Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[martinuzz]

I am quite excessively using minecart-fed quantum stockpiles for just about everything applicable.
Question: how long does it take for food items to spoil inside a minecart?  Does it even spoil?
I am asking because minecart pushing is taking up a lot of my dwarves' time and I would like to know how many days I can set the 'always guide <direction> after X days' setting without the food going bad.

Btw I noticed that dwarves will happily take items from a minecart to use in a workshop crafting job.  Is that new or could they always do that?
I could swear items in a minecart used to be inaccessible for crafting.

[iceball3]

I'd suggest setting aside a minecart with some plant and meat food loaded to check if it even can go bad. I'd bet my gut it cant, like in other containers, like coffers, barrels, and backpacks.

[PatrikLundell]

I'm on the same page as iceball3, i.e. that food doesn't spoil in minecarts (nor does a carcass start to rot while hauled), but similarly, doesn't have any proof of that being the case.

I've seen claimed and dump marked stuff carried/worn by caged enemies whose cages have been placed in minecarts being dumped, although I can't say whether that's a new behavior.

Note that a minecart quantum stockpile has the cart dump the items immediately when they're put into the minecart, but if the stockpiles is fed by a minecart that's actually moved it's a different issue.

[Urist9876]

I've used minecarts to move fish around.
When you do not disable the fisher migrants and have a good fishing spot you get flooded with fish. At least for a while.

No fish ever rotted. Schedule was once a month. Food that can rot does not last long.

Food (including fish) can be processed while in a minecart. Other items shouldn't be available to workshops or something has changed.

[Fleeting Frames]

Yeah, I've measured the rot timer with raw skins - it never increases while in minecarts.

Food is also available for cooking, brewing and eating (but not drinking, despite barrels of syrup being cookable inside). As such I like to put food minecart in the tavern since unlike stockpile I can 'h'ide the minecart. With fishes you can also measure how much fish you have in fortress with a pressure plate and use this to enable and disable fishing as needed.

I haven't tested everything, but other than those in my experience items inside minecarts aren't accessible to workshop. Hunters can't get ammo either.