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Author Topic: Idle hands and the Devil  (Read 2487 times)

simonthedwarf

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Idle hands and the Devil
« on: March 30, 2012, 07:52:42 am »

What in your opinion is the most time-consuming job you can give a lot of dwarves that will run by itself that create as few moments of idle time as possible?
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FatherLatour

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2012, 08:03:11 am »

Smooth and carve the entire fortress?
Fill bottomless pond zones?
Gather clay on repeat?
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Cusi

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2012, 08:04:37 am »

When I have coal I put alot of useless people on furnaces to make Coke and smelt any ores I have.

Other than that, Masonry and Stone detailing work well, if you build lots of buildings (walls walls walls) or furniture/blocks.

In the mod I am using, Masterwork, you can make barrels out of stone blocks, so masonry is even more important. But if you don't use that mod, have stonecrafters creating infinite pots is ok too.
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simonthedwarf

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2012, 08:05:54 am »

When I have coal I put alot of useless people on furnaces to make Coke and smelt any ores I have.

Other than that, Masonry and Stone detailing work well, if you build lots of buildings (walls walls walls) or furniture/blocks.

In the mod I am using, Masterwork, you can make barrels out of stone blocks, so masonry is even more important. But if you don't use that mod, have stonecrafters creating infinite pots is ok too.

Thanks, I agree its good cause I do this myself as well. I was hoping someone had some really smart time consuming job that took ages to do without relying on lots of player designation or finite resource (coal)
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Garath

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2012, 08:09:32 am »

Or designate the whole stone stockpile to be dumped, if you actually use a stone stockpile. It will then be filled everything that didn't fit. Dump this again by the time you get idlers again. When you next get idlers and the stockpile stays empty, unforbid every stone through the stocks menu that you actually want to use, or not, or hate. There, time consuming and useful in one go, but only if you use a stone stockpile.

Now, if you selected a stone you'll use in building lots of contructions, set masons to continually make rock blocks, build some extra mason shops so more people work at it at once. Greater value buildings and time consuming! If you used stone you don't want to use for anything, next change the garbage zone to an atom smasher and order all rock blocks you don't want to be dumped (microcline anyone?) and smash them. FPS preservation, satisfying and labor intensive!
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The Dog Delusion

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2012, 08:11:26 am »

Create a room full of pumps and turn on pumping for all dwarves? Any "free" moments will be spend building up an awesome physique in the pumping room. Bonus points if the pumps are made of iron.

« Last Edit: March 30, 2012, 08:14:35 am by The Dog Delusion »
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Garath

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2012, 08:13:24 am »

Create a room full of pumps and turn on pumping for all dwarves? Any "free" moments will be spend building up an awesome physique in the pumping room. Bonus points id the pumps are made of iron.

That's a good one too, I use it occasionally. Turn those handles! Pump it you, bearded alcoholics! Maybe one day we'll give you something to pump other than air!

(maybe some day we need airpumps to circulate air to the lower levels or risk oxigen depriviation)
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Jam a door with its corpse and let all the goblins in. Hey, nobody said it had to be a weapon against your enemies.
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Sphalerite

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2012, 08:13:53 am »

Mass-produce blocks.  It gets rid of waste stone, saves stockpile space since blocks can go in bins.  You can then use the blocks to make giant aboveground megaconstructions.
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Vharuck

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2012, 08:20:08 am »

Once I get enough porters (other people call them haulers, or slaves, or serfs, or what have you), I usually assign the remaining rabble Masonry and Stone Detailing.  However, once most of my fort is smooth, I take Stone Detailing off all dwarves who are less than Skilled in it, because I want a higher rate of masterful engravings.

Most of this applies to my military during their off months.  So I give them Pump Operating (trying out the workout room below the barracks) and Architecture (to help finish the 50 Z-level magma pump stack).
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The Dog Delusion

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #9 on: March 30, 2012, 08:21:58 am »

Create a room full of pumps and turn on pumping for all dwarves? Any "free" moments will be spend building up an awesome physique in the pumping room. Bonus points id the pumps are made of iron.

That's a good one too, I use it occasionally. Turn those handles! Pump it you, bearded alcoholics! Maybe one day we'll give you something to pump other than air!

(maybe some day we need airpumps to circulate air to the lower levels or risk oxigen depriviation)

I wish we could get some of those medieval hamster wheel thingies for dwarves to run in that would actually produce power for things like mills and pumps and whatnot. Then those never-ending mechanic jobs would actually pay off, and all the work could be done from a central location and meted out to the pumps mills, and other future mechanical objects in the future.
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ThatAussieGuy

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2012, 08:30:37 am »

An overly-complex machine that is run by levers instead of being automated by pressure plates.  Simply set ALL the levers to be repeatedly pulled and see what happens.

simonthedwarf

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #11 on: March 30, 2012, 08:44:15 am »

Mass-produce blocks.  It gets rid of waste stone, saves stockpile space since blocks can go in bins.  You can then use the blocks to make giant aboveground megaconstructions.

Great sphalerite the source of incredible wisdom. I did not know blocks go in bins! I will make my idiot dwarves produce humongous amounts of stone blocks.
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psychologicalshock

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #12 on: March 30, 2012, 09:05:33 am »

Build an above ground fort. Only use stone blocks - you'll need thousands of blocks if you're going to include roofs , you can easily employ every last idler in the task.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #13 on: March 30, 2012, 09:09:35 am »

Build an above ground fort. Only use stone blocks - you'll need thousands of blocks if you're going to include roofs , you can easily employ every last idler in the task.

For a large fort around 5-10 years old you'll need around 20-50,000 blocks.

simonthedwarf

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Re: Idle hands and the Devil
« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2012, 09:15:32 am »

My only -beef- with massive megaproject is the pain of designating with the keyboard buttons. I wish there was a easier way
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