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[Urist Mc‼SCIENCE‼dwarf]

So just a quick question, is it better to build with stone (and just stone) or stone blocks?

[Corai]

Stone boulders turn into four blocks, so blocks is more efficient.

[Urist Mc‼SCIENCE‼dwarf]

Okay. It also seems that stone blocks are hauled faster.

[King DZA]

They also create more aesthetically pleasing mental images, in my supreme and unquestionable opinion.

[crazysheep]

Okay. It also seems that stone blocks are hauled faster.

Stone blocks are lighter, hence they would be hauled faster. You can also stack blocks in bins for more compact storage.

[misko27]

Especially useful if you will be short on stone, i.e. MegaProjects.

[Martin]

Well, only slightly more compact. One bin holds 5 blocks, which is 1.25 stone. So it's only 25% more efficient. And it costs you a log to get that efficiency.

And if you use wheelbarrows, and set up your stockpiles right, hauling the stone is faster because it's one job instead of 5 and the wheelbarrow is as fast as hauling one stone.

[misko27]

Only 25% more efficiency? In the buisness world that would be a miracle. Still, if your doing a lot of work it's very useful!

[DavionFuxa]

Some advantages of Stone Blocks is that they are Light to carry, meaning your Mason's can carry them around far faster then the Stone Boulders. This might be less of an issue if you put a Stockpile near 'Right Next' where the Mason will be constructing whatever he is constructing. You also tend to make nicer Constructions out of Stock Blocks then Stone Boulders, which is great if you want to make a Fancy Bridge, or something else with a Quality factor to it.

Generally, my reasoning is that when you build stuff outside of your Fort or stuff with a Quality Factor to it, you should use Stone Blocks as they are quickly portable and will allow you to put up walls, bridges, archery targets, above ground workshops and whatever else with greater ease. For stuff inside your Fort or without a Quality Factor to it, Stone Boulders may well always be close enough (if not underneath what your building) and less tedious to use since it saves you time from having to make any Blocks.

Note that you should pay attention to what misko27 said. Specifically if you want to build something out of a 'specific material' that you might not have enough of with just Boulders alone.

[Martin]

Only 25% more efficiency?!? In the buisness world thats like a miracle. Still, if your doing alot of workits very usefull

Well, we used to get 10 blocks per bin back when it was one block per stone, so they were 900% more efficient. So yeah, 25% earns an 'only'. And the stone is 80% more efficient from a hauling job perspective (provided you have a wheelbarrow), so you need to balance those two. Blocks used to be no-brainer more efficient. Now, it's going to depend a fair bit on how you do things - if you have a very diverse worksite where you're building in multiple locations, you do it the old way. But if you're working on a dedicated project, you're probably better off with this kind of setup from an overall efficiency perspective:

Code: [Select]

111222233
111222333
411122333
444MMM355
444MMM555
446MMM555
666778885
666777888
667777888


Put your workshop close to your work area. 1-8 are stone stockpiles, each with 3 wheelbarrows. M is the mason (etc) workshop. That will generate 24 simultaneous stone hauling jobs. You can fill the 72 stockpile spaces with 3 hauling cycles. Those 72 jobs, 3 cycles, will produce 288 blocks which would require at least 288 hauling jobs and take up 59 stockpile squares, requiring also 59 logs, with 59 hauling jobs for those, 59 carpentry jobs, and 59 hauling bin jobs. You're now up to 465 jobs. You can reuse the bins, but still, you're pushing 360 jobs vs 72 by simply building and rebuilding your workshops where you need, and leaving the blocks in the workshop (you can put hundreds of blocks in a mason workshop before you get job slowdown). With 3 hauling cycles by 24 dwarves, you'd need 120 dedicated haulers to turn over the blocks in the same amount of time - and there's no speedup in the jobs with the lighter blocks because the wheelbarrow negates that with the stone.


Note that in the layout above each stockpile is slightly staggered to keep 2 tiles one unit from the workshop and 4 tiles 3 units from the workshop. The masons should draw stones off at an equal rate from each, on average.

[HiEv]

In addition to the above, I believe that making the blocks trains up your mason(s) as well.

[GreatWyrmGold]

It does.

Oh, and BTW: You can have blocks hauled via wheelbarrow using the same tricks as with stone. You just need to set the block stockpiles to use wheelbarrows.

[Sabreur]

I go with blocks because I'm OCD about having everything color-coordinated.  Making blocks lets me make four times as many walls and floors from the same material.

[Loud Whispers]

In addition to the above, I believe that making the blocks trains up your mason(s) as well.

Not to mention it has the added benefit of controlling how much you build at a time. With boulders... You can go *slightly* overboard with the designations. Blocks; easy, fast and you build it portion by portion, until the next time you need blocks.

[krenshala]

Only 25% more efficiency?!? In the buisness world thats like a miracle. Still, if your doing alot of workits very usefull

Well, we used to get 10 blocks per bin back when it was one block per stone, so they were 900% more efficient. So yeah, 25% earns an 'only'. And the stone is 80% more efficient from a hauling job perspective (provided you have a wheelbarrow), so you need to balance those two. Blocks used to be no-brainer more efficient. Now, it's going to depend a fair bit on how you do things - if you have a very diverse worksite where you're building in multiple locations, you do it the old way. But if you're working on a dedicated project, you're probably better off with this kind of setup from an overall efficiency perspective:

Code: [Select]

111222233
111222333
411122333
444MMM355
444MMM555
446MMM555
666778885
666777888
667777888


Put your workshop close to your work area. 1-8 are stone stockpiles, each with 3 wheelbarrows. M is the mason (etc) workshop. That will generate 24 simultaneous stone hauling jobs. You can fill the 72 stockpile spaces with 3 hauling cycles. Those 72 jobs, 3 cycles, will produce 288 blocks which would require at least 288 hauling jobs and take up 59 stockpile squares, requiring also 59 logs, with 59 hauling jobs for those, 59 carpentry jobs, and 59 hauling bin jobs. You're now up to 465 jobs. You can reuse the bins, but still, you're pushing 360 jobs vs 72 by simply building and rebuilding your workshops where you need, and leaving the blocks in the workshop (you can put hundreds of blocks in a mason workshop before you get job slowdown). With 3 hauling cycles by 24 dwarves, you'd need 120 dedicated haulers to turn over the blocks in the same amount of time - and there's no speedup in the jobs with the lighter blocks because the wheelbarrow negates that with the stone.


Note that in the layout above each stockpile is slightly staggered to keep 2 tiles one unit from the workshop and 4 tiles 3 units from the workshop. The masons should draw stones off at an equal rate from each, on average.

I find it more efficient to have a centralized block manufactory (2 to 4 mason's workshops) that outputs to various block stockpiles that are close proximity to the build site. I build lots of bins anyway, so that part isn't an 'extra' for me. Have the haulers bring the blocks to the site, then the masons move then the rest of the way.