Bay 12 Games Forum

I'd recommend zipping up your save and post a link to it to allow experienced players to help you figure out what the problem is.

You're adorable.

Whatever it was, it wasn't an inaccessible ramp issue.  The dwarves were able to transfer about half the load between the two stockpiles before they started having the cancellations.  After the cancellations began they were still making new trips between the stockpiles.  Over time the frequency of the cancellations increased until no one was accepting tasks any longer.  I was also able to recreate it between two stockpiles on the same z-level.  Also, as I said in the op, the message occurs just before the dorf reaches the stockpile, where he drops the logs on the floor.  If it were a pathing issue it would occur when they picked up the log.

I should have grabbed the state but I didn't.  I haven't been able to recreate it yet.  Maybe it was dfhack, maybe it was just saving and reloading the game.  Not sure.  I'll post more if I trip it again.

I'm wondering if no one else is seeing this problem because it seems to make the game unplayable for me after about an hour.

I am playing the linux version, plain vanilla, no df_hack, no dwarf therapist, no tile-set.  I have modified init.txt to set TRUETYPE:NO.  I have a simple hole via ramp down one z-level and some rooms dug out.  As soon as I create a large (9x9) stockpile and chop down some trees I experience this problem.  Dwarves will begin to haul the wood successfully.  Then they start issuing the announcement "[name] cancels Store Item in Stockpile: Drop-off inaccessible"  Often this happens just before they reach the stockpile and they will drop the log on the ground and go get another.  After a while less and less dwarves are working.  Pretty soon every dwarf is standing around with No Job status, even though there are plenty of other tasks designated, constructing workshops, mining, etc.

There are no doors, no burrows and I've never touched the forbid command.  This does not seem to be a pathing or ramp problem as dwarves can and do move freely in and out of these areas.  If I erase the stockpile and place it in a different room the same problem occurs, dwarves begins to move items, move some successfully, then start slowly increasing the rate of this message generation until they all stop working entirely. 

I have generated several worlds and embarks and see the same issue.  It happens relatively early and pretty much breaks the game.  I can't find any mention on google or here int he bug report forum.  Am I the only one experiencing this?  I think I must be since I would expect there to be more of a discussion if I weren't. 

If you have encountered this situation and can help I'd appreciate it.  I suppose the next thing I will try is compiling dfhack and seeing if this is some known problem that has been patched away there.

Thank you.

This is for those "convert image into a floor plan" programs.

What program did you use to make that first map?  I'm looking for a good method to make designs outside of the game.

^^^ this.  It comes back fast.

I've found a lua script on the web which will allow me to marry two dwarfs, however I am supposed to pass it a unit id.  My search-fu is not revealing to me how to find a dwarf's unit id.  Can anyone tell me?

I'd recommend giving them iron or steel helmets if you have the metal. The reason is that a metal helmet weighs too little to cause noticeable slow down but will cause a massive boost to your dwarves' survivability in literally every situation except fluid-related incidents (as in burning in magma or drowning in water). Even in a food or drink crisis it'll prevent tantruming dwarves from braining each other. After many forts where I equip everyone with armour I have to say that the metal helms had a far far greater effect than a full suit of bone leather for everyone, and were far less hassle to produce. If you're really trying to get rid of all the ridiculous amounts of metal that you have, I'd recommend mail shirts. Mail shirts+helms still don't cause any noticeable slowdown in untrained civilian dwarves and the mail shirt will prevent edged damage to the dwarves' torsos, upper legs, upper arms, and necks. Which, coupled with a helm protecting the head (from both blunt and edged damage), means that the only parts of the dwarf which are not covered by metal are their lower legs, lower arms, feet, and hands. To pad up this civilian gear I'd recommend bone gauntlets and greaves and leather high boots, as well as leather dresses or robes, trousers, hoods, and mittens.

Also, Crossbows are a better pick for civilian dwarves, as untrained axedwarves even in large numbers will always (>90% of the time) get ripped apart in close combat by a competent opponent but untrained marksdwarves can, if in large enough numbers (i.e. your whole civilian population), severely incapacitate foes before they get into melee range, without suffering casualties. Plus, crossbows are cheaper to make than battleaxes, and are best when made out of cheap old copper rather than your finest steel (higher weight for use as blunt impact weapon). Don't assign squads more than 250 bolts of ammunition, as max squad size is 10 and max quiver capacity is 25, so assigning more bolts just prevents other squads from using them even though the current squad can't either.

If you have surplus weapons I'd recommend giving dwarves "individual choice, melee" as well, on top of crossbows in the uniform list. This will make them drill with their melee weapon when you send them for combat training and have it equipped in their primary hand with the crossbow as their secondary. They will still fire the crossbow, but this way they'll actually use the melee weapon as well. Using individual choice, melee rather than a specific melee weapon gives a greater likelihood of a good mix of damage types among your civilians, which means they won't all be entirely useless against any foe. Battle axes are good all-rounders (and the most likely to be randomly selected by dwarves due to their high price tag) but are outperformed by the other weapons in certain situations, so it is good to have the mix.

And you can set priority of uniform assignments in the military screen, in the (e)quip screen. This lets you re-order squads for the purposes of uniforms, first assignments->last assignments, but you may still want to create empty squads as placeholders (no need to put any dwarves in them though!). The default uniform priorities are based off the order in which the SQUADS were created. The main reason you may want to create placeholders though is that there's no way to change the order of the squads in the (s)quad menu (where you give kill and move orders), so it's usually nice to have your dedicated military at the top of the list.

Oh and last thing: if you want to put miners, hunters, or woodcutters in a squad for admin purposes, give that squad no uniform, and in the (s)chedule military screen make it so that they don't wear a uniform when off duty. This way there will never be clashes, even when you give them squad orders, and they will still do individual drills with their profession's weapon.

Just my two cents from experience with all military forts. Hope that helps

upvote

....annnd right here is where the op moved the thread to the grown-up's table.

There was a mod for realistic farming in 34.11.  I have no idea if it has been updated for 40.24

Quote from: Loud Whispers on August 18, 2015, 04:43:30 pm

Can they reach your depot? Have you offended any deities?

They can, I had a couple of caravanes coming and leaving without problems before.

Things change though, usually it's trees spawning and blocking a key ramp or passage.  Theres a key that highlights the path to the depot.