What exactly are you spending the extra points to forge your own picks on anyway? I can see forging the axe on site, since woodcutting isn't exactly a rush thing thats needed right away - but mining has always been the limiting thing on my starting progress.
Say you take 2 copper bars and a rock. You build wood furnace out of copper and forge out of the rock. Burn the wood from wagon, deconstruct the furnace, craft the two picks. You saved a total of 68 points and did 7 different labors, which could probably be done in a bit under a week of dwarf-time.
That sounds good in theory, but what exactly are you doing that makes that 68 points so useful that it becomes worth the hassle and the extra time? A pair of skilled miners could have already dug out 100 tiles of your early living space in which to set up your fort. Not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but neither is 68 points.
You could get 34 units of alcohol, with the 7 barrels that comes with. While the miners are digging you could have your other dwarves gather plants and quickly get enough to make 34 alcohol, plus the seeds they yield for food. The barrels would require a woodcutter and a carpenter, but wouldn't take long either. Or you could use that starting week to have your miners dig you out an underground farm beside one of the murky pools and get started on early farming, quickly resulting in way more than 34 alcohol.
If you really wanted to cut corners and save points at every opportunity, bring plump helmets instead of dwarven wine. Assuming we want exactly 100 wine at embark, you could:
Buy 100 wine (200 points)
Buy 20 plump helmets, make the wagon into 2 barrels, and brew 100 alcohol (80 points).
Plus you get the added bonus of around 30 free plump helmet spawn, which can be planted or cooked into meals. The spawn could replace 30 of your meat if you cooked it, freeing up another 60 points. Thats 180 points, and any old dwarf could be doing this work while your miners dig out the fort. Granted you are starting with 18 fewer barrels since your plants come in 2 barrels and the alcohol would have come in 20, but bring 18 wood (54 pts) and have a carpenter get to work and you could quickly get them made plus get carpentry experience (higher quality beds when you make them) to boot. Or do the whole buy-one-of-every-type-of-animal-meat thing where you get barrels with every chunk of meat, goodness knows there are enough food animals now (you can even buy cave spider brains!).
I just never saw the option of making my own picks that appealing. If the amount of points you saved was more significant I might, but it really isn't that many points. I'd rather have my miners up and running on day 1.
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Topic: Embark Strategies (Read 16392 times)