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Author Topic: z-levels, and burrows  (Read 2552 times)

waldo

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z-levels, and burrows
« on: February 01, 2012, 06:48:39 pm »

i started playing dwarf fortress when it was in the 40-d development stage, so i never really quite got the function of burrows down and only just started to understand the military to a degree that resembles some kind of fluency. my fortresses tend to not last very long, maybe 5 to 6 years, however they've always had a few things in common: I've always dug deep instead of out. well recently i noticed that my dwarfs will not go to the -17th z level for any reason besides mining and military. and even then the military just gets stuck there twiddling their thumbs until i post them to someplace above the 17th z-level.

my computer isn't exactly the best one in the world, but it works, it still has a single core amd sempron but i managed to punch in 2 gigs of ddr2 ram. however i feel that one or the other is failing as on an unrelated note youtube keeps crashing on me.

would this be classified as a bug? is this happening because i refuse to use the burrows utility? is there some kind of workaround that i'm not aware of? i checked the wiki and there was no mention of this. if it is the burrows could somebody give me some tips on how to effectively manage which dwarves go where when i can't even remember half of the little guys' names?

edit: i should note that the effects extend all the z-levels past the -17th...
« Last Edit: February 01, 2012, 06:50:37 pm by waldo »
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Sphalerite

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2012, 07:46:34 pm »

Difficult to tell from your description, it could be a lot of things.  Do you have a burrow active that doesn't go past the 17th level?

I suspect you may have actually managed to screw up a ramp or break stairs such that the levels below Z-17 are physically inaccessible, but I'd have to see your fortress to say.
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waldo

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2012, 10:31:30 pm »

since the problem has arose i did add a burrow from the top of the map to the dinning room and from the dinning room to past the 17th z-level. i added the file to the dwarf fortress file depository: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=5432 i think i did it right.

at this point i think i should mention that this hasn't been the only save that this has happened on, there's been a few times that I've tried to make an inflated depth of my fortress by skipping the first few layers and i ran up against this wall at the similar if not same depth. in fact one time i couldn't get my dwarves to build anything where i eventually had my miners digging out and they all starved because the miners wouldn't even come back.

in the game i would suggest that you try to finish building the stairway where I'm pumping the water away from it that's where i've been concentrating my efforts but my military also gets stuck after chasing beasts from in the cave into a pit that's on or below the 17th so maybe you could try to build some kind of construction in one of those areas and see if you can replicate.

i'm thinking about re-downloading the latest release and starting a new fortress to see if that has anything to do with it.
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NecroRebel

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2012, 11:08:46 pm »

Unable to reproduce.

I didn't try extending your staircase, but from your setup I can see that you wouldn't be able to; the staircase on the water level is flooded because you don't have a complete Moses Effect ring set up. Water is flowing onto the stairs from the north and south, causing the stairs to be at 3/7 or more depth and preventing passage, and your pumps on the east and west are insufficient to prevent this. I was able to build a wall on z=-18, and I set the miners to digging a spiral ramp down to the second cavern layer at ~z=-23 or so, then built a floor down there.

I suspect that you're cutting off your ramp or stair access when you continue the fort, which is what would cause the miners to fail to come back to the surface (because they can't). Also, your understanding of the Moses Effect is... incomplete, let's say; you appear to believe that pulling water out on some of the sides is sufficient to dry the middle, but you need to pull water out on all sides. 2 of 4 isn't enough. Were you to make more pumps to make a complete ring around where you want to build instead of just 2 walls, the floor should dry and nothing should prevent you from going through that lake there. Unfortunately, your fort is difficult to read due to how many z-levels it's spread across and the bad cavern gen so I can't give more specifics, but an educated guess suggests that you're trying to dig through water and/or inadvertently cutting off access routes.
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Sphalerite

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2012, 11:10:55 pm »

Well, it seems form a quick look that you can't build any stairs on level Z-17 because it's full of water.  You also have a really confusing burrow setup that I'm going to have to look at more carefully to figure out what you're even trying to do.
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waldo

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2012, 11:39:13 pm »

well the idea of the fort was to have a compact system with a central stairway it alternats per z level 10x10 on one side then it goes down a z level and there's another 10x10 on the other side the spaces in between are connected to the landing above it by a simple up to down staircase with a 9x10 landing for storage or rooms for dwarfs. the idea is that by having everything situated around a central staircase everything is usually within 30 units of travel if it isn't trying to grow on the surface or in the middle of the cave. that the in between spaces aren't connected to the central stairs is because i am a firm believer that all things dwarfy must have some form of complication from being too easy.

after doing some testing with a fresh download i've decided that i can't even reproduce. toady; you must have made a quantum program. first i put the save into a fresh download of dwarf fortress 0.31.25 and it started working alright much to my delight then i retried the save from the original dwarf fortress download and that is somehow working much to my horror. seriously i'm dumbstruck here, am i losing it or is it possible that these things were happening because my ram is kicking it?
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Darvi

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2012, 02:45:10 pm »

Congrats on the 100k'th topic, by the way.
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i2amroy

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2012, 09:00:09 pm »

Congrats on the 100k'th topic, by the way.
Check again. According to the current forum stats as of this posting there are only 98,255 total topics.
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waldo

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2012, 11:04:32 pm »

Congrats on the 100k'th topic, by the way.
Check again. According to the current forum stats as of this posting there are only 98,255 total topics.
darn oh so close!
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Loud Whispers

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Re: z-levels, and burrows
« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2012, 03:33:42 pm »

Congrats on the 100k'th topic, by the way.
Check again. According to the current forum stats as of this posting there are only 98,255 total topics.
darn oh so close!
Just over 1500 topics to go then?