf, and probably several more, if the tests do not resolve the issue.

Current hypotheses are:
Dwarf, for some reason, does not like drinking out of a mug, if the fort's drinking establishment is not a Tavern.
The stockpile is part of a chain of food stockpiles (this one being an end-node which only accepts edible food and drink). Dwarf may be constantly switching targets for his drinking. However, he's never moved towards the stockpiles further up the chain, so I doubt it.
The mug shows in his inventory as hauled, so maybe he is stuck in indecision between using the mug to drink and putting the mug in an appropriate storage. However, he's never moved towards one of the appropriate mug storages either. I will note that my goods stockpile is only quarter-full, and the coffers in my meeting hall are empty.

[anewaname]

Not having an answer as to why this is happening, I would suggest backing up your previous save (in case there is need to go back to it for gameplay or for testing), then save the fort (backing that up also, for the same reasons), then re-load. If there is a traceable problem, having the backups may be useful.

The only "will not eat or drink" issue I know well is the "dwarf was involved then separated from a conflict that is still ongoing elsewhere, and will just wander the fort's meeting areas without taking any jobs".

When a dwarf grabs a cup to drink from, it will appear as "hauled". If you forbid the cup before the dwarf gets to the drinks, they drop it and look for a new cup, and if the drink becomes unavailable, there will be a common job cancellation. But, you also have mug stockpiles, so maybe he was hauling an empty mug to there. Maybe try forbidding the cup and see if they drop it? The dwarf is not taking any new job but is moving around, which indicates he still thinks he is doing something (even if he is just following some "if nothing else, run around like a guest does" routine). Is he moving from meeting area to meeting area?

[GalaxyGuy]

Well, I forbade the cup and he dropped it.

No change, but at least it made a job cancellation message (job item lost or destroyed). He then of course immediately tried drinking again, and went back to running around.

I will note two things I noticed while he was running around:
A) He's running around in a manner similar to someone trying to follow a moving target (à la Attend Meeting jobs with a busy expedition leader). This inspite the fact that his targets are all stationary.
B) I have, this entire time been aware that he has a baby, which he is carrying around. However, upon further inspection I've noticed a trend: All those who died had babies. The babies are now still alive and crawling around, this inspite the presence of parents in the fort. I.E. one baby lost its father, but its mother is still in the fort. Despite this, the baby crawls around unsupervised. All the orphan or semi-orphan babies crawl around unsupervised.

Regardless, I tried assigning the meeting hall as a tavern (closed to visitors. Residents and long-terms only). No change. Dwarf still running around haphazardly trying to get a drink, now without a cup.

Eventually he did run into the stockpile of drinks, which isn't unusual. He has repeatedly managed to get himself into the stockpile and has stood still on top of a barrel, but he hadn't drunk anything. Except this time he did drink, and immediately also ate. There was seemingly no change which brought this on.

At any rate this dwarf manages to survive for now, however the root cause has not yet been found or addressed, and this will continue to happen in the future.

[janamdo]

Those thirsty dwarves: is it that there  is a shortage off barrels ? , because  they will drink each from one barrel.
They must be able to pick a barrel from a food stockpile with settings are set for drinks 
That's my idea (approach)

Right now i am also facing "thirsty dorfs"in the fortress and probably i will lose it
Also extra water helps with buckets , that counts also in relieving their thirst

Brew job from plants and a brewer are also needed ... lol
Therefore i am focussing now on a construction of a well too.

How much water contribute to the thirst need of a dorf in comparison with alcoholic drinks?
 

[anewaname]

Are you using version 47.01?

In 47.02 release_note.txt, a major bug fix is "Stopped carried newborns from setting their mothers' paths like riders".

[GalaxyGuy]

Those thirsty dwarves: is it that there  is a shortage off barrels ? , because  they will drink each from one barrel.
They must be able to pick a barrel from a food stockpile with settings are set for drinks 
That's my idea (approach)

Right now i am also facing "thirsty dorfs"in the fortress and probably i will lose it
Also extra water helps with buckets , that counts also in relieving their thirst

Brew job from plants and a brewer are also needed ... lol
Therefore i am focussing now on a construction of a well too. Though I will note that some of these are fathers, not mothers.

How much water contribute to the thirst need of a dorf in comparison with alcoholic drinks?
 

Well, there is quite literally 1 barrel of spirits per dwarf in the fortress. And that's in the stockpile specifically for drinks and edible food that I've put next to the tavern. There's more in the general stockpile.
I also have plenty of buckets, which are empty. And of course the wells are active and over potable non-stagnant cavern water.

I have a repeating job set up to just brew as long as there are empty food storage items and brewable plants in my storage. And I have repeating jobs that make sure there's always at least 10 empty food storage containers - both wooden barrels and rock pots. Farms are still being set up but I have plenty of brewable plants, plump helmets especially stockpiled.

