40d:Mandate

A mandate is a noble's request that your dwarves produce a certain item or type of item. Starting nobles such as the expedition leader will not make mandates, upgraded nobles like the mayor will.

There are two types of mandates, production mandates and export bans. Export bans forbid the export of some goods, and can be for either goods of a certain type, like chain mail, or goods of a certain material, like copper items.

Violating an export ban by trading any of the item away is a crime for each of the haulers who brought a prohibited item (that was sold) to the trade depot. While selecting goods to be brought to the depot, you can select "culling on mandates" so that the item list won't include objects you can't export due to a mandate. Items that are subject to export bans are displayed in purple text in the trade window.

When a noble makes a production mandate, you will have about a year to fulfill it. These mandates for the production of goods, and can specify type or material, just like export bans. Note that a single mug is counted as 1 item although 3 are produced from one raw material, so if you are short of the mandated material producing mugs is favorable. Purchasing the required items at a trade caravan will not fulfill a mandate. Making metal items includes smelting ore to create metal bars of that type (notable for metals that has brittle tag on it and can't be made into anything: pig iron and bismuth. If you are on a map without flux and they are requesting pig iron products, the recommended procedure is to wait until the noble enters their room, lock the door, and fill it with water).

Mandates are announced at the bottom of the screen, but if you miss the message, you can see if a noble is mandating anything on the noble's screen. If the uppercase bracketed word '[MANDATE]' next to a noble's name is grey, he is making no mandates. If brown, he is making a production mandate, and you have a lot of time to complete it. If yellow, you have a couple seasons before the mandate expires. If red, the mandate will expire very soon. If white, then it is an export ban.

If a production mandate expires without being fulfilled, the noble will get an unhappy thought, and one or more dwarves will be sentenced to punishment for the 'violation of production order' crime. The dwarf chosen tends to have a skill appropriate to the mandate, but random dwarves may be chosen as well. If the noble can't sentence any dwarves for punishment because of noble or legendary status, or the sentenced dwarves can't be punished because no officer is assigned, he will get another unhappy thought.

Fulfilling the mandate gives the noble a happy thought.

Mandates should not be confused with demands.

Higher ranking nobility can make multiple mandates at once. The count and count consort can each have two mandates active at once, and a duke and Consort even three, while a baron, baron consort, dungeon master, and hammerer can each only have one mandate active at a time.