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Author Topic: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions  (Read 90745 times)

Mostali

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DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« on: May 20, 2016, 01:44:14 pm »

First, there must be a noble assigned in 'n'obles to use the workshop profile.


Q:  How is this different from just assigning seven beds in the workshop?
A:  The first and probably most important difference is that you can load up a workshop with far more than ten items to create.  Another difference is that work orders themselves don't cancel until complete, which can be good or bad depending on your tolerance level for cancelation spam.  And another difference is that you will get a message on completion, which may help in reminding to build the seven beds.

Q:  Why doesn't the "at least 10 wooden pots" condition keep 10 wooden pots on hand?
A:  See the following example.  Conditions are triggers to initiate the work order.  They do not influence the subject of the work order, only whether the work order is started or not.  Consider the statement, "If there are at least ten empty large pots, then make five large pots."  This will produce no large pots when they are needed, and more when they are already in oversupply.


Q:  Is there a way to make up to a certain number of something?
A:  It does not appear so.  The "perpetual" is very similar to the standard workshop "repeat", except that cancellation of the job for whatever reason (e.g. short supply of materials) won't cancel the work order itself.  This leads to steady cancelation spam.

Q:  Is it possible to change the number created by the work order after the work order is set up?  I.e., can I change my amounts as my fortress grows?
A:  No.  You may change conditions freely, but the initial number is fixed.  You will need to make additional work orders or delete the old one and set up a new one.







« Last Edit: February 26, 2017, 11:55:26 am by Mostali »
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Mostali

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2016, 08:51:13 am »

Quick links to examples from other users
Bumber's food, drink, bones, ammo, soap, clothing, sand collection and melting WOs
A suggestion for managing sugar and flour

Question threads
Is there a way to count Quarry Bush Leaves?  suggested answer here

Open Questions
-  Is it possible to set up a chain of work orders to self-initiate?  For example, could you create work order (a) to gather 10 sand, then create work order (b) to create 10 glass blocks on completion of (a), then go back and modify (a) to initiate on completion of (b).  If this works, you would have another perpetual glass block scheme, which you could possibly inject with conditions like bags and fuel to keep it from canceling and falling apart?
-  Is there a good way to perpetually shear woolly animals?  A work order set to perpetually shear will spam cancellation once there are none left to shear.  And I can't find a condition for a shearable animal to periodically initiate a check.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2018, 01:18:35 pm by Mostali »
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Fleeting Frames

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2016, 09:06:27 pm »

For animal shearing, perhaps give the order infrequently enough that animals will have regrown their coats by the time it is given again?

Urist McShire

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2016, 10:35:52 pm »

From what I can see in the raws, it takes 300 days between shears for a sheep's wool to be long enough to be sheared. So without modding the raws shearing animals looks to fall in 10 month intervals or so. I haven't played the newest version yet with the new work order system, so I'm not sure how much that helps, however I do like your automated mead/wax industry work orders!
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Mostali

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2016, 03:02:27 pm »

Hempseed Oil Soap Chain - Makes one soap every month.

At a Wood Furnace:
    Make Ash 1/1
        Restarts if completed, conditions checked monthly.
        Amount of logs available is at least 10.
        Amount of empty buckets available is at least 1.
        Amount of empty jugs available is at least 1.
At an Ashery:
    Make Lye 1/1
        Restarts if completed, conditions checked daily.
        Amount of empty buckets available is at least 1.  (Redundant but might help prevent some spam)
        Make Ash (1) must first be completed.
At a Quern linked to the seed stockpile:
    Mill seeds/nuts to paste 1/1
        Restarts if completed, conditions checked daily.
        Make Ash (1) must first be completed.
At a Screw Press:
    Press liquid from paste 1/1
        Restarts if completed, conditions checked daily.
        Mill seeds/nuts to paste (1) must first be completed.
At a Soap Maker's Workshop:
    Make soap from oil 1/1
        Restarts if completed, conditions checked daily.
        Make Lye (1) must first be completed.
        Press liquid from paste (1) must first be completed.

The entire chain ran in about two weeks.   Could replace hemp with rocknut, et al.  Numbers can of course be adjusted to needs, though any more frequently or much higher volume may cause back-ups.  I've never had a fortress use soap very quickly anyway, so I assume 12 a year will create plenty of extra.

Also, I didn't use stockpiles for any of the intermediate items, since I'm afraid a TSK hang-up would create cancelations.  In particular, that means keeping oil and lye out of other food stockpiles.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2016, 03:12:30 pm by Mostali »
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SatelliteOfLove

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2016, 10:24:55 pm »

This is just the thread I was looking for!  Having some shared "recipes" is bound to be useful.  For instance, automating your clothing industry would ensure that you never have unhappy naked dwarves or vast piles of unused clothing.

Thank you for explaining how the inequality works.
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Mostali

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2016, 12:10:03 pm »

This is just the thread I was looking for!  Having some shared "recipes" is bound to be useful.  For instance, automating your clothing industry would ensure that you never have unhappy naked dwarves or vast piles of unused clothing.

Thank you for explaining how the inequality works.

