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Author Topic: Few Questions!  (Read 1433 times)

Goblins

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Few Questions!
« on: January 23, 2015, 01:41:00 pm »

I want to learn how to do a few things but I've looked around and some of the tutorials out there aren't... comprehensive for a player like me.  I'm a bit of a new player, and some of the tutorials aren't new player friendly.  So, I would like some answers and tutorials to some of my questions if ya got the time for me.  It would be appreciated greatly!  A few questions;

1. How do mine carts work?

2. How do I use quantum stockpiles? Best one?  Pros? Cons?

3. Military guide... better than the wiki hopefully?

Thanks all you guys for helping me out.  Again, very much appreciated!

-=-Goblins-=-
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Edit: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A goblin just got gelded by a copper mace in a weapon trap! This game is the greatest.
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Broseph Stalin

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2015, 02:13:18 pm »


##+##
##+##
##+##

Assume that + is a N/S minecart and # is a floor tile

##S##
##+##
##S##

S is a track stop built over top of tracks. Both are set (by default) to highest friction and the one on the bottom has been custom set to dump to the east.


Then use the "h"auling menu to set the top S to stop one and the bottom S to stop two. Customize the stops in this menu so that the top stop takes stone until full and then departs to the south and that the bottom stop departs north when empty.

Then select the route you created and add a minecart to it with v

##S##
##+##
##S%#

If you've done this correctly a minecart will be taken to stop one, dwarves will fill it with stone, it will be pushed to stop two, it's contents will be deposited on the %, and it will immediately be taken to stop one to repeat the process.

The way quantum stockpiles work is that dwarves will fill a stockpile with one stone per tile but they won't move something that's already there. So even though only one stone is stored on a single tile you can manually dump a hundred milliion billion stones on that same tile and dwarves will treat them as they're stockpiled properly. An automatic quantum stockpile is pretty simple.

%
S
%

The % are stone stockpiles and the S is a track stop that dumps south. Create a route and set it to load items from the north then assign a minecart to the stop. The minecart never goes anywhere. Dwarves put a stone in stockpile 1, it's loaded into the minecart, and it's instantly dumped south into stockpile 2. Now that Stockpile 1 is empty another stone is brought over and the process repeats until every stone in the fortress is in stockpile 2.


You'll have to be more specific if you want military advice.




bahihs

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2015, 02:23:24 pm »

1. The wiki should be more than adequate for this
2. Same as above
3. This is a little more complicated since the update has change a few things with combat but the basics are:

a. Go to the military screen and create a new squad, choose metal armor uniform if you want infantry, archer otherwise
b. Select people to join the squad (you do this by -> on the squad and then browsing the list of names and pressing enter when people want are highlighted)
c. Set up a barracks with (optional) weapons/armor depot (you do this by placing a weapon/armor rack or chest)
d. Set up a schedule for your military with the squad screen (different from the military screen!)
      i. This is its own guide by itself, I recommend looking at the wiki for advanced setups (patrols, station's etc.) but you really only need training
      ii. The squad should already be setup to train all year, just activate the squad schedule from the first screen and you are good to go
e. When danger comes, go to the squad screen again, select a squad, select (k)ill, select enemy (or group of enemies) and watch the carnage

Some caveats: untrained units should not wear full suits of mail as that will now significant slow them down. Don't send raw recruits to do anything except train because they will get murdered (or run). I believe training has now been fixed (somewhat) so that squads of 10 can train just as well as squads of 2. It takes about a year or two to get an untrained recruit to legendary status just by training. Danger rooms will take about 2-3 days, though they no longer train fighter, they still train weapon/armor and dodge skill, so they are still extremely effective.

As for the other questions, I feel should give some advice (though again, the wiki contains all the info you need):

1. Mine carts are currently not very useful except for very specific tasks (I like using them to shuttle ore (dropped through 200 level mine shafts) to my magma forges. As for how they work, basically you need rails and you need a cart. The rails can be built (i.e constructed) or carved out by miners. (note that the latter can only create straight rails, you have to construct curves) The rails need start and end points, these points can then be connected to stockpiles and set on timers to shuttle items in a timely fashion.

2. Quantum stockpiles are a bug and unless you are suffering from extreme lag or just can't be bothered, I don't recommend using them. They do make stockpiling incredibly efficient (to the point where it becomes cheaty, in my opinion). The idea is pretty simple, when dwarves dump something (instead of stockpiling it) the dump square can hold an infinite number of items. This is the basic quantum sp. The more advanced version uses the minecart trackstop connected to a stockpile. You can look at the wiki for that.

Seriously though, most of this stuff is on the wiki. I'm surprised you didn't find it newbie friendly (I find its more useful than any player-made tutorial)
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AbanShakehandles

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2015, 05:05:08 pm »

Goblins, I feel for you homey.
I felt the same way when I first started playing with minecarts.

