Bay 12 Games Forum

Dwarf Fortress => DF General Discussion => Topic started by: Anvilsmith on August 19, 2006, 03:42:00 am

Title: Clearing stockpiles
Post by: Anvilsmith on August 19, 2006, 03:42:00 am
My fifth outpost is doing pretty well... It got flooded from one end to the other near the beginning, which allowed me to set up a farming area within the antechamber. I built a large food stockpile to accomodate the havest, and on I went, managing to grow a wonderful set of 20 plump helmets. What baffled me was that no one was planning on picking them up when they grew, and naturally, they soon began withering.

I then paid attention to my food stockpile - it was choked with stones, copper ore and the unprocessed fish one of my dwarves had been gathering. Apparently, no one considered clearing up the debris to make room. I set up another stockpile outside a minute later - the plump helmets there braved flies and constant rain without so much as wincing.

I'd like to ask that dwarves use stockpiles more intelligently, knowing when inappropriate items (such as the stones left behind after excavation) can be safely cleared and replaced with useful objects.

Also, this is the second time a dwarf placed down a floodgate while standing on the wrong end of the tunnel, and got himself locked out as a consequence. Perhaps a bit of pathfinding ought to determine where he needs to stand? I don't see any circumstances when the player would want to deliberately shut his dwarves off from the surface, unless he was struggling with a really troublesome siege. I'd mention that another dwarf got stuck on the other side of another floodgate a few minutes later, while digging a trench to the first floodgate.

[ August 19, 2006: Message edited by: Anvilsmith ]

Title: Re: Clearing stockpiles
Post by: GauHelldragon on August 19, 2006, 03:51:00 am
I donno what your exact situation was, but it sounded like it was simply a problem of not having enough of the correct storage areas.
Title: Re: Clearing stockpiles
Post by: Anvilsmith on August 19, 2006, 04:46:00 am
I had plenty of stockpile space - it's just that the space was misused, as nobody bothered to clear out the stone and ore that was occupying it. The storage area was designated as a food stockpile - but the dwarves simply didn't feel like taking out the stones and other debris to make room for the actual food.

I hope that clears things up.

Title: Re: Clearing stockpiles
Post by: Aquillion on August 19, 2006, 04:55:00 am
Did you have enough room in your mining stockpile?  Dwarves won't move stones, ore, and so forth unless they have someplace to put it.
Title: Re: Clearing stockpiles
Post by: Shujaa on August 19, 2006, 05:00:00 am
In my experience dwarves usually move stone that's the furthest away from the stockpile first - I've had cases where there's 5 squares of stone just outside my stockpile, but the dwarves are running to the furthest end of the fortress to pick up the rocks there and bring them back instead.
Title: Re: Clearing stockpiles
Post by: Anvilsmith on August 19, 2006, 08:11:00 am
quote:
Did you have enough room in your mining stockpile? Dwarves won't move stones, ore, and so forth unless they have someplace to put it.

And that's exactly what ought to be fixed... The dwarves should simply move the rocks into the corridors outside the stockpile, like they now do when creating farms.
Title: Re: Clearing stockpiles
Post by: JT on August 19, 2006, 04:15:00 pm
IMO, nothing about this is a bug or anything that needs to be fixed.  Proper fortress management involves ensuring that the stone is hauled out of the way as soon as it is extracted from the rock face.  If things are starting to get cluttered, you just have to live with it until you can bring the problem under control.

Maybe I'm just being needlessly steadfast in my opinion, though.  It again seems like I'm the only one who waits until things are clear before building things or designating piles. =)

Title: Re: Clearing stockpiles
Post by: RPB on August 19, 2006, 04:18:00 pm
I just don't stockpile stone. Ever. If I need an area cleared of rock, I build a mason and/or craft shop there. Building lots of barrels and bins also helps conserve storage space a lot.

It would be nice if it could prioritize haul tasks that are blocking something, though, and/or a "clear space" task you could toggle.

[ August 19, 2006: Message edited by: RPB ]