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[intently]

Ok, so what's the trick for getting your dwarves to pick up all the rocks lying around everywhere?  And where do you put them?  If I make huge mile piles they either take up valuable real estate or they're so far away that my peasants take too long to do anything else.  Bins are good, I guess, but wood is scarce even on a forested map, and I need beds!

[nerdpride]

That stone can be really troublesome.  I'm not sure that bins will help--I've never used them.

Usually I don't mine as much as others seem to.  Most of the time I mine ahead to a place where I plan to expand to later, then pile up any leftover stone in that place, build a mason's workshop for things I need or want and a couple of catapults to train my operators.  I'm usually not worried about consuming all the stone on worthless things-- green glass can do almost anything stone can while costing only time.  

It's those special stones, the light and dark varieties that are really annoying.  They're only useful for craftsdwarves, which I don't like all that much.  I usually don't try to save them and use the ones I get by chance to build workshops and such.

Its personal preference based on the type of player you are, I think.  You can't be taught what to do with all that rock.

[Sappho]

I'm pretty sure bins will not hold stones.  They're not small pieces of rock, more like huge boulders.  Many people prefer to just leave the stone where it is.  It doesn't slow down dwarves who walk over it, doesn't block anything (it will be moved by the dwarves out of the way of building sites) and doesn't do any harm in general.  If you want it out of the way for aesthetic reasons (I'm with you on that one) there aren't many options.  Try to use it up with masons and craftsdwarves, or move it to a giant stockpile.  Or build a catapult and use it for ammo.

[Mzbundifund]

I'm a fan of the catapult or stone carving methods myself.  Carved stone can be put in bins or stuffed in the trade depot.  And you can build the craftsdwarf's workshop wherever you want the stone cleared.  

The catapult has the same advantages, but it trains a war skill instead of making trade goods.  The catapult is nice because you don't need to spend time moving all the crafts, but it is a bit slow until you get a strong or skilled siege operator.  Catapults can't hurt your dwarves, and they can be disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere if you want them moved.

[intently]

I believe craftdwarf's workshops only draw stone from piles... is that right?  I don't think dwarves use loose-lying stone for anything except to carry it to a pile.

[Xgamer4]

They do. Else my dwarves would never get anything done because I hate building stone stockpiles.

[RPB]

Loose-lying stones will tend to become tasked for removal to stone stockpiles, if there's stockpile room available, which can lead to workshop tasks skipping over the stones tasked for hauling. However, if you have no stockpiles then there are no hauling tasks for stones and dwarves will use any stones lying around.

[Veroule]

My tactic is to make traps.  I start with only one dwarf as a mechanic.  I will have him make 10 workshops with basic stone outside.  Then each of those will be set to make 10 mechanisms.  That is 100 stone eaten.

In the mean time my carpenter is working on maing cages, and my miners get the initial layout done.  My mechanic will then start making cage traps.  Usually about 20 to 30 at the entrance to my fortress, the rest become stone fall traps.

Loading a trap adds to experience in mechanics, so those cage traps helps to make the time to load the stone falls relatively small.  Using stone fall traps eats up all sorts of extra stone, so it is a winning situation.

Later on I will use catapults to eat the stone.  Before I reach that point though I have pretty much trapped everywhere I could possibly want trapped and have trained multiple mechanics.

[Tarrasque]

If you want stone out of the way you can always build a channel in the area you want cleared. You just have to be careful to cancell it after all the stone is moved or you have a nice eyesore that is worse then rocks since it is now useless. As a note, if you have a large area to clear, just let the dwarf clear out all the stones of one area and then suspend the construction of that channel. Then put another channel next to it and let the dwarf clear stones. Rinse and repeat until area you want is cleared.

[Gask]

You can turn it into stone blocks which will fit in bins.  Or you can line the banks of the underground river with stone stockpiles, much of the rock will be swept to oblivion in the yearly flood.

[Savok]

quote:Originally posted by Tarrasque:
<STRONG>If you want stone out of the way you can always build a channel in the area you want cleared. You just have to be careful to cancell it after all the stone is moved or you have a nice eyesore that is worse then rocks since it is now useless. As a note, if you have a large area to clear, just let the dwarf clear out all the stones of one area and then suspend the construction of that channel. Then put another channel next to it and let the dwarf clear stones. Rinse and repeat until area you want is cleared.</STRONG>

Muddy the area first and you can do that with farms.

[utunnels]

In fact stones can be stacked up(like all other items), but not in stockpiles, too bad.  
You can make them into stone crafts, which can be stored in bins. Or you can build some catapults to throw them away(pretty slow).

[Shadowlord]

I have sizable stone stockpiles behind every catapault, along with stone stockpiles behind the craftsdwarfs' and masons' workshops, along with some additional stone stockpiles elsewhere. I also have 8 training catapaults (which are sometimes all operating at once), and 12 war catapaults (which are almost never used - ballistae are vastly superior in every way except for friendly fire). I don't mind them hauling the stone around that much, but that's because I have my jobs and workshop assignments set up such that it doesn't interfere with food hauling, animal hauling, refuse hauling, or crafting.

[Deathworks]

Hi!

As far as light and dark stone is concerned, stockpiling them in special stockpiles (changing the settings) seems a good solution. You usually don't have that many of them and they can be used to have some nice stylish doors and statues (like obsidian doors on the entrance to your burial site).

As for rock, the easiest solution is probably using a mason to make blocks of them. They will be stored in bins, reducing the space requirement. At the same time, you can still use them to build workshops and they are allegedly better for building roads and supports (I haven't verified that).

Putting a few stonefall traps inside your fortress for the occasional lost animal or invader from within the mountain can also help reduce their number.

Otherwise, make lots of rock grafts and mugs, which are also perfect trading goods for the elven caravan (they simply love the stuff).

Deathworks

[Shades]

quote:Originally posted by Deathworks:
<STRONG>you can still use them to build workshops and they are allegedly better for building roads and supports (I haven't verified that).</STRONG>

At the very least the decrease weight of blocks will mean the roads and supports are setup faster. (unless haul distance is further of course)

With regards to roads you get nice smooth roads rather than the rough rock roads which I assume is worth more.