Labor

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

v50.12 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

"To get a job done, a dwarf has to do it." - Boss Urist McOverstates-the-obvious

Introduction to labor

At the most basic level, labor is how you get things done. When you want your dwarf to do a job of work you must assign that dwarf to a "labor" type that corresponds with the job. You, as the fortress overseer, create jobs to be done by designating them, and the dwarves who have been assigned the corresponding labor type appropriate to the job will complete the job. Your dwarves function as semi-autonomous entities, fulfilling their own basic needs as they see fit, while also meeting the demand of work to be done when time and conditions allow. Assigning specific labors to your dwarves tells them what type of work you want them to do. A labor "preference" simply designates whether a dwarf is allowed to do a particular job or not. Multiple labors can be assigned to a single dwarf, (unless they are exclusive - see below) but specialization within a category is usually best as this will result in highly skilled (faster/ higher quality) labor.

Basic terminology

• Labor: the ability to complete a job specific to a given type of work, which must be assigned individually to each dwarf.
• Preference: a somewhat ambiguous term associated with the process of assigning a labor to a dwarf. Dwarves do not merely prefer assigned labors over unassigned labors; instead, they will completely refuse to do unassigned labors.
• Skill: the level of proficiency a dwarf has when performing a specific labor. Skill increases with experience in completing the work. (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.)
• Profession: Each dwarf is assigned a professional title, which is determined from the dwarf's assigned / preferred labors that has the highest skill level.
• Job: a specific task or work order queued to be completed, which can only be completed by a dwarf assigned to the labor that corresponds to the job. Typically there are multiple jobs that can be completed by a specific labor.

• Additionally, basic needs also appear as jobs, such as eating, sleeping, drinking, etc.. These are not assigned, but are created automatically as needed.

• Social Skill: Social skills are not labors, in that no work is performed using them, but they are similar in that they are unique abilities which will increase in competency the more they are used.
• Miscellaneous Abilities: are similar to labors and social skills, but again are not used in the performance of work. An example is swimming.

Assigning labors

There are several steps required to assign a particular labor to a dwarf. For an example, let's say you have designated a section of underground rock to be mined in order to make a tunnel for your fortress. This designation of work is a "job", and will now appear in your j job's menu as "dig". In order for a dwarf to complete the job, you must assign a dwarf the mining labor. This can be done as follows:

1. From the main map screen, select the unit list menu, u, which will list all your dwarves and show their current activity.
   • Alternatively, you can use the view menu.
2. From the unit list menu, arrow scroll down to select the dwarf whom you want to assign a labor to then select z to zoom to their location. Your view will change to the main map, and the dwarf you have chosen should be flashing on and off. In the task window on the right you will see information about the selected dwarf, in the Dwarf Details menu.
   • The default view for the selected dwarf in the Dwarf Details menu is 'general' g, which will list the dwarf's nickname or first name, dwarvish last name, and profession, followed below by their nickname or first name and last name as it reads in English, and their noble title if they are a noble. This is followed by a list that shows the current job (or lack thereof) in blue text, combat role c, labors b, and miscellaneous social skills and abilities m. To see only the current labors, turn the combat c and miscellaneous m sections off.
3. From the Dwarf Details screen, select p for preference, and then l for labor. This will take you to the Labor Categories screen, which categorizes the individual labor options into various categories based on similarity of work. (See Labor Categories below.)
   • Note that Mining is unique on the list, as it is the only item that is a labor in its own right, and not a category of several labors.
4. Scroll through the list using the + or - keys, select a category, and scroll through the individual labor list, and once you have the desired labor selected, press Enter. For this example, since Mining is a labor and not a category you need only select Mining from the category menu.
5. Exiting: To return to the Dwarf Details screen, select preference p then general g, and you should see the new assigned labor in the list. You can also exit directly to the main screen by selecting Esc.
   
   • Note that changes in labors will not always take effect immediately, if a labor, say Mining, is deselected on a dwarf who is performing the job, they will first finish mining the current tile and then stop mining.

Pink-colored labor choices.

If the dwarf is undergoing military training, then activated labors will be marked in pink, denoting that a dwarf is not able to perform those labors.

Utilities

You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. If you are using a supported operating system, Dwarf Therapist and/or DFHack can make this much easier.

Note: The word "preference" can be confusing, as it suggests that a dwarf will do work associated with any labor, but will 'prefer' and prioritize work associated with labors you have assigned. This is not the case. A dwarf will only do work associated with assigned preferred labors, so it is not a preference, but in fact functions as a switch to enable or disable the labor. (Prioritization of work is based on several factors that are not fully understood, but are presented in micromanaging tricks.)

Once designated as a labor preference, a single labor can 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.

Labor and tool requirements

For certain jobs, such as mining in our example, a tool is also required for the job to be completed. Miners need picks, wood cutters need battle axes, and hunters need crossbows. 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. 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. 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.

Labor and 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.

