Tribesmen not working - jobs, roles and fixes

Give every tribesman a role in the tribe menu so they look for other work when their own station is idle, keep their mood, food and water up, and make sure the station has materials in reach and a tool for gathering jobs. A tribesman that still does nothing is usually in one of seven stopped states listed below.

How work is assigned in 1.0

• Stations: assign a tribesman to a workbench, furnace, kiln or other station and queue items on it. Since 11 June a change to the crafting list starts them immediately in single player.
• Roles: the tribe role system gives each tribesman duties. When the assigned station has nothing to do, they look for another job that fits the role.
• Yards: Logging Yards, Collection Yards and Excavation Pits send laborers to gather within a radius of the yard. Since 4 September the default limit is 20 of each type; a setting of 0 removes it.
• Farms and pens: a tribesman at a Granary plants, fertilises and harvests nearby farmland; at a Breeding Farm they manage pens and coops.
• Global Tribe Management: one screen shows stockpiles, station status and each tribesman’s current task.
• Remote access: working tribesmen can take items from storage without walking to it (on by default since 11 June).

Match the role to the profession: laborers to yards, porters to looms, kilns and tanning, craftsmen to workbenches and alchemy.

Why a tribesman stops working

State	Cause	Fix
Too dejected to work	Mood is too low	Feed liked food, give liked gear, beds and decorations; check the Likes on their talents
Sleeping	Night rest	Wait, or provide enough beds so they sleep and return
Idle	No role or no job matching the role	Give a role or queue work at their station
Paused	Task paused	Restart the task; paused tasks restart on their own since 7 May
Auto-managed	Managed by the game, ignores manual assignment	Clear auto-management before assigning
Taking shelter	Sandstorm, raid or danger nearby	Wait, or build shelter and protective fields
Dormant	Owner offline more than 7 days (server setting, 0–30)	Log in; set the server’s dormancy days higher

Other causes from the patch notes and players:

• Deployed: a tribesman following you does not work (since 21 May). Send them home first.
• Missing tool: gathering needs the right axe, sickle or pickaxe in their inventory.
• Out of range: field work happens within about 30 m of the work marker.
• Storage: ropeway storage boxes do not count as common storage, so jobs that pull from storage ignore them.
• Pathing: remove turning stairs, which were disabled because tribesmen got stuck on them.

Stuck tribesmen

1. Use Reset Position in the tribe menu.
2. Set them to Follow, walk about 20 m away, then set them back to Work.
3. For deployed tribesmen, hold F2 to call them to you.

Defence and expeditions

• Weapon Racks: tribesmen defending within bonfire range take preset weapons, gear and food from a Weapon/Gear Rack. Passive tribesmen arm themselves when the home is attacked.
• Downed but Not Dead: since 11 June, critically downed tribesmen are not killed by area damage when this option is on.
• Expeditions: send tribesmen from an outpost to beast lairs for rewards. They need food and fuel in the outpost’s own chest, and they can die.
• Ships: in Shifting Sands, crew are bound to a ship and need a seat on it. See ships.