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Author Topic: Top 10 most useful skills  (Read 11778 times)

floundericiousWA

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #45 on: March 30, 2012, 01:43:24 pm »

I am not huggable. :P
Why not?

It's just not in the raws for some folks...
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Naryar

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #46 on: March 30, 2012, 01:46:00 pm »

I am not huggable. :P
Why not?

It's just not in the raws for some folks...

[NOT_HUGGABLE]

... crap I am getting off-topic.

floundericiousWA

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #47 on: March 30, 2012, 02:52:17 pm »

I forgot to add that the immigrant algorithm is weighted toward skills you DON'T have, so if you do not embark with a carpenter or mason, there is a good chance you'll get one in the first migrant wave that is better (High Master etc) than you could have embarked with...


is this validated?

If so, very good nugget I hadn't seen or heard about before!
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Garath

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #48 on: March 30, 2012, 02:55:25 pm »

(The kissing avatar weirds me out...... I dislike all forms of Publicly displayed affection...)

Please. I'm not the kind of Christian who screams gay hatred.  But it's just too much.  I wouldn't want to see a heterosexual couple kissing as an avatar either.

I must say it looks a bit like 2x the same guy pretty well done photoshopped, just one time without glasses.
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Quote from: Urist Imiknorris
Jam a door with its corpse and let all the goblins in. Hey, nobody said it had to be a weapon against your enemies.
Quote from: Frogwarrior
And then everyone melted.

Naryar

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #49 on: March 30, 2012, 02:57:36 pm »

I forgot to add that the immigrant algorithm is weighted toward skills you DON'T have, so if you do not embark with a carpenter or mason, there is a good chance you'll get one in the first migrant wave that is better (High Master etc) than you could have embarked with...


is this validated?

If so, very good nugget I hadn't seen or heard about before!

You bet it isn't. I had no armorsmith... i recieved an ADEQUATE one.

That was in v0.31.25 when you actually got high master armorsmiths. Best migrant i've ever had ? adept swordsdwarf or expert grower. Bah.

Rude

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #50 on: March 30, 2012, 03:34:05 pm »

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simonthedwarf

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #51 on: March 31, 2012, 09:27:32 pm »

(bs post above, borderline offensive)

((not that i believe ideals of manhood is something you could amass enough of here to fill a rope reed waterskin with))

my next embark will be 7 fish dissectors to test this migrant filling in non-present skills theory
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Quote from: Syndic
Sentry towers, manned by orang-utangs./quote]

BigFatStupidHead

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #52 on: March 31, 2012, 10:03:57 pm »

I forgot to add that the immigrant algorithm is weighted toward skills you DON'T have, so if you do not embark with a carpenter or mason, there is a good chance you'll get one in the first migrant wave that is better (High Master etc) than you could have embarked with...
As migrants are now pulled from historical figures, I'm pretty sure this is no longer the case.
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Jurph

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #53 on: March 31, 2012, 10:31:58 pm »

might as well add a point in student if that helps to speed up the learning of, well, everything.

You can train most of the following skills quickly:
  • Anything that uses stone as an input (mason, stonecrafter, mechanic)
  • Most harvesting jobs (plant gathering, woodcutting, mining)
  • Anything that uses raw plants, provided you have farms (brewing, tailoring, milling)
  • Anything that uses domestic animals, provided you have several female animals (leatherworking, bonecrafting)

Farming increases the yield (stack size) of your crops, which has a trickle-down effect on brewing, cooking, barrel use, clothing industry, and more.  Since your fort is going to have one worker and six layabouts, this is critical to surviving.

It grants 30xp per use, but even if you buy 100 plump helmet spawn, you're not going to be able to plant them all in one season, harvest them all, and have them turned around into another 100 seeds by next season.  A 7x7 plot would yield 1470 experience per season or 5880 per year, which gets you to Adept in Year 2 and Master in Year 3.  It would cost about 100 embark points' worth of seeds, but would also fill your first-year fort with single stacks of plants.  Take four or five points in Growing, or spend a lot on seeds for embark and scale back your plans for the first year.

Since you're expecting your other six dwarves to attack multiple enemies and live, you should put his other points in Armorsmithing.  High-quality armor will serve them better than high-quality weapons over the long run, and you'll eventually be able to get them high-end weapons.
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Dreambrother has my original hammer-shaped Great Hall.  Towerweak has taken the idea to the next level.

