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Author Topic: Damn Flies in my Food!  (Read 2305 times)

Kane Minehunter

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Damn Flies in my Food!
« on: September 02, 2012, 02:49:03 pm »

Hey you sexy folk. I'm very new to Dwarf fortress and so sorry if what I ask is quite a newb question. I have my food stockpile set up which is going pretty sound, I have my farmers brining in plump helemts, I have 2 hunters killing shit and butchering it up and I also have a fisherman, so food is going pretty well. Most of my stuff is barreld up however we do have a few bits of meat and eggs lying around, and Flies have started swarming the stockpile and I was wondering:
A) What do they do - what negative's to they have? Will my food spoil?
B) How to get rid of them? I have like 3 Frill lizards walking around doing nothing.
Many Thanks.

P.S. I'm using Masterwork.
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Bilanthri

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Re: Damn Flies in my Food!
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2012, 03:17:59 pm »

Flies generally only annoy dwarves that dislike them specifically, and I'm pretty sure that they won't cause food to rot as long as it's stockpiled. Surprisingly, cats that roam the larder will help keep flies at bay, though mine tend to wander a bit wide to keep the flies down.
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AutomataKittay

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Re: Damn Flies in my Food!
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2012, 03:22:02 pm »

AFAIK vermins will only eat the exposed food ( they supposedly can get into barrels if left long enough, I've not seen this happen ), and annoy dwarves that don't likes them. You could use pasture to plant whatever vermin-hunters you have on the food stockpile, or use small animal trapping job if you have too much idlers and material to spare.

I usually don't even bother to deal with them.
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thiosk

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Re: Damn Flies in my Food!
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2012, 05:16:34 pm »

I have an associated fly question.

In my previous fortress, I started having prepared food stockpiles without barrels, because of the enormous stacks of prepared food that I can generate.

However, now I have flies.  A lot of flies.

I never had flies in my previous prepared food stockpiles.  So what gives?  Any suggestions?  Is the barrel-less prepared food stockpile no good in 34.11?
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wuphonsreach

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Re: Damn Flies in my Food!
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2012, 06:06:30 pm »

I use quantum stockpiles for my food, but I also pasture vermin hunting critters (male cats) in the area.

Rarely do I see thoughts about flies after the first year.
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Dunamisdeos

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Re: Damn Flies in my Food!
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2012, 11:44:11 am »

I vote to rename the dwarf civ to the sexy folk civ.
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PaleBlueHammer

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Re: Damn Flies in my Food!
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2012, 04:56:00 pm »

I have an associated fly question.

In my previous fortress, I started having prepared food stockpiles without barrels, because of the enormous stacks of prepared food that I can generate.

However, now I have flies.  A lot of flies.

I never had flies in my previous prepared food stockpiles.  So what gives?  Any suggestions?  Is the barrel-less prepared food stockpile no good in 34.11?

Two quick things.  First, cats don't actually have any effect on flies: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Flies

Second, I did notice a huge amount of flies when I stockpiled my food without containers, iirc "Corn Flies".  A swarm of goddam corn flies.  It makes me think of flies as big and heavy as kernels of corn hitting you in the face and getting in your mouth as you walk through.

So yes, I stopped quantum-storing my food and now I just use one pile (with all containers activated) for my cooking stuff... pretty much everything EXCEPT prepared meals.  In my dining hall I have one medium sized pile, also with containers, for prepared meals and nothing else.

Also I think if you have any kind of real food industry going, you're going to see some flies.  It just gets out of control if you pile food up x800 deep.
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