Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Splint]

i've genned three words. is there something intrinsic skill or stat wise to the raider faction that isn't in stable factions?

Not really. If anything the raiders are usually the ones who get wiped out. Maybe a raw file got duplicated somewhere?

[Bacon Pants]

Hey guys, it's been a while since I posted here, but I started to get back into Dwarf Fortress and more specifically this particular mod. I just had a few questions (mostly about Expeditions and such) if anyone was willing to answer them.

How does the whole Expedition Staging Area work? I was able to send a single squad out into the normal wastelands one time, but I had no idea how or why I was able to. Also the entire squad consisted of my two Master Weapons Smiths, my only Bone Doctor, and some random migrant, which wasn't great seeing the first time.

So, for starters, how does one make only specified units go on expeditions? And as well, does a unit's skill in certain areas affect both the survivability of the unit and the quality of what it brings back? Also, what does it mean when it says "Drink; (3) drinks 1-containing item" or "Drink; (3) drinks 2-containing item" when it lists the required items? Does it mean something like a water-skin or flask or what?

So yeah, I'm not too experienced with the whole thing, but I just saw this as an easy way to boost the amount of tech and guns available for my fort without having to fight slavers with machetes and hammers, so any help would be useful.

[gzoker]

The expedition staging area is one of the last things added to the mod, and as such a little buggy and really easy to exploit, even unintentionally.

It works like this: you queue up an expedition, a random pony takes the job, she hauls the necessary items to the staging area. When she is finished hauling she and the nearest ponies will go on an adventure become unconscious. When she and the team wakes up, parts of their bodies will turn into living creatures, then those creatures will die immediately, leaving behind the "loot". Depending on the expedition, sometimes these creatures will become ghouls and other nasty things.

The best way I found to use the staging area is to place it in a big enough room (11*11) with little stockpiles of the necessary items like barrels of drinks etc. in the same room; profile the staging area so only the lucky pony who will lead the expedition is allowed to work there, put the rest of the expedition party in a squad and station them in the room. When every member is in there, lock the room and queue up the job. When everypony has become unconscious, station another squad inside and anticipate FUN.

The expedition's success only depends on the type of expedition you choose, and completely ignores skill, equipment or the ability to even walk. (put it in your hospital and you have a miracle cure for cripples as a cheatbonus!) On the other hand hoof everypony who goes on an expedition has a fixed chance of dying, so you shouldn't use your best fighter ponies but the useless ones instead.

I haven't played for a long time, but if I said something really stupid then somebody will correct me, I'm sure.

[Bacon Pants]

Thanks for the reply, though for some reason even though I followed what you said and have a massive surplus of everything the queue said I needed, I'm still not able to send out more squads.

Also, I have a few other questions if you didn't mind. First, when crafting guns that require schematics (like the combat rifle), do you need a schematic for every build, or does the schematic stay? Because the station says I can build rifles, but whenever one of my smiths goes to craft one, I get an error saying that I need a schematic, even though I checked the stocks and everything and I definitely have at least one.

And for hologem crafting and the such, where do I find clear lenses? Do I have to start constructing a glass industry or is that a Salvageable item I basically need to wait for?

Thanks in advance for any question you might answer, I appreciate the help already.

[Graknorke]

When she and the team wakes up, parts of their bodies will turn into living creatures

That's horrifying.

[Maklak]

> > When she and the team wakes up, parts of their bodies will turn into living creatures
> That's horrifying.
It's basically the only way to spawn new items that involves creatures. There is even a missile that works by separating a body part that seeks target and explodes into dust... which has the unfortunate side effect of regenerating the robot that fired that missile. Anyway, to me the weirdest part was that the ponies stuffed the stuff that spawned from an expedition into coffins, if I remember correctly.

> First, when crafting guns that require schematics (like the combat rifle), do you need a schematic for every build
Schematics are preserved, but there are two problems with them:
* There are few of them, so if you have a stockpile that accepts schematics, one of them will sometimes be reserved for hauling and be unavailable for a job.
* If you profile your workshops to accept only from certain stockpiles, you must do that for all input materials, including schematics.
So probably the sanest way to deal with this is to only have one workshop that makes guns and, not profile it for stockpile and not have a stockpile that accepts schematics. That way they will end up inside the workshop, which is where you want them anyway.

> And for hologem crafting and the such, where do I find clear lenses?
I'm pretty sure, I wrote a guide for this somewhere, but couldn't find it now.
IIRC, there are two kinds of lenses: Clear glass and pristinine diamond. You get diamonds from rock crushing and MAS crates (good luck with that) and they are required for the most advanced stuff. You get clear glass lenses from clear glass industry. I distinctly remember having a magma kiln, magma glassworks and 20+ sand bags in my largest stable. Anyway, I forgot what I needed them for. I didn't make that many AMRs, so I probably needed them for arcane research or something.

When it comes to military, have a melee squad and a ranged squad. It will take years for ranged squad to be any good, but you can later build a concrete wall with fortifications and tell them to "defend burrows" on top of it. If you get a pony with a sniper CM, give him a hunting (not combat) rifle. Basically hunting and AMR rifles use sniping skill, while other ranged weapons use guns skill.

[Graknorke]

Well it looks like this mod will be dying in the next couple of weeks anyway, unless someone feels like rewriting all of the raws to match the new format.

