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[Linkxsc]

So far this has very enlightening.  I'm surprised so many haven't gotten minecarts working, though I suppose they are pretty complicated, a single mistake with engraving the tracks or setting up the hauling screen can cause the whole system to not work with no obvious indication why.

But It's very handy for getting large amounts of heavy ore down to magma level forges.

It should be noted that cart systems where you just push the cart down the track are awesome but impractical.  It's so much easier to build a minecart system where you have a dwarf guide the cart.  Fewer derailing, fewer cases of accidentally minecart shotgunning your dwarves with lead ore, and fewer bloodstains on the tracks.

Minecarts aren't really "hard" per se. but they take a lot of time to set up efficiently compared to other systems. I mean, just take a basic, "drag all the metal down to the magma forges, bring weapons back up" setup. Thats what, maybe an hour of actually mining and carving the tracks. making sure that they're all hooked up properly, then setting up the stockpiles... and in the end, you stil have to go and build a second half of your fort down 90z levels from your main fort...

Or, you can do a pumpstack instead, mine all those 90 z levels in 1 command. another for the door and maintenance stairwell. Then a couple mins to order all the pumps in and hook them to a reactor, and bam. maybe a half hour of actual player setting stuff up. AND you don't have to go build a big deep fort area.

[NJW2000]

It seems tat what a noob should take from this is that minecarts are toys/weapons, not useful objects?

[Linkxsc]

It seems tat what a noob should take from this is that minecarts are toys/weapons, not useful objects?

Nah man. once you get teh hang of it and set up a system right, you'll see production rates and stuff skyrocket (mixed with proper stockpiling, feeders and all that). But when trying to learn them, theres so much that can go wrong with a track stop being placed wrong or stupid random stuff, that a lot of people shy away from them.

They do afterall have the most complicated wiki page of anything in all of DF

[Evaris]

Because I have problems with pumps and rail systems. 


Otherwise, because I don't play DF enough and take months of breaks between sessions due to getting bored of things.  Which also leads to my mod not getting updated. 

[Bearskie]

Comon guys, minecarts are insane fun.  Even when they dont work correctly, you still get gleefully maimed dwarves and pets running around, which every fortress needs.  Try it out!

For me, definitely aquifiers.  I see it as an unnecessary element which complicates my fortress’s planning process, so I've never actually embarked on one.  HFS too, though I am looking forward to going down in a blaze of dwarven glory, rather than using the (imo) rather cheap methods of repeating spikes and caveins.

[FrankMcFuzz]

I've been playing since 2009 and...

Minecarts scare me
Aquifers make no sense
My pump stack never works automatically so I always hand power it
My crossbowdwarf squad never successfully works or trains

Who even uses bees!? Last time I worked I would just end up with cranky beekeepers that kept getting stung and stood outside the fort with broken jobs.

[MobRules]

I've messed around with minecarts, but haven't accomplished anything useful with them.

This past week I used pumps, gears, and axls for the first time, to create three working mist-generators. Yay!

I've never done a danger-room though. Or any elaborate traps (I've done weapons and cage traps, but no drowning chambers or magma flows). Unless "putting a bunch of floor tiles on top of a support, so that a building destroyer will knock over the support and get crushed" counts.

Never done dwarfputting, or built a seige-engine. I have yet to provoke the elves or humans into starting a war with me; I've only been at war with them when they were already at war with my civilization. (Though my current fort is getting old and falling prey to FPS death, and it's been a couple of in-game years since I've had a goblin siege, so it may be about time for some mass deforestation and wooden trade-crafts). I've only used the animal-training feature minimally, though I do want to try building myself a pack of war-beasts.

Haven't used QSP yet. Or done a minecart swimming-training thing. Never pierced an aquifer, or made a magma piston. Have not yet mined cotten candy to release the clown car.(Edited: I have now!)

Man, this makes me sound like a booring player!

Edited to add: almost forgot, never done adventure mode!

[Ghills]

I have no interest whatsoever in the DF military.  The interface for every single soldier-and-combat-related item is an incomprehensible abomination, and I've never cared enough to bash my head against that particular wall.

[cdru]

I'm not a DF master because i never killed hidden fun stuff in adventurer mode.

[Rose]

I generally tend to just play enough to get a decent test fort up for my visualizer work.

[Chief10]

I have no interest whatsoever in the DF military.  The interface for every single soldier-and-combat-related item is an incomprehensible abomination, and I've never cared enough to bash my head against that particular wall.

What is the point of the game then?

[Bearskie]

What is the point of the game then?

DF is easily enough of a complex clusterfuck to accomodate many different playing styles, not all of which involve the military.

[StagnantSoul]

I have never used magma as a weapon. I have never used cave ins or ice as a weapon. I haven't ever built a mist generator, infinite power supply, a working millstone, or a minecart system. And I most definitely haven't gotten deep into the glass industry...

I have, however, beaten hell on several occasions, turned evil mist biomes into dwarven utopias, made massive castles out of fire clay, made a fort that went from no walls or roofs to completely box sealed with a single lever pull, had successful 40 year forts with thriving roc hatcheries, turned my entire population into vampires, killed enemy civ leaders, turned the king into a legendary warrior, had full artifact suits of armour down to the leather layers, used an army of catapults to beat a siege with tons of bauxite, seen dwarves die of old age, made hell into a dwarven vacation spot basically, mobilized my entire fort into the military without a problem, gotten to the point where I no longer needed miners, and made the demons fight the angels from a vault.

But am I a master? Hell no! Far from it. I'd be credulous if anyone was more than a great Dwarf Fortress player. I'm at most professional.

[Chief10]

What is the point of the game then?

DF is easily enough of a complex clusterfuck to accomodate many different playing styles, not all of which involve the military.

Yeah I guess you're right, do you only use traps for defense?

[Greiger]

Could also just have invasions turned off.  While I myself enjoy the military aspect, I have turned them off from time to time when I'm trying to do a themed fortress that isn't conducive to my usual have a small army by the end of year 1 strategy.

Then all you have to worry about is wildlife, which is usually next to harmless as long as yer not digging into deep caverns or anything.