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Yes, Minecarts have improved the game.

No, Minecarts have made the game worse off.

Maybe, Minecarts just need to be improved first.

Remove Minecarts from the game, there is no way it can be improved.

[wuphonsreach]

Try: Minecarts and Hauling 101 thread?
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=110073.0

[orius]

They're pretty useful for large ore-hauling operations especially if you've got a fort with a lot of surface iron but you need to rely on the magma sea to smelt large quantities of metal.  You can set up huge dump piles to quickly feed the smelters.  Other than that, it takes a lot of work to set them up properly and they're not really worth it for smaller lighter goods, or at last I haven't found them to be useful.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Who uses minecarts for mining?

[WanderingKid]

I do occassionally GreatWyrm, but I'm still trying to figure out the best pattern.  I'll occassionally use it for longer digs to drop stone back near the central stairway.

One of the things I'm currently planning is a massive Sand-vator to move sand down to the magma sea in bulk.  I also use it as a nice easy way to get bones and stuff from the surface where it rots down to the crafting levels.

Usually, though, I just use it to easily setup quantum storage.  A quick 3 section track, a stop at the end to force dump, and guide it back and forth next to the 'real' stockpile.  Saves on a lot of headaches, like running out of wood during a siege.

[Sutremaine]

Weirdly enough, I do not find minecarts useful for mining. They only take five stones per cart, and you need to dig your mining operations in such a way that carts can get between the dig area and the fortress. Then you need to set up the hauling route for that area. You could take that time and use it to make a whole bunch of permanent small stockpiles (three-wheelbarrow limit per stockpile) feeding into a minecart that dumps ore straight onto a single quantum stockpile. From there you can use minecarts, but as general hauling tools and not as an aid to the mining process.

The five-ore limit on carts makes for a lot of unecessary walking. The five ores that can go in the cart send out five hauling orders, so five dwarves come and move them into the cart. One of them might be the one to take the Push Vehicle job, but maybe a sixth dwarf will come and do that. If those five dwarves had wheelbarrows they'd be bringing the stone as they walked back from the dig area.

With something like corpses or bins of blocks, the minecart can take so many items that there's still room in the cart, so the dwarves who just finished their 'put item in cart' jobs have more 'put item in cart' jobs right next to them that they can do before wandering off.

[Eoganachta]

I like them but I have trouble getting them to work the way I want. Really I think it's not the feature itself that's the problem but the difficulty in setting it up. So far all I've been able to do is push a minecart into a volcano, set up a route for wood from the caverns to my wood stockpiles, and get a minecart stuck in a channel of magma when I was trying to build a prototype for a Magma Rail Stack.

[Azure]

The one minecart per route is a pain for quarries. I was trying to figure out how to minecart and used a 4 stops @ loading docks route but since it'd always fill up on loading 1 it was easier to just have 30 haulers have at it with wheelbarrows. If there was a way to add extra minecarts to a route without having to go through the tedium of adding clone routes it would be much better. Also,it'd be nice push/haul vehicle was disabled on arrival or at least dwarf therapist getting a gui update to disable it. I'd imagine that with dedicated raildwarves burrowed to the quarries it could work pretty slick.

[PainRack]

I'm still trying to use them to automate my textile industries, but I'm running into severe problems.........

[WanderingKid]

The one minecart per route is a pain for quarries. I was trying to figure out how to minecart and used a 4 stops @ loading docks route but since it'd always fill up on loading 1 it was easier to just have 30 haulers have at it with wheelbarrows. If there was a way to add extra minecarts to a route without having to go through the tedium of adding clone routes it would be much better. Also,it'd be nice push/haul vehicle was disabled on arrival or at least dwarf therapist getting a gui update to disable it. I'd imagine that with dedicated raildwarves burrowed to the quarries it could work pretty slick.

I was just goofing around with trying two way tracks and pushes (along with some other science), and let's just say it didn't work so good.  They have to be guided instead of pushed, unfortunately, for them to get to the stops.  My guess is because at places where the rail crosses the dwarf simply picks the cart up.  In theory, what you'd want is a round-robin for your carts, but if it fouls up you end up with another hauler dwarf coming along to put the cart back 'on track'.  Meh.

Hmmm... next test, a long row of low power rollers to keep nudging the carts forward as they dump/need a fresh push.

[VerdantSF]

For most jobs, it's easier to just make a new workshop next to the new stockpile, but it's so DWARFY to send items careening down tunnels at breakneck speeds.  I'm planning a network of 12 mini-forts (comprising an archery tower, barracks, dining room, and well) that will house permanent residents right at the edges of the map.  Rather than hauling food, booze, and ammo, they'll get their goods via minecarts.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I do occassionally GreatWyrm, but I'm still trying to figure out the best pattern.  I'll occassionally use it for longer digs to drop stone back near the central stairway.

Note to self: Figure out some way to designate jokes in text form.

One of the things I'm currently planning is a massive Sand-vator to move sand down to the magma sea in bulk.  I also use it as a nice easy way to get bones and stuff from the surface where it rots down to the crafting levels.

If I were you, I'd simply drop the sand in a closet, and have the way there be blocked by a friendly-triggered pressure plate that activates a hatch right above the closet to prevent glassmakers from being crushed by sandbags.

[Sutremaine]

Note to self: Figure out some way to designate jokes in text form.

Well, it is a valid question. A cluster of wheelbarrow-fed central stockpiles only needs to be set up once, but hauling routes have to be redone for each place you're digging in.

[GreatWyrmGold]

That's why I need a way to designate jokes.

Would "Bazinga" work, or would that be mistaken for sarcasm?

[misko27]

ahh yes, with sort of wink or a nod, impossible to tell extremism from a parody.Godwins law. Especially considering this is Dwarf Fortress, where extremism is common. Godwins law. Anyway, try /joke

[PrimusRibbus]

I don't think minecarts have changed DF much at all. They're not good or bad; they're just there.

Personally, I haven't found minecarts to be particularly useful beyond the novelty of attempting to weaponize them in the most bizarre ways possible (which, admittedly, is very dwarfy). Everything that minecarts do outside of weaponization can be done better by proper fortress design, good stockpile/workshop positioning, burrows, and chutes.