Print

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

[murlocdummy]

Myself, I used to use Dwarf Therapist all the time to help me set who is working on what.  However, since I almost never boot into Windows anymore, and there isn't a linux port of TheRapist, I've gone back to using only the tools available in DF itself.  It takes me a bit longer to do stuff, but I feel I have more of a connection with my idiot dwarves that way.

For animals, there is a thread somewhere that detailed grazing needs versus meat output.  IIRC sheep and goats are close to the most efficient median between the two.  What do you find tedious about pastures?  All I have ever needed to do was to designated a pasture area (with grass in it), then select which animals go in the pasture.  If a pasture looks like it is running out of grass I find the biggest/oldest beastie assigned to it and turn it into leather and hamburger to try and resolve the issue.  I've had good luck with 11x11 pastures so far (i.e., i -> shift+arrow left -> shift+arrow down -> n -> N -> pick which animals are assigned there -> esc -> esc -> check something else).

For the dining hall I typically make a 6x7 (holds 10 tables/chair, one tile border) or 6x9 (holds 14) room with a second 6x9 room next to it.  that second room contains a still, kitchen and fishery with a 3x5 booze and 3x4 food stockpiles.  This has been more than adequate for my current fortress for the last 5 years in game (though, admittedly, I have a popcap of 32 and only 45 dwarves).

So far, I've kept a veritable Noah's Arc of every single animal that I've acquired.  Each one sits in its own species' pasture in a neat, organized manner.  Whenever I go into the Animals menu listing to slaughter them, though, I get a massive unhappy thought when I look at the total and nearly complete disorganization of the list.  Makes it nearly impossible to find that one Bunny Doe (tame) that you're missing, and just as frustrating when you want to move the pasture to make room for a wind power plant or something.  So far, I've got around a quarter of the surface covered in pastures, so my main concern about efficiency is about production per tick rather than production per pasture unit.  I want to be able to wholesale slaughter large portions of my herd without having to grind through the entire list, looking for six or or seven animals at a time out of a list of hundreds.

BTW, if only more people would post comprehensively like Starver, then this thread would really get going.

A well written, well thought-out reply that wins many internets.

Dwarf Therapist only allows you to have nicknames that are only so long.  It's not enough characters for me, so I end up having to go through the Unit list every single time I want do something like change my Doctor 6, which has just completed a Strange Mood, into a Stonecrafter 11.

I also use only the one spreadsheet.  I do things for efficiency, and am undoubtedly at least an Adequate Dwarf Fortress Bookkeeper (player) now.  That doesn't change the fact that I cringe every time I see a game require that its players go out of their way and do office work outside of the game in order to play the game effectively.  If Toady wants to continue to have players pull open their Excel spreadsheets and have at least 3 or 4 windows open to programs that are not Dwarf Fortress just to play Dwarf Fortress, then he should just integrate them into the game.  I'd really like to be in an in-game office if I'm going to do spreadsheets and chart organization work while playing a game.

I know that animals at the bottom of the list are the new arrivals/births, but the fact that I have absolutely no control over the sorting of the animals is extremely frustrating.

So far, the largest herds that I have are bunnies and alpacas.  I know that they aren't particularly productive, but until I can find out definitively which animal out of all available animals is the best to maintain for rapid item production, I'll keep maintaining all of my llamas, pigs, alpacas, and every single other animal that I have.

Unrelated Sidenote:  I just realized that mined ice will sublimate upon melting.

[proxn_punkd]

So far, I've kept a veritable Noah's Arc of every single animal that I've acquired.  Each one sits in its own species' pasture in a neat, organized manner.  Whenever I go into the Animals menu listing to slaughter them, though, I get a massive unhappy thought when I look at the total and nearly complete disorganization of the list.  Makes it nearly impossible to find that one Bunny Doe (tame) that you're missing, and just as frustrating when you want to move the pasture to make room for a wind power plant or something.  So far, I've got around a quarter of the surface covered in pastures, so my main concern about efficiency is about production per tick rather than production per pasture unit.  I want to be able to wholesale slaughter large portions of my herd without having to grind through the entire list, looking for six or or seven animals at a time out of a list of hundreds.

