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Author Topic: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping  (Read 1089 times)

A_Curious_Cat

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Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« on: May 16, 2022, 08:00:20 pm »

In my current fort, I’ve noticed that a lot of time is being taken up dumping items.  As this must be done by hand, it is a very slow and tedious process.  As a quick search of the suggestions forum only brings up a single page of results concerning “wheelbarrow” and “dump” (none of which seem to match my suggestion, I suggest that dwarves (or whoever else inhabits your fortress) should be able to use wheelbarrows when dumping items.  Given enough wheelbarrows (you’d have to create them first), dumping jobs could proceed a lot quicker and dwarves (and/or whatever) could get on with more important matters (like fulfilling needs).
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Ziusudra

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2022, 10:32:12 pm »

Meh, most things wouldn't be hauled any faster with wheelbarrows and would actually take longer to haul since they would hav to go get the wheelbarrow first. So, the main use for this would be wood and stone QSPs - I don't think those should be made any easier.

Anyway, you can setup stockpiles with wheelbarrows that feed a minecarts that then dump their contents for a similar effect.
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A_Curious_Cat

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2022, 11:18:37 pm »

Meh, most things wouldn't be hauled any faster with wheelbarrows and would actually take longer to haul since they would hav to go get the wheelbarrow first. So, the main use for this would be wood and stone QSPs - I don't think those should be made any easier.

Anyway, you can setup stockpiles with wheelbarrows that feed a minecarts that then dump their contents for a similar effect.

The main problem that inspired the suggestion was that of using dumping to clear a large area of stones/gems/ore before smoothing.  While I could use a QSP (and assign wheelbarrows to it), there is no way to tell the QSP to get it’s items from the area I want cleared (and, therefore, no way to ensure that the area will be cleared at all).  With dumping I don’t have any of these problems.  And yes, I believe that (even considering the need to go get a minecart first) using a wheelbarrow to move a large boulder will be far quicker than moving the boulder by hand (and using multiple wheelbarrows will make the overall job go all that much quicker).  Also, I’d like to note that QSPs aren’t something that players should be forced to rely on in the vanilla game.  If players have to rely on an exploit, doesn’t that just mean that the game is unfinished/broken?

Also, I think I should add that I am fully in favor of adding DFHack’s behavior of allowing more than one wheelbarrow to a stockpile into the vanilla game (in my opinion, a 6x5 stockpile should ideally have 30 wheelbarrows assigned to it…).
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Ziusudra

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2022, 12:01:35 am »

The main problem that inspired the suggestion was that of using dumping to clear a large area of stones/gems/ore before smoothing.  While I could use a QSP (and assign wheelbarrows to it), there is no way to tell the QSP to get it’s items from the area I want cleared (and, therefore, no way to ensure that the area will be cleared at all).  With dumping I don’t have any of these problems.
You can forbid all loose stone then reclaim the ones you want moved. Though, it might be nice to hav a standing order to automatically forbid mined stone.

And yes, I believe that (even considering the need to go get a minecart first) using a wheelbarrow to move a large boulder will be far quicker than moving the boulder by hand (and using multiple wheelbarrows will make the overall job go all that much quicker).
I never said it wouldn't, it would only take longer for light weight items. (And I forgot about corpses, some of those can be quite heavy.)

Also, I’d like to note that QSPs aren’t something that players should be forced to rely on in the vanilla game.
Nobody is any way forced to rely on QSPs. If there's a stone in the way of building, the builder will usually move it. And if you don't want to see the stones you can hide them.

Also, I think I should add that I am fully in favor of adding DFHack’s behavior of allowing more than one wheelbarrow to a stockpile into the vanilla game (in my opinion, a 6x5 stockpile should ideally have 30 wheelbarrows assigned to it…).
I would rather they be limited to half the tiles since each wheelbarrow should occupy a tile - a 30 tile stockpile with 30 wheelbarrows in it is full.
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A_Curious_Cat

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2022, 01:12:50 am »

Nobody is any way forced to rely on QSPs. If there's a stone in the way of building, the builder will usually move it. And if you don't want to see the stones you can hide them.

What about stones that are in the way of smoothing?
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Ziusudra

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2022, 02:01:38 am »

They don't exist - stones don't prevent smoothing.
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A_Curious_Cat

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2022, 04:05:32 pm »

They don't exist - stones don't prevent smoothing.

A couple of questions:

1.  Will stones in an aqueduct prevent the aqueduct from draining?

2.  Will my dwarves (eventually -when they’re needed-) haul stones from a flooded aquifer two where they’re needed?

3.  What about stones at the bottom of a multi-z-level reservoir?

4.  If I designate a stockpile over a bunch of stones.  Will the stockpile include the tiles where the stones are?

5.  Also, if a non-stone stockpile has a stone on one of it’s tiles, will the dwarves move it when they need to store something on that tile?

6.  Will tiles with rocks on them be counted as part of a “dance floor”?

7.  Can I channel out a tile with a stone on it?

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chaotic skies

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2022, 04:18:18 pm »

In regards to the water things - A stone (item) will not block waterflow, and your dwarves won't try to grab it if the water is deeper than 4/7 IIRC. This includes multi-level reservoirs, and anywhere else with water in it, aquifer or otherwise.
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Splint

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2022, 04:19:57 pm »

They don't cause many problems as loose items apart from when fluids move them around. Flooded aqueducts will generally be too full of water to access. Though I *think* they will obstruct the use of titles in a stockpile (as in, you lay them down, and if there's a boulder there then a barrel or bin might not be placed, I gotta test that to be sure.)

That said, having dwarves determine if they need a wheelbarrow to dump something and then fetching a free wheelbarrow would be nice. It can take ages without using DFhack to declutter spaces of a fortress of loose boulders and the like since dwarves always dump by hand alone. The reasons to dump could be anything - mass moving of storage to a new site while storage is actually being set up, cleaning up for screenshots, immersion reasons (because why would our dwarves like loose rocks to be littering everything potentially including thier beds?) Or even just to throw the rocks into magma to be rid of them.

DwarfStar

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2022, 05:24:33 pm »

When you get items in flooded areas you don’t plan to drain, it can help to d-b-f forbid them. That way they don’t get counted for manager jobs criteria, for one thing.

To answer a couple more numbered questions: stones do not block dance floors or channeling, only buildings do those things. Stones don’t block the designation of a stockpile, but they keep the dwarves from storing anything else in the tiles with stones in them.
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A_Curious_Cat

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2022, 07:26:38 pm »

Thanks!  Btw, question #2 should have said “aqueduct to” instead of “aquifer two”.  That was half brain fart and half typo.



<snip>

It can take ages without using DFhack to declutter spaces of a fortress of loose boulders and the like since dwarves always dump by hand alone.

<snip>

What are the DFHack commands for that?
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Splint

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Re: Allow use of wheelbarrows for dumping
« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2022, 07:35:34 pm »


<snip>

It can take ages without using DFhack to declutter spaces of a fortress of loose boulders and the like since dwarves always dump by hand alone.

<snip>

What are the DFHack commands for that?

Standard designation methods then autodump with your look cursor over the desired stuff. I usually use it to tidy up loose teeth or get stuff out of inaccessible areas personally. It's a pain to move boulders out of residential or storage areas not meant for rocks without it.