Professions Guide

Are the professions in Gnomoria confusing? Not quite sure how they work or what a "good" setup looks like? Look no further!

Basics

Professions are the very core of how you tell your gnomes what to do since you can't actually control them directly. A profession includes a set of "tasks" or "category of tasks" that the gnome will carry out bucketed into areas. Properly configuring your professions in Gnomoria can make or break a kingdom as well as lead to significant frustration!

Here's a bit from resident Gnomoria guru Kelderek from the official forums [reposted with permission]:

I've found that for professions, a little overlap in skills is good but a lot of overlap makes things worse. A "Jack of all Trades" type of profession is probably not going to be as useful in this game since skill level makes a huge difference in the speed of carrying out assignments.

There are certain skills which naturally go well together. You can create a group of 2 or 3 professions that all have the same skills, but where each have different priorities on the order to perform those skills. For example:

I make two professions, Miner and Mason, and give them both all of the "stone" skills. Then I set up the priorities like this:

Miner -- Mining, Workshop, Build, ... Hauling
Mason -- Workshop, Build, Mining, ... Hauling

In this example, my Mason is also a builder and will craft stone items or build things before doing any mining. Likewise, if there is nothing to be mined, then the Miner can help with stone crafts or building.

There are a lot of other combos that work well where you can give multiple professions the same skills, but change the priorities: Woodcutting + Carpentry, Rancher + Farmer, etc.

I end up with a very long list of professions and very few gnomes assigned to each one. The result is that there is always a gnome that has a very high skill in something specific but there are also a few other gnomes that are capable of handling the same tasks if necessary (handy also when the main gnome is asleep). By not overlapping the skills too much I make sure that the skill levels remain high and that means that things get done nice and quick.

Also, if you set up your professions like this, then you should not need to assign specific gnomes to workshops -- your profession priorities will already ensure that the right gnomes work at the right workshops.

Kelderek's Setup

More from Kelderek:

Here's the actual profession data I use. If you want to use it in your game, just create a file in notepad and paste all of this into it and save it in your "\Documents\My Games\Gnomoria\Professions" folder (exact location may vary on different operating systems). Name the file "professions.ini". once in your game you should be able to import it from the pause menu.

Editor's Note: that folder does not exist in a default Gnomoria install! You will either need to create the folder yourself otherwise open Gnomoria, open any world, hit esc to bring up the menu and click "Import/Export" and export professions. Upon first export it will make the proper folders for you.

[Miner]
Miner = 1
Mason = 1
Stonecarver = 1
Mechanic = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Mining;Build;Workshop;Mechanic;Agriculture;Hospital;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Woodcutter]
Woodcutter = 1
Carpenter = 1
Woodcarver = 1
Mechanic = 1
Gardener = 1
Farmer = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Grove;Agriculture;Workshop;Farm;Build;Mechanic;Mining;Hospital;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Farmer]
Mechanic = 1
Gardener = 1
Farmer = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Farm;Agriculture;Pasture;Grove;Build;Mechanic;Mining;Hospital;Tinker;Hauling

[Rancher]
Leatherworker = 1
Mechanic = 1
Rancher = 1
Butcher = 1
Farmer = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Pasture;Workshop;Agriculture;Farm;Grove;Mechanic;Build;Mining;Hospital;Tinker;Hauling

[Builder]
Mechanic = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Build;Mechanic;Hauling;Mining;Agriculture;Hospital;Workshop;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker

[Tailor]
Weaver = 1
Tailor = 1
Leatherworker = 1
Bonecarver = 1
Mechanic = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Mechanic;Mining;Agriculture;Build;Hospital;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Engineer]
Tinkerer = 1
Machinist = 1
Engineer = 1
Mechanic = 1
Medic = 1
Caretaker = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Hospital;Mechanic;Workshop;Build;Tinker;Mining;Agriculture;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Hauling

[Jeweler]
Gemcutter = 1
Jeweler = 1
Mechanic = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Mechanic;Mining;Agriculture;Build;Hospital;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Carpenter]
Woodcutter = 1
Carpenter = 1
Woodcarver = 1
Bonecarver = 1
Mechanic = 1
Gardener = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Build;Grove;Agriculture;Mechanic;Mining;Hospital;Farm;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Brewer]
Mechanic = 1
Brewer = 1
Medic = 1
Caretaker = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Hospital;Workshop;Agriculture;Mechanic;Mining;Build;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Cook]
Mechanic = 1
Chef = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Agriculture;Mechanic;Farm;Mining;Build;Hospital;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Mason]
Miner = 1
Mason = 1
Stonecarver = 1
Mechanic = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Build;Mining;Mechanic;Agriculture;Hospital;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Hauler]
Mechanic = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Hauling;Build;Mechanic;Mining;Agriculture;Hospital;Workshop;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker

