Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[assimilateur]

Is it normal for a grower to be making very short (as in, barely noticeable) breaks between each planted seed? In my last 3 or 4 forts, I've seen something like this:
1. Farmer plants a seed.
2. Instead of going straight to the seed stockpile and pick another seed up, he first goes to the meeting area.
3. He stays with "no job" at the meeting area for a split second, after which he picks up another seed.

This sort of weird and not very efficient or ergonomic behavior seems like a bug, but I'm reluctant to post it in Bug Reports as I feel I might have missed an obvious explanation.

[moki]

Take a look at his character... maybe he's just really lazy.
I never observed this behavior for growers.

[assimilateur]

There's nothing about procrastinating or shirking work in my grower's profile, but there's a mention of "taking time when making decisions". So apparently the farmer has to decide separately about planting each seed or harvesting each plant, instead of treating them all as one job.

[Zeg]

I've seen this plenty often enough to think that its just how it works, though I never thought that it might have something to do with the dwarfs profile.

If it isn't related to specific dwarves, then I'd guess its because of each indvidual planting job being assigned to each tile of farm rather than the plot as a whole, so after each job is complete the dwarf looks for the next job sometimes not instantly, rather than workshops where the job que is worked at continuosly.

[assimilateur]

I see what you mean, but it struck me as strange nonetheless. Especially since I'm pretty sure that I've never seen this sort of behavior in more developed forts, with more experienced growers.

[Doomshifter]

I've noticed that when there are multiple, separate jobs a dwarf can do, they'll quite often run back to the meeting area, stop to think about it, and then run off to do it.

The only explanation I can think of is they're checking a roster of some sort!

[assimilateur]

That would make sense in that there's several farms for my only grower to plant, and there might be plants ready for harvest as well. That doesn't, however, explain why a legendary grower doesn't seem to go to the meeting area to check his schedule, while a merely proficient one does. Maybe the former got his schedule memorized, being legendary and all (which would be a nice role-playing kind of explanation, but one that doesn't strike me as very likely mechanics-wise)?

[MrFake]

Do the personalities even affect anything yet?  I thought that was just random characterization like the deity worshiped.

[assimilateur]

Do the personalities even affect anything yet?

Beats me, but it was still the first thing to check when I wasn't sure why my grower was procrastinating.

[Zaranthan]

Do the personalities even affect anything yet?  I thought that was just random characterization like the deity worshiped.

They sure do. Start a tantrum spiral, then check the survivors' profiles. Most of them will "handle stress well."

[assimilateur]

Do the personalities even affect anything yet?  I thought that was just random characterization like the deity worshiped.

They sure do. Start a tantrum spiral, then check the survivors' profiles. Most of them will "handle stress well."

OK, that's one example, but for all we know the rest, at least most of them, might still be fluff.

[CognitiveDissonance]

I recently have been experimenting with personalities.
They do a few things.

• Preferences for item/material will lead the dwarf to create superior items of this kind (ie. a "novice" leatherworker creating a superior item... several times in a row, when made from his favorite leather)
• This, most importantly, influences the production of masterwork items from a skilled crafter
• This appears to stack
• Influences happy thoughts. I had a mule zoo, and only dwarves who liked mules (whom I had a lot) received a "comforted by a creature in a cage" thought. Applies to items, material, creatures, food (did i miss anything?
• If you have a dwarf who likes leather, hammers and shields, give him all three. He'll be very happy, as he'll admire them.
• Antisocial personality dwarves do not make nearly as many friends. I had a mayor who, after all his efforts, lost his mayorship in the first elections. He was the only unmarried original dwarf, and had no friends. His personality was very reclusive.
• In practice, social dwarves don't make good soldiers while antisocial ones do.
• Design preferences influence what the dwarf will engrave. A dwarf who likes "clouds" will engrave clouds; a dwarf who likes "mules" will engrave "mules"
• Nobles' preferences will decide on their mandates, and possibly perceived value of items in their rooms
• Preferences will decide strange moods. That means if you have a dwarf who likes beds, make him a mason and you may end up with a rock bed.
• Consuming a preferred item creates a stronger positive thought than otherwise, based on quality
• Dwarves will generally adopt creatures they prefer
• Legendary dwarves will seek out items they like. If your Legendary miner likes warhammers, and has a weapon rack, he may acquire one.

Also,
- [doubtful] It would appear that dwarves who appreciate art will create better engravings
- [doubtful] It would appear that dwarves that say they prefer work will take fewer, shorter breaks
- [doubtful] It would appear that dwarves drinking *just* their preferred booze won't ask for another one
- [unverified] dwarves will seek out their preferred items during economy

[assimilateur]

Yeah, now that you've made that list, a lot of it makes sense. I guess former claims about personalities having little to no effect on anything are spurious.

Also, I think I recall an example of my own: I've had engraving that went like "Engraved on the wall is an image of Aban Dakostusan and (or surrounded by?) spiked balls. Aban Dakostusan is admiring the spiked balls". The depicted dwarf in fact did like spiked balls.


EDIT: Define good vs bad soldiers? I thought it all boiled down to gear, skills and stats. Are you implying that antisocial dwarves won't train as effectively as social ones?

[Starver]

Adding to the list of attitude-effects, don't forget the bad thoughts gained for 'having' to rescue injured colleagues when they on the lower couple of rungs of the appropriate attitude scale and get tasked with bringing them home (although I haven't yet seen any positive reinforcement for those at the upper end of the scale, when they do the task).

For this reason, I'll automatically de-job the First Aid item from any dwarf exhibitting those adverse inclinations.  If anyone does need help, I can always give them that ability once more if necessary.  But this way someone who isn't so disinclined is guaranteed to pick the task up, all else being equal.

[assimilateur]

For this reason, I'll automatically de-job the First Aid item from any dwarf exhibiting those adverse inclinations.  If anyone does need help, I can always give them that ability once more if necessary.  But this way someone who isn't so disinclined is guaranteed to pick the task up, all else being equal.

That's too much micromanagement for me. I mean, I will look at my dwarves' personalities, but mostly for fun, and couldn't be arsed to keep the unhelpful from doing healthcare. Even if they get a bad thought from it, not only do I expect it to be fully compensated by all the conveniences in my fort, but I don't feel any obligation towards avoiding bad thoughts that are essentially caused by a dwarf being a dick.