Dig vs Delivery when building

[Kasuha]

By default, dupes deliver materials needed to build the thing before they start digging the place for it. I suggest to change that approach depending on what are they building:

- deliver, then dig for all tiles that have wall or ladder planned over them. In particular, digging should be blocked by delivery of material for that wall or ladder.

- dig, then deliver for everything else

 

Number of times I "blueprinted" a complex machine only to get my dupes stuck in it and then I needed to cancel large part of thet blueprint to dig my dupes out of the trap where they put themselves, because there's no way to get them digging through a planned building if they don't have materials available to build it. I believe this approach would help getting fewer dupes stuck.

 

 

[Threehorns]

When building something, you can give the tiles and material different priorities.
Its the easiest way to avoid the dupes getting stuck, or the dupes having done something they cannot reach anymore.

I normally prioritise in order of high to low: ladders, walls, digging depth, digging depth 1 rank lower, inventory.
This has to be done manualy. The game gives all chores the same rank 5 priority. 
 

[Kasuha]

24 minutes ago, Threehorns said:

When building something, you can give the tiles and material different priorities.

I've been experimenting with priorities quite a lot but I cannot plan a machine and tell them to dig the place first. Either I put a separate dig command, wait till they dig it up, and then place the machine, or I must wait till they deliver the material. But it's not always easy or comfortable to plan a complex building and then delete it and keep it in my head until they dig it up and make walls and floors so it's safe to build machines.

[Threehorns]

if you select Dig tool, the priorities are shown bottom right from 1 through 9.

Build tools priorities are left
Job tool priorities are right

 

[Kasuha]

1 hour ago, Threehorns said:

if you select Dig tool, the priorities are shown bottom right from 1 through 9.

Build tools priorities are left
Job tool priorities are right

Yes, I know all of that.

Edit: let's put it this way: if you're trying to help me overcome the problem then thank you, I know how to control the game. This suggestion is an attempt to make the work with the game easier. In almost any situation, dupes can dig or deconstruct their way out of a trap. In case of a complex construction, however, it's not possible to issue dig commands without cancelling parts of that construction. That's the problem, or the inconvenience, that I'm trying to solve.

 

[Threehorns]

your input in the game is your intellect
dupes are programmed to be dummies.

example, there is no workshifts: no mornings for showers, no afternoon for building, no evenings for cleaning etc...
I could stack millions of jobs and nothing sensible gets done properly.

[Kasuha]

2 minutes ago, Threehorns said:

there is no workshifts: no mornings for showers

I certainly have both. Every morning, all four of my dupes go shower. And when digging a narrow tunnel, they take shifts, digging one tile at a time and running all the way there and to some other job all the time. The first is cute, the other not so much.

They are programmed to not dig room for a building before building material is provided. That's not 'programmed to be dumb' kind of approach, your argument is invalid. They're programmed that way for a reason, either historical, or because devs tried to avoid certain kind of problems that way.

[Threehorns]

try setting the making walls at 1 priority higher level than digging out the space it will bordering.
that is a feature already available in game.