Print

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

[ronin]

Ok, so a friend hooked me up with DF about a month ago and I've been having all kinds of dwarfy fun, but I'm getting to the point where I have some questions I haven't figured out.

Making waterfalls -

I'm really good at pumping water up where I need it, but when I let it fall back down I find I usually get a lot of muddy floors, dead grass, and flooded stockpiles.  Nothing catastrophic, usually 1/7 - 3/7 depth, but not exactly something I want to keep running indefinitely.  If I get things to the point I have no overflow, I also don't have any mist.   So any advice here would be great.  Having a mist generator in my common area would be great, but I can't figure out how it works, so a

Magma -

So will one square of magma power a magma forge/smelter indefinitely?  I've got a fortress (one of 3) that has a very nice magma pool which I've used for 2 forges and 4 smelters, but I'd like to use some of the magma for other stuff.  I think I can cut off a good chunk of it with some creative use of walls, pumps and water, but I don't want to nuke my workshops by doing it because the pool isn't that big and I've got a ton of iron to smelt.  I'm all a-quiver at the thought of near limitless steel after being frustrated by my first fortress' inability to do anything with the 1500 units of iron ore I had mined out. (Ran out of coal, and no magma)  Do the Fire imps ever respawn?  I lost one of my original 7 to a fire imp early on so I have, ahem, notable imp defenses in the work areas, but the imps are all gone now so if they aren't coming back I'll dismantle the defenses and reuse the mechanisms.

Economy -

Does the economy do anything useful for me whatsoever?  I got surprised by it on my first game and I'm considering turning it off on this fortress before it starts.

Jewel encrusting/decorating -

Is there an easy way to control what these idiots decorate?  I would like to encrust my nice steel plate mail with gems and platinum but I see no way to control it.

Artifacts -

Is there any way I can sell these?

I have more questions, but I don't want to text bomb the forums on my first post.

Thanks!


 

Economy -

[tp12]

yes, magma powers forges indefinitely.

no, the economy does not do anything useful for you.

no, there is no way to sell artifacts, they do however make everybody very happy.

[Albedo]

Waterfalls need a drain. 

Assuming it's a one-tile fall (if more, improvise along same lines), the landing area should look something like this:

Code: [Select]

###
#x#
###
x = stone to cause mist
# = grate

Below each grate is channeled.  From one (or more?) of those channels will be your drainage canal, either tunneled out at z-1, or dropped further down via more channeling at z-2 or more.  (Be careful not to collapse anything).

Then use walls, statues, aquariums, or traffic designations to encourage/funnel your dorfs to walk thru the mist, and it's happy thought land.

[Ametsala]

Jewel encrusting/decorating -

Is there an easy way to control what these idiots decorate?  I would like to encrust my nice steel plate mail with gems and platinum but I see no way to control it.

If you want to be absolutely sure to get what you want, you'll have to lock the jeweler in his workshop with the materials you want to use.

Example setup:

Code: [Select]

WWWWWWW
Wf1JJJW
Wd2JJJW
Wd3JJJW
WWWDWWW

W = Wall
D = Door
J = Jewelers shop
1, 2 & 3 = Stockpiles for the materials you want (ie. 1 for the gems, 2 for the steel plate mail, 3 for the platinum)
f = food stockpile (not necessary if you don't want to lock him up for months)
d = drink stockpile (also not necessary)


[Blakmane]

engravers/decorators tend to grab the closest item first, so putting your armour stockpile right next to the workshop will increase the likelihood those items will be taken.

Also, locking up the dwarf works, as discussed above

[AncientEnemy]

my tiny mist generator. uses one block of 7/7 water and will never overflow (or hasn't in several years of testing, I don't think water can move sideways if it has room to fall down)

Code: (top level) [Select]

WWW+++  Walls, +Floors
W.Pp.+  .open space, Pump <-
WWW+++
(the pump on the top level needs to be built 'hanging', i.e. build a floor where the 'p' tile will be, but make sure 'P' is built over open space, so it can transfer power to the pump on the level below:

Code: (middle (mist) level) [Select]

+++WWW
+cpP+W channel (pond zone to add the water), Pump ->
+++WWW


Code: (underneath) [Select]

WWWWW
W7WWWW 7/7 water
WWWWWW

build it, fill the bottom spot with 7/7 water by using a pond zone (then turn off the pond zone), turn it on.

[Albedo]

(One thing that's really nice about that setup is that it doesn't require a huge water course, which can kill fps.  Nice work!)

[morikal]

AncientEnemy: How do you power the whole thing?

OP: As for the magma creatures, I like to carve fortifications in the channel where I will be draining magma. Nothing gets through.

[AncientEnemy]

AncientEnemy: How do you power the whole thing?

connect the top pump to whatever power source?

if the 'top' level is just below ground, a single windmill on the surface will run it (assuming your map has any wind at all).

[Shoku]

We should check how well water can move sideways during longer falls.

About Fortifications: There's a bug right now where fluid flow can sweep creatures through fortifications. This isn't so much an issue with lava critters but is kind of nasty when you thought you were safe from river monsters (or convenient if you wanted to separate them before dealing with them and are willing to wait for them to wander close enough to the fortifications-

*I tried two rows of fortifications in my last river tap because I'd heard that kept them in the river but I heard wrong.

[Albedo]

Ouch.

<erases all notations involving water and fortifications, replaces with grates and bars>

[Smew]

Ouch.

<erases all notations involving water and fortifications, replaces with grates and bars>

Grates and bars will most likely do the same thing, silly.

[AncientEnemy]

it doesn't happen often, only (i think) when the water first flows from (source) through the fortifcations. I usually put a fortification wherever my channel/tunnel meets the river, and another where it meets my fort, so anything that does get swept in usually just gets stuck in the channel

[cancel.man]

AncientEnemy: How do you power the whole thing?

connect the top pump to whatever power source?

if the 'top' level is just below ground, a single windmill on the surface will run it (assuming your map has any wind at all).

Will running power to just the top pump result in both pumps running? I thought every pump needed to be connected directly to a gear assembly...

[Smew]

AncientEnemy: How do you power the whole thing?

connect the top pump to whatever power source?

if the 'top' level is just below ground, a single windmill on the surface will run it (assuming your map has any wind at all).

Will running power to just the top pump result in both pumps running? I thought every pump needed to be connected directly to a gear assembly...

Machines themselves can transfer power as well.
As an easier way of understanding power transfer: think of gear assemblies as telephone poles(that also send power up and down), and think of axles as long stretches of electric wires.