I just use the (v)iew units option in the overworld. As long as stuff's pastured, all I have to do is move the cursor over them and go "okay this one's male/female, (z) for their traits, okay, I don't like this one, (p)references, set (s)laughter to yes" and on to the next. I haven't used the z Stocks menu to look at animals in a while.

[murlocdummy]

So far, I've kept a veritable Noah's Arc of every single animal that I've acquired.  Each one sits in its own species' pasture in a neat, organized manner.  Whenever I go into the Animals menu listing to slaughter them, though, I get a massive unhappy thought when I look at the total and nearly complete disorganization of the list.  Makes it nearly impossible to find that one Bunny Doe (tame) that you're missing, and just as frustrating when you want to move the pasture to make room for a wind power plant or something.  So far, I've got around a quarter of the surface covered in pastures, so my main concern about efficiency is about production per tick rather than production per pasture unit.  I want to be able to wholesale slaughter large portions of my herd without having to grind through the entire list, looking for six or or seven animals at a time out of a list of hundreds.

I just use the (v)iew units option in the overworld. As long as stuff's pastured, all I have to do is move the cursor over them and go "okay this one's male/female, (z) for their traits, okay, I don't like this one, (p)references, set (s)laughter to yes" and on to the next. I haven't used the z Stocks menu to look at animals in a while.

I was not aware that you could select individual animals with (v), then slaughter (s) them in that menu.  That helps me alot!  Now, whenever I move my pens, I can simply slaughter all of the animals instead of having to beat my head against the keyboard trying to reassign all of them to a different pen.  I also won't have to leave the animals to starve to death because I couldn't find their names in the zoning (i) pen (N) menu.  Now I won't have to deal with tons of starved animal corpses whenever I need to relocate penning zones!

[Garath]

plus sheep and goats give both wool and milk

[proxn_punkd]

Glad I could help! It's nice to know that Toady gave us more than one way to skin a cat.

[krenshala]

If you check the pasture list (i > move cursor over the pasture > N) it will list all of the animals assigned to that pasture at the top, with other animals listed below.  If it is set to be pastured in any pasture it will list the symbol after the animals name (caged animals show a cage symbol after them, roped/chained show a chain, etc).

While this doesn't help much for selecting a specific animal to move to the current pasture, it does help when moving (e.g.) all sheep to one pasture.

I know Toady has mentioned the Unit List* gets an update with the next version, and it will probably work similar to how the military screen does its various pages (which, btw, supports using the mouse for most selections if you were not aware ).  What I have noticed in the last 12 to 18 months (all I have experienced with DF) is that when Toady fixes/updates one thing he tends to make the same changes to all aspects of the game that use the same interface/controls.


* Does anyone else think Urist List when they see Unit List? 

[Newbunkle]

You mentioned assigning beds in an earlier post. You might have specific bedrooms in mind for your dwarves, but if you're not fussy then you don't have to do the assigning manually. If you mark a bed as a room without setting it as a barracks or dormitory, a dwarf without a bedroom can come along and claim it at any time. As long as you have enough rooms, they'll sort it out themselves.

[murlocdummy]

You mentioned assigning beds in an earlier post. You might have specific bedrooms in mind for your dwarves, but if you're not fussy then you don't have to do the assigning manually. If you mark a bed as a room without setting it as a barracks or dormitory, a dwarf without a bedroom can come along and claim it at any time. As long as you have enough rooms, they'll sort it out themselves.

I wasn't aware that unassigned beds would become automatically assigned over time.  How long does it take for an unassigned dwarf to find an unassigned room?

And I thank Garath for helping with my animal efficiency question.  I'll need to have only either llamas or alpacas, as they are the only species that produce both milk and wool, in addition to a war animal.  Currently, I have only one grizzly bear and a battalion of war dogs.  I will now commence ethnic cleansing of all races that are not birds, alpacas, or llamas.  Now I need to find out how to narrow it down between the two of them.  Thanks for your help!

[Loud Whispers]

You mentioned assigning beds in an earlier post. You might have specific bedrooms in mind for your dwarves, but if you're not fussy then you don't have to do the assigning manually. If you mark a bed as a room without setting it as a barracks or dormitory, a dwarf without a bedroom can come along and claim it at any time. As long as you have enough rooms, they'll sort it out themselves.

