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[rachiebird]

Hi! I'm... reasonably new to Dwarf Fortress, I guess? It's hard to say, since even though I've been playing on and off for a little less than a month, I haven't really gone out of my way to challenge myself. More like I've just turned off sieges/ambushes, and settled into the unambitious complacency of building aesthetically appealing rooms.

Lately, I've been pushing my boundaries a little, trying to wrap my head around mechanics, complicated industries, even the source code/modding (although that last one hasn't gone anywhere). My new reservoir might be so long and thin that it takes over a season to fill, but that's fine. Compared to the first couple days where I was struggling to understand stairs, I'd say I've come a long way!

I've been trying to research my problems online and fix them with walkthroughs and help from the wiki, but I've still run into a couple of issues I can't find info for.

• Firstly and most importantly, one of my dwarves has gone into a mood and is demanding metal bars. I do not have metal bars. I do not have metal ore, I do not have an anvil. What I do have is a lot of sentimentality and the willingness to do anything it takes to save them. I have the things in the Lazy Newb Pack, but I'd also be okay if I had to download a different program. What I need is either a way to cancel the mood without harming the dwarf, or a way to make metal bars/the stuff I need to make them appear in or around my fortress.
• Lower priority, there are pebble tiles scattered around in the dirt outside my fortress. They interfere with my garden plot arrangements, so if I can, I'd like to make them plantable. I tried designating them as ponds, but nobody fell for it. I might be doing the designations wrong though. I don't have much experience with "creating" places for plots.
• And least importantly, the idle thoughts that keep me awake at night:
  - If you dig out all the roots under a tree, does it fall over? My friend told me it won't, and I trust him, but I also want a second opinion.
  - The wiki says cats hunt vermin, but does that include stuff like snails and worms that most RL cats wouldn't touch?
  - If somebody in your fortress dies and you have an elf citizen, can the elf eat the body?

I think that's it. Preemptively, thank you for your help.

[bmxbumpkin]

I for one, have definetely seen cats eat snails, worms, spiders, and all sorts of weird *?!$ in my time.

[Zuglarkun]

If you have made contact with the other races, you can attempt to wait for the human or dwarf caravan near the beginning of summer or autumn and try to trade for metal bars or ores. The alternative would be to dig for ores, shouldn't be too hard to find some unless your embark is one of those barren sites with no deep metals and stuff.

you can smooth the pebbles tiles as you would with walls, which removes them. You will need someone with engraving labor enabled.

The tree won't fall over. But I'll be careful of digging below at their roots especially if you decide to cut down the tree later.

[rachiebird]

I for one, have definetely seen cats eat snails, worms, spiders, and all sorts of weird *?!$ in my time.

In real life, or in the game? Definitely all my real life cats are ferocious bug hunters. They have no problems taking down spiders, flies, and moths, even if they are scared of ants. Not sure about the slugs and snails, haha.

If you have made contact with the other races, you can attempt to wait for the human or dwarf caravan near the beginning of summer or autumn and try to trade for metal bars or ores. The alternative would be to dig for ores, shouldn't be too hard to find some unless your embark is one of those barren sites with no deep metals and stuff.

you can smooth the pebbles tiles as you would with walls, which removes them. You will need someone with engraving labor enabled.

The tree won't fall over. But I'll be careful of digging below at their roots especially if you decide to cut down the tree later.

Unfortunately, the dwarven caravan left a couple months ago. (They also ditched the liaison at my fort for some reason, but that's okay, I guess.) I doubt even the most careful micromanaging could get my precious mood-er all the way till summer.

I think my map might have deep metal somewhere, but even if I was able to locate it in time, it wouldn't solve the anvil problem. Honestly, one of my migrants brought a steel crossbow, and I would have melted it down if I'd had the capabilities.

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that saving her will require either hacking or reverting to an earlier save. I've accomplished a lot, so reverting would make me kind of sad. But I'll do it if I have to.

Thanks for the pebbles though. I'll try smoothing them as soon as I get this strange mood dealt with. After the bedrooms project, almost every dwarf in my fortress has a rank or two in engraving, so that should be easy as pie.