Labor categories

Labor is divided into the following categories which are typically related by function or material, and for which there are multiple labors associated with each category:

• Mining:

Mining

• Woodworking:

Carpentry, Crossbow-making, Wood cutting

• Stoneworking:

Masonry, Stone detailing

• Hunting/Related:

Animal care*, Animal training, Hunting, Small animal dissection*, Trapping*

• Healthcare:

Diagnosis, Dressing wounds, Feed Patients/Prisoners, Recovering Wounded, Setting bones, Surgery, Suturing

• Farming/Related:

Beekeeping, Brewing, Butchery, Cheese making, Cooking, Dyeing, Farming (Fields), Gelding, Lye Making, Milking, Milling, Plant Gathering, Plant Processing, Potash Making, Pressing, Shearing, Soap making, Spinning, Tanning, Wood Burning

• Fishing/Related:

Fishing, Fish cleaning, Fish dissection

• Metalsmithing:

Armoring, Blacksmithing, Furnace operating, Metalcrafting, Weaponsmithing

• Jewelry:

Gem cutting, Gem setting

• Crafts:

Book Binding, Bone Carving, Clothesmaking, Glassmaking, Glazing, Leatherworking, Papermaking, Pottery, Stonecrafting, Strand Extraction, Wax Working, Weaving, Woodcrafting

• Engineering:

Mechanic, Pump operating, Siege engineer, Siege operator

• Hauling:

Animal/Food/Furniture/Item/Refuse/Stone/Trade Good/Water/Wood Hauling, Burial, Push/Haul Vehicles

• Other Jobs:

Alchemy*, Architecture, Cleaning, Construction removal, Lever operation, Road building, Wall/Floor construction

* Useless / Limited Labors:

• As of 8-2014, Animal Care & Alchemy are not functioning.
• Trapping, Small Animal Dissection, and Fish Dissection have limited utility.

In the preference screen, a labor 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.)

Jobs that are not associated with a labor

• Basic Needs: 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 anyplace useful, and being insane.

Managing labor and demand

• To quickly 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 highlight different categories or skills to enable or disable. Or, use Dwarf Therapist/DFHack.
• Using u can help you quickly locate dwarves. Select a dwarf, hit z 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.
• 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.
• A manager is incredibly useful for managing production jobs (workshop based). He or she 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 a certain number of labors already active. You will probably want to change the assigned labors, as often they will not meet your demand, or may be useless based on your access to raw materials.

Advanced labor management and design

Managing your dwarves can be a tricky and time-consuming business. Many a fortress has been abandoned not because of destruction from external threat, but rather from labor management fatigue. 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.

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 he goes 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.

Category	Labors	Quality-effects?	Details
Mining	Mining	no	speed only
Woodworker	Carpentry	yes	item, furniture, and designed building quality
	Crossbow-making	yes	weapon quality
	Wood cutting	no	speed only
Stoneworking	Masonry	yes	item, furniture, and designed building quality
	Stone detailing	yes	engraving quality, speed only for smoothing and track carving
Hunting/Related	Animal training	yes	training quality
	Animal care	no	not implemented
	Hunting	no	success rate tends to rise from increasing ambusher and marksdwarf skills
	Trapping	no	success rate? trap quality?[Verify]
	Small animal dissection	no	speed only
Healthcare (Doctoral)	Diagnosis Surgery Setting bones Suturing Dressing wounds	yes	success chance, accuracy (and speed) of treatment
Healthcare (Nursing)	Feed patients/prisoners Recovering wounded	no	unskilled
Farming/Related	Butchery	no	speed only
	Tanning	no	speed only
	Farming (fields)	yes	crop yield (stack size)
	Dyeing	yes	dye quality
	Gelding	no	less likely to be injured
	Soap making	no	speed only
	Wood burning	no	speed only
	Potash making	no	speed only
	Lye making	no	speed only
	Milling	no	speed only
	Brewing	no	speed only
	Plant gathering	yes	success and plant yield (stack size)
	Plant processing	no	speed only
	Cheese making	no	speed only
	Milking	no	speed only
	Shearing	no	speed only
	Spinning	no	speed only
	Cooking	yes	meal and ingredient quality
	Pressing	no	speed only
	Beekeeping	no	speed only[Verify]
Fishing/Related	Fishing	yes	fish stack size
	Fish cleaning	no	speed only
	Fish dissection	no	speed only
Metalsmithing	Furnace operating	no	speed only
	Weaponsmithing	yes	weapon quality
	Armoring	yes	armor quality
	Blacksmithing	yes	item, furniture, designed building quality
	Metalcrafting	yes	craft, item, decoration, designed building quality
Jewelry	Gem cutting	yes	gem craft quality
	Gem setting	yes	decoration quality
Crafts	Leatherworking	yes	clothing, decoration, craft quality
	Woodcrafting	yes	craft quality
	Stonecrafting	yes	craft quality
	Bone carving	yes	craft, decoration quality
	Glassmaking	yes	craft, item, furniture quality
	Weaving	yes	cloth quality
	Clothesmaking	yes	clothing, decoration quality
	Strand extraction	no	speed only
	Pottery	yes	craft, item, furniture quality
	Glazing	yes	glaze quality
	Wax working	yes	craft quality
Engineering	Siege engineering	yes	part, ammunition quality
	Siege operating	yes	accuracy
	Mechanics	yes	mechanism, furniture quality
	Pump operating	no	-
Hauling	Stone hauling Wood hauling Item hauling Burial Food hauling Refuse hauling Furniture hauling Animal hauling Trade Good Hauling Water Hauling Push /Haul Vehicle	no	unskilled
Other Jobs	Architecture	yes	building design quality
	Alchemy	no	not implemented
	Cleaning	no	unskilled
	Lever operation	no	unskilled
	Road building	no	unskilled
	Wall/floor construction	no	unskilled
	Construction removal	no	unskilled

"Labor" in other Languages Dwarven: èrith Elvish: equa Goblin: akul Human: ebe