STOP. GATHERING. PLANTS

[Drekly]

I set up 5 guys to gather plants, and ONLY these guys. I have my entire fortress gathering plants. why?! (I miss dwarf therapist)

https://imgur.com/a/eSgioEv

[Sinclair]

There should be a toggle for plant gathering that says 'only selected do this'. If it doesn't exist, you can make a custom work detail for it. Alternatively, you can go through your dwarves and lock their labors directly via specialization, but it's far more tedious.

[Drekly]

Originally posted by Sinclair:

There should be a toggle for plant gathering that says 'only selected do this'.

That's what's in my first image linked

[Lexyvil]

From the image, he already did select "Only selected to do this". OP, did you set up a zone for gathering plants?

There are two ways to gather plants it seems: Designation (the button next to woodcutting at the bottom of the screen), and Zones (in the zones menu), if set labours only apply to the former method, then it's definitely a bug.

[dgresevfan]

Is there anything in the standing orders menu that counteracts your (correct) setting up of "only selected do this"?

[Robert]

Maybe they started with the job before you toggled to "only selected do this"? Did you unpause the game and wait for a little while to check if their tasks get canceled like they should?

[Drekly]

Originally posted by Robert:

Maybe they started with the job before you toggled to "only selected do this"? Did you unpause the game and wait for a little while to check if their tasks get canceled like they should?

yep, I've waited a few days and they're still making new gathering tasks.

Originally posted by dgresevfan:

Is there anything in the standing orders menu that counteracts your (correct) setting up of "only selected do this"?

nope

Originally posted by Alex:

From the image, he already did select "Only selected to do this". OP, did you set up a zone for gathering plants?

...and maybe labours only affect the former. If so, it's definitely a bug.

I did! And I think that may be the case. If I erase the jobs on the surface, I also erase my woodcutting and building tasks

[thorvindr]

Similar issue here. Not my whole fortress, but a couple dozen residents (mostly visiting entertainers, oddly enough) are stuck "Gathering Plants." They're not actual doing anything; they're just standing in a clump. I've switched plant gathering to "nobody does this," but that didn't seem to help. I'm going to try deleting my plant gathering zone to see if that solves it.

EDIT: Yep! That did it! Seems like a bug. Dwarves (and others) seem to get stuck in a plant gathering zone when plant gathering is set to "everyone does this."

[Vepatzioone]

There is an order in the order menu called all harvest. Turn it off to only farmers harvest

[Frank The Dank]

I THINK what happened to me was I had a repeating work order for brew from plants and that caused all my dwarves to go gather plants because they were thirsty.

[Shiranai]

Originally posted by Vepatzioone:

There is an order in the order menu called all harvest. Turn it off to only farmers harvest

Harvest and Gather are diferent jobs.
Harvest is for your farms, gather for wild plants.

[thorvindr]

Originally posted by Frank The Dank:

I THINK what happened to me was I had a repeating work order for brew from plants and that caused all my dwarves to go gather plants because they were thirsty.

I definitely have that order always queued, but my stores are full of beer and ale, so that wouldn't explain why my peeps were all standing outside just looking at each other. I also frequently get the message that so-and-so cancelled the order because... usually no available container, but occasionally no available plant.

[MaGicBush]

I have noticed this as well. Dwarfs seem to prioritize it over anything else I assign them to it's very annoying. I wish we could set priorities for jobs, and stockpiles. I miss Dwarf Therapist as well OP :(.

I also have issues with dwarfs cancelling jobs to haul things, and when I check the goto they are trying to pickup something I cannot see deep underground on a layer I have not even mined to.

[Aurumlamina]

Hopefully something like Dwarf Therapist shows up for us on Steam!

[spear and magic helmet?]

Originally posted by thorvindr:

They're not actual doing anything; they're just standing in a clump.

Were they gathered around under a tree by any chance?

[DarkNight]

I have the same problem