v0.31:Labor

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v50.15 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

A dwarf's labor preferences define the tasks/jobs that he or she is allowed to do, whether it is food hauling, mining, hunting, or any of dozens of other tasks. For instance, only a dwarf with the wood cutting labor enabled will cut down trees whenever trees are designated to be cut.

Note that a labor is not a "job", nor a "skill". A job is the actual task of doing something, and a skill is the experience that determines how fast a job gets done, and/or the quality of any finished product (specifics vary with skill/job), while a labor preference simply designates whether a dwarf is allowed do that sort of job or not. You can view a list of all current, queued, and suspended jobs on the jobs menu. A list of what job each dwarf is currently performing is visible on the units menu.

Once designated as a labor preference, a single skill can possibly be applied to many different jobs. For instance, a dwarf with the bone carving labor designated might carve a totem out of a skull, craft bone practice bolts for a crossbow, create bone armor, or carve bone crafts to trade. Each of these is a different possible job allowed by designating the associated labor, which in each of these cases is governed by the "bone carving" skill.

Note that many labor preferences, especially hauling, have no associated skill, do not generate experience, and do not improve with practice.

The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors require the dwarf to either pick up and wield a pick, battle axe, or crossbow. For this reason, a dwarf cannot be assigned to any combination of mining, wood cutting, or hunting at the same time. Additionally, the assignment of these tools overrides any uniform assigned to a dwarf's squad, so military dwarves should never be assigned any of the aforementioned labors.

Viewing labors

To change a dwarf's labor preferences, access the labor screen by viewing the dwarf, then select preferences and labor. Use + and - to move the cursor up and down to hilight different categories or skills to enable or disable.

Using u can help you locate dwarves. Select a dwarf, hit c for "zoom to creature" and you'll automatically be placed in view mode on that dwarf. Use p-l to get to the labor configuration menu.

Labors are divided into skill trees - for instance, accessing metalsmithing allows you to enable various jobs that are related to working with metal, such as weaponsmithing and armorsmithing etc.

A category is dark gray if there are no labors under it enabled, light gray if there are some jobs enabled, and white if all jobs are enabled. (These distinctions can sometimes be very hard to tell apart in the default color scheme.)

Dwarf Therapist: You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. If you are using a supported operating system, the utility Dwarf Therapist can make this a million times easier.

Category	Labors
Mining	Mining
Woodworker	Carpentry Crossbow-making Wood cutting
Stoneworking	Masonry Stone detailing
Hunting/Related	Animal training Animal care Hunting Trapping Small animal dissection
Healthcare	Diagnosis Surgery Setting bones Suturing Dressing wounds Feed patients/prisoners Recovering wounded
Farming/Related	Butchery Tanning Farming (fields) Dyeing Soap making Wood burning Potash making Lye making Milling Brewing Plant gathering Plant processing Cheese making Milking Shearing Spinning Cooking Pressing Beekeeping
Fishing/Related	Fishing Fish cleaning Fish dissection
Metalsmithing	Furnace operating Weaponsmithing Armoring Blacksmithing Metalcrafting
Jewelry	Gem cutting Gem setting
Crafts	Leatherworking Woodcrafting Stonecrafting Bone carving Glassmaking Weaving Clothesmaking Strand extraction Pottery Glazing Wax working
Engineering	Siege engineering Siege operating Mechanics Pump operating
Other Jobs	Architecture Alchemy Cleaning