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[ancistrus]

I am ashamed to admit it but ever since they appeared I have never used them. I am not looking for an explanation about how they work, the wiki covers that. What it doesn't seem to cover is my motivation for using them. It seems to me that I can do things more efficiently without minecarts. Hauling is not a problem when my fort is on 2x2 due to fps concerns and there is always at least 50 dwarves idling. So...if you feel like doing it, imagine you are a minecart salesman and I am an old grumpy man who believes he doesn't need any.

[m-logik]

*Ahem*

HELLO SHOPPER! Welcome to Catten & Sons' Used Minecart Emporium!
Can I interest you in minecart today? What? You don't know why you would need one? PAY ATTENTION!

This baby is the lastest innovation in fine dwarven engineering. Let me tell you something, son, ALL craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. You can move almost 1.5x MORE STONE WITH THIS than with that shoddy old wheelbarrow.

Don't need your stone hauled, you say? What kind of dwarf are you? Don't answer that, just look. Look. Closer. You know what that is? THAT'S PLATINUM, BOY. When Urist McFancypants spends two months carrying this fine vehicle to where you actually want it, all the ladies will be paying attention. And if you have a megabeast problem (don't be embarassed lad, it happens to us all) you can fill this sucker up with bins full of blocks and RAM IT RIGHT UP THAT DRAGON'S SCALY CLOACA. You think it'll like that? Not a chance, kiddo. That firebreathing menace will end up in so many pieces you'll be dragging bits of it to the kitchen for the next two seasons.

Now look over there. No, over there. Yeah, that's it. You've got tattered socks all over the place, you slob. You call that a stockpile? SHAMEFUL! With a GENUINE Catten & Sons minecart you can kiss those sprawling piles goodbye! The great minds at the Dwarven Academy of Magma Engineering have integrated a little something we like to call the Spatial Compression Manifold. How does it work? Don't be such a nerd. What does it do? QUANTUM STOCKPILES BABY! HELL YEAH! That's right, quantum. It's physics and shit. Do you want one yet? OF COURSE YOU DO!

Catten & Sons' Used Minecart Emporium  accepts no liability for any crushed dwarves, cats, or other critters that may be flattened by misuse of our product. Except elves. You can totally give us credit for that. Please use our product responsibly; always guide drunk.

*Ahem*

[Panando]

I have to admit I'm in the same boat. I prefer 3x3 embarks and 2 cavern levels. When I have used minecarts they have been for limited purposes:
1) Quantum stockpiles (Although I consider them a bit of a dodgy exploit)
2) Bringing small quantities of magma to the surface for magma smelters and forges (but why not bring the dwarves to the magma?)
3) Drop-carts. In this configuration, you create a stop at the surface where a minecart is filled with junk, and then have it pushed down a vertical shaft 100z to the magma forges where it lands on a track stop and dumps it's contents. A dwarf then hauls it back to the first stop for re-filling. It's like a super-big bin and a safe, automated version of the dump-based drop-chute. Use wooden minecarts for this, featherwood if you can swing it.

I am also seriously considering using minecarts for repeaters, and similar logic applications. Perhaps as weapons as well.

But at the end of the day I can't find justification for building actual rails and using minecart routes for hauling junk.

[Bumber]

(but why not bring the dwarves to the magma?)

Because then you have to mess with the caravan instead?

[Merendel]

(but why not bring the dwarves to the magma?)

Because then you have to mess with the caravan instead?

but its fun to mess with the caravan.
Even better if its an elven caravan.
So many ways to do it too.  you can flood the trade depot chamber with water.  You can flood it with magma.  You can flood it with water and then magma to make nice treehugger statues.  you can release caged prisoners into the depot. bonus points if said prisoners are undead elves.  You can invite the caravan to the magma sea.  A nice cavein under the depot strait down to the sea is ideal.

Isnt messing with caravans fun?

[gtaguy]

Minecarts move twice the ore of a regular dwarf, it moves atleast twice as fast, and if guided goes up ramps like nobody's business.

[sal880612m]

Plus the can run things over. I had one of my cats get run over by a minecart, which in some ways sucked but it was entertaining.

