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Labor
 | This article was migrated from DF2014:Labor and may be inaccurate for the current version of DF (v50.15). See this page for more information. |
v50.15 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF.Note that some content may still need to be updated. |
Labor is how jobs get done in a fortress and which labors are enabled for a dwarf determines which jobs they can perform. The skill level and attributes of an individual determine how effectively they perform a job, and a dwarf's overall skill levels determine which profession the game assigns to them.
The sprites of the dwarves, humans, elves and others will represent the profession they are assigned. For example, a woodcutter dwarf will appear as someone constantly carrying an axe, and a miner will appear as someone always carrying a pickaxe.
Introduction to labor
- Your dwarves function as semi-autonomous entities, usually fulfilling their own basic needs, and sometimes performing jobs when able.
- Most jobs correspond to a labor which a dwarf must have enabled to perform.
- Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called work details.
- Jobs, the specific tasks to be completed, are created in various ways, including designations, zones, workshop tasks, and manager work orders, and once created, an idle dwarf with that labor enabled will be assigned the job.
- As dwarves perform jobs, their skill in those areas increase. (The terms labor and skill are not synonyms. Skill is a measure of proficiency for a given labor, while a labor is the ability to do the work.)
- Some skills don't correspond to jobs, like social skills and miscellaneous abilities like swimming.
The Labor menu tab is accessed with y or the fourth menu button at the bottom-left of the main interface. It contains four sub-tabs; Work details, Standing orders, Kitchen, and Stone use.
Work details
The Work details tab lists the current sets of labors and who is allowed to do them. The work details are listed on the left side of the screen, selecting one shows a list of all labor assignable citizens in your fortress on the right. Each line shows the citizen's name, profession, applicable skill levels for this detail, specialization button, assigned details, and finally a check mark for this selected work detail.
Above the list, each work detail has a setting controlling how it is assigned to citizens:
- When "Only selected do this" is selected, the work detail will be assigned to any citizen with a check in the rightmost box on their line.
- With "Everybody does this" selected, all citizens in the fortress will have permission to do the work detail's labors. (Any checked boxes will be grey, showing that they are not currently used, but that they would be if the detail were set to "Only select do this".)
- When "Nobody does this" is selected, all citizens in the fortress will be banned from doing the work detail's labors. This does not override permission given by other works details. Any check marks/permissions set up before selecting "Nobody does this" will go red, showing that they are paused and they will be restored if you go back to "Only selected do this".
Additionally, each citizen has the option to be specialized, this is shown by the hammer and lock icon just to the right of their name (It can also be viewed and interacted with from the u Citizens menu). When this setting is on, the citizen will ignore any "Everybody does this" work detail.
Labors not assigned to any work detail are treated as "Everybody does this".[Verify]
Default work details
By default, the work details, and the labors associated with them, are as follows[1]
| Miners† | |
| Woodcutters† | |
| Hunters† | |
| Planters | |
| Fisherdwarves | |
| Plant gatherers | |
| Stonecutters | |
| Engravers | |
| Haulers |
|
| Orderlies |
† The Mining, Woodcutting, and Hunting labors are only accessible from these default work details.
Custom work details
If you would like more control or information for labor assignments, Dwarf Therapist and/or DFHack can help, when available.
Additional work details can be defined. Click "Add new work detail", select which labors will be associated with it, and then click done. You can then rename the new work detail.
There is currently no way to choose the work detail's icon, so you are stuck with what the game chooses. The roman numerals are in the file Dwarf Fortress\data\vanilla\vanilla_interface\graphics\images\interface_bits_labor.png and can be changed, but will still be used in order.
Standing orders
Kitchen
This tab lists all item types currently within the fortress that can be used for either cooking or brewing. It is separated into four tabs:
- Vegetables, fruit, and leaves
- Seeds
- Drinks
- Meat, fish, and others.
