Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Author Topic: Question about farm/mining selection.  (Read 880 times)

Nee

  • Escaped Lunatic
    • View Profile
Question about farm/mining selection.
« on: April 16, 2011, 04:16:00 am »

Hi guys

I've just recently started playing and am starting to get the hang of it but there is one thing that I've always been curious about.

When you're mining you select the area you want to dig out with arrow keys and enter.
When you're making a farm you select the area you want to farm with u m h k.

Why are there two different types of area selection for essentially the same job?
I'd have to say that the mining selection method is much easier (speaking as a newbie learning the keys).
Logged

cancel.man

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Question about farm/mining selection.
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2011, 04:30:48 am »

It's the difference between "designating" and "building."

You're designating things to happen to the environment (in this case digging, same with designating trees to be cut down).

You're building farm plots. They're like walls, bridges, etc.- built things.

The others that are gonna blow your mind are zones- which you can paint like designating, but they have limited size- and burrows which are painted like designations but can be painted to multiple z-levels in one stroke.

The size selection method (arrows for position vs u h m k) is a little weird and frustrating, but makes sense for building where you are limited by size dimensions front a center point.
Logged
DF version 0.34.05 Lazy Newb Pack

Nee

  • Escaped Lunatic
    • View Profile
Re: Question about farm/mining selection.
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2011, 11:13:59 am »

thanks for the answer, im sure ill get used to it :)
Logged

Psieye

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Question about farm/mining selection.
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2011, 12:09:18 pm »

Basically, building farms uses the same keyset as building walls and floors - there the arrow keys are used to move where you want to place the construction and umkh are used to dictate how big/wide it is. It matters more for constructions as each tile needs building materials accounted for, whereas a miner can mine out as many tiles as he wants with no concern for what other items are on the map.
Logged
Military Training EXP Analysis
Congrats, Psieye. This is the first time I've seen a derailed thread get put back on the rails.