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[feelotraveller]

Yes. Define new (but probably no). Yes.

[doublestrafe]

Is there a workaround for the bug where any tile that a tree grows into is marked permanently impassible, even after you cut down the tree? I get this all the time trying to build roofs and other structures on top of buildings. It's worst when the tree leaves logs on top of my walls, because I'm usually designating block construction rapidly and don't realize I've told it to build things out of the logs, which then are never built because there isn't a path...except that there is. Little help?

[ShortBusser]

I am just starting to play and I have a few noob questions.

A few times I had buildings stall during constructions. (a) One time the announcements mentioned the area was not clear. Is that a bush, stone, or other obstacle and how can I clear it? (b) Another time a carpentry workshop stalled just waying "carpentry" required. I built another one and canceled the original. Was that likely some obstacle in the way or do the dwarves give up on buildings that have some temporary obstruction (skills, needed things of other kinds)?

i built a stair case going down in a hollow 3x3. My dwarves made the first level (from the ground) and the second. But they never went down and built the third. What should I think about when making staircases down? I just dug whichever bit of the staircase on a given level my cursor was near. Or should I have done this in a direction? Should I have a separate staircase up?

My staircase was like (all built using "down" stairs). I assumed "down" works for "up" too).

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I tried to make a refuse/garbage tip using the same kind of rectangular selection that works OK for digging i.e. select the start square then move to the end point and select (enter) again. It didn't make a rectangular shape indicating success. Does it work in another way?

I had trouble growing plump helmets in a cave. Is the floor the problem? I guess I should be looking for a muddy floor? or is any floor type OK?

[TomiTapio]

So my questions are as follows:
Why are they apparently starving themselves to death in the cavern?

Climbed a tree, probably. Also stepladder-fruitpickers get stuck in trees and starve. Build ramps for the scaredycat person or cut down the tree.

My staircase was like (all built using "down" stairs). I assumed "down" works for "up" too).

Designation menu: d-i dig the "up and down" tile for simplest stairwell (which may slow pathfinding, ramps are faster).
On the surface, one can only build a "down" stair. Elsewhere, need a matching "up" stair or "up and down" to receive the upper level stair.
Need to use ramp tiles for up/down, or both upstair(hole in ceiling) and downstair(hole in floor) tiles. Or the "up and down" easy tile.

[ShortBusser]

Is a one space stair/ramp enough per level?

Is there a reason the up/down/both stairs exist separately?

[anewaname]

Is a one space stair/ramp enough per level?

Yes. You can link 100 levels of fortress using one up/down staircase straight through the middle of it (but it is advised to build floor hatch every few levels due to falling risks). There are more reasons why players build different types of stair/ramp systems, but one per level is enough. 

Is there a reason the up/down/both stairs exist separately?

Yes. Consider that moving between z-levels requires a "link" in each tile. You need an "up" stairs in the tile below a "down" stairs, to allow a dwarf to walk between the two z-levels. An up/down stairs can allow access between the z-level above and the z-level below.

[Bumber]

Is there a reason the up/down/both stairs exist separately?

An "up" stair has a solid floor, which prevents fluids / falling objects / flying creatures from passing through if the tile below is empty space.

A "down" stair requires no material to build, and so can be dug into an exposed tile without needing construction.

[Schmaven]

You can force creative traffic patterns by using only up stairs somewhere, and only downstairs somewhere else. 

[Bumber]

You can force creative traffic patterns by using only up stairs somewhere, and only downstairs somewhere else.

Huh?

[Schmaven]

An arbitrary example would be 2 hallways one above another.  If you have upstairs on the east side and downstairs on the west side, dwarves can still get to both hallways, but must traverse the entire length of both to do so. 

[alef]

After attacking some great horned owl men, my marksdwarf squad lost lot of their quality bolts on top of trees. According to DFHack gui/pathable plugin, the tiles the bolts are laying on or lodged in are not always reachable from the near stairs I've built to recover them. For instance "TreeBranches" type is ok, but "TreeTrunkSloping" is not. How can I recover such bolts?

Thanks,
alef

[Romeofalling]

Hey, does legends viewer still work?  is there a new one?  and dwarf therapist?

Legends Browser is a great alternative for DF'ers on non-Windows machines.

