Editing v0.34:Hauling

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'''Hauling''' is the process of bringing an object to its designated place. There are several specific hauling [[labor]]s, based on the type(s) of items to be hauled; these labors may be enabled or disabled on dwarves as needed.

Although not a term found in-game, '''hauler''' generally refers to a dwarf in [[fortress mode]] who has no labors enabled other than hauling. In large fortresses where there may be great distances for haulers to travel, individual hauling tasks may take a long time to complete. Using dedicated haulers allows specialist dwarves to spend more time in their [[workshop]]s, instead of dragging raw materials or finished products around. Haulers are good candidates for [[cross-training]] to help improve their strength and agility [[attributes]], which are important when moving heavy objects across a fortress quickly. (Ironically, hauling does not train attributes itself.)

To improve the efficiency of hauling items to [[stockpile]]s, [[minecart]]s or [[wheelbarrow]]s can be employed. Note, however, that due to a number of outstanding bugs, wheelbarrows may actually ''decrease'' efficiency; see [[Wheelbarrow]] for more information.

== Automatic hauling ==
Some hauling tasks do not require any hauling [[labor]]:
* A dwarf working at a workshop will gather the raw materials needed to produce wanted goods. However, produced goods require the appropriate hauling [[labor]] to be moved out of the workshop in order to avoid [[clutter]].  Dwarves producing goods at a workshop tend to keep producing them and will not necessarily clear their own workshops of clutter even when they have the appropriate hauling labor enabled.
* All adult civilian dwarves, including [[noble]]s, will bring goods to the [[Trade depot|depot]].
* A [[mood|moody]] dwarf will gather the raw materials needed for a mysterious construction.
* A dwarf {{k|b}}uilding something will move the needed materials to the construction site.
** Before a dwarf will build something, he will need to have the appropriate labor as specified by the task. If the dwarf is building a chair or similar, the dwarf needs Furniture Hauling; if the dwarf is building a wooden wall, it's Carpentry, and so forth. Workshops are usually constructed by any dwarf that can work in that workshop.
** A dwarf will clear the tiles where he/she builds from all scattered objects ('''stone !!!''') before starting the build
* A [[herbalist]] will haul any successfully-gathered plant to a stockpile immediately, if there is space available in one.
* Dwarves in the midst of eating will carry their meal to a table. Military dwarves, however, will eat directly off of the floor.{{verify}}
* Dwarves who have just finished drinking booze will return their barrel to the nearest food stockpile.
* Removing constructed objects will be done by all dwarves.
* Filling pits and ponds will be done by all dwarves.
* If you have the "All dwarves harvest" option turned on, all dwarves will help bring in the harvest, even if they don't have Food Hauling enabled.

== Stone hauling ==
Dwarves with the stone hauling [[labor]] enabled will haul [[stone]]s, [[ore]]s, and stone [[block]]s to the appropriate [[stockpile]]s.

Note: Dwarves, being the kind fellows they are, practically insist on hauling one of the farthest stones into your stockpiles. They tend to ignore eligible, nearby stones 'for the greater good of the fortress'. This selfless act often results in terribly long journeys, carrying just one stone. See the section on [[Stone management]] for tips on combatting this problem.

== Wood hauling ==
Dwarves with the wood hauling [[labor]] enabled will haul wood [[log]]s to the corresponding [[stockpile]]s. <s>Deforestation</s> Wood production can be sped up a lot by turning off wood hauling on your most skilled [[Wood cutter|woodcutter]] who will focus exclusively on cutting down trees. This will however expose more of your dwarves as many wood haulers will go outside to retrieve the logs.

== Item hauling ==
Dwarves with the item hauling [[labor]] will haul miscellaneous items like blocks and collect [[sand]] for a [[glass furnace]] or [[clay]] for a [[kiln]]. Finished goods (such as crafted goods) and [[gem]]s (both rough and cut) are also considered Items.

== Food hauling ==
Dwarves with the food hauling [[labor]] will haul food and drinks to the appropriate [[stockpile]]s.

