Organizing workorders

[northforms]

So one thing I find myself doing frequently is fiddling with the amounts in the work orders menu. The frustrating part about the work order menu is that it can end up being complete chaos and time consuming finding that one work order. Does anyone here know of a mod/tweak that would allow you to make folders/groups in the work orders menu? You could group by job, industry, burrow, etc. It would be extra nice if you could then prioritize work orders within that group. Let me know your thoughts!

[Vultan]

Same. One thing that i think helps a little is just setting recuring orders in their actuall workshops and do one time orders in the organizer to the extent possible.

[Nilserrich]

Even some sort of simple Color Coding would help a little bit.

[AlP]

If you need to have your work orders organized, you are using too many work orders for things that don't need a work order. This is Dwarf Fortress, not Work Order Fortress.

[northforms]

Originally posted by AlP:

If you need to have your work orders organized, you are using too many work orders for things that don't need a work order. This is Dwarf Fortress, not Work Order Fortress.

I feel like you are not playing the game properly if you are not using work orders and a lot of them. You shouldn't have to be constantly checking to see if you have enough barrels, or bins, or etc. etc. etc. Most of your tasks should be automated i.e. work orders so you can concentrate your efforts on expanding your base or building out your industries. At the end of the day this game can be played in so many different ways. You play it your way and I will play it mine.

Originally posted by Nilserich:

Even some sort of simple Color Coding would help a little bit.

I agree with you @Nilserich. A color coding system like your troops or burrows would go a long way in helping.

Originally posted by VultanTV:

Same. One thing that i think helps a little is just setting recuring orders in their actuall workshops and do one time orders in the organizer to the extent possible.

I have tried keeping it to being queued up in the workshops but it gets tedious cycling through the workshops to find the work order I am looking for. Plus, which I think may be a bug that hopefully gets addressed, frequently my work orders disappear from the workshops list of scheduled work orders. They are there one time, they show up in the main work order list, but you go back to that workshop and there are either gaps in the list or they are just gone entirely. I don't follow the discord so I don't know if other people are having this issue.

[AlP]

Originally posted by northforms:

Originally posted by AlP:

If you need to have your work orders organized, you are using too many work orders for things that don't need a work order. This is Dwarf Fortress, not Work Order Fortress.

I feel like you are not playing the game properly if you are not using work orders and a lot of them.

I am using work orders. What I am not doing is going so much overboard with them that I use them for things that don't need a work order.

Originally posted by northforms:

Most of your tasks should be automated

No, they should not be. Very few tasks should be automated, the ones you keep repeating over and over.

You don't need a work order to keep at least 10 beds in a stockpile, InCaSeSomEmIgRantSShoWuP. You know what your pop cap is, that's how many beds total you need. Same for the remaining 99% of idiotic work orders you are using.

[NetworkOverflow]

Originally posted by AlP:

No, they should not be. Very few tasks should be automated, the ones you keep repeating over and over.

You don't need a work order to keep at least 10 beds in a stockpile, InCaSeSomEmIgRantSShoWuP. You know what your pop cap is, that's how many beds total you need. Same for the remaining 99% of idiotic work orders you are using.

I see what you're trying to get at, but I also think you may be oversimplifying things and it depends on your playstyle. Sure, you can just craft beds until you have 200 and be done with it. This works for a lot of things. However, it doesn't work for everything.

I like to use work orders for things like my military equipment. I find it much easier to just go in and modify a number for how many of each piece of armor/clothing I need whenever I make a new squad.

I also like to use work orders for things like wheelbarrows, bins, and barrels. That way, when I make new stockpiles, I can just change the total number needed instead of constantly having to check to make sure I have enough or figure out where all my wheelbarrows went.

[dpld]

> Same for the remaining 99% of idiotic work orders you are using.
May I suggest that it instead you who is playing the game in an "idiotic" way?

DF UI sucks, by far the biggest disappointment of Steam version and I pray for the day for DFhack to come around and pick up more slack.

[AlP]

Originally posted by dpld:

May I suggest that it instead you who is playing the game in an "idiotic" way?

You may not.

[Rat]

Here are some tips:
-tie your work orders to a specific workshop, rather than having broad workorders that can go to any workshop. you can do this by creating the workorder through the workshop rather than the fortress workorder screen
-build multiple of the same type of workshops and specialise them
-Name each individual workshop based on what it does.
For example have 1 kiln just for collecting clay and name it "clay collect" and then have another kiln making pots named "pottery" and another kiln for glazing named "glazing" and have their work orders tied to the workshop. Doing this will pay off later on when you have a huge work order screen because now you can see more information like what workshop each line represents. You can also for example physically go to your carpenter that makes the barrels workshop and click on it to change you wooden barrel work order rather than trying to find it in the list

[Empath demon]

It's not that much to manage if you aren't overproducing. Why are you messing with work order numbers at all? Just set it to what you need and leave it alone. Sounds like you're making work orders more complicated than they need to be.