v0.31:Manager

xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼

v50.14 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

Manager

Room requirements
Office	Meager Office
Quarters	None
Dining room	None
Tomb	None
Furniture requirements
Chests	None
Cabinets	None
Weapon racks	None
Armor stands	None
Other
Mandates	None
Demands	None
Arrival conditions
Appointed on the nobles screen.
Function
Allows large production orders. Allows workshop profiles to be set.

The manager is a noble that allows you to create multiple production orders. Using a manager allows you to rapidly dispatch any number of jobs from a single screen, without having to add tasks to individual workshops. The manager also lets you setup profiles for workshops.

Relevant Skills

There is a certain set of Skills that are relevant for a Manager, there are also certain Personality Traits that influence if experience is gained in the skill whatsoever, furthermore there are Soul Attributes that affect the Skills and other Skills that affect the same Attributes Cross Training, the ones relevant for a Manager are as follow:

Skill (relevant for Manager)		Personality Trait (needed to gain Social Skill)		Attribute (affected by Social Skill)
				Body	Soul
Administrator	Organizer				Analytical Ability
					Creativity
					Social Awareness
Social - Other	Consoler	Straightforwardness	> 39		Linguistic Ability
					Empathy
					Social Awareness
	Pacifier	Cooperation	> 39		Linguistic Ability
					Empathy
					Social Awareness

The better match with the table Skills, Traits and Attributes the better Manager the Dwarf will be, try to avoid Traits that halt experience gain for a relevant Skill, otherwise time will be lost training a Dwarf that will never get better at that Skill.

Office

A manager only performs his duties in his office, so it is absolutely necessary to assign one. Since only a meager office is required, a single chair in your dining room will suffice until you can arrange for a more permament, dedicated location.

To set up a dwarf to be the manager and give him an office:

1. Hit n to enter the Nobles screen
2. Select Manager and hit Enter. Assign a dwarf to be the manager. If nobody is particularly suited to the job, picking the Expedition Leader is a reasonable choice.
3. Build a Chair somewhere or locate an existing chair.
4. Use the q command and place the cursor on the chair. Select the option to make the area into an Office and assign your manager as the owner of the office.

At this point the red stuff under "Manager" should have disappeared from the nobles screen and you should be able to queue up work orders.

Work orders

Creating a work order works like this:

1. Hit j-m or u-m to enter the Manager screen.
2. Press q to create a new work order
3. Start typing (part of) the name of the item you want to produce. This will cause menu options that don't match the string you type to disappear from the menu.
4. Use the directional keys to select the specific type item you want.
5. Enter the quantity of items you want to produce. The maximum quantity is 30. To make more items than that you'll need to create another work order.
6. You work order will appear in the list. You can remove it or raise its priority.

If you have more than 20 dwarves total then the manager will need to go to his office to "validate" each work order before it is acted on. If your manager is somehow occupied with other things then this might take a while, so in larger forts you might want to make sure your manager is not overly burdened with other labors. (For example, disabling hauling and cleaning for the manager might be a good idea.) The manager will also not perform his or her duties if on break, drinking, attending a party, asleep or otherwise incapacitated (perhaps due to wounds).

To see if an order is approved, you can check the manager screen — approved orders will have a green checkmark, while unapproved orders will have a red X. Job orders will remain enqueued until the manager is once again in his (or her) office.

After a production order is approved, corresponding tasks will be automatically added to applicable workshops until the production quota has been met. It is useful to note that managers will not allow more than 30 tasks per work order. However, multiple work orders for the same items can be requested separately with a few keystrokes.

You will receive an announcement when each order is completed.

Setting workshop profiles

The manager also allows you to change a workshop's "profile". To edit a workshop's profile, select a workshop with q and press P.

The workshop profile will allow you to select which dwarves can use it and the minimum and maximum skill level required to use the workshop. You can choose who specifically can use the workshop by pressing enter on their name to permit/forbid their use of the workshop.

A note of caution: workshop profiles persist^v0.31.12 even if the manager is killed, which can lead to workshops becoming unusable if the manager is killed and the dwarves permitted into the workshop die or are reassigned.

Disadvantages

A disadvantage of overusing the manager menu is that the jobs requested will be fulfilled mostly in the order they were requested. This means that if you choose to make 30 barrels and 30 bins, you may not get those bins until ALL of the barrels are done. Additionally, should you suddenly want to build something else at your carpenter's workshop, you may need to cancel or suspend the existing tasks. These problems are avoidable as long as the manager is not used too heavily, and if you give production orders of relatively small amounts.

A useful trick to quickly clear the queue of a workshop is to slate the workshop for removal and then cancel this action.

A second disadvantage is that if there is more than one workshop which can fulfill a particular job set (such as several ordinary glass furnaces dedicated to sand collection, plus several magma glass furnaces for actual glass production) then the manager will distribute the jobs amongst all those workshops, even if you want the different workshops to be dedicated to different tasks. A workaround for this is to fill a workshop with suspended tasks to prevent it from accepting manager orders.

V · T · E Nobles
Appointed Nobles	Arsenal dwarf • Bookkeeper • Broker • Chief medical dwarf • Manager
Military Ranks	Militia captain • Militia commander • Sheriff • Captain of the guard
Elected Nobles	Champion • Expedition leader • Mayor
Aristocrats	Baron • Count • Duke • Monarch
Entourage	Tax collector • Hammerer • Dungeon master
Other	Captain • Diplomat • General • Lieutenant • Outpost liaison