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[gzoker]

>> The first item my ponies grabbed was a plasteel coffer, then the brand new glass box. Now almost everything is filled with sand.
>Hm...the reaction has the [BAG] token, so it should only be using bags. I'm going to have to double-check this. Does the kiln still use sand in the other containers to make glass?
They use up the sand from the coffers and boxes at the glass maker's workshop without problems. I can only make pearlash at the kiln which is glass related, and smelting the glass shards, but those are work fine.

>> A raider shoved her down a ramp and she fell on her head, and her horn shattered.
>I didn't know that was possible.
She dodged away a kick to the wrong tile, then fell a z level. Her horn got severed from the impact, and before I could put it in a display case it rotted away

I have scarcely used the theater yet. The main reason I'm avoiding it is because a buff for one week seems too short. It's plenty long for a fight, but most of my fights occur unexpected, and I can't tell the enemy to wait until I get my military buffed and ready. Trying to keep them buffed all year around would require an abysmal amount of micromanagement, and I have to pay attention a lot of things already. Ponyhell, even managing to get all of my ponies near enough to get buffed is a pain in it self, as my barrack isn't just a big room with everything shoved inside. (Standing on the wrong side of a wall seems incredibly funny to some ponies when they get a station order.)
Leaving it on repeat would just eat up the resources without any control of efficiency, and buffing up a bunch of idlers who do nothing is just a waste.
So does anybody have any experiences with them? I would like to hear a few opinions before i suggest any change.
_{(I would be a lot happier if it used the bigger cost, less micromanagement philosophy.)}

[Lycaeon]

Maklak: Demonstrations train skills very slowly unless the demonstrator has high teaching skill and the observers have high student skill. Sparring is faster, but requires two-pony squads, otherwise the soldiers will start a demonstration instead. Note that this is for melee skills...your gunners require the usual archery ranges. The armory is an alternative for training armor user, as is the VR simulator for other combat skills, but the latter takes quite a few resources to set up.

> One thing you could do to counteract this is increasing learning rates of Dodge and Armour User for all ponies and even more for security castes.
Caste-specific dodge/armor rates will have to wait, but I can increase the base rates.

> Gems
My thoughts are that if the [GEM_SHAPE:X] and [STONE_SHAPE:X] are removed from an entity then it won't be able to cut its gemstones. I haven't gotten around to testing it, however, as I'm still modding creatures. If this doesn't work, I'm sticking to increasing yield rates from rock farming.

> Since silk is needed for advanced scrolls and arcane research and even after opening the caverns it is quite scarce, would you consider modding in Silk Roses
Artificial silk synthesized from biofuel is on the development list.

> After clearing an 80x80 square from trees, low and medium quality salvage, and making bronze maybe 3 or 5 times (9-15 scrap ore), I'm left with 20 scrap ore.
Tree sparsity certainly has a role, but I'll be increasing scrap yields in any case.

> I modded the permit on hood to be 28.
Noted.

> A lot of military ponies get nasty cuts on their hooves.
I think that's more due to horseshoes not being very good protection in the first place. Security barding covers all parts of the body except for the head and hooves.

Thanks for the feedback Maklak!

Mura: The energy lance (A magical plasma weapon found rarely in military crates) uses the spear skill, and is quite devastating. The power drill uses the mining skill.

Gzoker: I did mean the glassmaker's workshop. Thanks for checking!

> I have scarcely used the theater yet.
The current theater and its buffs are outdated and need a revamp (With longer durations as you mentioned).

Edit to below: Oh yes, combat and ripper rifles also use the spear skill, though no enemy civs use energy lances. The lances you get from the crates are depleted, so you need spark batteries to recharge them.

[Zangi]

Mura: The energy lance (A magical plasma weapon found rarely in military crates) uses the spear skill, and is quite devastating. The power drill uses the mining skill.

I believe scavenging gets you steel pitchforks and sometimes rarely depleted energy lances.... and some enemies, forgot who, bring in energy lances too...
Combat rifles I think are also considered spears.

