Print

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

[Deboche]

The new thing with goblets for taverns made me think that they have to be washed or at least rinsed. DF doesn't have plates, bowls or cutlery yet but when it does, it'll make sense to have to wash them.

Same goes for clothes. A search through the forum turned up an old thread that nobody replied to about washing clothes:

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3152

I don't know exactly how things went in medieval times. It seems that noblemen often found bonny lasses washing clothes by the river who "fell in love" right then and there, meaning "You just don't say no to a nobleman. Because you can't.".

In any case, at least nobles should get their clothes washed.

[Shazbot]

Clothes-washing would involve either soap or ammonia, distilled out of sheep urine. I could see clothes washing being separated from bathing, but we must recognize it will be another job for dwarves to perform. Furthermore, will contaminants on weapons and miscellaneous objects also be washed off? Could all this be tied together into "object washing", with perhaps a "washing zone"? Sink buildings? Bath-tubs?

[Trappington]

I like the idea of a fortress laundromat.  Also makes soap production or purchase a bit more critical.

[Shazbot]

I'm not so sure. Do we want a laundry skill? A laundry job?

[Meph]

I'm not so sure. Do we want a laundry skill? A laundry job?

Cleaning. We already have it.

[Deboche]

This could happen in a bunch of ways - either each dwarf washes their own; or a family member in each family(finally a use for children); or all clothes are washed by the fort's washers; or when the economy is introduced someone gets paid to do it. Whichever way makes more sense, I guess.

I also remembered something else. This process should create dirty water which needs to be drained and we'll finally have sewers without any need for poop.

For both clothes and dish washing, I'd love to build gigantic washing machines but we'll have to see how creative we can get with moving fortress parts.

[Shazbot]

A need for sewers without a need for sewage? Have it or don't, my friend.

I suppose you could roll it into the Cleaning skill, although it seems rather broad to cover everything from mopping to dumping to laundry under the same labor.

[Bumber]

Do clothes even last long enough that we'd want/need dwarves cleaning them? If dwarves get contaminants, they wash off at a well. Unless we get a mending job, clothes start showing wear after around a year, and are then shortly replaced if new ones are available.

[Deboche]

I suppose it doesn't fit with the warped dwarven time we have now.

[Waparius]

It allows for the possibility of washerwomen, which in turn makes it possible down the line for prisoners to try to escape by dressing up as washerwomen. Even if I didn't think dwarves (and others, but I only play Fortress mode) should spend a lot more time on cleaning and other maintenance tasks (weeding, checking for structural problems, repairing clothes and other things...) this would be enough to make me want it.

[Insanegame27]

I think if washing clothes resets the degrade timer it would be good.


If you have a item of clothing that is about to go from an XTroll Fur SockX to a XXTroll Fur SockXX, washing it would reset the timer on degrading.

[Bumber]

I think if washing clothes resets the degrade timer it would be good.


If you have a item of clothing that is about to go from an XTroll Fur SockX to a XXTroll Fur SockXX, washing it would reset the timer on degrading.

Doesn't make sense. If anything, the act of washing would cause wear.

[Insanegame27]

If clothes are not washed IRL they degrade very quickly.

[Bumber]

If clothes are not washed IRL they degrade very quickly.

Do they? I don't see how taking a bar of soap and scrubbing the fabric, nor the expanding and contracting of the fibers from saturation, could be any good for durability.

The only explanations I can think of are the use of modern detergents and the act of simply not wearing the same shirt everyday. Even still, that lint in the dryer is coming from somewhere.

[Deboche]

That's interesting. I guess we need a clothes expert to clarify that point. Maybe washing could slow down the degradation.

I've heard of people who put their jeans in the freezer rather than wash them because washing wears on the denim and freezing kills the bacteria.

Maybe washing will make more sense if or when smell is implemented. Or dwarves judging each other based on their looks and acting accordingly.