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[Foxite]

Multiple questions regarding minecarts:

1) When I set minecart routes to push the cart when its full of items, and then a dwarf comes along to push it forward, when it comes at the destination, the cart goes on for a while and ends up in the middle of a stockpile. Is there any way to actually make the cart stop when they reach the end of the track? (I know that just placing a wall would work, but I want to know if there's a more suitable solution.)

2) If I got the main fortress area near the surface, but a metalworking facility near magma to support magma forges and stuff, is there a way to make dwarves go up and down there using minecarts? I know you can get items to be hauled like that, but I want to know if you can use them to transfer dwarves too. Also, do I need multiple carts to minimize chances of collision, and as for the above question when going down, will crashing into a wall at the destination cause injuries? (I know that if it does than it will be certain death, but I want to know if anything happens to a dwarf that's in it when that happens.)

3) Is the quirk regarding propulsion by ramps still in place? So that I won't have to bother with rollers all over the place?

4) Are minecarts even worth it? So if I was setting up a systems like on question 2 then would I get any noticeable time benefits? Especially when hauling heavy metals and ores up and down...

[Larix]

1)Tracks have very little influence on minecarts - they offer lower friction and corners can enforce a direction change, but apart from that the exact track layout is largely ignored and the cart just runs in a straight line. A track end does absolutely nothing by itself, the cart will simply keep going.

To make a cart stop you need an obstacle (wall, closed door) or excessive friction - a "track stop" building (found under "b"uild - "C"onstruction - track "S"top) set to highest (default) or high friction.

2) riding a minecart is a job in and of itself, dwarfs won't use a cart to travel to a job location. Safe cart riding is pretty close to an oxymoron, it takes quite a bit of planning to make sure bypassers or riders don't get themselves crushed in a fit of dwarvenness.

3) both major ramp propulsion bugs are alive and well in .40.16. The notable bugs are the "impulse ramps" - ramps that accelerate without a change in z-level - and the "checkpoint effect" - carts sort of teleport through a tile when going from a ramp to a different tile (can be a different-slant ramp).

4) Yes.

[PatrikLundell]

I use a minecart transport system without dwarves between level 3 and 145, using impulse ramps. The down direction is mostly very simple: just a vertical drop with a ramp at the bottom. I then have it slam into a wall and fall one additional level onto another ramp in order to shed the huge velocity built up, but I don't know if that's needed. However, I also have to dodge the second cavern a bit. Upwards is completely impulse ramp driven. Currently I just send stuff down, but the system is set up so I can change it to send stuff up on the return trip. I did run into some strange issues with the impulse ramps: in 3 places they just didn't work, despite looking as it it used the same design as everywhere else. Eventually I ended up changing the route a bit, and then the ramps there worked. On the top: Route Stop with orders to push North when full. At the bottom it runs into a track stop that dumps the contents. On top of that is another route stop with order to guide south always (2 tiles into a wall), and there is another route stop with current orders to push east always. At the top I have a Track Stop with a dump south order, and overlaying that a push west route stop order into a track stop at the same location as my start route stop.

The design is usable even before you get the "up" route debugged. When hitting the bottom you don't send it further. The dorfs will then generate an order to carry the minecart back to the top.

I don't know really know how it would work with multiple minecarts. Probably possible, but requiring a fair bit of work to set it up. It doesn't hurt to add restriction zones in dangerous places, but the system has eliminated 3 cats so far, and got close to take out a human spy (a.k.a. "diplomat") and his muscle (I had to stop the operation until the morons got out of the tunnel). On that vein, remove or forbid everything in the track tunnels, as you'll probably find yourself looking at mangled corpses of scavengers otherwise. Also, separate the tracks from any foot traffic (only access through the ends) to avoid accidents with "shortcuts". A parallel staircase can help make sure that path is preferrable to the serpentine "up" track.

[Aslandus]

In being worthwhile, minecart tracks definitely are. Even guided, they transport 5 times the material per trip for a dwarf. I don't know about tracks for pushed carts (I've only made a small guided cart track for moving stone), but if you try to make a dwarf guide a minecart without a complete track they'll just carry the thing the whole way, which takes about ten times longer. I have yet to make a big time minecart track but I'm sure it's very profitable compared to making everything get hauled 30 z levels

Unfortunately the benefits come with some minor drawbacks, such as occasional devastating cart accidents that end with several dwarves dying.

Also, no reason to stop the minecart when you can just set up a track stop with no friction to dump the stone and have the cart roll right back to the loading zone on its momentum

[PatrikLundell]

Hm, so you can have mine carts unload on the go? That's worth trying.

Yes, it worked spledidly!
With the new ability to modify Track Stop properties, you can then place an upwards Track Stop that normally has minimal friction such that the mine cart just is sent back up, but can be increased to stop the cart so it can be loaded.

[Aslandus]

We just need a way to militarize it, maybe some kind of dwarven shooting gallery, or a small entrance with a minecart dumping rocks over it

[Sanctume]

Youtube FurnaceClans and he's got a nice militarized minecart grinder, and alternate to magma pumpstack.

[PatrikLundell]

A low tech militarized use of mine carts is to fill them with heavy stuff and then drop them on top of enemies. A higher tech version is to create a dwarven minecart railgun by accelerate a minecart to warp speed using impulse ramps down the corridor the invaders are forced to take.