[Maklak]

> Demonstrations train skills very slowly [...]
When I embark with skill 5 / Teacher 5, 0 Student, demonstrations train skills just fine. That's how my soldiers got their Dodge and Armour Use up. There are still problems with it, though, such as demonstrations for Striking and Wrestling when those skills are Dabbling. I've also seen a Gunnery demonstration once. My soldiers in 3 pony squad will often have a demonstration for a pretty low skill, such as shield use, with one of them skipping it and doing an individual combat drill instead.
I just had a strange thought: I can assign all new soldiers except BB gunners to the main squad, then put a bunch of training orders with fewer of them in mind than I have now and see how that works. In theory they only should attend weapon skills demonstrations for weapons they use.
My gym pump is almost ready, so I'll have my soldiers train pump operation to give them a civilian labour and no unhappy thoughts from going off-duty as well as an attribute boost.

> > One thing you could do to counteract this is increasing learning rates of Dodge and Armour User for all ponies and even more for security castes.
> Caste-specific dodge/armor rates will have to wait, but I can increase the base rates.
My opinion is that the slow learning rates for Dodge and Armour Use are a bug of DF (I even posted a link to mantis somewhere in this thread) and buffing their learning rates to counteract this is a good idea. Training the Champion in Armour Use at the Armoury and Dodge at VRS and having a Power Armour Use token is already a step in the right direction as otherwise Legendary soldiers will only have a few points in those.

> Theatre
Well, with what I know now, I would pick a LEADERSHIP pony for my noble (trader, book keeper and manager), make a bunch of speech notes at the scriptorium, store them next to one or two theaters and once in a while schedule a masterwork speech in all my theaters. Of course they would all be profiled to accept only one pony (or all ponies with LEADERSHIP). The soldiers don't just benefit from those buffs before combat. A higher Strength or Agility means higher Speed and faster sparring sessions, for example.

> Spears
Good point that the Stables don't make any spears, while having spear CMs. Of course in-game this is not a big problem as you'll get plenty of steel pitchforks from salvage and the occasional energy lance.

[tahujdt]

The masterwork speech works only once in a while. Can you up the stone production so it has a better chance of applying?

[Maklak]

> The masterwork speech works only once in a while. Can you up the stone production so it has a better chance of applying?
Well, you could queue up the reaction two or three times. It will waste more paper, but has a better chance of working.

Speaking of revamping inspiration bonuses: I'd change parties from 1% per pony to 5% per pony (max *1.3 for 6) as a quick fix and it would make them very worthwhile, especially in the cramped barracks. This is much better than anything else, but you do need lots of resources for a party. Besides, helium canisters use up and you can't just make more of them, unlike paper. Maybe have a special ENTERTAINER castes who are better at parties and comedy.



I sort out the military.
Ranged: Short Bursts (UPM), Star Saber (EPM), Bronze Star (EPM), Silver Star (EPF).
Melee: Shield (EPF, Hacksaw), Shadowdancer (UPF, Knife), Fencer (Child, Matchete), Pike (UPM, Pitchfork), Lance (EPF, Pitchfork)
I set two train orders for each month: Train 4 minimum, with non-pitchfork soldiers preferred and train 2 minimum, with Pike and Lance preferred. We'll see how that works.
The BB gunners are set to train in pairs at the barracks and are assigned metal pellets.

5th April
The Diplomat has left unhappy, just as I reassigned some labours and could find some time for him.

10 th April
Short Bursts leads a Dodging demonstrations, while being almost Novice in it.
Dodger (Dodge 5) leads a dodging demonstration for Dolphin (Dodge 3).
Sunny (Dodge 4) organizes a dodging demonstration for Shadowdancer and Pike. 

16th April
Strawberry becomes possessed and claims a mason's workshop.

20th April
4 Bloodwings come around. They migrate too close to the camp. Civilians go inside, soldiers keep on training. Hm, none of the BB squad has any ammo and most soldiers lack shields, While Shadowdancer hoards like 7 of them, but has no weapon. This doesn't look good. Oh right, and we're still short by 7 Bronze Security Bardings and Helmets and some shields. To make things worse, two of the best trained and equipped soldiers are crutch walkers.
Two of the Bloodwings leave, but two charge Shadowdancer. I order one of them to be killed and let's see how it goes. Shadowdancer (with a knife and lots of shields) and Short Bursts (with his BB gun and no ammo) get there first. The Bloodwing is, of course, enraged. Is is surrounded and Dolphin is there. Good.
The fight is rather chaotic. Bronze Star is severely hurt in a hoof and at best is going to join the cripples. He kills the monster, bashing it in the skull with the butt of his BB gun. At the time it was pretty badly hurt by Dolphin. The second Bloodwing is massacred by Shadowdancer and BB ponies. 