Quote
*read the wiki*
...the fuuu..
*read it again*
Who understands this non-sense!?!
*read all the forum posts about minecarts*
What am I? A &*(^ing engineer??!?!
*give up on minecarts for another 2 months*


The best way to learn it is to do it wrong enough times.
Just get in there and start carving some tracks. Use the wiki to answer specific questions along the way.
It'll start to click after awhile. Really, it will.

And if it doesn't... Hey, wheelbarrows.
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puke

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2015, 10:19:01 am »

There is a bit of serendipity for you with your first and second questions.  Quantum stockpiles used to require a bit of micromanaging in terms of dumping and reclaiming items -- but with minecarts you can automate the whole thing.

1 - Minecarts can be complicated things, but dont have to be.  Start with unpowered minecarts.  Lay down a length of track (engrave it on a stone floor) and put a stop at one end.  Have a minecart put there, and play with it a bit.  Push it.  Put a stockpile next to it, and have it filled.  Order it to be pushed when full.  Order it to be ridden.

Optionally, include a stop at the other end of the track.  Or end the track at a wall.  Generally screw about, it isnt that rough and the discovery can be a little fun.  Roll some things down hill.  Try to turn corners on a track when you have some velocity.

Read about the advanced concepts later.  Worry about powering the track with rollers later. 

2 - Here is the good news!  setup that simple two-stop minecart track you were just playing with.  One end takes from a stockpile.  The other end dumps the minecart out onto a one-tile stockpile, and then returns the empty cart.

3 - ooof, f--- if I know.  Have not been able to figure out the military since it got uniforms and seasonal orders and shit.  Perhaps I can interest you in a nice flood-trap entryway instead?  Or better yet, you should have some ideas about building minecart based deathtraps by now...
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Goblins

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2015, 03:50:53 pm »

Well, after following all your advice, I have actually made a quantum minecart stockpile.  Holy heck, it has changed how I play drastically.  I shall never embark without a minecart again!
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Edit: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A goblin just got gelded by a copper mace in a weapon trap! This game is the greatest.
Urist McLeader stopped eating Kitten Tripe : Creating God

Detros

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2015, 04:05:49 pm »

Well, after following all your advice, I have actually made a quantum minecart stockpile.  Holy heck, it has changed how I play drastically.  I shall never embark without a minecart again!
Minecart can be made in (b-w-c) cartpenter's workshop from wood (or in metalsmith's forge from metals). No need to haul it all the way from mountainhome (unless you somehow manage to embark by riding IN it :D)
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puke

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2015, 05:14:40 am »

(unless you somehow manage to embark by riding IN it :D)

That would be awesome. 
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Detros

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2015, 10:47:47 am »

(unless you somehow manage to embark by riding IN it :D)

That would be awesome.
Imagine something like:
You start your game riding through a long hallway with seemingly neverending line of tracks. You and 6 more companions have boarder minecarts in depths of mountainhomes few mins ago. You have 10 minecarts together in your "train", some filled with people, some with food, booze, tools, pets and other resources. Then, in the far distance, brightness appears. Before you manage to stop your vehicles, your 10 minecarts are catapulted out of the cave with ending track, your minecart train is now riding down forgotten slope of some mountain. The plains under you are getting near ... Somehow you manage to land without anything broken. Well, you are now quite far from mountainhomes. Better to start soon. Strike the earth!
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Nyxalinth

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Re: Few Questions!
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2015, 11:16:10 am »

(unless you somehow manage to embark by riding IN it :D)

That would be awesome.
Imagine something like:
You start your game riding through a long hallway with seemingly neverending line of tracks. You and 6 more companions have boarder minecarts in depths of mountainhomes few mins ago. You have 10 minecarts together in your "train", some filled with people, some with food, booze, tools, pets and other resources. Then, in the far distance, brightness appears. Before you manage to stop your vehicles, your 10 minecarts are catapulted out of the cave with ending track, your minecart train is now riding down forgotten slope of some mountain. The plains under you are getting near ... Somehow you manage to land without anything broken. Well, you are now quite far from mountainhomes. Better to start soon. Strike the earth!

Tha's the dwarfiest thing I've read all day.  Mind, the day is still young :D

Regarding the statement "the answers are in the wiki" that's fine, and correct, but if some learning styles don't grasp it as easily as others.  hence, people will still want to talk to someone directly.  When I first started playing, I could get help from the wiki, but it took video tutorials to learn it.  I'm a very visual learner  with some things--and with DF, I need videos for some things which for many other people just need the diagrams.  It probably has to do with my poor spatial ability.

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Nyxalinth likes the color blue, gaming, writing, art, cats for their aloofness,  Transformers for their sentience and ability to transform, and the Constructicons for their hard work and building skills. Whenever possible, she prefers to consume bacon cheeseburgers and pinot noir. She absolutely detests stupid people.