[twwolfe]

Well it looks like this mod will be dying in the next couple of weeks anyway, unless someone feels like rewriting all of the raws to match the new format.

i thought i read somewhere that that was the reason they were holding off on updates, so they could dedicate time to fixing whats already there instead of adding new things

[BlueMagic]

Could there be an option to pick the Cutie Marks of the ponies you start with? It gets tedious to constantly restart to look for the right combinations of cutie marks.

[Cakebomb]

Hey, is it normal for Glowing Ghouls to one shot unarmored ponies, and for a feral ghoul to beat a legendary fighter that was recently exposed to said ghoul?

[Morrigi]

(removed)

[Maklak]

> I  thought i read somewhere that that was the reason they were holding off on updates,
> so they could dedicate time to fixing whats already there instead of adding new things
As far as I remember, Lycaeon said that he just didn't have the time and energy to develop this mod and that real life took over.

> Could there be an option to pick the Cutie Marks of the ponies you start with? It gets tedious
> to constantly restart to look for the right combinations of cutie marks.
Nope, DF doesn't support it. So unless someone writes a dfhack script or some other tool to mess with castes and attributes, you have to take what you've got or re-roll. That said, it isn't terrible. Even if you don't get the right CM, it is good enough to have a pony of the right race for the job. It may also force you to change your strategy a bit, if you for example get 2 spearponies or something.

> Hey, is it normal for Glowing Ghouls to one shot unarmored ponies, and for a feral ghoul to beat
> a legendary fighter that was recently exposed to said ghoul?
Yep, ghouls are pretty overpowered and scary. Glowing ones have an interaction that cripples all ponies nearby, although Power Armour and Hazmat Suits can protect from that, I think. With blobbing up and getting some lucky shots with rifles you might be able to do something with ghouls in the caverns, but in my experience they tear up even the kind of military that can solo raider squads and keep up with Steel Rangers.

Normal ghouls are pretty bad news too, especially if there is a bunch of them (there always is).

Finally, there are Feral Minotaur Ghoul Reavers, semi-megabeasts who can kill or cripple in one hit. They can be overcome with zerg-rushing them, but expect a few casualties among soldiers with poor shield user and dodge.

(reply to removed removed)

[BlueMagic]

So what would be some good advice? Because the local fauna keep kicking my butt with each new Stable. Then again I consider military in Dwarf Fortress to be difficult to manage.

[Treason]

So what would be some good advice? Because the local fauna keep kicking my butt with each new Stable. Then again I consider military in Dwarf Fortress to be difficult to manage.

1.  Dig down as quickly as possible on a brand new embark to avoid the Ghouls.  Remember to build a route that requires anything that wants to get at your ponies to traverse a single hall.  This will make it easy to trap or seal-up with a bridge, door, whateverhaveyou.

2.  As I've pointed out in this thread a while back, hunting is a loosing proposition; there are too many things that can kill your hunters, including the few things out there that are edible.  Disable it from all your ponies.

3.  For beasts which come up from the caverns, should you breach them, I suggest walling off your stairs save for a single point which you then cage trap/weapon trap.  Multiple or just one, its your preference.  This allows for catching the odd critter that's edible or tamable.  The random ghouls that come up get trapped (if you have enough traps built) and they never make it into your Stable.  Designate a pit, dig down (channel) about 11 z-layers and build an access point through which you can seal off.  Most things dropped that far will either die instantly or be so severely hurt they will eventually expire.  The tough ones get the "reward" of living.  Alas, usually my Stable dwellers become so jaded and infected by the Wasteland that they think nothing of dropping captured raiders into a pit with a Taint Abomination and listening to the screams.

4.  If you do ever decide you want a military, draft your Unicorns.  They have multiple graspers thanks to their telekinesis and can wield multiple shields along with a weapon.  I had an "untouchable" squad of Unicorns armed with 3 shields a piece and a good weapon (I recruited only those unicorns with the magic to support so many things at once).  Legendary Shield users, the lot.  With decent armor they were the quintessential "shield wall."  That being said, I put the quotations around untouchable because the Wasteland will find a way.  Glowing ghouls, Reavers, etc.  Even decked out in power armor or hazmat suits and good barding, if your pony gets infected by the rot from the ghoul, write them off.  I've pointed it out that the rot grows too fast for anything but a legendary surgeon to save, and then only if the wounded is brought to the Hospital with all haste*.  Should they somehow survive the rot, they are crippled for life and will never fully recover.  I know ghouls as a caste are not implemented, but I consider such walking-wounded to be such.  The only way they can be healed is through dfhack (should you have the right plugins).  The custom "fullheal" command or the expedition mechanic in the game (making sure you send your wounded on the expeditions) will fully heal those you select, but it's kinda like cheating.

*If you embark on a freezing biome, you can stave off the rot for a while.  Due to the extreme cold, if your pony is left outside, the rot will be dramatically slowed and they will not have the miasma floating about them.  A hospital exposed to the open, above ground air may be to your benefit.  Keeping a nearby, underground well will allow you to water and bath your wounded.  You will have to deal with flying threats, though, as as soon as you turn the hospital into an indoor area, the rot will proceed.  I've had infected ponies survive for months in situations like the one described above.

[Maklak]

As for ghouls: one method of dealing with them is caging enough, then letting them out in an enclosed space. This will prevent more of them from coming.