[lethosor]

Minecarts move twice the ore of a regular dwarf <...>

Five times, actually - minecarts can hold up to 5 boulders at once.

[JAFANZ]

Minecarts move twice the ore of a regular dwarf, it moves atleast twice as fast, and if guided goes up ramps like nobody's business.

"Twice"? I thought Minecart capacity was 5 boulders/load?

[Gnomeknows]

As a weapon you say, flatten forgotten beasts you say...pls, tell me more!  Does it come with a warranty?

[Panando]

Minecarts move twice the ore of a regular dwarf, it moves atleast twice as fast, and if guided goes up ramps like nobody's business.

This is good to know. I know that at some point guiding a cart through magma was safe, is this still the case or does the dorf get (appropriately) evaporated?

[ancistrus]

This baby is the lastest innovation in fine dwarven engineering. Let me tell you something, son, ALL craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. You can move almost 1.5x MORE STONE WITH THIS than with that shoddy old wheelbarrow.

A wheelbarrow? Is that some sort of a mobile burial chamber?

Don't need your stone hauled, you say? What kind of dwarf are you? Don't answer that, just look. Look. Closer. You know what that is? THAT'S PLATINUM, BOY. When Urist McFancypants spends two months carrying this fine vehicle to where you actually want it, all the ladies will be paying attention.

But platinum deposits are small and evenly scattered everywhere around the fortress, not just in one place. How would I design a useful minecart rail for that?

And if you have a megabeast problem (don't be embarassed lad, it happens to us all) you can fill this sucker up with bins full of blocks and RAM IT RIGHT UP THAT DRAGON'S SCALY CLOACA.

I am intrigued, but dragons are hardly a menace. How would such a minecart fare in a narrow corridor filled with &&&& ?

Now look over there. No, over there. Yeah, that's it. You've got tattered socks all over the place, you slob. You call that a stockpile? SHAMEFUL! With a GENUINE Catten & Sons minecart you can kiss those sprawling piles goodbye!

Due to my divine intervention, the world has been devoid of socks for some time. Dwarves no longer have the concept of a "sock". They were more trouble than they were worth. An interesting point though.

[Loci]

But Wait! There's more...

How do your dwarves feel about deep water? Wouldn't be caught dead in it, right? The latest and greatest aquatic minecart trainer will drag your dwarves kicking and screaming off the deep end. Now the screaming is just for fun, but the kicking will help your dwarves develop the ability to swim. After less than a year of practice your dwarves will be near legendary swimmers. They will, of course, still habitually avoid the water like all good dwarves should, but your fortress might stand a better chance if the dire carp ever return.

[Panando]

Well I finally built an honest to Armok minecart hauling route. I play fortress defence mod which results in lots of junk accumulating on the surface and hauling it is nearly a full time job for most the fortress. So first I dug a ramp from the surface to the magma sea and engraved it with tracks. Now I am building tracks on the surface. Then when a big mob of attackers drops their goblinite (thanks to my squads of goblinite miners) I create a big weapon and armor stockpile set to 0 bins and "accept from links only" encompassing the kill-zone. Then I create a new stop on my surface->forges express, at the nearest track, and set that stop to take from the nearby goblinite stockpiles, and assign a cart. Once the cart is full (or since a cart can hold A LOT of weapons/armor, after the time delay), a dwarf guides it down to the magma forges, then guides it back up (using the same track). It's pretty entertaining watching several dozens dwarves scurry around collecting all the goblinite, and the cart dumps the item at the magma smelter most conveniently where it is melted down to increase my enormous stockpile of bars. Once all the stuff is collected I remove the temporary stockpile and stop. This minecart route is most useful for collecting the War Elephants's Full Plate Steel, which is extremely heavy [in the past I used wheelbarrows], for lighter items it only saves a long walk. This scheme also holds promise for loading minecarts with ammunition if I want to go that route.

I also tried using it for corpse disposal, but many of the FD enemies are pretty big. A minecart can only hold one War Elephant corpse. For such big items, wheelbarrows work a lot better.