[Gwolfski]

Don't need anvil to make metal bars, just smelter

[rachiebird]

Don't need anvil to make metal bars, just smelter

Darn it, you're right! I don't know how I manged to mess that up, considering this is not the first time I've smelted stuff. I'm feeling like a little bit of a ditz right now. Anyways, I melted down the two crossbows the migrants bought, and Ms. Moody Mason went right for it. Crisis averted! Thank you so much!!

[PatrikLundell]

You can't make soil out of your pebbles. The boulders that would block caravans can be smoothed to not block traffic, but you can't make it into soil. DFHack can modify tiles, but I've never done that, so I can't do more than point you in the general direction.

Digging out the roots under a tree will not cause it to collapse. However, digging out the roots directly under a tree's trunk will result in a hole in the roof when the tree is cut down.

The trade liaison now hangs around until spring or so after doing the job. That's the new normal.

DFHack can also generate stuff out of thin air, I think, but a better idea is to make sure to keep some metal bars around in case of moods (buy them from caravans, if you don't have any available ore). The same goes for all the other things moods can require: keep a little in reserve. When it comes to metal bars, moods can either be satisfied with any metal, but it's also possible for a mood to specifically require a specific metal that you've produced at least once in the fortress (in your case, a mood could require steel, since you've now produced steel bars).

[Zuglarkun]

You can't make soil out of your pebbles. The boulders that would block caravans can be smoothed to not block traffic, but you can't make it into soil. DFHack can modify tiles, but I've never done that, so I can't do more than point you in the general direction.

Oh, I forgot it left a floor tile of the same material after its been smoothed. In that case, smooth it, then create a pond zone on the level above it (use stairs or a ramp). Once the rock tile has been splashed with water, creating mud, you should be able to designate a farm over it.

[PatrikLundell]

You can't make soil out of your pebbles. The boulders that would block caravans can be smoothed to not block traffic, but you can't make it into soil. DFHack can modify tiles, but I've never done that, so I can't do more than point you in the general direction.

Oh, I forgot it left a floor tile of the same material after its been smoothed. In that case, smooth it, then create a pond zone on the level above it (use stairs or a ramp). Once the rock tile has been splashed with water, creating mud, you should be able to designate a farm over it.

And I forgot the OP wanted a garden. Yes, muddying the smoothed stone will allow you to make farm plots on top of it, but mud will not allow surface vegetation to grow outside of a farm plot (underground muddied tiles are fair game for underground vegetation).

[rachiebird]

Oh man, at least three different people answered my tree question. It makes me feel really popular. I'm so educated now. "Unlike real trees, Dwarf Fortress trees do not collapse if you destroy all their roots. But if you cut the tree down later, you can end up with holes in your ceiling and cave-ins!"

It doesn't seem like the pebbles can be smoothed, which is a little disappointing, but not terrible enough to drive me to hacking in modifications. Maybe I'll cover them up with nest boxes in a decorative pattern. However, there was also some regular stone, and that has been smoothed, creating lots of nice little cobblestones all over my yard. Yay? I might smooth the boulders too, if there are any nearby. Thanks for the info on ponds though. This would be my first time working with ponds, so it never occurred to me that they had to be designated from above. I'll start working on that soon too, even if it will be super troublesome with the pasture in the way.

The hacking would have been sort of a last resort for me, and I've learned my lesson. From now on, I'll save frequently, and as soon as the opportunity presents itself, I'll stock up on some more metal.

[Moddan]

I for one, have definetely seen cats eat snails, worms, spiders, and all sorts of weird *?!$ in my time.

Can confirm. There are animals that seem worthy enough to them to be brought back home and shown off to the tin opener, like birds, mice or the occational frog. And there is vermin that they just destroy en passant.

[PatrikLundell]

I wasn't sure about the pebbles, as they're apparently just some kind of surface stone that can't be smoothed. I can think of a few strategies to deal with them:
- Place a floor on their tile and then remove it. That MIGHT change what's underneath to be smoother stone, although I wouldn't bet on it.
- I'm not completely sure you can muddy pebbles to place a farm plot on top of them. If you can't, you can at least place a floor on top of the pebbles and muddy that (which DOES work).

