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[blaize9]

Well guys this has always been my big and only problem with DF, What should i use all my idlers for I have around 50-80 dwarfs about 30 of them are idling. What do you guys do with all your extra dwarfs, any recommendations?

[Parhelion]

I either let them socialize or make them haul stuff.  If they're perpetual idlers, you could throw them in the military.  Idle hands are the devil's workship. >P

[Nan]

Build a dwarffall in your dining room. Just like a waterfall, only drops dwarves instead of water, and has the complete opposite effect.

[rephikul]

Build a dwarffall in your dining room. Just like a waterfall, only drops dwarves instead of water, and has the complete opposite effect.

Actually if there's something perpetual at the bottom like say, a chained cat, dwarves falling onto it will stun the cat but otherwise unscathed.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[King DZA]

Give them basic jobs like farming, furnace operator, masonry, and the like. Any left over after that are considered haulers on standby. Free to hang out in their rooms or the statue gardens until they are needed.

[blaize9]

Build a dwarffall in your dining room. Just like a waterfall, only drops dwarves instead of water, and has the complete opposite effect.

Actually if there's something perpetual at the bottom like say, a chained cat, dwarves falling onto it will stun the cat but otherwise unscathed.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I had a great ROFL from that pic 

[Haedrian]

I generally set them as masons + engravers and then smooth and engrave the fort, or get them to make blocks.

Once I have enough blocks I stay building stuff on the surface.

Or shove them into the military.

[GreatWyrmGold]

One of my fortress's primary exports is refined migrantite. It's like goblinite, but extracted from migrant soapmakers and the like who aren't drafted into the military. I like to refine migrantite with water.

[Quietust]

I let them relax until I need to have a lot of work done right now (e.g. cleaning up after a siege, removing loose stones from a freshly mined area, or building lots of constructions).

[Sutremaine]

I have a bunch of archery targets. When there's time free, I turn them away from the wall so that all the civilians can practice archery. Getting this set up should reduce your idler count for a while. Otherwise I just let them chill. There's plenty of food and drink and sleeping room for everyone.

I could probably set aside a couple of lightly-armoured soldiers and use them as trainers so that perpetually jobless dwarves at least get better at hauling.

[Jenniretta]

I let them idle until they're needed. Once I have industries running as well as I need them etc. the extras seem to take turns idling when all the workshops and such are filled, a few otherwise useless dwarves do all my hauling jobs, and the rest end up military dwarves.

[Starver]

I always have a truckload of raw stone needing dumping (to keep the place clean, if not bringing it up from the specific quarry areas) and a load of regular hauling jobs needing fulfilling as well.

The biggest part of the management effort (even with DT) is making sure that those dwarves capable of doing other jobs, right now, are de-assigned the various haulage tasks, or otherwise checking the no-job dwarves to makes sure that this is not just a momentary block and thus can be assigned such haulage as a replacement without impinging upon everything else.  (This is in a 200-ish fortress.)

[Garath]

I often have sudden needs for lots of people working on a wall, hauling stone, cleaning up goblin body parts or carrying meat from the butcher if there is a lot to butcher. On average, half my dwarfs (set max pop to 110, so about 50) are idle, 20 of these are inactive militairy (or active, but if i need more hands i turn them inactive). Even carrying only the metal items and bodies away takes 30 haulers quite some time, and my important work shouldnt get halted just for some cleaning. To me, around 100, 150 dwarfs is ideal to fulfill all jobs, have about 30 or 40 militairy and 30 haulers/reserve craftsdwarfs

[gilrad]

Screw pump busywork. What's better than 30 idling dwarves? 30 superdwarvenly tough idling dwarves!