On each tab, the items are listed in the left most column (Ingredient Type). The second column (Number) lists the number of each ingredient currently possessed. The last column (Permissions) is subdivided into two additional columns, cooking and brewing. This is the most important part, as it shows you whether dwarves are currently allowed to use the ingredient for the given task. Possible values are:
Indicators need updating and use different colors between graphics and text UIs.
- Cook or Brew - This item could be used for the task, but is currently disallowed.
- Cook or Brew - This item is able to be used for the task, and dwarves have permission to do so.
- ---- - This indicates that the given item cannot be used in this way. For example, Deer meat cannot be brewed (Any alcohol can be cooked).
Note that when a new food is obtained, the default is Cook and Brew. This includes recently butchered animals, foodstuffs gained from trading, first crops from seeds, and plants gathered from the wild. Item types for which all items have been designated as forbidden will not be listed on this menu.
Cooking permission is also used/needed for cheesemaking from milk items[Verify]
Stone use
The stone use tab is separated into two tabs, Economic Stone and Other Stone. Economic Stone lists all economic stone (stones that have a value and purpose besides masonry) that can exist in the game. As an example, chalk can be used in the process of creating steel. Other Stone lists all non-economic stone.
Both tabs allows you to control what stone is used for menial purposes (masonry, building construction, walls, etc.). By default all economic stone, except layer stones present on the map, is disallowed and all other stone is allowed.
The Economic Stone tab also provides a full list of each economic stone's uses and if it is magma-safe or not.
Tool requirements
For a few specific jobs, a matching tool is also required for a dwarf to obey the job assignment. Any active miner needs a pick, any active wood cutter needs a battle axe, and any active hunter needs a crossbow (with quiver and bolts). If a labor needs a tool, the labor is considered exclusive such that you can only assign one of the three labors listed to any single dwarf at any one time.
This means that a dwarf cannot be, for instance, a Miner and a Hunter simultaneously, since both labors require a tool. If a dwarf is assigned a tool-labor and another tool-labor was previously assigned to said dwarf, the (old) tool-labor is automatically and silently unassigned, and that tool is immediately dropped where they stand at the 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.
To be used, a tool cannot be forbidden, nor in possession of another dwarf (even one that does not currently have a job), and a path must be available from the dwarf to that type of tool. If a tool is not available, the dwarf will typically attempt to fulfil other needs. It is possible, by using locked doors etc. to limit the paths, to force a specific tool to be assigned to a dwarf, but otherwise the tool will be randomly assigned, sometimes involving a dwarf walking long distances and past perfectly useful tools to find the one they think they want.
Facility requirements
Many jobs require a workshop or some other facility in order to be completed. Jobs are designated by way of the workshop, and any dwarf with the corresponding labor associated with the workshop will go to the shop, provided they are not eating, sleeping, drinking, etc..., and begin to complete the task. Most workshop jobs also require some raw materials in order to complete the production.
Managing labor and demand
This can be done from the labor menu y under the work details tab.
- You can view a list of all current, queued, and suspended jobs, as well as which dwarves are doing them, on the tasks menu.
- A manager is incredibly useful for managing production jobs (workshop based). They can queue up a significant list of jobs without the need to select the various workshops, and place orders in bulk (or to be repeated). That said, there are some caveats, the most important being that queued jobs must be done in the correct order of materials required, or the orders will auto cancel. Also, you should not assign your manager to labors that are in high demand, as this will keep them from going to their office to place the orders.
- Migrating dwarves will typically arrive with certain work details already assigned. You will likely want to change these to put them to work in a way that best suits your fortress.
Advanced labor management and design
Managing your dwarves can be a tricky business. If the in-game labor menu is not to your liking, Dwarf Therapist or DFHack are both useful tools that assist you in managing your labors.
