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Author Topic: Magma forges  (Read 1336 times)

Elitehamster

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Magma forges
« on: October 02, 2014, 04:08:36 pm »

Where do you guys put your magma forges? Way down below near the magma or do you ferry the magma up somehow? I've been building my forges below, but right now I'm at this really awesome beach embark bursting with iron and flux but the magma sea is about 130 levels down which is quite a bit. I'm considering moving the magma up but I don't really know how and I'm not sure if it's worth it when compared to making a personal bedroom and dining room for my smith. Usually I just stretch out my fortress a little bit (I've been building vertically for a while now, so I'll just put my dining room and bedrooms and stockpiles a few dozen Z-levels below-ground) but 130 levels is a bit much

Tips for a beach embark are also welcome :D
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blue sam3

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Re: Magma forges
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2014, 05:21:52 pm »

If all you're doing with the magma is making forges, you can get by with piston-raisable quantities of water, so I'd raise it up to wherever your fort is that way. If you're doing a lot of other stuff (magma death traps, obsidian casting, etc.), particularly stuff that uses up magma (rather than just requiring it to be present), use a pump stack instead. Only time I'd leave the forges right at the bottom is if I was building my whole fort (or at least my entrance and military stuff - where the weapons are going to be needed) down there.
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Loci

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Re: Magma forges
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2014, 05:28:40 pm »

Small amounts of magma are actually quite easy to move, and having your magma workshops in your fort proper saves a lot of hauling time.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Magma#Design_3:_Minimalist_magma_moving
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Berserkenstein

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Re: Magma forges
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2014, 05:29:15 pm »

I only use magma forges to make weapons and armor so it's no big deal for me to leave it down there.

Once dwarfs get their first iron gear, all the steel stuff gets forged and remelted if it is not masterwork.

The masterwork stuff gets minecarted back up via rail.
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Tacomagic

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Re: Magma forges
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2014, 11:39:41 pm »

I typically take 2 steps.  In the first, I build all the forges and stuff down by the magma to get the magma-safe materials built*.  Once I have enough to make a rudimentary magma collector, I'll move everything up to the fort area.  Once I've got all that settled, I'll start thinking about a pump stack.  Usually only go that rout if I've got lots of iron, nickel, or at least one sand tile.  Otherwise I'll expand the magma collector and start running an automated cart system instead.

*Mostly in cases where I embark in a place without trees, or with very few trees.  In those cases, I rush the magma sea and start magma forges within the first year.
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Elitehamster

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Re: Magma forges
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2014, 05:42:06 am »

Small amounts of magma are actually quite easy to move, and having your magma workshops in your fort proper saves a lot of hauling time.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Magma#Design_3:_Minimalist_magma_moving

Hm, this seems to fit my purpose. It will help me get my fort up and running and should give me time to start experimenting with magma pistons and such. Thanks!
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Meneth

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Re: Magma forges
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2014, 08:20:49 am »

I like to build proper pump stacks. Takes a while, true, but I get an inexhaustible magma supply (good for traps and the like), and with a few macros it's easy enough to set up.

Tried impulse ramps, but they were too unstable and dangerous. Dwarves kept going inside the rampway and got SLAM'd.
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Max™

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Re: Magma forges
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2014, 09:04:24 am »

I feel I should toss in that while impulse ramps can be lots of !!Fun!!, anti-impulse elevators are remarkably safe.

Z+0:
^
||

Z+1:
== >

Z+2:
. . .
. .||
. .v

Instead of carving the tracks up the ramps, designate them onto the ramp and then remove that square of the designation while leaving the top-down connection intact, so you get chunks of track that look like they shouldn't go past the ramps at all.

It moves things up many levels without causing them to exit at two ticks below the speed of light.
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