Is there a workaround for the bug where any tile that a tree grows into is marked permanently impassible, even after you cut down the tree? I get this all the time trying to build roofs and other structures on top of buildings. It's worst when the tree leaves logs on top of my walls, because I'm usually designating block construction rapidly and don't realize I've told it to build things out of the logs, which then are never built because there isn't a path...except that there is. Little help?

This is non-standard game behavior. You should download a fresh copy of DF, or post about this issue to its own thread.

[Romeofalling]

A few times I had buildings stall during constructions. (a) One time the announcements mentioned the area was not clear. Is that a bush, stone, or other obstacle and how can I clear it?

(a) More accurately, the problem here is usually that one of the objects blocking that blueprint has been reserved for some other project. Since it has been claimed for a job, it cannot be used for other jobs  (like being picked up and moved out of the way). Just give your other projects some time and try again later. If there was an obstruction that you needed a separate command to clear, it wouldn't have let you place it to begin with.

(b) Another time a carpentry workshop stalled just waying "carpentry" required. I built another one and canceled the original. Was that likely some obstacle in the way or do the dwarves give up on buildings that have some temporary obstruction (skills, needed things of other kinds)?

(b) This means that only someone with the Carpentry labor preference enabled can do that work. If it is taking too long to get done, that means your carpenter dwarves have a lot of other jobs they have to do. Untangling this sort of issue so that all your tasks are getting done at the pace you want is the core gameplay.

Pick someone with that labor enabled, and (f)ollow them around to get an idea of what they're doing. This is a good example of why an app like Dwarf Therapist is useful. If you have that app installed, you can use it to quickly disable all other labors for a particular dwarf, so that it is only doing Carpentry jobs, wait for it to finally build that workshop, and then re-enable all the labors they previously had on. Trying to do this through the base interface of the game is quite cumbersome.

Note that skill will only affect how long it takes to do those tasks. A dwarf with the labor enabled will successfully do any task you set it to, eventually.

Labor and assigning labor preferences is a complex subject. You can find out more on the wiki: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Labor

What should I think about when making staircases down?
My staircase was like (all built using "down" stairs). I assumed "down" works for "up" too).

Here is a great video to explain this: https://youtu.be/x_21Y34Yx4c

Many people build more than 1 tile of stairs for the same reason that they build wide hallways -- it increases how many dwarves can move through that path without bumping into each other. Dwarves CAN bump into each other, knocking one of them over, and falling to the bottom of the staircase (unless stopped by a floor hatch).

More than that, though, take some time to think about the design of your fortress and the utility of what you're building. Barring any !!FUN!!, you'll eventually have up to 300 dwarves running around your fort. Layout will be important. Thinking about how you want to lay it out, defend it, and organize it, is the game. I spend more time with DF paused than I spend letting it run (though that's my playstyle, not everyone does it like that).

I tried to make a refuse/garbage tip using the same kind of rectangular selection that works OK for digging i.e. select the start square then move to the end point and select (enter) again. It didn't make a rectangular shape indicating success. Does it work in another way?

The interface is inconsistent, but yes, you should see a visual change. Since you compare it to digging, let me just just check: you're marking open floor space for that stockpile, yes?

 The wiki page on stockpiles goes into this thoroughly: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Stockpile

I had trouble growing plump helmets in a cave. Is the floor the problem? I guess I should be looking for a muddy floor? or is any floor type OK?

Farm Plots and the food industry is a pretty big topic, and the wiki pages on the topic are pretty extensive: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Farming

There are a number of steps you might have not noticed, or performed incorrectly. In summary:
1. Designate a Farm Plot on soil (somewhere marked Underground for plump helmets). Someone with Farming with build the plot.
2. (Q)uery the plot, and then designate which crops you want planted in each season.
3. Your farmer will plant Plump Helmet Spawn (ie, seeds) during the appropriate season. Any dwarf with the Food Hauling labor will harvest it once it is ready.
4. Eating the plump helmet raw or brewing it into dwarven wine will create seeds for your next planting. Cooking the plump helmets as part of a meal in the Kitchen will destroy the seed.

[xZippy]

When you guys get a werecreature in your world and you don't feel like dealing with it... do you DFHack exterminate it? Or tough it out and attempt to kill it?

[Naturegirl1999]

I basically hope they survive. One of my forts consisted of many werelizards