[Blacksmith]
Smelter = 1
Blacksmith = 1
Metalworker = 1
Mechanic = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Build;Mechanic;Mining;Agriculture;Hospital;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Armorsmith]
Smelter = 1
Blacksmith = 1
Metalworker = 1
Weaponsmith = 1
Armorer = 1
Mechanic = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Build;Mechanic;Mining;Agriculture;Hospital;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Weaponsmith]
Smelter = 1
Blacksmith = 1
Metalworker = 1
Weaponsmith = 1
Mechanic = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Workshop;Build;Mechanic;Mining;Agriculture;Hospital;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Archer]
Medic = 1
Caretaker = 1
JobPriority = Hospital;Mining;Agriculture;Build;Mechanic;Workshop;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Footman]
Medic = 1
Caretaker = 1
JobPriority = Hospital;Mining;Agriculture;Build;Mechanic;Workshop;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

[Monk]
Medic = 1
Caretaker = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Hospital;Mining;Agriculture;Build;Mechanic;Workshop;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

Explanation

Just a bit more explanation on this whole profession thing. We'll use one of Kelderek's templates for example.

[Miner]
Miner = 1
Mason = 1
Stonecarver = 1
Mechanic = 1
Builder = 1
Hauler = 1
JobPriority = Mining;Build;Workshop;Mechanic;Agriculture;Hospital;Farm;Grove;Pasture;Tinker;Hauling

What does this mean? Well here's this same class in Gnomoria for a visual reference:


As you would expect, everything in the professions.ini file that is set to = 1 is checked in the UI. In this example, a gnome with this profession would do Mining, Mason, Stonecarver, Mechanic, Builder and Hauler jobs. If you're not entirely up on the sub-jobs here's a quick description of each:

• Miner - basic mining of dirt of stone
  
• Mason - creation of items such as stone blocks
  
• Stonecarver - creation of advanced stone items such as Statues
  
• Mechanic - mechanics reset traps, operate levers, adjust pressure plates, etc
  
• Builder - assembles / installs items; note the Builder does not actually make the item, only installs an item that has already been made by a craftsman such as a torch or a bed
  
• Hauler - moves goods

At this point you're wondering, but you checked all the boxes, how do they pick what to do first? That's where job priorityies come in! In this example, the gnome will do jobs in the following order:

Mining, Build, Workshop, Mechanic, Agriculture, Hospital, Farm, Grove, Pasture, Tinker, Hauling

Gnomoria always shows *all* job types in the priority list even if you do not have skills checked that fall into those buckets so realistically the priority list for this profession looks like:

• Mining [Miner]
  
• Build [Builder]
  
• Workshop [Mason, Stonecarver]
  
• Mechanic [Mechanic]
  
• Hauling [Hauler]

It's fairly straightforward top to bottom where they do the top item first, if not available, they do the next one down and so on. If your gnome is idle, it means there are no jobs available that his profession has checked. Having hauling as the bottom skill in all professions generally means there will always be something for gnomes to do as something always needs carried from one place to another!

So what about Workshop? This one is tricky and covers into a whole different subject but we'll tackle it at a high level here. If your gnome is at the Workshop tier of his jobs and has options to say... create a stone block or create a stone statue using, Stonecutter and Stonecarver workshops respectively, he will pick the workshop with the higher priority. If both workshops are set at the defualt priority of 5, he'll randomly pick one of them. This gets important for certain professions as you may want the core items created before the final items so just keep that in mind for all professions that have multiple Workshop skills.

Hopefully this all makes a bit more sense at this point and know that you can edit the professions.ini directly if you prefer that route but you will have to import them into Gnomoria again after any changes are made and it will overwrite all existing professions!

Links and Credit

I want to give a big THANK YOU to Kelderek for his work on the professions template I've shared here. He isn't really on Steam but he is very active on the Official Forums so if you're over that way and enjoyed the guide, drop him a line.

All Kelderek's content in this guide can be found in original form at:
http://forums.gnomoria.com/index.php?topic=4597

[Dez The Dapper Bocchi]

i have woodcutters do woodcutting specilized crafters do carpentry and carving then jack crafters who do all crafting jobs(same for all others)

[Matty Ice]

Great guide! I only have about 20 hours or so under my belt so I'm still learning the game. I've always assigned my Gnomes to a "jack of all trades" profession but it takes forever to improve skills. I used your profession export and it's definitely helped.

[Utildayael]

To be honest, really havent played the game recently. I wrote this guide a little over a year ago. :)

The core for military is to diversify your guys. Axes, swords, ranged, etc all do different types of damage and have different uses. Heck even shields can be weapons! Some of it depends what you like, some of it is just common sense. Melee for up close and personal, ranged for distances or perches, and the strongest armor you can put on them.

[Chaoko99]

Can you make a good military export?

[PeppiSteve]

Thanks man!

[TheAustrianArchduke]

Thanks for the imformation.