Strawberry made a grate.

22nd April
The two other bloodwings leave, so it is safe to go outside again.

I have 10 idlers. Time to start some project.

I think I also need a second mechanic.

---

Ugh, the save got corrupted and the backup is from 1st March, before the big migrant wave. I don't feel like going that far back, so I'll abandon this game. Well, two months may not seem too far apart in game time, especially this early, but I did a lot of designations and sorted a big migrant wave. This is my second playthrough with this mod where a save got corrupted. I don't remember this happening with the base game, but it could be the fault of dfhack or not closing Dwarf Therapist in time or other things. Oh well, I should start another game sometime.

Some of the new soldiers managed to get 1 Dodge from demonstrations, so embarking with it is definitely a good idea. I've also seen some sparring, but overall it looked as if everypony was just doing what they felt like at the moment. The current stable layout isn't really working out for me. Well, it kinda works, but there is lots of wasted space. I'll try something else next time.

[Mura]

I've played several (short-lived) Stables without dfhack or Dwarf Therapist and experienced no corruption, so it's probably because of one of those.

Had some Fun recently. Three ghouls and a black radscorpion were in cages in my dining room. The traders came; I figured I'd sell them. Forgot about the bug where hostiles in cages are released from their cages when traded. One of the ghouls bit the radscorpion's tail, kicked it in the head, and beat my military to death with its corpse while the other two ghouls slaughtered the traders.

This was about the time I abandoned.

[Lycaeon]

The problem with the theatre is twofold; boiling rock syndromes are only 50% successful (No matter how many rocks are produced), and the durations for the resulting buffs are too short. Right now it's more of a flavor building than anything. This also applies to parties and other reactions that produce attribute bonuses, so I plan to address all of them together in a later update.

Maklak, I meant multiple squads with only two ponies in each will spar with their chosen weapon, training both faster than demonstrations can. I found this thread to be a good guide.

I've never had a save corruption before, so I can't give you much advice there. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Mura, were you sure that was a black radscorpion? I renamed them to large radscorpions a couple of updates back. Interesting point on the ghouls using corpses as weapons...I'm going to need to remove their graspers.

[Mura]

Yup. I only upgraded from 0.92 in the last few days.

[Lycaeon]

Ah, ok. As long as it wasn't in the current version it should be fine.

As for current development progress, I've separated the prismatic forge's reactions out into a MAW forge dealing with scorpion power armor and plasteel items, from the old MWT forge that will keep regular power armor and steel items. That frees up some space for magical weapon engineering in the Ministry of Awesome arc. The stasis bay is done as well; it will require a stasis talisman and Ministry of Peace terminal, after which you can produce a stasis potion from a bed, clear glass, and a spark battery. The potion will turn the drinker into a stasis pod for the requested duration.

[gzoker]

So, the stasis bay turns ponies into a stasis pod. When the effect is over and they turn back, will they heal all their wounds and missing limbs like were creatures? That would make it a really slow auto-doc. Is a workshop like that even possible? _{inception, dun, dun, dun...}
How fare stasis pods in a fight? I imagine, if they are nigh indestructible they will have other uses then making a pony take a nap. Like scouts around the map or bait in some elaborate trap. I have so many questions, but i would rather wait and experiment myself. Still, possibilities flash before my eyes and my curiosity rise.

[Maklak]

Lycaeon, I used 2 pony squads in Ponderplanned and it didn't work out. In 6 months (or was that a year?) of 2 pony recruit squads there was almost no improvement. My 3 pony squads worked slightly better. Since I maintain a military guide for this mod, it has fallen upon me to explore alternative methods of training. Demonstrations might be the way to go, because when they work, they work great. It may just be that I need instructors who have never seen combat to boot-camp the recruits. My search for a military training method that works continues. It is frustrating when people write things like "Make squads of 2, get legendaries in a year or two" and I can't replicate those results.

