Print

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

[PatrikLundell]

I'm having problems with the FPS, and have gotten the impression that additional exploratory digging may harm the FPS further, so before exploring the large volume between 1:st and 2:nd caverns, I'd like to ask both if it hurts the FPS, and also if there may be something new in this segment (as opposed to more of what I already have. In particular, I'd like to find coal and iron. Gems don't count).
If strip mining is reasonably harmless, I'm not opposed to keep the miners busy by digging out most of a number of levels when I don't have any real jobs for them.

[Bogus]

no coal, but a low chance for iron.

[StagnantSoul]

Basically just gems, wood, and creatures are the attraction on caverns.

[pisskop]

and plants, trees, water, and already dug out spaces

[StagnantSoul]

Pfft, that stuff is useless.

[PatrikLundell]

Thanks!

I'm a bit confused by StagnantSoul's and pisskop's answers, though: Are there (potentially) "minor" caverns in between the "major" ones? "Already dug out" seems to imply the potential presence of other "civilized" creatures there; is that a possibility?
I've sealed off the entrances to the first cavern, and have followed a looong path down to what I think is the second one (entrance in the roof at level 76, lowest part of upper cavern at 36), so I have some 40 levels of stone to potentially explore in between. Of course, it's quite possible the small part of the second cavern I've seen doesn't contain the very top of the second cavern (haven't been able to explore it yet, as the path down ended in a drop off), but the lowest part I can see is at 111 (only 4*4 tiles, though), so it's quite expansive vertically, and thus ought not to extend too much higher than what I've seen.

[pisskop]

The answer to the question 'if there's much metal to be had in and around the cavern' is typically not.  Maybe some gold or platinum if you are lucky, but nothing weapons grade usually.

[StagnantSoul]

If you want to fight interesting creatures, have underground water, and more wood, then caverns are useful. Still, I prefer not to have them, but I need them for the map to not be only 40 layers tall.

[PatrikLundell]

Well, cave crocodiles are supposed to require water, but there are no water sources in the upper cavern, and I haven't seen any in the second one either (yet). That's not a problem for me as I have aquifer access, though. As indicated, I've neutralized the upper cavern, with one place where I can let in something via a drawbridge door, and a number of places where I can see visitors pace back and forth on my wall. I've had one "interesting" FB visiting, but it killed itself fighting everything that entered the cavern while I was huddling behind my closed drawbridge (and trying to figure out how to survive the fireball hauling titan attacking from above (first hostile creature as well) while huddling behind THAT drawbridge. Cutting trees in the cavern is probably a bad idea for me, as I think it's more useful to cut down anything that regrows on the surface (used to be heavily forested, before I arrived). Travel time and timber yield seems to give poor efficiency for cavern logging.
Money is not really of interest, as I've got lots of gold and silver on the surface, and probably in the cavern as well (haven't really looked).

But I really was looking for what might exist in the stone only(?) levels in between the caverns.

[StagnantSoul]

Lots of copper, probably mostly tetrahydrite, so lots of silver too, quite a bit of gold, some sphalerite, maybe kimberlite, which provides DIAMONDS, BABY and some other, less useful metals and gems. Mostly money stuff. I suggest a war hammer based military, with silver for hammers, then copper put into crossbows, with silver and copper being your bolts. Leather for armour, bone greaves, helms, and gauntlets, using white as the colour for those items, copper for shields, and mail shirts. If you find cassiterite, make bronze into helmets, mail shirts, and cutting weapons: spears, axes, and swords. The setup you should use for your military-

1 bone helmet, 5 leather hoods, 1 copper mail shirt, 1 leather armour, 5 leather cloaks, 1 bone greave, 1 copper shield, 1 silver war hammer or bronze cutting weapon, 1 pair of leather boots and some silk/yarn/plant fibre sock, 1 pair of leather mittens and gloves. If you find hematite, put this into steel, if you have flux stone, if not, armour and weapons, focusing on mail shirts, helmets, and cutting weapons, followed in order of priority after you have those:  breastplate, greaves, gauntlets, boots. Maybe a few suits of all copper armour, but that wont help much.

 Order in lots of trap components, flasks, toys, metal crafts, weapons, armour, anvils, cages, and minecarts, plus ore stones. Melt those, so you have real metal. Good luck.

[PatrikLundell]

No diamonds, but I've equipped my melee squad with silver hammers and steel armor (I've bought all iron and steel I've been able to from caravans (basically your recommendation), plus a few iron items off the pathetic goblin invasion (only one so far). Since I've got flux I've upgraded the iron into steel. I'm considering trying to equip miners with dual steel picks (one civilian and one military, basically) and steel armor, and I'm toying with the idea of trying to create engineering troops (armored carpenters and masons permanently off duty). I started with copper armor produced locally, and have since gradually upgraded to steel.
Leather shield, leather cloak, steel helmet, gauntlets, mail shirt, breastplate, greaves, high boots, silver hammer * 10. I think that should do it.
The crossbowmen get leather instead, except I use copper gauntlets because they otherwise will throw their leather gloves on the ground when moving from stationed to battle. Currently metal crossbow, but moving towards steel.
copper tips for the ballistae bolts. Due to the blasted problem with crossbow bolt allocation, the crossbowdwarves will have to make do with wood or bone (I try to alternate to use up the supply). Since there isn't any action they're just training anyway.
I've had trouble ordering anything in, though, since my first 3 dwarven caravans came without a liason, the fourth one didn't come at all. The fifth caravan actually did come with a liason, though (that's where I am now, the following spring).

[StagnantSoul]

Copper crossbows and shields are better than their steel variants.

[PatrikLundell]

OK. I had the impression that shield material didn't matter though, so it all came down to weight for those, which is why I've gone for leather.

[Urist McVoyager]

Depends on how you're using them. If it's for speed, then lower weight is good. If you're bashing with them, go heavy.

[PatrikLundell]

Can you control what they do? I thought you could just order them to use stuff and hope they would pick up what you told them to get and then use it in a (at least marginally) sensible way. I guess not giving them weapons would induce bashing behavior, though.