A civilian who has the miner or woodcutter job will not have that job enabled after being drafted into the military and then dismissed. I'm not certain if it's necessary to change his weapon or armor preference while he's activated, but I always do and I'm seeing this bug.
I know that miners fight with their pick using the unarmed skill and that woodcutters have their weapon preference naturally set to Axe, but it seems like these designations should only have an effect on dwarves when they are activated.
This could be fixed by simply reminding the dwarf that his civilian job is miner\woodcutter when he is discharged. At present you have to do this manually and I've forgotten for a season without realizing my woodcutters were sitting around <Attend Party> or <Annoy Small Animal>.
However, this bug also creates room for a big feature addition. You could add a civilian-specific weapon\armor preference screen. Let us armor our civilian dwarves, if we so choose (and suffer their encumbrance as a result) and issue them a weapon (this could give a happy thought). Naturally, this is dangerous if armed and armored dwarves go berserk, insane, tantrum, etc. Nobles can demand specific personal raiment. Dwarves wearing armor can train the armor user skill when they are attacked and perhaps in other situations.
This opens up many more interesting possibilities in the already-chaotic brine that is a mature fortress. I'd put most of my dwarves in leather at best, but babies\children get the heaviest plate I can find. That ought to keep them out of the volcano\chasm\impending siege\hungry beasts' nests (and make sure they don't get too tall). I always get frustrated when triple-legendary civilian dwarves get cut down by a common monster because I wasn't paying attention to their wanderings, only because I know that dwarf should have choked the monster to death with his -Large Rope Reed Sock- (hauled) without breaking a sweat. Civilians don't fight as hard as they would if you simply activated them where they stood, even if they are being damaged or grappled. In lieu of giving dwarves highly-heuristic opponent consideration AI to decide between fight and flight, it'd be nice to be able to protect my valuable dwarves with my valuable armor.
Tozus Tankogan, Brewmaster, cancels Dump Item: Throwing tantrum.
The stray cat (tame) has been struck down.
Onul Mafolthob, Mayor, cancels Sleep: Interrupted by Brewmaster.
Onul Mafolthob, Mayor has been struck down.
The stray cougar (tame) has been struck down.
Hey, when Tozus calms down, we can elect a new mayor and the cats never stop squirting out babies, but training a new Brewmaster takes a year or more. No way in hell am I gonna let engravers and peasants put down my boy like dat! POICE
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Topic: Miners\Woodcutters and Short-Term Deployments (Read 409 times)