== Refuse hauling ==
Dwarves with the refuse hauling [[labor]] will haul rotting food, and non-dwarf bodyparts to refuse [[stockpile]]s. They will also [[dump]] marked items to the appropriate [[activity zone]]. Refuse hauling are subject to refuse orders (''{{k|o}}: Set Orders and Options -> {{k|r}}: Refuse Orders'').

== Burial ==
Dwarves with the burial [[labor]] will haul dwarf and pet [[corpse]]s and bodyparts to corpse [[stockpile]]s or [[coffin]]s.  This may not work without item hauling also turned on, however. Having the burial labor enabled may have catastrophic consequenses. Hordes of unemployed [[dwarves]] often stoicly decide to gather every single toenail and tooth from their recently mutilated comrade, even if it means certain death in the hands of [[goblin]] invaders or an enraged herd of elephants.

== Furniture hauling ==
Dwarves with the furniture hauling [[labor]] will haul [[furniture]] to the appropriate [[stockpile]]s. They will also '''{{k|b}}uild''' simple furniture items ([[bed]]s, [[chair]]s, [[table]]s, etc.).

== Animal hauling ==
Dwarves with the animal hauling [[labor]] will haul [[animal trap]]s and occupied [[cage]]s to the appropriate [[stockpile]]s.

== Tips and issues ==
In order to minimize hauling trips, stockpiles should be placed with care.
* Input and output stockpiles should be placed near corresponding [[workshop]]s. Consider proximity of input stockpiles to be about an order of magnitude more important; a working dwarf wastes time to get his own material, but having some haulers is enough to take care of moving the product. 
* Construction preparation: when constructing something big away from your fort (e.g. a road), the dwarf assigned to the construction (or [[building designer|architecture]]) will have to carry each item from your fort to the construction location, which can take a long time. By putting stockpiles near your construction project, many dwarves may participate in the hauling, thus dramatically increasing construction speed.  Note that materials are allocated at the time of building, so be sure the stockpile is filled before placing the construction order, otherwise the materials will still have to come from afar.
*Consider specializing your haulers if possible - food haulers that orbit around the kitchen/dining room/farm area, stone haulers that orbit around the mines and furnaces, and (if possible/needed) wood haulers that do likewise with the carpenter shop.  Turn off refuse hauling if that dwarf isn't going to be near areas likely to have refuse.  This keeps the mine hauler from deciding to walk aaaallll the way over to the kitchens for one load, and then out to the forest for one, and then back to the smelters, and so on.
*Furthermore, you can handpick your specialized hauler, selecting them by their attributes. A wood hauler might be chosen because of his agility, since he might have to walk a lot of tiles to reach the forest, depending on the fortress and map layout. A stone hauler, on the other hand, might be chosen because of her strength so that she can pick up and carry heavy stones (such as [[gold]] and [[platinum]]) more quickly.
*The [[Grower]] profession can have a ''huge'' impact on hauling - see [[farming]] for a discussion.
*If you create a loop of [[stockpile]]s giving to each other (i.e. creating a circle A->B->C->A), your dwarves will spend their entire time hauling.

=== Backlogs ===
To ensure that high-priority hauling tasks (like food), to clean up after get done quickly, you should employ a large number of haulers, and specialize them by having only one or two hauling [[labor]]s enabled.  This is most important for food hauling, where [[prepared meal]]s in the [[kitchen]] often rot while your dwarves are hauling individual seeds left behind after someone eats a plump helmet, or if your hunters bring a herd of animals in for your [[butcher]]s all at once.

The backlog problem is exacerbated by the fact that the hauling [[job]] queue is tied to how many haulers of each type you have; if 100 dwarves have food hauling enabled, up to 100 food hauling tasks can be in the queue, even if those dwarves are busy hauling stone, doing workshop tasks, sleeping, or doing anything else.{{verify}}  This is why hauling specialization is so important.

=== Two stockpiles are better than one ===

For stockpiles that use [[bin]]s or [[barrel]]s, it is usually better to cut one large stockpile into a handful of smaller ones.  This is because dwarves will only load one bin or barrel at a time, and may go idle for long periods while they wait for the next-chosen bin or barrel to actually get hauled to the stockpile before they can load it.  By using several smaller stockpiles, haulers can retrieve and fill multiple bins or barrels simultaneously.

{{Category|Jobs}}