I can give 100% assurances that it's not for a lack of food, alcohol, or water that these dwarves are dying. They're just failing to actually consume any of it.

Are you using version 47.01?

In 47.02 release_note.txt, a major bug fix is "Stopped carried newborns from setting their mothers' paths like riders".

Ahhh... Yeah I am using 47.01. That's probably it.

[janamdo]

>I can give 100% assurances that it's not for a lack of food, alcohol, or water that these dwarves are dying. They're just failing to actually consume any of it.

Interesting.. Can dwarf therapist assist in this ?
 

[PatrikLundell]

>I can give 100% assurances that it's not for a lack of food, alcohol, or water that these dwarves are dying. They're just failing to actually consume any of it.

Interesting.. Can dwarf therapist assist in this ?
 

The reason is already known. A bug that's present in the version used, but fixed in later ones.
 
Although it's not the case here, there is another reason for dorfs dying of thirst: trying to use mugs while not being able to use them because of having lost the ability to grasp. In these cases they'll sit on top of the barrel trying to use the mug, so they're not moving around. If you manage to strip them of the mug and have forbidden all other mugs in the fortress they'll be able to drink directly from the barrel.

[janamdo]

Although it's not the case here, there is another reason for dorfs dying of thirst: trying to use mugs while not being able to use them because of having lost the ability to grasp. In these cases they'll sit on top of the barrel trying to use the mug, so they're not moving around. If you manage to strip them of the mug and have forbidden all other mugs in the fortress they'll be able to drink directly from the barrel.

Thanks
If the dorfs are unable to use their arms for using the mug for drinking, then nothing happen
So they do have a disability to their arms ? ..strange
 

[PatrikLundell]

Although it's not the case here, there is another reason for dorfs dying of thirst: trying to use mugs while not being able to use them because of having lost the ability to grasp. In these cases they'll sit on top of the barrel trying to use the mug, so they're not moving around. If you manage to strip them of the mug and have forbidden all other mugs in the fortress they'll be able to drink directly from the barrel.

Thanks
If the dorfs are unable to use their arms for using the mug for drinking, then nothing happen
So they do have a disability to their arms ? ..strange

Not strange at all. Having the hands chopped off or disabled in battle or an accident makes it quite hard to use those hands...

[janamdo]

Not strange at all. Having the hands chopped off or disabled in battle or an accident makes it quite hard to use those hands...

Thanks
Yes, their hands lost, but no mug can be hold then and the attachment to a mug is lost.
Automatically they should than drink from a barrel if they lost their hands.
What happened with (those) badly injured dorfs if there are some ones ?
At start of a new fort there are no mugs yet for drinking , so the dorfs will drink from barrels.

[PatrikLundell]

The 7 starting dorfs aren't injured when they arrive...
Dorfs that can't grasp SHOULD drink directly from the barrels, but they don't due to a bug. I assume the logic goes somewhat like this:
- If there is no mug, drink directly from the selected barrel.
- If there are mugs available, pick one up and use it to drink from the selected barrel.
with no check to send the injured ones to use the first case, basically changing it to:
- If there is no mug or the ability to grasp is lost, drink directly from the selected barrel.

Dorfs with no grasp will just fruitlessly try to use the mug they somehow picked up until they die of dehydration. It can be worked around with micro management (forbid all mugs when the buggers need a drink works; it might also be possible with mug-less burrows, but then you'd somehow need to ensure no other dorf drops a mug there, and I haven't tried that one). Sending them away from the fortress is probably the reasonable action in most cases.

[janamdo]

This issue pops up all the time : thirst
It seems almost impossible to solve this: why the dorfs are thirsty
There is a whole list to check what causes thirst?

So much to deal with and it demands strong actions to do the right thing; ideal for a computer to do this tasks, but i am not a computer 

[Sarmatian123]

1. You have 10 units of alcohol in 1 barrel and 10 thirsty Dwarves, each with 1 mug in hand. How many Dwarves will drink the alcohol?
Answer: get more barrels of alcohol.
2. The hugest embark. For 5 years you dug and constructed, suddenly, out of blue, despite clear path (you see it with your eye) between Dwarf and alcohol barrels, Dwarf is thirsty with mug in a hand?
Answer: Save & Load, it's an invalid zone bug.
3. You assigned Dwarf to burrow, but barrel with his favorite brew in another burrow?
Answer: Do not assign Dwarves to burrows.

[janamdo]

3. You assigned Dwarf to burrow, but barrel with his favorite brew in another burrow?
Answer: Do not assign Dwarves to burrows.

Thanks
The amount of drinks stored in a barrel is that the right figure , well i am unsure about this  ?
Ok, 10 drinks from a barrel is on the safe side
One brew job(for one plant) is standing for 5 drinks ?