As your fortress grows, so will your labor pool, and the way you assign that labor will change over time. Typically at embark, you will have at least one Miner, a Wood cutter, Farmer, Carpenter, Mason/Stonecrafter, Cook/Brewer, Mechanic/Architect, one of which will also be a Broker/Appraiser. There are multiple combinations but this is typical (see Embark and Starting build). Early on, you will probably want to focus on fortress design and development, such that you will place priority on mining and masonry, supplemented by carpentry.
In order to maximize the benefit of highly skilled labor, you will eventually want to specialize your labor, such that each dwarf has a very limited number of labors assigned. Keep in mind however, that some dwarves experience minor negative feelings at not being able to perform a craft or a martial art for too long.
Hauling: Nothing can bog down your production like the distraction of hauling jobs. Losing your fort to a siege is fun, but losing because all your skilled laborers spend all their time hauling stuff is no fun. One solution is to use dedicated haulers. The migrants who appear having no skilled labor, and whose attributes pretty much suck all around, aka peasants, are best used as dedicated haulers.
Labor, skill, and product quality
The amount of experience a dwarf has with a certain labor will determine how well they go about performing this labor; the more experience, the greater the skill. Certain job types can be completed more quickly, based on the skill in the labor. There are exceptions, such as nursing and hauling which will never be completed more quickly, regardless of skill.
Certain labors will produce products that have a quality tag, typically those associated with the production of an item from a workshop. The table below lists in which labors the dwarf's experience will impact the quality of produced items and in which labors a higher experience will only be beneficial for the speed of production.
- Many labors, most notably hauling, have no associated skill, do not generate experience, and do not improve with practice.
Strange moods
A dwarf under a strange mood will perform a specific task to create an artifact that is outside of the player's control. Until they complete the task, both they and the workshop they claim will be unavailable for any labor. If the dwarf cannot complete the artifact, they will go insane and be permanently unable to perform any labor.
"Labor" in other Languages 
|
List of labors
| Category | Labors | Benefits of higher skill |
|---|---|---|
| Mining | speed only | |
| Woodworker | speed; item and furniture quality | |
| speed; weapon quality | ||
| speed only | ||
| Stoneworking | speed only | |
| speed; items and furniture quality | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed; engraving quality | ||
| Hunting/Related | speed; training quality | |
| none (not implemented) | ||
| success rate tends to rise from increasing ambusher and marksdwarf skills | ||
| success rate? trap quality?[Verify] | ||
| speed only | ||
| Healthcare (Medical) | speed; success chance, accuracy (and speed) of treatment | |
| Healthcare (Nursing) | none | |
| Farming/Related | speed only | |
| speed only | ||
| speed; crop yield (stack size) | ||
| speed; dye quality | ||
| less likely to be injured | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed; success and plant yield (stack size) | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed; meal and ingredient quality | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed only[Verify] | ||
| Fishing/Related | speed; fish stack size | |
| speed only | ||
| speed only | ||
| Metalsmithing | speed only | |
| speed; weapon quality | ||
| speed; armor quality | ||
| speed; item and furniture quality | ||
| speed; craft, item, decoration, designed building quality | ||
| Jewelry | speed; gem craft quality | |
| speed; decoration quality | ||
| Crafts | ? | |
| ? | ||
| speed; clothing, decoration, craft quality | ||
| speed; craft quality | ||
| speed; craft quality | ||
| speed; craft, decoration quality | ||
| speed; craft, item, furniture quality | ||
| speed; cloth quality | ||
| speed; clothing, decoration quality | ||
| speed only | ||
| speed; craft, item, furniture quality | ||
| speed; glaze quality | ||
| speed; craft quality | ||
| Engineering | speed; part, ammunition quality | |
| speed; accuracy | ||
| speed; mechanism, furniture quality | ||
| none | ||
| Hauling |
|
none |
| Other Jobs | none | |
| none | ||
|
none | |
|
none |
Some jobs are not associated with a labor: eating, drinking, sleeping, going on break, partying, cleaning themselves, and resting.
A few things are listed as "No Job" but can be considered labors in a different sense: running scared, not having a path to any place useful, and being insane.