SixOfSpades

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #54 on: April 01, 2012, 12:05:25 am »

Jack's skills:
Appraiser
Judge of Intent x5
Grower x4

All other dorfs' skills:
Teacher          Teacher         Teacher          Teacher          Teacher          Teacher
Teacher          Teacher         Teacher          Teacher          Teacher          Teacher
Teacher          Teacher         Teacher          Teacher          Teacher          Teacher
Sword            Axe             Mace             Spear            Hammer           Crossbow
Sword            Axe             Mace             Spear            Hammer           Crossbow
Sword            Axe             Mace             Spear            Hammer           Crossbow
Fighter          Leader          Armor            Shield           Dodger           Archer
Fighter          Leader          Armor            Shield           Dodger           Archer
Fighter          Leader          Armor            Shield           Dodger           Archer
WeapSmith        ArmSmith        Gem Setter       Mason            LeathWorker      Mechanic


WHY?
Jack's skills:
If you're investing this much thought into your embark, you wouldn't be doing so without a good "Jack," a promising dwarf with above-average attributes and preferences that you'll find it easy to cater to. In short, a dwarf that you wouldn't mind grooming to become mayor and/or baron. Hence:
1 level of Appraiser, to know what the heck he's doing when the first caravan rolls in.
5 levels of JoI, both to aid in haggling and because it doubles as a social skill. Mayoral elections are not based on who has the most friends, but rather who has the most/highest social skills. That's why your desired dwarf, who likes diorite, spears & sheep bone, and who is friends with half the fort, loses the election to the brainless peasant who just arrived with the skills of Talented Consoler & Adequate Crutch-Walker. Reduce the odds of this happening by armoring your candidate with high ranks in one skill--all the others will come Dabbling along soon enough.
4 ranks of Grower, because all of the truly essential skills (Miner, Woodcutter, Carpenter, Building Designer, Mechanic, etc.) can be learned on the job, with no penalties for inexperience except speed and possible loss of product for certain skills (like Miner and Herbalist). The one exception is Grower, because it's the only one that uses seeds. Try to kick-start a farm without even a Dabbling Grower and you run the risk of failing to recoup even enough seeds to carry you over to next season. Moreover, high-level Growers harvest larger stacks of crops, meaning a higher yield of plants to eat and brew for the same amount of time spent gardening--and if there's one thing that's important to Jack, it's time.

All other dorfs' skills:
3 ranks of Teacher, because it enchances the rate at which military skills rub off on other squad members--which it looks like you already know.
3 ranks of each of the main types of weapon, to have something worth Teaching.
3 ranks of an auxiliary armed-combat skill, for the same reason. The one exception is Leader, because hey--might as well pick out your future Militia Commander as well. If you want to make his credentials look especially sexy, try to squeeze 1 rank of Military Tactics in there as well--it's the only chance you'll ever have.
1 rank of a specific craft for one major reason: Moods. Each of these skills is useful even at Novice, but at Legendary will pretty much "win" the game for you. The Smithing ones are obvious: The potential to be able to crank out ☼steel breastplate☼s in Year 2 is nearly irresistible, a good Gem Setter can exponentially magnify the wealth of your trade goods, the products of a kickass Mason will liberally sprinkle happy thoughts all over the fort, your liason will regularly offer you a good premium on at least one of the many types of Leather items (and you're going to be slaughtering livestock anyway), and a high-level Cook will turn your boring old plump helmets into an aromatic symphony of ambrosia that the merchants will trade their entire caravans for Mechanic will take all of your excess crap stone and make it worth its weight in gold quicker than you can say "Midas touch."

[EDIT:] Cook is not a moodable skill. [/EDIT]
« Last Edit: April 01, 2012, 11:15:20 pm by SixOfSpades »
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Dwarf Fortress -- kind of like Minecraft, but for people who hate themselves.

BigFatStupidHead

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #55 on: April 01, 2012, 12:30:34 am »

Some interesting thoughts there, SixOfSpades, It never occurs to me to abuse mood skills. Of course, the six military sorts will never mood as they are permanently on duty. Also, I think I would arrange their military skills to compliment in pairs, and have three squads to abuse sparring.
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Nil Eyeglazed

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Re: Top 10 most useful skills
« Reply #56 on: April 01, 2012, 02:44:29 am »

Yay, somebody paid attention to the original post!
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He he he.  Yeah, it almost looks done...  alas...  those who are in your teens, hold on until your twenties...  those in your twenties, your thirties...  others, cling to life as you are able...<P>It should be pretty fun though.
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