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[psychologicalshock]

So I have been experimenting a little with the new jobs such as shearing, milking and beekeeping and I can't really find a huge use  for  them (even with a large amount of hives I still hardly get a significant amount of honey) . There's no situation I can think of where I couldn't just buy a ton of cloth from a civ or just grow some pig tails. In the 3d version before the caves were put in Tundra/Arctic maps were very interesting because they forced you to work with nearly no wood. I think if there were situations where access to cloth or food was limited these jobs would see more use.

On the flip side embarking with egg-layers is almost like cheating.

[Sorcerer]

well, it's not always about min/max'ing your fort to always and only do what is most efficient at any given time.
Yes you can trade for cloth, should that stop you from having the ability to shear a sheep?

As for the egg issue, this game could really do with a food revamp, some foods should require more units to be considered a meal.

[Loud Whispers]

New jobs?

[FrisianDude]

Shearing and milking allows certain animals to be more than walking meat, at least.

[Owlbread]

Shearing and milking allows certain animals to be more than walking meat, at least.

It's also quite handy for people like me who aren't very good at organising arable farming; now we have other ways to make clothes and have something to put in our loyal workers' stomachs.

[twwolfe]

milking at least has been around for a very long time.

[Garath]

So I was running low on wool and waited on the human caravan. "what do you mean, no wool." Oh well, dwarf then. "Did you bring any cloth at all?"

Let us shear a sheep! "what do you mean we slaughtered all the sheep last year?"

[Loud Whispers]

shearing, milking and beekeeping have been here for a while

[cerevox]

I am confused. I thought all those jobs (shearing, milking, beekeeping) have been in the game for years, multiple years. Did those particular jobs even get changed in the updates this year or am I missing something?

Ok, answered by a ninja post sliding in right before mine. Shearing has always been useful though, even if milking isn't super useful and beekeeping has been bugged for as long as I can remember.

[psychologicalshock]

I barely played the game when they were introduced, so they are new to me, sorry.

Milking has been in for a long time but only for purring maggots, milking cows was added way later. Incidentally cheese back then was an alright low-skill job because each 5 stack was worth 500 Urists whereas now cheese is hardly worth anything. It would be cool if you could age cheese or wine to give it value.

[Kofthefens]

As for the egg issue, this game could really do with a food revamp, some foods should require more units to be considered a meal.

I agree. I think egg-layers should have to be fed seeds. This would better because then it would be limited more, but you would still have the opportunity to have plenty of eggs.

[wierd]

chickens will eat just about anything you give them.

Watermelons
Tomatoes
rice
beef fat scraps
...
leftover chicken
...

They dont live on just seeds, except in a battery egg farm.  Freerange chickens eat all sorts of stuff, from grasses, to veggies, to grasshoppers.

[Kofthefens]

chickens will eat just about anything you give them.

Watermelons
Tomatoes
rice
beef fat scraps
...
leftover chicken
...

They dont live on just seeds, except in a battery egg farm.  Freerange chickens eat all sorts of stuff, from grasses, to veggies, to grasshoppers.

Yes, I just suggested seeds because I feel that it would fit in well with the existing food system. One already often has a surplus of seeds, and fowl need something to eat.

[FrisianDude]

Oh yes, animals can often be tamed perfectly well by feeding them chunks of the same species.

[slink]

Shearing and beekeeping are new after 40d, and as I recall milking was useless before that unless you had a dungeon master and collected purring maggots.

Beekeeping is a way to get mead.  To be honest, I've very seldom managed to get it that far.  You don't seem to be able to buy mead, so that is something in its favor.  The downside of keeping bees is that they have to be outdoors.  Not just "dug out and roofed over" like the aboveground plants.  That means they are a security hole.

I enjoyed the milking and shearing before pastures were introduced.  I kept all of the chattels on ropes, in large rooms, so I could selectively breed them for meat as well as milk and/or wool.  Pastures have made me stop keeping grazing beasts.  I hate having them starve because the grass didn't grow back, or offspring grew up and ran off to the dining room.