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[Khyron]

Problem : Hauling sucks. Pumping water/magma up multiple levels sucks.

Solution : Transit Delivery Systems for products.

Implementation : Chutes and bucket lifts.

A simple idea to reduce (But not eliminate) the amount of hauling jobs necessary.

A dwarf produces an item in a workshop. That workshop can be linked to a chute - the finished product is taken by the producer and placed on the chute. From there the product will slide down the chute (Direction is addressed later on in this suggestion).

If a product needs to be moved between Z-Levels, going down the item can drop directly through a hole and land somewhere. If it lands on a chute, it will move down that chute automatically.

Chutes can be created from metal (Items move faster), wood (Medium Speed), and stone (Items move slower). To create a chute you must first create a starting block which takes 3 material (To simulate height), then you create the chute itself which takes 1 material per 3 tiles. Chute corners take 1 material. The starting block is used so that the game knows the direction items must travel in the chute.

If items must be used to go up a Z-Level, dwarves can build a bucket lift. It requires power (dwarf, water, or wind powered), requires 2 buckets per Z-Level (Meaning a minimum of 4), Rope/Chain, and 2 Mechanisms (Top and Bottom pulleys). The bottom of the lift must be next to a chute. The top of the lift will deposit the item onto the tile next to it, chute or no. A bucket lift could also be submerged into water and used to lift liquids multiple Z-Levels. Only the top tile must be accessible for building.

Items that are dropped directly into a stockpile will be queued to be sorted by dwarves, items dropped into an empty space will be queued for hauling tasks where applicable.

Chutes can also be used to direct the flow of liquids. Liquids move faster on chutes than on bare ground, flow in one direction (And not spread out), and will not leave a 1/7 tile of water/magma when the source is depleted.

Chutes and Bucket Lifts will need to be made of magma-safe material (Bauxite, Steel chains/buckets, etc) if used to pump or channel magma.

Chutes are assumed to be raised up, and thus dwarves can walk under them. Dwarves can be knocked unconcious if a large object falls on them from the chute above, so try to keep your dwarves clear of the chute while objects are being sent along it.

Chutes could be destroyed during tantrums, by gremlins, or by beasts.

Probably been suggested before! But maybe not. Still would be useful, I think.

[Impaler[WrG]]

Interesting stuff, I have some questions though.

The chutes are essentially sloped 'slides' correct?  I presume they will move items horizontally and the player can add downward movement by having one chute end above a hole in the floor which is above a second chute starting block.  If this is correct I think you horizontal length of the chute should have some limit, say 7-12 tiles from the start is the most that can be built to reflect the fact that theirs must be some slope to make items move.  The use of the Starting Blocks sounds like a good idea because it makes the direction of the system unambiguous without requiring the player to designate the height of the chute at every point.  I would drop the idea of having different material requirements though, one material for each tile of chute is a good enough approximation.

Bucket-lifts sound very close to wells, or perhaps a cross between wells and screw-pumps.  I'd assume they move less water then screw-pumps but their vertical nature makes them easier to use?  I'm not sure how it could even be built given the present interface which doesn't support any kind of vertical building (though this may change in the next version).

[Spiteful Crow]

Sounds like a cool idea.

The bucket things wouldn't have to be vertical, they could just be like screw pumps, but one tile and they pump from Z-1 to Z+0, with a certain output direction, including the next pump as an option. Could have start or intake pumps and output pumps. For chutes, things falling off would be very dangerous, unless you could set a 'danger level' of the slide based on what you planned to send down it, and if a dwarf got hit by some steel bars going down a 'very dangerous' slide, it would be his own fault. Chutes could be also be greased with animal fat. Here we have a steel chute covered in groundhog grease.

There could even be fun slides: Urist McLazynowork has been happy lately. He slid down a fine slippery slide lately.

All in all a great concept, which could be good for the real game, but only if Toady deems it so.

[Gauteamus]

Those chutes would work splendidly in concert with the Rotating Plates of this thread in constructing the Wallace and Gromit contraptions we all love.

[Faces of Mu]

All I'd want is to be able to place a stockpile over an edge.

I've really been thinking that the inability for dwarves to simply drop items off designated edges onto stockpiles is a strangely limiting factor in fortress design. I don't know how much damage goods take from falls, but I would be willing to risk it for certain things like ore and wood. This one thing would mean you could designate a wood drop from the surface to underground, with a stockpile at the bottom which could either be the final storage place, or it could be designated to move wood from that stockpile to another on the same level. I think many players have tried tweaking dump zones for this, but it seems time to allow the player to do this using stockpiles instead.

Simple but effective, no?

[Safe-Keeper]

Indeed. Humans already do this (in real-life, I mean) with coal, and you can already do it with garbage, so why not a coal/gem/blocks/everything else you feel sturdy enough to survive a fall chute?

[Faces of Mu]

Cats to the butcher.

[Silverionmox]

All I'd want is to be able to place a stockpile over an edge.

I've really been thinking that the inability for dwarves to simply drop items off designated edges onto stockpiles is a strangely limiting factor in fortress design. I don't know how much damage goods take from falls, but I would be willing to risk it for certain things like ore and wood. This one thing would mean you could designate a wood drop from the surface to underground, with a stockpile at the bottom which could either be the final storage place, or it could be designated to move wood from that stockpile to another on the same level. I think many players have tried tweaking dump zones for this, but it seems time to allow the player to do this using stockpiles instead.

Simple but effective, no?

I think that was the intention all along (given the unused stockpile option for refuse). Dumping is typically used by the player to move some specific stuff out of the way or to a certain point anyway, rather than for getting rid of stuff. The only complication would be to make sure the dwarves don't consider all stockpiles spaces walkable and can put stuff in them from the side, and that's about it.

[mickel]

The bucket lift gave me a vision of a paternoster lift. And that gave me visions of the horrible dwarf-deaths that can be had.