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[JimboOmega]

Like the title says there are several aspects of the game I basically ignore - milling, clothesmaking (except the occasional bag), in fact the whole textile part of the economy.  I also don't worry about glass.  I hardly ever use the farmer's workshop.  I understand the idea of slaughtering and using meat (though I always get butcher and slaughter confused),  and occasionally use leather to make things like quivers or armor.

So do I need to ever build a mill, does it help me out somehow?  Do I need to actually do whatever it takes to convert rope reed into cloth into clothes?   Do I need to use the farmer's workshop or can I just brew those things into beer and get something cookable, drinkable, and seeds all at once?

[SquidgyB]

If you have an underground feature that's given you cave spiders then you can technically do without a clothesmaking, but you should keep some created or traded stacks of cloth for strange moods.

AFAIK the mill isn't required for any moods, but some foods can be made from produce there that can be a help to your fortress, though again you could probably just trade in all your flour needs. I've never tried dyeing (sp?) but again, it's optional really, no moods require dyed cloth (I might be wrong on this one though).

[Kipi]

As far as I know, dyes are not required in any mood. Also, leaving dwarfs naked does not result bad thoughts, but rotting clothes do (and all clothes will eventually rot). I usually don't bother with clothing, unless I have dozens of spare workers with nothing to do.

Also, farmer's workshop is not required, though with it you can have different types of food in your fortress, which could lead some positive thoughts. Nothing major there though, so unless you really want to there is no need to build one.

[smokingwreckage]

You can ignore heaps of the game if you want to, but I am considering a glassmaker instead of a mason as standard, as s/he can make all the furniture PLUS large serrated glass discs for saw-blade goblin-butchering traps, PLUS magma-proof pump components. This only applies when using a Magma Glass Smelter to make green glass.

[dakenho]

You can ignore heaps of the game if you want to, but I am considering a glassmaker instead of a mason as standard, as s/he can make all the furniture PLUS large serrated glass discs for saw-blade goblin-butchering traps, PLUS magma-proof pump components. This only applies when using a Magma Glass Smelter to make green glass.

the other advantage to this is glass can be used like gems in decorations if I am not mistaken. which now that i think about it, makes me want to find a map with sand everytime

The only reason you would want or need cloth production is for trading purposes, but as stated before, you should keep a supply of cloth and thread for moods,  additionally I would have some sand on standby for moods. (which does require a bag or two).  a finely made bag, finely died, with a thread image (finely died) should make a fairly valuable item and thus add to fortress wealth.

I also want every one to consider this, how much more would your artifact be if the base thread item being used was also died
lets say *10 for the die * 2 for Finley died?

as for milling:

dwarfs want different variety of food and booze, if they do not get them they tend to not move or work as fast, so you can grow pig tail and cave wheat for this purpose.  milled products tend to more valuable than meat and plump helmet's so go a long way to increasing the value of a prepared meal, once again make dwarfs happier, honestly milling does not take much of any production, it takes a farmer you already have, it takes a miller which you need to get, and 1 peasant to pick up stuff when your done, (you also do need a few bags maybe 10 or so) but for the benefit of happiness and additional fortress wealth...

[JimboOmega]

So if I understand this correctly there's no need to make clothes for dwarves at all?  It sounds like either way, the clothes are going to rot off them and make them upset - in fact making more clothes just perpetuates the process, so why bother?

As for milling, can't I just brew the leaves rather than mill them?  The result is a variety of booze - in fact, if I mill it, can I still brew it?

[Jurph]

All three millable plants can be brewed into booze instead, if that's what you need, but you can't have both: each plant can either be milled into wheat or brewed into booze.  Longland flour, dwarven flour, and whip vine flour are all made at the mill from longland grass, cave wheat, and whip vines.  A miller can convert a stack of N whip vines into a stack of N whip vine flour, worth 25 each.  If prepared by a semi-skilled cook -- let's say he does a Fine job -- each one adds 75 to the price of each meal in a stack, and adds N to the total stack size.  The total value added over (say) plump helmet is going to be 23 dorfbucks times the quality modifier.

That's up to a few hundred extra dorfbucks per meal.  Millers are unskilled, and millstone quality isn't terribly important.  For a handful of logs, a mechanism, and a low-grade millstone you can make a wind-powered mill that will crank out as much flour as you can throw at it.  If you're making an infinite power generator anyway, go ahead and tack on a mill on the top floor of your reactor.

So a few minutes' work setting up stockpiles and product flow gets you another nice source of revenue and a contributor to your dwarves' happiness.  Since my forts generally get through the first five years selling expensive drive-thru food to elves and humans, I always have a mill set up pretty quickly. 

If you have a mill, you'll want to have plenty of bags around, though... and bags require either lots of leather or a farmer's workshop, a loom, and a clothier's workshop.  I suppose you could split your bags into cheap and expensive variants using stockpiles, and then use all the cheap leather bags for mill bags, but the real synergy between mills and the cloth industry is this: the cloth industry produces bags but uses dye, and creates valuable cloth as a side effect; the mill industry uses up bags and produces dye, and produces valuable food as a side effect.

[Kav]

Sometimes I like to mill flour and sugar just so I get some variety in the food. I also like to sew dyed images into goblin clothes just to give the little bastards something to do.

[Lytha]

I don't know if I am just superstituous, but in a freezing map, I wouldn't let my dwarves out of the fortress without any clothes.

[nil]

So if I understand this correctly there's no need to make clothes for dwarves at all?  It sounds like either way, the clothes are going to rot off them and make them upset - in fact making more clothes just perpetuates the process, so why bother?

As for milling, can't I just brew the leaves rather than mill them?  The result is a variety of booze - in fact, if I mill it, can I still brew it?

Clothing provides a slight armor bonus (especially in the case of leather coats, which offer almost as much protection as leather armor), and acquiring a piece clothing produces a happy thought (this may only apply to dwarves that buy their clothing, i.e. non-legendaries, not sure on this).  Also, if you keep up your clothing supply you can dodge the bad thought from rotting clothing, since they'll drop their rags in favor of new clothes before it happens.  Finally, when it comes to trade goods, nothing beats dyed plant fiber crafts--with a legendary dyer and clothesmaker, you can routinely get 300+ dwarfbucks an item, and the usual "three crafts to one raw item" rule applies.  Even though most of my trading is in invader gear I always keep a couple bins of cloth crafts around just in case I need to buy out a caravan in a hurry.

So if you have the excess labor and FPS to spend on it, clothing can be worthwhile, but as everyone else has already established, it's never necessary.

I don't know if I am just superstituous, but in a freezing map, I wouldn't let my dwarves out of the fortress without any clothes.

Oh yeah, this too.  I've certainly observed invaders getting temperature damage on unclothed bodyparts while the parts of them covered by clothes are fine... I doubt its any different for dwarves.