Why won’t the dwarves pick up a pick and go mine

dwarf-fortress

I've created two copper picks to help my dwarves mine, but they refuse to pick them up. What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: I do have them set to be miners and I do have a dig area set.

Best Answer

You need two things in addition to the picks.

  • Dwarves with the mining labor enabled, as explained here.
    • The dwarves might be busy with other things, try turning off other labors.
  • An area designated for digging.
    • You can designate an area for digging by pressing d, d and selecting an area to be mined. This is easiest if you have an exposed hillside on the map. If not you may need to go down a z level and designate ramps up (d, r) next to your mining area.
    • The dwarves must be able to path to this digging area. If it is separated by z-levels, you must add stairs or ramps.
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