Bay 12 Games Forum

It usually happens to me when I specify building materials that are already laying on the building site.  If the Dwarves build in just the wrong order, then a rock destined for the next spot will be blocking "this" spot.  Since that rock is claimed, it cannot be moved except by the Dwarf who is going to use it to build the next spot.  The easiest way to overcome with is to let them proceed as they can, and then unsuspend the work that got suspended.  If you want to make sure it never happens, always dump the rock first off any construction site.  Reclaim it and then specify it in the work.

Then, of course, they will suspend due to bearing a child, having a mood, or noticing their shoelace is untied.  This last reason is a fabrication easily detected by remembering the fact that Dwarves wear slip-ons because they can't master lacing shoes without tying their beards in.   

Added after reading the reply before me:
Dwarves should not lay the rock down before building with it.  Something else is adding to this situation.

Edit: Do you use DFHack's autodump?  That will sometimes prevent construction on a spot.  It is remedied by cancelling the contruction order, saving the game, and reloading.  The empty spots will be truly empty after a reload without any work ordered at the spot in question.

Something on the order of 240.  An FB attack, plus starvation/dehydration from Dwarves isolated by unnoticed bridge destruction by tantruming militia over deaths caused by the FB, plus a goblin axelord who tap-danced over the minefield, plus tantrum spiral from sum of all of the previous.  The only survivors were one adult female and three unrelated children.  And a vampire walled into a cell, but he did not help with the cleanup.  He was just insurance. 

Eventually I cheated and got the kids to make coffins, but they would not build them or bury the dead so the single free adult had to do that.  She was depressed about it but she managed it in between tantrums.  There was certainly plenty of good quality food and drink for the four of them, as well as a large if miasmic dining hall with at least some intact furniture.  Before more migrants could arrive, the liaison came and made the fortress a barony.  Rotting corpses in the hallways, four living souls, and all.  I imagined him awarding her the barony, then slowly taking in his actual surroundings as he tenders his hearty congratulations and negotiates their trade agreement, and privately thinking to himself as he says their fortunes rise and fall together "Oh please please no ..."

A question on security:  My above ground plot has been a 6x6 area channeled out from the top of the hill and the ramps removed.  How secure is this (can anything move down the cliffs and bypass the entranceway)?  Also, if I dig out a sandy area and leave it alone, will grass start growing so I can make an enclosed pasture?

I am assuming that you have underground access to the exposed soil, since you have removed the ramps.  You can floor over the channelled out plot and it will be perfectly secure while still apparently being lit and aboveground.  I know this sounds strange, but that is the way DF handles areas exposed to light.  Once exposed, always lit.  If you want to feel like you are not cheating, you can make glass blocks and roof it as a greenhouse, but rock works fine.  Also, aboveground plants will somehow magically seed themselves in your sunken greenhouse even though it is sealed from the air.  It works the same as the subterranean plants which will continue to grow on subterranean soil even if you completely seal off the caverns after you have breached them.  The roofing over is a mixed bag as far as climate goes.  Because it is indoors, any water you pool there will not boil away in a hot summer (is not relevant to a garden but is relevant to a water reservoir).  Because it is classed as aboveground, in a frozen terrain your greenhouse will not grow warm climate crops.

Marking it for dumping and creating a refuse zone isn't working either.

Not clear what you have created.
Refuse STOCKPILE is where a dead kobold should be taken, but won't be if it is marked for dumping.
Garbage Dump ZONE is where things go when they are marked for dumping.

My bookkeepers, who get an office before anyone gets a room, always clutter the floor with their clothing.

Quote from: slothen on April 16, 2012, 01:45:38 pm

If you give your dwarves rooms, you might be able to use DF hack to clear ownership, and dwarves won't claim ownership of worn items if they have enough non-worn clothing, so they should take those items on the floor to the stockpiles.

I've tried using DF hack with the cleanowned command, but it doesn't seem to work. The other commands in DF hack work fine, but cleanowned just doesn't seem to do anything, or I'm doing it wrong.

It never seemed to work right for me, either.  The clothing got moved to the dump but the ownership tag was never removed.  The result was that as soon as I tried to trade them to a caravan, the owners came to the depot and took them back home.

I settled next to two towers and expected lots of FUN.  The first undead seige consisted of one undead elf.  The second wave that season consisted of two undead goblins.  My 3x3 fledgling minefield was more than enough to take care of those.

It did get more FUN later, though.  I'm collecting dead necromancers in my graveyard now.