Pick Shortage

[The Wise Barista]

My miners can no longer mine.....

I made 8 steel picks for my fortress with the intention that by putting my miners in a squad with metal armour and a pick they would be pretty tough.

I've just noticed that random dwarves are walking around carrying the picks and my miners cannot mine anymore..... My chief medical dwarf and doctor is stood in the hospital, steel pick in hand...... I added the doctor to a squad and assigned a specific weapon but he likes the pick.

I have now located some of my missing weapons which are also being carried around..... thieving dwarves.

I forbid the use of the picks, but they are still being carried.


Is there a way to fix and prevent this?

[Grimmrog_SIG]

hmm, could you try makign sure that all the non miners are not allowed to mine.
do all the other pick carrierst NOT have a squat and might have picked the pickes as weapons? maybe put all those pick carriers in a squat assign them a specific wepaon (maybe just training axes) so they may drop the picks)

[Ravenous Demon]

every dwarf must have a pick now. :)

[pezenwever]

(kind of echo post, didn't see replies before hitting "post")
Did you check your labor menu to make sure mining is set to "only selected do this" ?
Make sure it is and if you still have non miner dwarves carrying picks try putting those in a squad with a custom armor that has like for example only a sock. They *should* drop their gear including the pick and put on the sock.

[The Wise Barista]

Originally posted by Grimmrog_SIG:

hmm, could you try makign sure that all the non miners are not allowed to mine.
do all the other pick carrierst NOT have a squat and might have picked the pickes as weapons? maybe put all those pick carriers in a squat assign them a specific wepaon (maybe just training axes) so they may drop the picks)

Originally posted by pezenwever:

(kind of echo post, didn't see replies before hitting "post")
Did you check your labor menu to make sure mining is set to "only selected do this" ?
Make sure it is and if you still have non miner dwarves carrying picks try putting those in a squad with a custom armor that has like for example only a sock. They *should* drop their gear including the pick and put on the sock.

Yep, my miners are the only ones assigned the mining labor. I think thats the same as telling the others not to mine, but they wont drop the picks.

I tried the custom squad with my doctor and set the squad to ready, but that hasnt changed the situation

[pezenwever]

Originally posted by The Wise Barista:

I tried the custom squad with my doctor and set the squad to ready, but that hasnt changed the situation

Did you also add and assign a uniform ? Make sure this uniform does not have "individual choice melee or weapon"

[The Wise Barista]

Originally posted by pezenwever:

Originally posted by The Wise Barista:

I tried the custom squad with my doctor and set the squad to ready, but that hasnt changed the situation

Did you also add and assign a uniform ? Make sure this uniform does not have "individual choice melee or weapon"

Yes to uniform and the doctor is now carrying a crossbow for patient and nurse discipline:) Its taken 3 months of the picks being forbidden but they are slowly being returned to the stock pile. I think maybe I needed to wait longer for the changes to take effect

I only noticed the issue when I sold all the non steel picks.

EDIT: Im not really sure what fixed it at this point, after googling I had also tried saving and reloading.

[Jorn Stones]

Don't have them be both miners and be in the military :) That's been bugged for ages and causing trouble sadly

I've been turning the miner labor for my legendary miners off so they can then become dedicated (pick-armed) military (subsequently other dwarves have been made miners to train up that skill) This has worked pretty well so far

[Grimmrog_SIG]

lets hoppe this gets fixed soon.

[Krasnov]

Pro tip: pick quality doesn't matter for mining. It's best to save steel for weapons and armor, just give miners a cheap copper pick.

[The Wise Barista]

Originally posted by Spasticus Autisticus:

Pro tip: pick quality doesn't matter for mining. It's best to save steel for weapons and armor, just give miners a cheap copper pick.

True for mining, but if they use the picks for combat which mine do the quality does matter.

My first step for military training is legendary miner and then they use pick for combat until trained in a weapon skill. Not being able to mine while in a squad is a bit unfortunate but its a good first step for increasing stats.