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[lordofgilneas]

It's standard.
I have the option to research golemforges, toxicology labs, greatforges.
Which should I research first?

[c0mplex]

It all depends on which one you think you will use the most or which one you can use sooner than later.

Golemforges obviously make golems which are strong, but they kind of stop being dwarves. They cannot be assigned tasks and do not utilize equipment. They can be upgraded so it is easy to make them powerful so long as you have enough of the appropriate metal. They become closer to pets than anything else (so remember to have them in a military squad before the transformation or you won't be able to add them to your military afterwards). I would say that golems are best when you have a lot of metal to spare and dwarves you don't mind turning into machines.

Toxicology labs are good if you have a lot of materials to make into poisons such as animals that can be milked for venom or certain plants. It requires some micromanaging in order to pick which weapons get coated in poison and who actually gets to use the weapon. It also makes traps a lot more dangerous. I would say that poisons are best if you have access to the reagents of strong and useful poisons and if you want your military and traps to be more potent.

Greatforges make strong weapons and shields and allow the mass production of armor sets (which I find to be the most helpful aspect of the forge). It is very metal intensive but if you need to equip a lot of soldiers, this is a good way to do so. I would say that a greatforge is best if you have a lot of metal and a lot of soldiers.

Overall:
-Golemforge: Pros: Golems are strong and can be upgraded to get stronger; fairly balanced offense and defense; can turn any useless dwarf into a fighting machine. Cons: Making, repairing, and upgrading golems requires a lot of metal; You lose potential workers if your fortress is small.
-Toxicology Lab: Pros: The right poisons outright win fights; makes having larger militia forces unnecessary; good way to make deadly weapons without advanced metals. Cons: Good poisons may be hard to get; doesn't have a defensive aspect; requires a fair bit of micromanagement.
-Greatforge: Pros: Quickly make armor sets; gain access to 2h weapons and kiteshields; good way to accommodate and equip a large military. Cons: Somewhat metal intensive; loses some usefulness if you already have a fully equipped military; doesn't provide many unique aspects to your military that a regular forge cannot do.

[slay_mithos]

I would say Great Forge, because the shields are a huge upgrade to what you can make otherwise.
The sets is also pretty nice, as you only have to order full sets to be made, but when you have a good manager, it doesn't really makes that much of a difference.

And when you know a bit about dwarf fortress, you should also know that shields tend to be extremely usefull, especially at high levels, with better base shields making your army even harder to kill.

Technically speaking, two handed weapons have a pretty insane power, but knowing that you can't have a shield, it makes your warriors much less durable, and you really need high grade armour (both material and quality), as well as a high level in armour skill to be able to compensate.


The Toxicology lab becomes really nice when you can safely farm the plants from the third cavern, as they all produce pretty potent poisons, but as said above, you will need a pretty high degree of micro management to be able to put poison on the weapons you actually want to poison.
It does stack with runes, so if you are going for an "ultimate" weapon, then poisons is a step to achieve that, but realistically speaking, there are very few things that you actually need those godly weapons for.

[lordofgilneas]

Probably will do greatforges first... I think. I already have a scribe so research can be copied.
It turns out I already have a greatforge blueprint, now I just need to find iron. Where can I find the stuff needed to research herbalist lab? And how does one stabilize warpstone? I have already encountered weak warpstone...

[slay_mithos]

"stable warpstone" is actually a gem vein inside the unstable warpstone veins.

They are fairly rare, and if you have "harder mining" enabled, expect a few death while searching for it.

[c0mplex]

Basically, stable warpstone hangs around the less stable stuff, you cannot actually stabilize non-stable warpstone. If you find a vein of warpstone, then stable warpstone is likely (but not guaranteed) to be within that vein, and it is visually different from the other stuff. If you want to mine through non-stable warpstone, it is advisable to induct your miners into the Mason's Guild as being in that caste is supposed to make the warpstone syndromes less harmful to the miner. Otherwise, try to dig around the vein and look for the stable stuff that way. It takes longer, but it doesn't pose a risk to your miners' health.

As for the Herbalist Lab, you need Papyrus. It should take any type of parchment, but no, it only takes papyrus. You make papyrus from any kind of plant at a Thatchery. Otherwise, the other reagents  (plants and empty barrels) shouldn't be an issue to provide.

Also, if you cannot find iron and you do not want to (or cannot) melt down iron objects, you can have a dwarf pray for hard metals at a Shrine of Armok. It may be necessary if your map doesn't have iron.

[lordofgilneas]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. Once I have the herbalist up there shouldn't be problems regarding materials.