And, just to deflate your ego a bit: the DF community is rather friendly and likes to try to snare innocent visitors and convert them into oddballs like themselves

Edit: Placing a floor on top of Conglomerate Pebbles and then removing it converts the ground into Conglomerate, which can be smoothed, if desired (that won't do much more than making it look nice, though).

[Loci]

If you have made contact with the other races, you can attempt to wait for the human or dwarf caravan near the beginning of summer or autumn and try to trade for metal bars or ores. The alternative would be to dig for ores, shouldn't be too hard to find some unless your embark is one of those barren sites with no deep metals and stuff.

Unfortunately, the dwarven caravan left a couple months ago. (They also ditched the liaison at my fort for some reason, but that's okay, I guess.) I doubt even the most careful micromanaging could get my precious mood-er all the way till summer.

The "insanity counter" is reset each time the moody dwarf grabs an item. As long as the dwarf collects something you have available in your fortress *first* you can keep him in a perpetual mood by regularly forbidding one material he has already collected, forcing him to go collect another one and reset his counter. Dehydration and starvation might be problematic, but your other dwarves may provide water (and possibly food) to him "on the job" if they're feeling helpful.

[rachiebird]

Can confirm. There are animals that seem worthy enough to them to be brought back home and shown off to the tin opener, like birds, mice or the occational frog. And there is vermin that they just destroy en passant.

Dead leaves too. We used to wonder how so many of them were ending up on our sheltered patio, but then we noticed they all had little tiny teeth marks in them! One of our other, indoor only kitties, is a very dedicated hunter of stuffed animals and socks. After "catching" them, he carries them around for a while, and then dumps them in the hallway. If he gets a particularly big one, he'll hold it in his mouth and start yowling, because he wants somebody to come admire his catch.

And, just to deflate your ego a bit: the DF community is rather friendly and likes to try to snare innocent visitors and convert them into oddballs like themselves

No worries. This might be my first post, but I've been lurking for quite a while. I wouldn't have signed up if I wasn't prepared for such things.

The "insanity counter" is reset each time the moody dwarf grabs an item. As long as the dwarf collects something you have available in your fortress *first* you can keep him in a perpetual mood by regularly forbidding one material he has already collected, forcing him to go collect another one and reset his counter. Dehydration and starvation might be problematic, but your other dwarves may provide water (and possibly food) to him "on the job" if they're feeling helpful.

That's actually really interesting. I think I already mentioned that that I was able to solve the situation with a couple of donated crossbows and a heroic volunteer smelter, but I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Is the "dwarves bringing water to a moody dwarf" something that's been observed, or just a speculation? If they do, that's unexpectedly heartwarming.


New question: I've noticed that in this latest version of the game (this is my second "serious" game, the first was in 40.24), my livestock now seem to generate vermin?! Initially I thought there were just more vermin than usual on the site, but after realizing that the worms and thrips inside always appeared around my mason's pet chicken, I noticed that the outdoor vermin also appear around my poultry.

Are my observations correct? I just spent about ten minutes doing google searches, but I can't find anything relevant. The wiki's vermin articles are quite bare bones.

As a chicken lover, unless the intended implication "the birds notice bugs that the dwarves can't see, and then eat them", I feel vaguely offended. Either way, it's something I'm a little concerned about, since until now, I was planning on letting the birds free-range in the dining hall. I'd feel bad if someone saw a bug and got put off their lunch.

[PatrikLundell]

For some reason domesticated birds generate vermin around them, rather than eating said vermin (or possibly it's DF's way of indicating them eating vermin). It doesn't seem to have any effect on anything, though, although I guess a dorf who absolutely detests slugs would get bad thoughts around birds.

I keep all my tame non grazers in a single underground pen (you'd never think of it, but tigers, boas and chicken work perfectly well together), with the exception of vermin hunters, which are pastured to patrol food stockpiles. Guard dogs, are of course set up at guard checkpoints, rather than pastured with the rest. And, as an additional exception, cats that adopt owners are immediately rewarded with gelding (if male) or pasturing inside a small room together with other offenders (if female).