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Author Topic: Preventing Doctor Breaks  (Read 760 times)

Girlinhat

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Preventing Doctor Breaks
« on: March 17, 2011, 09:38:18 am »

So, I've noticed a trend, and it looks like it's about to cost me an elite marksman right now.  My doctor has no tasks.  He sits about all day and waits for someone to get hurt.  As soon as someone does get hurt, he instantly goes on break.  It seems that he gathers up break time when he doesn't have a job, and then when one arrive, he cashes in his breaks and sits around while my men bleed out.

I can just imagine him, sitting around my legendary dining hall.  Urist McNurse comes up, "Doc, there's a-"  She's interupted when he storms out, "I can't deal with this!  I'm going on break!"

How do I prevent stupid?

Mister Always

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2011, 09:53:13 am »

Throw the doctor into a deep pit. Feed him rats. Elect a new doctor.

Dwarven justice.
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"""The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit." - W. Somerset Maugham" -Forumite" -Mister Always

Urist McGyver

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2011, 09:56:44 am »

Try turning his labors on and off the moment he goes on a break. If you use dwarven the-rapist, turn them on and off through the Labor interface on DF.
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It's treated as completely normal because this is Dwarf Fortress.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with surrounding yourself with a wall of flames, only to later realize that you're surrounded by a wall of flames.
There's nothing that can't be solved by hurling fifteen roc birds at it.

JmzLost

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2011, 09:59:37 am »

Try giving him non-critical work, like hauling or block making.  When you need a doctor, turn off his other labors.  Hopefully he will use his break when tasked with moving something, and be willing to work when your military is bleeding.

JMZ
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Also, obviously, magma avalanches and tsunamis weren't exactly a contingency covered in the mission briefing.
I can assure you that Ardentdikes is not the first fortress to be flooded with magma. What's unusual is that we actually meant to flood it with magma.

rojiru

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2011, 10:08:19 am »

I've got the same problem this version. No matter what I do getting a single dwarf to do any medical work is like pulling teeth. All I can do is have a roster of of them at any time and hope one of them gets to the hospital before my dwarves vomit their intestines out.
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Hyndis

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2011, 12:57:31 pm »

Have multiple doctors.

My doctors double as jewelers, as jewelers tend to rarely be busy. Gems are quickly cut, and then they sit around idle for ages.

My current fort has 4 doctors/jewelers. They don't do any hauling to ensure they are always around to tend to the injured.
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Girlinhat

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2011, 12:59:00 pm »

The issue is, only the chief medical dwarf will do a diagnosis.  This is bad, when my chief medic wants to either haul socks all day and refuse to work, or else refuse to work entirely.

rojiru

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2011, 01:49:10 pm »

I can usually get a diagnosis if I remove all of my chief's jobs besides doctoring, but even then after the diagnosis he sits in the meeting hall/where with his dwarfy thumb up his rear telling me he has no jobs while people bleed out with smashed bodies in my fully stocked hospital.
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Hyndis

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2011, 02:08:05 pm »

The issue is, only the chief medical dwarf will do a diagnosis.  This is bad, when my chief medic wants to either haul socks all day and refuse to work, or else refuse to work entirely.

That is not true.

My baron is also my chief medical dwarf, but he performs no jobs whatsoever, not even any medical jobs.

The doctors under him happily do all work, including diagnosing injured dwarves and patching them up with varying degrees of success.
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Rask

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2011, 02:11:06 pm »

Put a goblin into a windowed room in your dining hall, with doors in front of the windows so the dorfs can't see him. Connect doors to lever. If doc is on break, pull lever so he sees goblin, gets scared, and interrupts break (untested).
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Girlinhat

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Re: Preventing Doctor Breaks
« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2011, 02:15:38 pm »

I tried putting him in a squad and moving him around.  He promptly went back on break when he was un-ordered.  Something tells me the scaring won't work either.