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Author Topic: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff  (Read 687 times)

Grif

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Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« on: June 06, 2009, 01:10:36 pm »

Although I've been reading and watching tutorials I still have a couple of questions so pardon the noobishness, here goes:

When a dwarf creates an artifact that artifact is hauled to a proper stockpile (at least I assume so); besides watching intently, is there any way to directly track all artifacts present in our fortress?

How do I track the types of food I have stocked? With the "Z" command I can see the amount of food and booze I have in my stocks but is there any way to track individual food types? And, related to that, when I order my dwarfs to cook some Lavish Meals, where are these meals stocked and how do I track it?

I remember watching a tutorial that explained a easy way to free seed space so that seeds don't take so much space in the stockpile by assigning them to a pile (?) or something... any help?

This is a more general question: should I keep my military dwarfs sleeping on the barracks or assign them to rooms? It's best to keep them in the barracks because the barracks are close to the fortress entrance but in the long run isn't it better to have them in rooms so their moods are good?

Cheers and thanks for the help. :)
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Heliman

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2009, 01:13:08 pm »

best foreseeable way is to press "l" while playing, it gives you a list & description of all of them.
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Stargrasper

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2009, 01:28:22 pm »

Heliman answered the artifacts question.

As for food, use z to enter the status screen and select the option 'Stocks'.  If you've got a good bookkeeper, it'll give you detailed records of EXACTLY what's in your fortress, with the exception of artifacts, I believe; oh dear I had no idea I had 224 plump helmet spawn...time to start cooking seeds.

I don't know what tutorial you're referencing, so I really can't say much on the space thing; maybe they wanted you to create a separate stockpile exclusively for seeds?(either create a custom stockpile or use q - s to set the settings of an existing stockpile)
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puke

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2009, 01:29:28 pm »

- artifact creators usually haul them around for a while before putting them in a stockpile.  like, a few years.  just track down the creator and check his inventory.

- theres a stocks screen which is a subscreen of Z.  as long as you have a broker and your counts are up to date, you can get an inventory of every item in your fort.

- yeah, create a custom stockpile and only allow seeds in it.  then remove seeds from being allowed in your other food stockpiles.

- i usually keep all my military off-duty so they train in all their free time, then only activate them when needed.

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Derakon

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2009, 02:20:56 pm »

Artifact creators haven't trucked their artifacts around for over a year now. They immediately put them down in the workshop at which point the artifact will probably get moved to a stockpile if you have one that's appropriate.

Note, however, that if a soldier picks up an artifact weapon, they'll never put it back down again. Only champions can use artifacts, though.
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Stargrasper

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2009, 03:16:57 pm »

- theres a stocks screen which is a subscreen of Z.  as long as you have a broker and your counts are up to date, you can get an inventory of every item in your fort.

Small correction, it isn't the broker, but rather the bookkeeper noble that tracks stocks.  Note, however, that they're probably the same person.  The Expedition Leader, Manager, Bookkeeper, and Broker start out as the same person.
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Albedo

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #6 on: June 06, 2009, 03:20:21 pm »

By default, yes.

Once your fortress is up and running (after 1st autumn caravan?), it's not uncommon to cycle dwarves through the bookkeeper chair, gaining Legendary status and attributes about one every season or so.
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Jim Groovester

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #7 on: June 06, 2009, 03:28:43 pm »

You can find artifacts using the stock menu as well. Just use the 'l' artifact list as a reference and look for the artifact in the stock menu. You can zoom to them as well, so that answers your question of tracking artifacts.
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Stargrasper

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #8 on: June 06, 2009, 03:29:15 pm »

By default, yes.

Once your fortress is up and running (after 1st autumn caravan?), it's not uncommon to cycle dwarves through the bookkeeper chair, gaining Legendary status and attributes about one every season or so.

And for those that don't know, you hit n for nobles, scroll to your bookkeeper and hit s for settings.  Set it to highest precision.  This makes the bookkeeper work pretty much constantly.  Working so much that they achieve legendary skill in roughly a season.  People then just cycle different dwarves through this.
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Jhoosier

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #9 on: June 06, 2009, 07:43:15 pm »

One thing you may or may not already know is that you can view the individual items from the Z-stocks screen.  Hit TAB and instead of seeing you have cat leather [6], dog leather [15] and giant eagle leather, it will show you all of them, the quality of each (for weapons, beds, etc) and whether that item is forbidden, set to be dumped or melted.

I use this to forbid masterwork beds when placing them in large bedrooms, or if I want to guide fey dwarves so they produce something really valuable (if they're running back with bronze bars, go to stocks and forbid all bars but platinum.  It's an easy way to game the system and boost your fortress' worth).

You can expand most menus (for example, when placing furniture so your noble gets the masterwork and your peasant doesn't).

Also, for artifacts, I usually set up a small stockpile in the deepest part of my fortress and set it to accept furniture, furnished goods and armor, setting quality to artifact.  Dwarves will automatically move the artifacts down there, rather than leaving that platinum earring worth more than your whole fortress put together lying on the floor in the clutter.  It also helps prevent monkeys and thieves from getting them.

For seeds, if you have a small stockpile, like 4 squares or smaller, remember to check and see that max bin is set.  I think it's 'q'->stockpile->'V'  This will make sure you get 4 bins (or maybe it's barrels) to hold seeds, rather than a stockpile with 4 seeds.  You could also make a quantum stockpile if you wanted to have them all in one space.
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Skorpion

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Re: Finding Artifacts and... Stuff
« Reply #10 on: June 06, 2009, 07:55:44 pm »

1. Micromanagement. Create a stockpile for artifacts only, forbid them from elsewhere.

2. Hit tab in the stocks menu, it brings up a list of what the items actually ARE.

3. Seeds come under the food stockpiles. If you want them to take up less space, make bags and barrels. The seeds will be loaded into bags, and the bags into barrels.

4. There is a third option! Give them rooms close to the fortress entrance, with nearby food and drink stockpiles.
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