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[Poindexterity]

for example, i cant tell Urist Mcmason what kind of bricks to make, but i can put a stockpile of the rock i want him to use next to the shop, in hopes he will grab that. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't, and i cant tell why. Hell sometimes, he'll even go down to the lower lvls of the fort just to grab one of the VERY TYPE of rocks i the stockpile next to him.

there is, quite obviously something im failing to take into account here.

lil help?

[Keldane]

In terms of absolute distance, are the stones on the lower levels closer than the ones in the stockpile? That is, if the closest stone in the stockpile is three tiles away to the right, is the one he goes to grab from below two z-levels directly below the workshop?

Basically, dwarves select the stone that is closest to them, not the one that they have to walk the shortest distance to grab. It can be quite a pain sometimes.

[Syrup Roast]

Use burrows to restrict him to the stockpile next to the shop.

[Darkmere]

Sometimes masons go for the most recently mined out rock because it's "fresh" or something. I've noticed it too, so I usually just stick multiple workshops in and forget about it. Burrows would be a better solution if you were set on consistency though.

[Psieye]

Quantum stockpiling helps considerably.

[zephyr_hound]

As far as I know they always go to the closest wherever that might be. If he's in your dining room when he decides to take the "make blocks/R" job, and the nice stockpile of marble you want him to use is 50 tiles away from him horizontally and the end of your exploratory mining shaft is 49 tiles away vertically he will go around half your fort and down all the stairs to get a piece of that nice convenient stone that's only 49 tiles away. That explains why they apparently sometimes go for random stone. But once he is in the workshop and working away the closest stone will be in the stockpile and he will use that, guaranteed. Basically just assume that the first job done might be of random stone, then the rest will be what you want.

[Triaxx2]

I've taken to using vertical stockpiles instead of in the same room. So a five by five workshop area, then up and down with an Up/Down Stair to two stone stockpiles. Hatches can easily restrict which stockpile you want them to use. Just forbid the hatch to the one you don't want them to use.

[noodle0117]

If that rock is being used such as when you are building multiple walls or floors...

wait, my grammar is wrong.

[NightlinerSGS]

I simple dump ALL rocks I find, except for one type... the one I want to use for building, crafts etc.

I put my workshops and stone-storage into the same burrow, set the storage to accept the type I want to use, unforbid it in the garbage area and then set my mason/whatever to work only in that burrow. Bonus points if said burrow has its own bed and food/booze stockpiles.

That way I can exactly control what type of material my dorfs use.

[gtmattz]

So, errr..


Nobody in here knows about the Z-Stones menu, where you can disable all but the specific of stone you want to work with?

I know that does not solve the distance problem, but it sure as heck solves all of the other things that people are going through all kind of lengths to resolve...

[JmzLost]

Unless you're trying to make granite walls and dolomite mugs.  You need both stones unforbidden and set for non-economic use, and your craftsdwarfs will start grabbing granite instead of dolomite.  And obsidian doesn't show up in the economic stone menu unless you add a reaction using it to the raws.  But yes, z->stones can help restrict which stones your dwarfs will use a lot.

JMZ

[wuphonsreach]

So, errr..


Nobody in here knows about the Z-Stones menu, where you can disable all but the specific of stone you want to work with?

I know that does not solve the distance problem, but it sure as heck solves all of the other things that people are going through all kind of lengths to resolve...

The problem with the z-stones menu is that it can work against you, if you happened to make workshops out of a stone that you then forbid.

My preference is to create a 5x5 room, plant the workshop in the middle, and drape a ring-shaped stockpile around the workshop.  I then make sure that there is no loose stone on the 2 Z-levels above and below the workshop.  A single ring around the workshop is generally enough to keep up with the craft dwarf, as long as your stone haulers don't have to carry rock more then 40 or so tiles from the central dump location.

And to make it easier, if you create two or three 5x5 rooms next to each other of the same workshop type, you can drape a single rock stockpile across all two or three rooms, which makes setting up the stockpile easier.

(My quantum dumps are generally 2/3 down the main stairs, with all stone crafting workshops in the upper 1/5 levels at the top of the main stairs.)