Editing Workshop design

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Most [[workshop]]s in the game are represented by 9 squares in a 3 by 3 square pattern. Some are 5 by 5 ([[Siege workshop]] and [[Vermin catcher's shop]]), or 1 by 1 ([[Quern]], [[Screw press]], and [[Millstone]]). Getting a proper workflow is very important to the success and [[wealth]] of your fortress.

Laying out your workshops in the most efficient way possible is quite a scientific discipline. There are several points that should be considered.

Keeping workshops of a specific industry together is a great way to see if you need more workers creating [[alcohol|booze]] or making [[leather]] [[trade good|toys]]. If you have all of the [[food]]-related workshops in a single [[room]], you can tell with a glance that your [[cook]]s are slacking off.

Just as you want your [[loom]]s close to your [[clothier's shop]]s, and your [[tanner's shop]] next to your [[butcher's shop]], you will want logical stockpiles close to your workshops.

When a dwarf claims a workshop for their very own, there is a 50/50 chance of the artifact they're about to make being really awesome. They could make an artifact [[throne]] out of three lumps of [[bituminous coal]], and it will be worth a whopping 4800 [[currency|dwarf bucks]]. However, if you forbid every [[stone]] in your fortress, except for the natural [[platinum]], they'll make you something very near a six-figure artifact.

There are a few ways to control what they choose - a start is to have the workshop that they claimed be in a room that is only reachable through a [[door]]. As soon as they claim it, lock the door so that they'll just sit there, yelling out the things they need. Now you can go on making only the items available that you want them to use (usually the most expensive). You can forbid unwanted items both from the stocks (may require highest precision achieved by your bookkeeper, especially for stones) or ''after'' they have collected them (will retask search for that item), dump items inside the workshop or near the door (the latter won't work if they have a preference). If you use mass-forbid, take good care to allow everything after the artifact is finished!

An alternative solution is to build an '''Artifact Construction Complex''', containing every mood-able workshop and small stockpiles of the most precious types of ore, metal bars, gems, etc. When not in use, the ACC should be either locked, or everything in it forbidden (including workshops). Forbidding is better, because in this case these workshops won't receive orders from your [[manager]]. You can also deal with it by filling the workshops' job queues with 10 suspended jobs. Once the dwarf is struck by the mood, the ACC is opened, and all claimable workshops not belonging to the ACC are forbidden. This way, the normal operation of the workshops is disrupted only for the time needed for the moody dwarf to claim a workshop, instead of all artifact construction time in the first method. Furthermore, only one type of workshop is nonoperational, instead of all workshops that use forbidden materials.

When the very worst happens and your triple-[[legendary]] dwarf fails their strange [[mood]] and goes on [[Fun|a rampage, destroying the faces of all the pets and dwarves around them]], it's good to be prepared. The easiest form of protection is a simple door on the room the workshop is in, locked for the few months it takes for them to die of [[thirst]]. You can spend the time waiting for them to die by getting their [[coffin]] made and situated. Putting [[trap|cage and weapon traps]] around the common [[stair]]s is always a good idea, for both tantrummers and possible [[Fun#Ambush|invasions]].

In very resource-heavy maps, 10-12 [[smelter]]s may be necessary to keep up with mining operations. The stairways lead down into a high Z-level mining operation (keeps the [[noise]] away from the bedrooms, too), with additional [[bar]] storage 1-2 levels below.  One or more [[magma forge]]s would be down the hall from the bar stockpiles.