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Author Topic: How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI  (Read 2920 times)

Riemann

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How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI
« on: December 14, 2022, 07:20:00 pm »

I'm still getting used to the new UI and had some questions about how to efficiently use the new UI for assigning jobs. For context, I have been playing the classic version for a very long time now and am used to assigning jobs. It's just not clear yet what the best way to do so is in the new UI.

1) Most importantly, how do I tell what jobs are grouped under the built in Work Details. eg: When I give someone the Fisherdwarves detail does that only turn on fishing or also fish cleaning?
2) Can I change the icon associated with a Work Detail I create? There seems to be an open bug here where if you delete a work detail the auto-assigned roman numeral icons go out of order.
3) Is there a way to assign jobs to a dwarf without using a Work Detail?
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chaoticag

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Re: How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2022, 02:30:20 am »

You can check the default work orders by starting a new work detail, it groups all the labor done by each work detail in there.

I do think the menu is the only way to assign labors now, but I haven't played around with making people specialists in a task using that lock icon.
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Putnam

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Re: How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2022, 06:31:06 pm »

You can check the default work orders by starting a new work detail, it groups all the labor done by each work detail in there.

This is not true

1) Most importantly, how do I tell what jobs are grouped under the built in Work Details. eg: When I give someone the Fisherdwarves detail does that only turn on fishing or also fish cleaning?

It's only fisherdwarves, the same as the skill named "fisherdwarf" and the labor named "fisherdwarf". I don't know why the work detail would be different. All work details are associated with precisely one labor except for hauler (the entire hauling category) and orderly (suturing, dressing wounds, giving water, recovering wounded)

BlackSmokeDMax

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Re: How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2022, 04:18:25 am »

You can check the default work orders by starting a new work detail, it groups all the labor done by each work detail in there.

This is not true

1) Most importantly, how do I tell what jobs are grouped under the built in Work Details. eg: When I give someone the Fisherdwarves detail does that only turn on fishing or also fish cleaning?

It's only fisherdwarves, the same as the skill named "fisherdwarf" and the labor named "fisherdwarf". I don't know why the work detail would be different. All work details are associated with precisely one labor except for hauler (the entire hauling category) and orderly (suturing, dressing wounds, giving water, recovering wounded)


It would really be ideal if the UI communicated this in game somehow. Whether that is a hover tooltip, or an expand button on that detail to show the exact labor names associated doesn't really matter.


Of course, not something super high priority, but it sure would be great to be on a "to do" list to be added at some point in the future.


I was really griping about the new labor system when it first released on Steam, but I've really come around on it now. The lack of knowledge of what those details truly are is my last concern I think.
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Rafal99

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Re: How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2022, 08:39:35 am »

All work details are associated with precisely one labor except for hauler (the entire hauling category) and orderly (suturing, dressing wounds, giving water, recovering wounded)

The problem is that this info is not available anywhere ingame, you can not view default work details and see what skills are associated with them.
And they are not that obvious actually, for example I didn't expect Orderly to include suturing and dressing wounds, I thought it is just giving water and cleaning.
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DoomsdayWeapon

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Re: How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2023, 06:37:19 pm »

Well ... it's a bit of a conundrum to me.

I've gone about it like so:

In my previous game, I started out creating larger Work Details, like Farmer, Artist or Builder - depending on skills and such. I found that the built-in Labors are quite handy, as it's easy to just toggle them on or off. Like, say, turning Hunting on and Off.

Generally Dwarves will do everything, but I think that if a certain Task is only enabled in Details that are currently on "Nobody Does this", nobody will. So it helps to keep a Work Detail to what it's all about.

Further, I remember Tarn posting about this, it seems to be intended that you rather assign a Dwarf to a certain Workshop if you want them to do something specific. However, if you assign a Metalcrafter but not Blacksmith (as per Work Detail) to a Forge, they'll only do the Metalcrafting Jobs, not the Blacksmithing. Which is OK I think, but a bit wonky given how you can tweak things.

I would like there to be some individual Job screen for each Dwarf - sortof like it used to be. Perhaps make it two checks - one being an individual Profile and one being the settings from the general stuff and you can easily see what is assigned to them Globally and whether or not you want them to do something a little bit different.
So if you turned off Hunting per the Labor Menu and you set a Dwarf to Hunt always ... they'll ignore the assignment per the Labor Menu. For better or Worse.
Eventually however, it'd be nice to also have customizable Icons for the individual Details. It was certainly the biggest Disappointment of the Steam Release.

Overall, in my current game I don't use Details so far. But I don't have a lot of dwarves either. It's however definitely a feature loss that sortof lessens the overall flair of the game. A bit. Since, things you could do you can't do anymore and there be some reason or intention but generally ... I hope it'll come back in.
It's not all bad - as the Dwarves will move around, Dabble a bit in everything - and how that plays out is a bit unclear.
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Putnam

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Re: How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2023, 06:55:51 pm »

I would like there to be some individual Job screen for each Dwarf - sortof like it used to be. Perhaps make it two checks - one being an individual Profile and one being the settings from the general stuff and you can easily see what is assigned to them Globally and whether or not you want them to do something a little bit different.
So if you turned off Hunting per the Labor Menu and you set a Dwarf to Hunt always ... they'll ignore the assignment per the Labor Menu. For better or Worse.

You can... already do this? There's a labor screen on individual dwarves and you can assign them to the hunting work detail from there. If there were a totally separate assignment system that doesn't inform you that you have a manually-assigned hunter in the detail, that'd be pretty annoying.

things you could do you can't do anymore

Name a few? Good potential intervention point.

DoomsdayWeapon

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Re: How to get the most out of the Steam version labor UI
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2023, 11:11:25 pm »

You can... already do this?

Yes, but no.

Name a few? Good potential intervention point.

Individual Job assignments. So, I may have a Work Detail - which is cool, so I can assign Dwarves to broader Categories of Productivity. However, as of yet I can't add or remove individual tasks without creating a separate Work Detail, just and only for that one singular Dwarf.

If there were a totally separate assignment system that doesn't inform you that you have a manually-assigned hunter in the detail, that'd be pretty annoying.

Sortof. But it's not like the game is a stranger to this. I'm also just spitballing ideas because I understand there's a multidimensionality to the problem. What I would like to see is that familiar Level of control. If Dwarf Therapist can dig into that, it's going to be OK, but will also create similar issues concerning how Jobs are managed or resolved.

Name a few? Good potential intervention point.

Sorry, but I'm not a fan of feature loss. There simply is a Level of Freedom that's now missing.

I assume that the Labor Screen thingy toggles individual Job assignments on and off, based on some background magic. And I'm thinking that there's a given freedom to yet go and fine-tune things a little more. Doing it via Work Details seems to be more like a work-around. And if I have more than eight, things get a little bit weird.

Anyhow ... food for thought.
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