How can I prevent my dwarfs from moving the barrel full of drink mats?
One of my difficulties with DF is the need to constantly produce drinks. The main reason this is a difficulty is because my still constantly cancels producing drinks, complaining that it doesnt have drink-mat-producing plants. However, I do have plenty drink-mat-producing plants.
The issue is that they are all stored in a barrel, and when a new plant sprouts the dwarfs will take this barrel and move it to the farm plot to pickup the new plant. During this time, the still believes that there are no materials to produce drinks with. How can I avoid situation?
Best Answer
(I'm copying the answer in the comments to an actual answer, because this question deserves to show as answered. Thanks to Ids for actually writing this answer.)
Make two stockpiles, one that accepts plants without barrels. The other that accepts plants and has barrels, set the second to only take from the first. Place them next to each other. That way your dworfs spend as little time as possible to haul the barrels.
Pictures about "How can I prevent my dwarfs from moving the barrel full of drink mats?"
Dwarf Fortress ~ Understanding stairs and constructions
More answers regarding how can I prevent my dwarfs from moving the barrel full of drink mats?
Answer 2
One solution for this is to stop using containers at all (unless you must for those drink mats that are also liquids). DF is sort of bugged in the way you mentioned in your question because items in a container are not available for more than one task at a time. I often set all of my stockpiles to use zero barrels and never use bins to avoid this container problem. If you set all food stockpiles to use zero barrels your dwarves will store the items directly on the stockpile and will always be available for use. The only disadvantage of this tactic is that your food will take more stockpile tiles (space) to store than if in containers, but I feel that this is a worthwhile tradeoff for always having access to stockpiled mats when they are needed.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Polina Tankilevitch, Rachel Claire, Karolina Grabowska, Karolina Grabowska