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[Mohawk_Bravo]

I'm still a bit of a newb (my longest game so far only last three or four years and a max population of about 80), and I've grown bored with the simple charcoal fueled copper forge economy I have created. Having beautified my most recent fortress with various depictions of dwarves, dwarves drinking, dwarves fighting, and the occasional biblical apocalyptic monster, I'm turned my eye to digging deeper and exploring caverns or experimenting with magma. Either way, I was wondering if there was any common system to set in place in case things go... well... as Dwarf Fortress often does. Is there a good magma-proof, monster buffer I could make to seal in case I unearth some unholy terror?

Also, on a completely unrelated note, I have two ghosts and I'm really not sure what to do with them. I believe they were caravan guards who drowned in my moat during the dwarven caravan's first visit, and I have had them properly buried, but they continue to haunt my citizens. I mean for the most part, they just seem to show up to parties the other dwarves throw, but once in awhile they haunt my citizens giving them a bad thought. Could I have over looked something possibly?

Oh, and one final note, how the hell do I get my marksdwarves to train? I built ten seperate archer ranges and set them all to train there. All they seem to do is drop there equipment there and fire the occasional bolt. I have them set to Active/alert and training constantly (as they are a devoted militia), and they are properly equipped with ammunition that is set to both combat and training, but they seem to rarely train and I'm concerned since my main defense against a siege is a draw bridge, walled trade depot, and a set of fortifications to guard the gate. I also made sure to asign their squads to each range. I also have a barracks where they are set to train, but of course they only train at dodging there. If I stop them from training in their barracks, they seem to just go back to their normal everyday lives. Any clue what I'm doing wrong guys?

As always, thanks in advance.

[Sutremaine]

Is there a good magma-proof, monster buffer I could make to seal in case I unearth some unholy terror?

Stone doors. Keep placing these as you go, and when locked (which you as the player can do directly) they'll buy you enough time to get a wall up. Make sure that the passages with the doors in them are the only way into the fortress; you don't want stuff flying out of the well.

[Karakzon]

a drawbridge made out of magma proof stone set to drawbridge linked to a lever will stop anything. well, just make sure the mechanisms are magma proof stone as well and you pull the lever in time.

[Mohawk_Bravo]

Thanks guys. Is there a way to tell which rock is magma proof and which is not?

[Karakzon]

eather !!Science!! or look on the dwarf wiki.

Iron is also magma proof.

[GreatWyrmGold]

So is steel.
Bauxite and basalt are magma-safe, and fairly common. Gabbro, too. So's obsidian, which can be made infinitely.

[Sutremaine]

Try and build a magma forge or magma smelter. Only the magma-safe items you have will appear in the list.

[dexxy]

You can put hatches over stairs. Hatches are like doors, except they go vertically instead of horizontally. Simply lock the hatches, and nothing will get through. Probably. If you want to be sure nothing can get through, build walls and floors so there is no path to the scary stuff.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Try and build a magma forge or magma smelter. Only the magma-safe items you have will appear in the list.

That works now? Oh, yeah, I remember now.

You can put hatches over stairs. Hatches are like doors, except they go vertically instead of horizontally. Simply lock the hatches, and nothing will get through. Probably. If you want to be sure nothing can get through, build walls and floors so there is no path to the scary stuff.

Buildingdestroyers can destroy hatches...from above. To make sure the "scary stuff" can't get in, period, you need to figure out some way for the only entrance to your fortress to be from below, then slap some hatches on it.

[Sutremaine]

you need to figure out some way for the only entrance to your fortress to be from below, then slap some hatches on it.

If you can fit a U-bend underneath any of the entryway corridors, that works fine.

Before:
#######
_______
#######

After:
#######
__ 0 __
##\_/##


That said, I'm not sure how a building destroyer's 'smash it from two tiles away' behaviour would interact with something like this. A two-tile thick wall would definitely stop the building destroyer from standing close enough on the same level.

[Fredd]

To get your marksdwarves to train more, turn off their hauling labors, set them on Active, then under their Active schedule, set no order for every month on it. Copy/paste helps here to fill in the schedule. They will use up the bolts at a scary pace.

[Garath]

for marksdwarves not training, there is a checklist:

archery ranges set up properly, especially firing direction and is the right squad assigned there

bolts. Are there enough bolts? don't think 100, think 1000

ammunition assignment. Hunters have 100 bolts reserved. Not using hunters, scrap them. Marksdwarf squad; ammunition assigned? 30 per dwarf is highly recommended, so a full squad set to 300 bolts. Sometimes they grab more, max seems to be just below 50 (confirmation?). Make sure the bolts are set for Combat and/or Training. Having different material training bolts and different combat bolts can mes things up a bit.

Job conflicts. Make sure no marksdwarf has mining, woodcutting or hunting enabled

Have they actually picked up all the equipment? are there enough crossbows and quivers?


Active military dwarfs don't do civilian jobs, so no worries about disabling labors other than hunting, mining and woodcutting.

If it is completely not working you can, as suggested before, turn off all jobs. Idle marksdwarfs spent a lot of time shooting at the archery range. Don't give them a barracks to train at as well or you'll see them training different stuff. Once they get better, you might actually want to let them train dodging, armor use, shield use and all that, as it drastically increases survival chances, but in the beginning you might want to focus on accuracy and shooting speed.



Magma safe bridges are only needed for those that will actually get in contact with magma. Note that they need magma safe mechanisms as well. I don't think anything can destroy a raised bridge, except perhaps dragon fire, and nothing wants to destroy lowered bridges, they rather walk over them and destroy dwarfs. Note on the dragon fire: since the bridge is raised, the dragon doesn't see the dwarfs on the other side, so won't fire. Saved again. They also don't appear underground.

Hatches work perfectly fine against anything too.

[Triaxx2]

And for the ghost question, have two slabs made at the Mason's work shop, then, under rock at the craftdwarf workshop have them engraved as memorials to those two guards. Then build them somewhere. Poof, no more ghost.

[Sutremaine]

Sometimes they grab more, max seems to be just below 50 (confirmation?).

They'll stop picking up bolts once there are 25 or more in the quiver. Before that, they'll grab stacks indiscriminately. A dwarf with 24 bolts in the quiver could end up with a lot more if their last choice is one of those large stacks that goblins bring.

[Garath]

Sometimes they grab more, max seems to be just below 50 (confirmation?).

They'll stop picking up bolts once there are 25 or more in the quiver. Before that, they'll grab stacks indiscriminately. A dwarf with 24 bolts in the quiver could end up with a lot more if their last choice is one of those large stacks that goblins bring.

right, forgot about those