Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Fenrisson]

Hey Folks,
I am used to play Vanilla DF and just started Masterwork recently. It is a lot of fun but different in some important ways. Here are some Questions:
-So far I learned that crossbows aren't that strong in Masterwork and one should rather go with javelins for ranged combat and hunting. What are good of ammo materials in Masterwork compared to vanilla - how good is rock ammo for example?

-What about shield material does it still not matter what Material they are made of except for bashing (wood still blocks fire)?

-Is it true that one can use stone anvils like metal anvil without restrictions?

-Also can anyone please give me an overview on the how to setup a fine working booze industry? While I enjoy the challenge compared to vanilla, some hints and insights on which and how many plants to bring and what is the size and style of a viable farm plot setup, would be nice.

[Tarzanello]

Well, here is what I've learned so far: rock stuff is usually not recommended, as it weights a ton and slows your dorfs down (the movement speed is the same as the "fighting speed" if you will, so that is a big issue).

Wood shields do block dragonfire and do not burn. As above, you might want to consider the weight: an heavier shield might give stronger bashes, but it might slow the dorf down.

Stone anvils are a thing, yes. You may craft them in the Stonecrafter's Something (I can't remember the name of the building, but it's (b-w-S) ). You will need some blocks to build the workshop, and it crafts a lot of stuff out of stone BLOCKS (so you might want to have a running mason nearby) like statues, coffers, doors, but also beds and anvils (yes rock beds are also a thing).

I don't know much about the booze industry, sadly..

[Frostea]

Generally, any piercing ammo except wood will go through any armor just fine, so I don't really see much difference in ranged weaponry. The main difference is the amount of ammo they can carry. Javelins stacks in 15 so it is the least amount of ammo type that a dwarf can carry. I think javelins are fairly useless due to this.

For booze, basically you need 4x the normal amount of underground farm plots compared to vanilla. The aboveground farms have the same yield as before so it is quite advisable to bring some above ground seeds to tide the first few years over. Note above ground farming doesn't work in winter, so ensure an ample storage of booze before winter months.

Also, you should build a brewery instead of a still. That allows you to specify the type of booze you want to brew and if I recall correctly, makes for more efficient brewing.

Metal gear is still better than stone by a lot, so you'd be better off using the stone for furniture. You can build a furniture workshop, which produces entire sets of furniture really quickly from some blocks.

[Fenrisson]

Thx for response,
To sum up what I’ve learned so far:

-Stone ammo is junk
-nothing new about the ammo materials: wood is ok for hunting, but bone is better. Copper in good enough to rip through anything…
-shield material has the same pro/cons as before
-stone anvils are OP
-I knew about the nice new features like furniture workshop – I love it for its bedroom option.  but thx anyway

Now what I still don’t know:

-What about ranged weapon preferable - especially early on? I read that one should stick to one kind of ranged weapon in the fortress because of an ammobug…

-Are you sure about the above ground farms being as good as before? In the manual it states that the grow duration of most underground plants is only half of the grow time of above ground plants (300/600).

[Frostea]

The manual is a disgusting lier  In my current fort, most of the booze comes from 6 3x3 aboveground farms, and I have 8 10x10 underground farms. Perhaps it is because my more lowly skilled farmers happen to be working more on the underground plots, but I feel the disparity is too massive for that to be the case.

Just for reference, I use mostly prickle berries, fisher berries and strawberries. My poor dwarves are forced to drink dirty elf booze no thanks to this silly farm mod.

P. S All ranged weapons are OP as long as you stick with the bone piercing varieties.

[Frostea]

Oh and in terms of military, you should start out with two dwarves sparring each other for the first couple of years. They will end up as serious murderers who rip megabeast apart with nothing but their axes. And since this is Masterwork, you can end up making really powerful stuff like legendary welded mithril great axes,  which even FB slimes made of steel will find difficulty stopping.

[Fenrisson]

Yea thst is the same as in vanilla - I will try t above ground farming in my next fort. From what the raws say javelins seem to be badass I will try them aswell

cant wait to get home

[Tenderroast]

underground farms take a full YEAR to mature (vanilla is one season), Aboveground farms take a full SEASON to grow (vanilla is one month)

The above ground trees all take a year (Wood, ironbark, stealoak), i think the underground "trees" take a full year as well, but i never both with them (one you can make cheese, the other can be brewed).

If you really wanna crank out some drinks, bring some Dew Beetles. Milk them, and you can brew the milk into Mead.

[Meph]

underground farms take a full YEAR to mature (vanilla is one season), Aboveground farms take a full SEASON to grow (vanilla is one month)

The above ground trees all take a year (Wood, ironbark, stealoak), i think the underground "trees" take a full year as well, but i never both with them (one you can make cheese, the other can be brewed).

If you really wanna crank out some drinks, bring some Dew Beetles. Milk them, and you can brew the milk into Mead.

Just correcting a few things: no cheese from underground trees. But glue, crystal pikes, gems or edible and brewable shrooms. also steelgrade tempimmune laether from farming nethercaps.

Javelins are not crap. They sever limbs when they hit, they are amazing. As are drowish bulletspikes for muskets. But early on: stick to crossbows.

btw, ironbark and steeloak logs make very good ammo. even if they count as wood, their properties are those of iron and steel.

[MerkerBenson]

Yo,
Also, ironbark and steeloak can make VERY good wooden training spears. It says they're wooden, but they slice stuff in half like there's no tomorrow. Makes for some wicked traps that way...or , as I found out, very good dwarf-killing danger rooms (even clad in full mithrill, steeloak training spear went right through and split the poor dude in half, yikes!)

Hmm, I find spore trees an awesome underground farming target. I'm swimming in spore tree wood now, and I only have a couple of farms of this stuff.

As for booze industry, I use...PLUMP HELMET MEN! Incredibly cheap so you can bring a junkload of them with you on embark, they hunt vermin, reproduce incredibly fast(faster than i can be bothered to consume the stuff made out of them), and you can make both booze and food out of plump helmet man tissue, which even the spawns/cubs give a lot of. But...be VERY careful with them; especially at the start when you only have a handful of dwarfs...Don't let them become too many or..else.... you have been warned. But otherwise, when you have a big fort with over 100 dwarfs a dozen plump helmet men females can sustain your food and booze industry indefinitely. I didn't even need to farm stuff, just for some variety. I have over 2500 plump helmet man wine and over 2500 plump helmet men lavish meals that sell for 1000s, I usually buy ALL the stuff a caravan brings with just plump helmet men prepared meals, and my cooks aren't even masters, most of this stuff gets done by noobs

Cheers

[Fenrisson]

Ok thx Guys,

all this stuff helps a lot.

Right now I'm trying to use drakes as a source of leather protection and later on the surplus is planned as meatsource. I really enjoy all the new building options. The blueprint for a vaste library are already in the workings - also htoe options to display ones artifacts and gem statues are realy nice...

I will see were all this will lead me - keep on digging...