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Author Topic: Eternal wagon meeting area  (Read 2551 times)

Heliomance

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Eternal wagon meeting area
« on: January 27, 2010, 03:45:32 pm »

My dwarves have a legendary dining room. They love it very much, and hold regular parties in it. So why is it that whenever a dwarf doesn't have a job, he goes and stands in the 3x3 square where the wagon originally started? And how do I stop it? I'm gradually trying to move everything into the fortress proper; when I'm done there won't be anything left out on that plateau. I don't want dwarves randomly standing around there.
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Jim Groovester

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2010, 03:47:34 pm »

Do you have your dining room set as a meeting area? Don't. Dwarves spend too much time partying.

Try putting down a meeting zone instead. After a while, all the idle traffic should filter there.
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Raphite1

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2010, 05:12:08 pm »

Do you have your dining room set as a meeting area? Don't. Dwarves spend too much time partying.

Try putting down a meeting zone instead. After a while, all the idle traffic should filter there.

   Maaan, Dwarven parties are the best! I love to imagine the women comparing muscles, the men singing bawdy songs, and the children swilling dwarven beer!  What do I care if it means my megaproject will take another dwarven year to complete? I'm playing for the pleasure of the experience already, I don't want it to end!


P.S. - About the "idle dwarves going to the wagon site," I have no idea. Sometimes my dwarves will take their breaks outside; maybe a couple of yours just coincidentally went to the wagon site?

Shinziril

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2010, 06:47:45 pm »

The initial wagon site counts as a meeting zone if you don't have any other, I think. 
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Shrike

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2010, 06:52:11 pm »

The initial wagon site counts as a meeting zone if you don't have any other, I think. 

I believe this is the case. Assigning another meeting area clears up the problem quickly. When embarking, I tend to make this right by the entrance so that the initial kobold and goblin thieves will be quickly discovered.
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Heliomance

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #5 on: January 27, 2010, 07:06:14 pm »

But my dining room is set as a meeting hall - does that not count?
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Quietust

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #6 on: January 27, 2010, 07:21:23 pm »

It should count - in fact, in every test I've done, deconstructing the wagon also removes its meeting zone and causes dwarves to start wandering around aimlessly.

Make sure you don't have an actual activity zone defined over the old wagon's location.
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Shrike

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #7 on: January 27, 2010, 07:31:34 pm »

You could also try channeling/ramping the plateau away so there's nowhere to stand.
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o_O[WTFace]

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #8 on: January 27, 2010, 10:48:01 pm »

Push I, designate a zone, then push M to make it a meeting zone.  I just toss mine somewhere in or around the Dining Room.  A smaller meeting zone (1x1) makes them clump together and socialize more, but try making it larger if it causes lag or problems.     

Dining Hall is the place where dwarves go to eat and throw parties, meeting zone is where they just go and goof off and hang out.  Or I guess more technically, where they all clump together and gain social skills when they can't find a job and aren't eating/drinking etc.  If you don't have one I think they just stand around where the wagon was, to avoid dwarves just standing around on stockpiles or outside or wherever they are when they finish a job.   

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Zerox

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #9 on: January 28, 2010, 01:26:00 am »

I've always actually had success going into the zone menu and using the "remove zone" feature right where my wagon was, or in a broad general area where I think it was, when I forget.(almost all the time. I typically remove the wagon as a first order of business after mining a food stockpile) Works like a charm.
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Ubiq

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Re: Eternal wagon meeting area
« Reply #10 on: January 28, 2010, 01:02:14 pm »

Are your dogs or other animals venturing outside near the wagon as well? If so, then you've definitely turned off your other meeting area and might have done so by accident if you've recently resized it.

If not, my guess is that the dwarves out there are those who have antisocial tendencies (avoids crowds/prefers to be alone/time alone more important) but don't have a bedroom where they can spend their idle time.
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