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[arcturusthelesser]

I always try to get my civilians their favorite pets from the elves and drow, when available.  It's just a thing I do, being the benevolent hand of Armok that I am.

Unfortunately, nearly half of all of my dwarves -- no matter what game version -- end up having a love affair with landmines and turrets.  To a lesser degree, they also favor 'transformative' critters that aren't actually animals.  There is an obvious preference for things that self-destruct or aren't cuddly.

Is there a reason for this?

The reason is of course that the game considers them to be livestock that just happen to shoot dragonfire/other stuff. However, it's not really a problem. Animal preferences almost never have any utility, with the only exception I can think of being animal trainers working better with preferred animals (probably) and perhaps leatherworkers/craftdwarves working better (or maybe even worse considering it means you butchered it) with preferred animals' remains (cats come to mind here). Of course the latter doesn't apply to Masterwork. Also, come on, "self-destruct or aren't cuddly"? Scary is better. This is Dwarf Fortress, not the Fluffy Wambler Express. Don't forget what game you're playing.

Anyway, I am finding myself unable to use the ridiculously awesome automaterial dfhack plugin. What is that about? Constructing without it makes me want to rip off my 'u', 'm', 'k', and 'h' keys. Everything else is running, but for some reason that one won't load when I call it.

[LonelyZues]

How come that gem over there is flooding my shaft? 

The tear of armok. It will flood forever. Mine it and use it to transform a changeling into a waterling. You can use this to artificially fill up a massive water resevoir. The tear of armok should have paused your mining with damp stone as a warning. 

Go check out the manual. There are many things you can unearth in masterwork.  That gem is probably one of the least problematic compared to some forgotten evils buried in the stone.

How do I safely mine this gem? It seem to keep on flooding. Does it stop when the dwarf pick it up?

[Meph]

It stops once you mine it.

[kamikazi1231]

It stops once you mine it.

Exactly.  Just plan for it. Make sure you don't have other areas set for mining. Just dig a line through the tear. If you don't and that water flows and fills up you're in trouble. Then the best option is attack it from above. Try digging the level above and then channeling out the tear. It acts as an aquifer so it will not flow up higher than the tear this way.

[nukularpower]

I have a random question and this seems to be the place.  I like embarking with at least one magic dwarf, a "kin" of some kind.  Usually I can get one by starting/aborting games, but that can take forever.  I was wondering if anyone might point me to where you can edit the chances of one showing up;  I'd change it back after embark, but being able to set it in advance would save me a lot of time. 

[Meph]

creature_standard.txt, POP_RATIO: in the castes. Set them higher, you get more of them. Or embark with more dwarves. "dwarves 20", should give you plenty chance for a rare caste.

[nukularpower]

Thanks a lot.

[LonelyZues]

What is the effect of bane spider venom? Is it worth it to hive them?

[nukularpower]

Random question of the day:  Have obsidian short swords been removed or moved in the mod?  I can't find the option to make them at a craftdwarf's shop, and the manager isn't working either.   Are they under a building you have to research now?  :S

To be clear, I'm talking about the crappy starter weapon ones.

Also, it seems that since I updated to the newest version, I can no longer embark with normal dogs or cats.  None of the dwarven civs ever seem to have them.  May just be bad luck there, though.

Another random tidbit:  The manual says that you should train a familiar once a mage creates one and assign it (fits the flavor, at least.)  However, many familiars are missing the TRAINABLE tags and are thusly unassignable.  This includes White Sabrecats, Gargoyles, Black Barghests, Fire Sprites, Blizzard Elementals, Basilisks, and one of the bone golems.  Mentioning it because the manual makes me think it may be unintentional.

Lastly, is there a way to disable the bonestack "fix" that was included in the newest version?  While it sounds good to fix a bug on paper, I am starting to wonder if it may have been intentional on Toady's part, as my forts are now swimming in a neverending sea of bones.   Given the ease of acquisition, I personally preferred the older method, wasteful or no.

[jimboo]

What is the effect of bane spider venom? Is it worth it to hive them?

Short answer: that's in the manual, check toxicologist.  In general, use Notepad to search the raws for info on most anything.
Better answer: It used to be very much worth it to hive them but you needed to research some things first.  Now, it's easy and quick to just buy any poison or hard-to-find item at Teduk's.  Personally, I think it's just a matter of time until Meph decides Teduk's Fine Goods makes the mod very easy on things that used to be very hard; who's going to search the third cavern for nether creeper when you can buy the extract for only 1000 coins?  And all the poisons are so cheap that you can improve the weapons or clean the map now without any significant loss.

[Stormbuilder]

@Meph,

If I put "Warlocks" as a "good", will I get trade caravans from them?

Also, in my fortresses with random civs so far I haven't received random race caravans (when I am at peace with them). But then again, maybe I just need to wait more...perhaps it takes them a few years to arrive.

[Meph]

Yes. You can make all races good, never get sieged and have fabolous tradefairs all year round if you want. ^^

[Stormbuilder]

Well, the never get sieged part sounds boring, but I'd LOVE to see what a frost giant trade caravan looks like

[Meph]

Probably very messy, because they are not optimized for trade at all. ^^

[GhostDwemer]

Trying Masterwork for the first time, my (dwarven) civ has no access to underground crops or seeds at embark. Harder farming is turned on. Is this normal?