Well thanks!  I wasn't sure if this stuff was too obvious to be useful or if players are waiting for mods to update.

I was thinking another useful topic would be a list of "risk-free" or relatively risk-free automatable work orders.  For example, Totems.  According to the wiki skulls are a possible mood material, but it seems rare enough to consider skulls not useful for anything but totems.

So, I have:

Skulls -> Totems.  Maybe keep a few on-hand just in case.
Horn/ivory/tooth/pearl - > Crafts.
Quarry Bush -> Quarry Bush leaves.  Though this might use bags needed elsewhere, it's usually the opposite for me.
Slurry -> Sheets.
Sheets -> Scrolls/Quires.  This one is debatable since there are other materials involved.  But they could be used as the control.
Hair -> Thread.
Melting/smelting @ magma smelter.
The entire beekeeping industry.
Ash-> Lye, if you're not using potash.
Dyeing cloth/thread.

What have I missed?
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Mostali

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2016, 10:17:00 am »

My original question for starting this thread was: When does a "checking monthly" work order actually check?  Well I have some data on one work order that helps answer it, but not conclusively.  The work order is to produce battle axes at a forge.

15 Obs 251 - Work order created
4 Gra 252 - completed (Dwarf was in military training in month of Obs)
20 Gra 252 - completed - 16 days (So it didn't take one month from completion to initiate again)
28 Sla 252 - completed - 36 days
23 Fel 252 - completed - 23 days
5 Mal 252 - completed - 38 days (This delay I don't understand, but I may have temporarily run out of steel)
28 Mal 252 - completed - 23 days
7 Lim 252 - completed - 35 days (training in Gal)
27 Lim 252 - completed - 20 days
26 San 252 - completed - 27 days
26 Tim 252 - completed - 28 days
3 Opa 252 - completed - 33 days
5 Gra 253 - completed - 30 days (training in Obs)
9 Gra 253 - completed - 4 days (I may have moved the workshop and recreated the work order.)
9 Sla 253 - completed - 28 days
13 Fel 253 - completed - 32 days
11 Hem 253 - completed - 26 days
17 Mal 253 - completed - 34 days
7 Lim 253 - completed - 46 days (training in Gal)
18 Lim 253 - completed - 11 days
14 San 253 - completed - 24 days

The data isn't perfect, mostly because I didn't set out to record it.  I just happen to notice that my announcements page hadn't cleared in several years so I gathered what I could.  Also somewhere along the way my population surpassed 20, and from then on there may have been delays based on whether the manager was busy or not.  It's not quite clear.  It is clear that "monthly" timer doesn't start on completion.  My hypothesis is that the "check" becomes eligible on creation day, modified by the manager somehow.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2016, 10:27:59 am by Mostali »
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Mostali

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2016, 06:18:15 pm »

I cleaned up the front page and added a hemp -> sheets/thread example that I use.

I tried an experiment with some success but mostly failure.  The motivation is to prevent skill rust/skill up my tailor while not drowning the fortress in clothes.  I tried to set up a chain of five clothing types to manufacture one item in the chain each month in a loop.  In short, the loop worked great but they all completed in a single month.

Here are the orders:
Make cloth robe (1) - monthly - Make cloth hood (1) must first be completed.
Make cloth dress (1) - monthly - Make cloth robe (1) must first be completed.
Make cloth cloak (1) - monthly - Make cloth dress (1) must first be completed.
Make cloth cap (1) - monthly - Make cloth cloak (1) must first be completed.
Make cloth hood (1) - monthly - Make cloth cap (1) must first be completed.

I didn't use material requirements because at this point in my fortress I have tons of cloth.  The first month went great, only a robe was made.  The next month all five items, dress thru robe, got produced within three weeks.  I'm stumped, suggestions would be awesome.
   
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Kogan Onulsodel

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2016, 10:42:41 pm »

Not quite the same, but you could just check seasonally to make it less frequent
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Fleeting Frames

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #10 on: June 02, 2016, 10:44:00 am »

Could work, though needs to remember to start it.

Another possibility is to put them at different workshops, with iterative access control to toggle access for next month, though that removes the simplicity.

ShaveDaWookie

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #11 on: June 02, 2016, 02:46:13 pm »

howdy gentlemen, quick question:

i remember in the past being able to assign work orders as, "do until you have X"

for example i want to assign a work order as, make charcoal until you have 10, then stop until some i used.

i remember being able to do this but forgot how, any thoughts?
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Tryss

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #12 on: June 02, 2016, 03:19:56 pm »

You probably used workflow, a DFHack plugin.

In this thread, it's about the new addition of a similar mecanism in the base game. It's a very recent addition (less than a month ago), so it's impossible you used this "in the past"
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ShaveDaWookie

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #13 on: June 02, 2016, 03:37:16 pm »

my bad, thanks!
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Bumber

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Re: DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions
« Reply #14 on: June 07, 2016, 07:24:24 am »

Here are the ones I use:
Spoiler: Lots of text: (click to show/hide)

Code: (Legend) [Select]
< is "Less than"
<= is "At most"
> is "Greater than"
>= is "At least"
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« Last Edit: March 25, 2021, 09:56:01 pm by Bumber »
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