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[neilthrun]

Hey guys, just started using minecarts. I got tracks and carts going A>B, delivering stones from deep in the fort, up to the surface. I've run out of stone, but I accidently created some 800 gabbro blocks. I changed to route to move blocks, but when the carts hit the track stop and dump out the blocks, my haulers then go to the dump spot point B and carry each block back to the point A stockpile. This negates the entire purpose of my delivery route.

I'm guessing I didn't have this problem with the stone, because all my stone piles are full.

How do you guys keep your haulers from undoing the effort of your minecart?

[AutomataKittay]

Put block stockpile where they're dumping it. Don't use bins anywhere in the minecart chain.

Piling things up without bins or barrels in a stockpile not set to take or give anywhere tend to get left alone. Bin or barrels enabled make dwarves take things back to the nearest stockpile that can fit more of it in.

[neilthrun]

BINGO!

I did that when i set the routes up for stone (following the wiki tutorial) and had forgotten when I changed up the hauling routes.

Thanks, my 800 gabbro blocks are now in position to be built into an obsidian factory. Now all I need is for more traders to arrive with magma safe metals so I can finish this pump stack.

[Merendel]

if your embark has sand you can use green glass in your pumpstack for magma.   Alternitively if you already have a few magma safe pumps you might find it easier to just make the obsidian factory down near the magma sea.   It takes much less effort to drop water down a shaft than to bring the magma up.

[neilthrun]

if your embark has sand you can use green glass in your pumpstack for magma.   Alternitively if you already have a few magma safe pumps you might find it easier to just make the obsidian factory down near the magma sea.   It takes much less effort to drop water down a shaft than to bring the magma up.

Yeah, no sand on my embark. I don't think I can make glass from loam, right? I've been trading for raw glass as well, and plan on turning some of that into tubes and corkscrews shortly.

I could make an obsidian factory down below, but I kind of like the idea of a building on the surface that does it. The building is a working model, once I know I can do it properly, I plan on building a very tall tower, as high up as I can go. The tower will have obsidian factories, that will slowly move up with construction. I've already dug out the tower from the surface to the magma sea, and I plan on continuing the blueprint up to the skies.

Plus, I plan on making some fun magma death traps as well. In the past, I've made those underground, but I've had a hard time getting enemies to select paths of such lengths.

Anyway, as much as I know some of this work isn't neccessary, its also meant to just try things out. I've never used pumps, never made an obsidian farm, never used minecarts- before this map. So far so good!

[Kaos]

you could also try a magma piston as an alternative to a pump-stack, is described on the wiki. basically you drop a hundreds of z-levels tall column of natural soil/rock layers onto a magma reservoir you build just above where the magma is, it only takes a handful of pumps to fill the cistern, when the pilon drops on the magma it is "pushed" (teleports really) to the top of the piston where you use bridges to catch the magma, from here you can move it using a few pumps to another reservoir at the surface level. Then you use some of the magma to cast in obsidian the levels you're going to dig out from the bottom and the piston is ready to be dropped again.

You can literally move magma from the very bottom up to the surface in the first run, and you can even make the piston taller by casting more levels up to the sky.

[Maw]

<snip> I've been trading for raw glass as well, and plan on turning some of that into tubes and corkscrews shortly. <snip>

Raw glass of any kind cannot be turned into useful glass items.  Raw glass is not a 'raw material' like a stone boulder, to be turned into something useful like a corkscrew.
Instead its a rough gemstone, fit only to be turned into a very low value gem by a gem cutter.

What you will need is to buy bags of sand (any colour) from the caravans each time they arrive (request from the liason if you can too).

[WanderingKid]

As mentioned above, you can't do anything with raw glass.  Your dorfs, however, may want it for moods.  So, when you can, make sure to pick up 3/4 blocks of all three types of glass from the caravan when you can and stuff them in a corner somewhere to collect dust.

[neilthrun]

Oooh. I hadn't realized that about raw glass, I asumed I could melt into other things. GOOD TO KNOW. I'll start requesting sand instead.

I've got a ways to go on the stack and the factory, but I'll post a screenshot once I'm further along.