Dwarf Fortress Bug Tracker - Dwarf Fortress
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0008667Dwarf FortressDwarf Mode -- Jobs, Designationspublic2014-12-26 06:592015-04-20 08:25
nanite 
lethosor 
normalminorhave not tried
confirmedopen 
0.40.23 
 
0008667: Miners climb out of vertical chutes while digging, refuse to continue
I'm trying to dig a drop chute through ~ 130 Z levels using the regular technique (channel straight down) but it's proving to be difficult in these recent versions.

First, if I just channel down then at some point the miner gets "bored" and climbs back out of the hole. This happens fairly quickly, like after only digging down 5 levels. Once he climbs, the bottom of the hole becomes off limits for future miners. In other words he can climb up but will never climb back down.

To avoid this I tried sealing off the top of the hole with a door, to help him focus on his job. Eventually though I get an announcement "Urist cancels Dig Channel: Dangerous terrain" and he stops mining. What has occured is that he is now stuck 1 level above the bottom of the hole. Either he has grabbed onto the wall to avoid falling, or he climbed back up after falling. He then refuses to mine any more and needs to be extracted (I can do this by unsealing the hole -- he then climbs back out.

The workaround for this, I suppose, is to dig some stairs adjacent to the chute.
No tags attached.
has duplicate 0008925resolved Knight Otu Dwarves climb out of incomplete shafts, now shaft cannot be completed :( 
has duplicate 0009408resolved lethosor Miners won't channel straight down more than a few z-levels 
Issue History
2014-12-26 06:59naniteNew Issue
2014-12-26 07:00naniteNote Added: 0031482
2014-12-26 08:14smjjamesNote Added: 0031483
2014-12-26 08:17smjjamesNote Edited: 0031483bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=0031483#r12586
2014-12-26 11:00lethosorDescription Updatedbug_revision_view_page.php?rev_id=12592#r12592
2014-12-26 11:03lethosorNote Added: 0031488
2014-12-26 11:03lethosorAssigned To => lethosor
2014-12-26 11:03lethosorStatusnew => acknowledged
2014-12-26 20:05smjjamesNote Added: 0031500
2014-12-28 09:26naniteNote Deleted: 0031482
2014-12-28 09:33naniteNote Added: 0031536
2014-12-28 09:43lethosorStatusacknowledged => confirmed
2014-12-28 09:44lethosorSummaryMiners fail to dig vertical chutes due to climbing => Miners climb out of vertical chutes while digging, refuse to continue
2015-04-20 00:26Knight OtuRelationship addedhas duplicate 0008925
2015-04-20 08:25Afghani84Issue Monitored: Afghani84
2015-12-22 12:06lethosorRelationship addedhas duplicate 0009408

Notes
(0031483)
smjjames   
2014-12-26 08:14   
(edited on: 2014-12-26 08:17)
Huh, I had actually posted a queston on the FotF (Future of the Fort) thread in relation to this.

Have you tried doing a vertical series of ramps, that might work. Another alternative is to dig a shaft with up/down stairs and then channel out the stairs, which they should be able to do from below.

Edit: Also, a save of this in progress would be great.

(0031488)
lethosor   
2014-12-26 11:03   
Has anyone seen this occur in versions prior to 0.40.20? I'm fairly certain I used this strategy in 0.40.19, and it doesn't appear to work in 0.40.23 (even when no other areas are designated for mining).
(0031500)
smjjames   
2014-12-26 20:05   
Well, logically, if it wasn't, people would have complained/asked about it or made bug reports if it happened before 40.20.
(0031536)
nanite   
2014-12-28 09:33   
Well I can confirm that designating a tall up/down staircase adjacent to the channels results in a clean dig. No miners were injured even though multiple miners were involved. I did set a higher priority (lower priority number) on the staircase, if that matters.

I am not sure if channeling out the staircase itself would work, at least, I don't feel like designating one by one and if I designate the whole staircase simultaneously, the miners would probably end up falling. Haven't tried it though, anybody have experience with this technique?

Probably we'll just have to live with miners trying to avoid falls when they channel under themselves.