40d:Hauling

Hauling is the process of bringing an object to its designated place. Many larger fortresses use dwarves dedicated to hauling so that their other, more specialized dwarves will spend more time working and less time dragging whatever they made to the appropriate stockpile.

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 apropriate hauling job to be moved out of the workshop and avoid clutter.
• all dwarves will bring goods the depot, but will only take out those items which they have been assigned to haul.
• a moody dwarf will gather the raw materials needed for a mysterious construction.
• a dwarf building something will move the needed materials to the construction site.
• hungry dwarves will carry food to the dining room.

Stone hauling

Dwarves with the stone hauling labor enabled will haul stones, ores, gems and stone blocks to the appropriate stockpiles.

Wood hauling

Dwarves with the wood hauling labor enabled will haul wood logs to the corresponding stockpiles. DeforestationWood production can be sped up a lot by turning off wood hauling on your most skilled 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^[Verify] and collect sand for a glass furnace.

Food hauling

Dwarves with the food hauling labor will haul food and drinks to the appropriate stockpiles.

Refuse hauling

Dwarves with the refuse hauling labor will haul rotting food, and non-dwarf bodyparts to refuse stockpiles. The will also dump marked items to the appropriate activity zone. Refuse hauling are subject to refuse orders (o: Set Orders and Options -> r: Refuse Orders).

Furniture hauling

Dwarves with the furniture hauling labor will haul furniture to the appropriate stockpiles. They will also build simple furniture items (beds, chairs, tables, etc.).

Animal hauling

Dwarves with the animal hauling labor will haul small vermin cages and animal cages to the appropriate stockpiles. They will also drag any creature to the restraint or activity zone it was designated to.

Tips and issues

In order to minimize hauling trips, stockpiles should be placed with care.

• input and ouput stockpiles should be placed near corresponding workshops.
• spoils of war: dwarves may haul entire bins full of items, or items individually. However, they are not smart enough to bin items in order to carry them, so this may end in numerous needless trips from deceased enemies to your fortress, each dwarf carrying one item at a time. To counter this:
  • place a small bin stockpile and a general purpose stockpile near the battlefield.
  • when every spoil has been binned, remove the stockpiles, mark the filled bins for dumping, deactivate your usual garbage zone and create a new one in your fortress.
  • when everything has been moved, reclaim your dumped items and restore your garbage zones as usual.
• construction: when constructing something big away from your fort (e.g. a road), the dwarf assigned to the construction will have to carry each item from your fort to the construction, which can take a long time. By putting stockpiles near your construction project, many dwarves may participate in the hauling, thus increasing dramatically construction speed.