I wasn't aware that unassigned beds would become automatically assigned over time.  How long does it take for an unassigned dwarf to find an unassigned room?

And I thank Garath for helping with my animal efficiency question.  I'll need to have only either llamas or alpacas, as they are the only species that produce both milk and wool, in addition to a war animal.  Currently, I have only one grizzly bear and a battalion of war dogs.  I will now commence ethnic cleansing of all races that are not birds, alpacas, or llamas.  Now I need to find out how to narrow it down between the two of them.  Thanks for your help!

As long as it takes to walk to it ;P
When they need to sleep, they will path to an unclaimed bed, or if possible, bedroom and sleep on it. If it was designated as a bedroom, it now belongs to the dwarf using it.

[murlocdummy]

You mentioned assigning beds in an earlier post. You might have specific bedrooms in mind for your dwarves, but if you're not fussy then you don't have to do the assigning manually. If you mark a bed as a room without setting it as a barracks or dormitory, a dwarf without a bedroom can come along and claim it at any time. As long as you have enough rooms, they'll sort it out themselves.

I wasn't aware that unassigned beds would become automatically assigned over time.  How long does it take for an unassigned dwarf to find an unassigned room?

And I thank Garath for helping with my animal efficiency question.  I'll need to have only either llamas or alpacas, as they are the only species that produce both milk and wool, in addition to a war animal.  Currently, I have only one grizzly bear and a battalion of war dogs.  I will now commence ethnic cleansing of all races that are not birds, alpacas, or llamas.  Now I need to find out how to narrow it down between the two of them.  Thanks for your help!

As long as it takes to walk to it ;P
When they need to sleep, they will path to an unclaimed bed, or if possible, bedroom and sleep on it. If it was designated as a bedroom, it now belongs to the dwarf using it.

So in other words, they'll assign themselves a bed, but it won't show up under the Assignments listing?  They DO still get a happy thought from having a bed of their own, right?

Also, sheep produce less goods than llamas or alpacas, so it will be ethnically cleansed from my pastures.  That narrows it down to llamas or alpacas.

I have also realized that I don't remember where the option is that allows me to have squads wear their equipment outside of active duty.  My manager keeps trying to strip off his armor, and I don't know how to make him keep it on.

[Loud Whispers]

It will show under assignments, and as far as I've seen, Dwarves don't get happy thoughts from 1x1 bedrooms xD

Rather, they don't get unhappy thoughts from not having a proper room. Personally, 3x3 rooms with cabinets, coffers and racks for everyone!
[That gives them happy thoughts, based on room quality level :3]

[murlocdummy]

It will show under assignments, and as far as I've seen, Dwarves don't get happy thoughts from 1x1 bedrooms xD

Rather, they don't get unhappy thoughts from not having a proper room. Personally, 3x3 rooms with cabinets, coffers and racks for everyone!
[That gives them happy thoughts, based on room quality level :3]

Well, I don't know how many game months it'll take for my dwarves to assign themselves a room, and I don't think that leaving them without a room for that long or much longer will be particularly helpful for their happiness, so I'll still have to manually assign them rooms to keep them from becoming unhappy from lacking one.  Frankly, if you want to leave your dwarves for several months or however long it takes your dwarves to claim rooms, then go ahead, but I'd rather get them in a room within a month at the most.

[proxn_punkd]

I give mine 1x4 rooms with a door, a blank space, a bed, and a cabinet, and rough stone walls. It gives them good thoughts from having a nice bedroom, but since the rooms are only "modest" quality it doesn't make my duchess flip out.

[murlocdummy]

I give mine 1x4 rooms with a door, a blank space, a bed, and a cabinet, and rough stone walls. It gives them good thoughts from having a nice bedroom, but since the rooms are only "modest" quality it doesn't make my duchess flip out.

I'll probably end up planning to have everyone in my fort have a nice room.  What's the minimum size for a Legendary status room?  I'm going to go full-out stone statue gardens in everyone's rooms.

[thegoatgod_pan]

A room can be legendary with size one so long as it is it all a diamond cluster engraved by a master