I just made a new embark in 0.95c and lucked out on antique items. I've taken ridiculous amount of items with me, including 25 Sprite-bots. If I wanted hardly anything else, I could have squeezed in 75 of them. There are some feral dogs close to my embark. I want to see a combined salvo from 25 sprite-bots, 10 turrets and 7 protectorponies.

I could almost memorize what workshops in 0.88 did what. Getting more and more workshops confuses me. Previously I would put the same workshop in a few places and use it for different purposes. This mod just gets richer and richer with every update, but complexity isn't always a good thing. Have a look at this post and the next one: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=122415.msg4022883#msg4022883

[Indigo_Surprise]

In preparation of making my latest custom entity and the ponies that are going to populate it, it became apparent to me that I would have to study the method Lyc's used in making the stable ponies. When you look through creature_pony initially it's just an unnavigable incoherent mess. However after looking through and making a note of where everything is placed, it makes complete sense to me. I'm posting my notes here for anyone else that wants to look through and know how to read through this unique (at least to me anyway, was completely foreign) way of stringing together multiple castes.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Creature Name
General Personality
General Attributes
General Skill Rates

Caste Descriptions and Designations
Earth Gender Assignment F
Body
Earth Gender Assignment M
Body
Unicorn Gender Assignment F
Body
Unicorn Gender Assignment M
Body

Earth Specific Tokens
Personality
Attributes
Skill Rates
Earth Slave
Personality
Attributes
Skill Rates
Unicorn Specific Tokens
Personality
Attributes
Skill Rates
Unicorn Slave
Personality
Attributes
Skill Rates

Body Detail Plans
Female Appearance Modifiers
Male Appearance Modifiers

Body Sizes
General Appearance Modifiers
Attacks
Unicorn Attacks
Child Ages
Profession Names
Mannerisms

And the great bulk of this file...
Individual Castes, Colors, and Skill Rates.

Good lord once you actually get in you can just see all the different possible variations of ponies, their own individual attributes, skill rates... really complicated. Mine will be using a similar structure, though I'm going to try and move things around to make it easier to read, and to not take up as much page space.

And if anyone's wondering, my entity is a conglomerate of slavers, raiders, and wastelanders that seek the reformation or destruction of all other slavers and raiders to make the wastes a better place for all.

The raiders bring with them a large number of highly undisciplined potential canon fodder. Raiders will usually have a debuff associated with their cutie mark, such as 'a plate of rotten vegetables' will bring with it a -100% penalty to farming. Raiders in general will more than likely have decreased social skill rates as well. You have two options in dealing with raiders. First, you can either drill them until they become disciplined, which will alter their personalities (by changing their caste), and make it to where they'll be far less likely to go go rampaging through the stable whether bezerking or simply throwing a tantrum (which they will do often with their high anger and liberalism. Disciplining them will also significantly reduce the duration of their breaks. The alternate method is burning their cutie mark off, which will both pacify them and eliminate their debuffs. Going back to my plate of rotten vegetables example, if you don't need a soldier but you really need a farmer you might want to take this pony's identity away and shove her/him off to work. This second method carries a risk with it though. The act of burning a cutie mark off is intensely traumatic. When the procedure is over they have a 20% chance of becoming OPPOSED_TO_LIFE, so you'd have to be sure to keep your oppressive military around in case something goes wrong. Surprisingly, raiders have a fairly good understanding of how the pony body works and will be more plentiful than the more skilled wasteland doctors. Now there's finally a reason for DF's healthcare system to be completely neglectful.

Slavers are a bit better out of the box than raiders. There are fewer of them and they'll have castes that give bonuses to the skill rates of animal training, appraisal, judge of intent, record keeping, slavers in general are geared more toward administrative roles.

And lastly, the wastelanders. Wastelanders are the bricks and mortar of a fort's industries and infrastructure and are decent enough soldiers should one decide to go down the 'pinish or purge all raiders' line and burn off all of their cutie marks.

And with that I'm off to bed.

[Morhem]

Guys, I have trouble understanding something. I made an uniform for my squad, combat armor + weapon + shield.
They have no trouble equipping armor itself, weapon and sheld, but completely ignoring helmets and horseshoes. They are checked in equipment screen. What seem to be the problem?

[Deon]

Did you set it to "replace clothing"? Most likely current hoods and footwear do not allow them to wear armor.