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[buzz killington]

Yes, the return of unrelated questions!

1.  The queen consort demanded a "box" in her room, then after a year of not being happy with anything I put in her room, forgot that demand and just wants an "item" in her room.  But she still isn't happy with whatever I put there.  What the hell does she want?

2.  Is there a certain number of shops that a fortress should have?

3.  Most of my dwarves run around naked as the seem to have accounts of 0.  Does this tend to happen in after quite a few years because I have a lot of legendary dwarves screwing up the economy parameters?

4.  Is there any way to keep children from going into fey moods other than butchering them?  I have enough freaking legendary craftsdwarves from children going fey to last a lifetime.

5.  I have the long-standing problem that items on the ground I command dwarves to dump won't get moved.  I've tried all sorts of dump zones and flagging/unflagging/reflagging items as dump.  Is there any way to make them actually clean up?

6.  I can never seem to get a windmill to actually operate a screw pump.  I have windmills that read 20 power on floors constructed above screw pumps.  I've tried centering the windmils on both parts of the screw pumps but they still never power.

[Sevrun]

3.  It sounds like most of your dwarves aren't working, and with no money can't purchase clothing.  maybe your rooms are too expensive and they're spending it all on rent, or your food is too expensive..  or both.  One work around for the rent issue is to set up dorms two beds to a 3x3 room, cuts the quality of the room significantly so rent is lower.

4. No

5. you need a Gear Assembly between the screw pump and the windmill and it'll work just fine.  and you'll also need a hole in the ground under the center of the windmill so the gear assembly will connect to it, and a hole beneath the Gear assembly to connect to the Pump.

1 and 2 I have no idea about... Sorry.

[geoduck]

1. Try looking at her preferences, and, if possible, making a chest (ie "box") out of whatever material she likes.

2. I don't think there's a hard and fast rule. There are four different types of shops, if you want one of each.

[zooeyglass]

1.  The queen consort demanded a "box" in her room, then after a year of not being happy with anything I put in her room, forgot that demand and just wants an "item" in her room.  But she still isn't happy with whatever I put there.  What the hell does she want?

check your justice screen under <z> just to ensure that someone hasn't been ordered punishment for failing to fulfill her first demand. as for what a 'box' itself is, well, the wiki suggests:

Types of containers the game knows are chests, coffers, boxes, cabinets, bags, barrels and bins. Only chests, coffers, bags and boxes are explicitely called container in game as they can be placed as furniture by building.

but i imagine you tried those things right?

also, check her preferences to see what materials she like - it might be an item out of a favoured material that she desires.

2.  Is there a certain number of shops that a fortress should have?

the wiki says there are 4 types of shop. i currently have 4, one for each category of goods, and 2 still haven't been bought. i think you need really high-earners with plenty of free time to end up actually selling from the shop. but i think 4 is all that is needed - more than that, you'll just have repeat shops....i suppose that does depend on fortress size, and i am sure there are many players who don't make any shops.

3.  Most of my dwarves run around naked as the seem to have accounts of 0.  Does this tend to happen in after quite a few years because I have a lot of legendary dwarves screwing up the economy parameters?

economy can be fairly difficult to manage. make sure you are providing a range of jobs for your dwarves to do, if you can. that way each can earn some kind of salary. i like to have a large chunk of my population as 'almost-haulers' - they are really just haulers but they also have one job each turned on (like tanning/weaving/plant processing) depending on their skills, so that they can also do a different job once in a while. this is not only so they can do different valued jobs (sometimes hauling will earn a dwarf the same as a 'skilled' job anyway) but also because i *believe* once the economy starts some hauling jobs become very low priority. to the extent where dwarves will practically ignore them and even be idle while they seem to wait for more rewarding jobs. (you might also see dwarves trying to attend a meeting with your manager to complain about lack of jobs)

4.  Is there any way to keep children from going into fey moods other than butchering them?  I have enough freaking legendary craftsdwarves from children going fey to last a lifetime.

search this forum for threads about 'moods'. there are certain things that can be done to try to ensure that your dwarves get moods that affect the skills you want. unfortunately, as it is children you are talking about, unless you are using an application like dwarf manager you might just have to accept that they'll all get craft moods.

5.  I have the long-standing problem that items on the ground I command dwarves to dump won't get moved.  I've tried all sorts of dump zones and flagging/unflagging/reflagging items as dump.  Is there any way to make them actually clean up?

if you have tried the flagging/unflagging and it's not working, and you've checked and rechecked the dump areas, i can only suggest three things:
i) try putting a dump area right next to the item you want dumped
ii) check under 'refuse' in the <o>rders menu to make sure your dwarves are set to dump (and check outside/inside obviously)
iii) hide the items they won't dump: <d, b, h>

finalement:

6.  I can never seem to get a windmill to actually operate a screw pump.  I have windmills that read 20 power on floors constructed above screw pumps.  I've tried centering the windmils on both parts of the screw pumps but they still never power.

I am afraid of windmills so will avoid answering this. obviously i recommend the wiki on windmills and pumps and the like, and a search here - but i am sure others will have better answers than i do. sevrun might already have hit upon the answer:

you need a Gear Assembly between the screw pump and the windmill and it'll work just fine.

[Truean]

1.) A box is a chest made of glass.... Does it actually say in the mandate "item," just item? Not _____ items? Bug report?

2.) I don't really think so, trial and error to see what sells to your dwarves.

3.) Try going into the init file and turning on 0 rent for a bit as an experiment to see if rent is too high. Are they employed? Try having them do things like pump screw pumps that could never pump anything: this is a dwarven "gym." Also it's a job that beats nothing.... Trains stats.... Make cheap cat leather clothing?

4.) Without using editing programs, you can go into the init file and turn off artifacts.

5.) Understand to dump things you need:

A.) A non forbidden item (To "unforbid" use d   b   c   )
B.) A Dwarf with Item hauling enabled under labors.
C.) A garbage zone defined ( use    i   g   )

6.) What Sevrun said, but you might want to look up the mech pages on the wiki and have a way to disconnect power to the pump. This is a kill switch so you don't end up flooding everything....

[Quietust]

5. you need a Gear Assembly between the screw pump and the windmill and it'll work just fine.  and you'll also need a hole in the ground under the center of the windmill so the gear assembly will connect to it, and a hole beneath the Gear assembly to connect to the Pump.

I'm pretty sure the gear assembly is unnecessary - I've got a few millstones connected directly to a windmill (no gear assemblies, no axles) and they work just fine, and I don't see why screw pumps would behave differently in this case.

[Starver]

5. you need a Gear Assembly between the screw pump and the windmill and it'll work just fine.  and you'll also need a hole in the ground under the center of the windmill so the gear assembly will connect to it, and a hole beneath the Gear assembly to connect to the Pump.

I'm pretty sure the gear assembly is unnecessary - I've got a few millstones connected directly to a windmill (no gear assemblies, no axles) and they work just fine, and I don't see why screw pumps would behave differently in this case.

Repeating what has already been said, especially two levels above: I think the key issue is the gap (channeled hole if ground->subterrainian, or non-built floor if raised->ground-level) that the centre of the windmill must be placed over (and possibly this counts only over the output side of the pump, BICBW).
This seems to be the thing people get wrong, the most, so I thought I'd emphasise it.

[ronin]

5. you need a Gear Assembly between the screw pump and the windmill and it'll work just fine.  and you'll also need a hole in the ground under the center of the windmill so the gear assembly will connect to it, and a hole beneath the Gear assembly to connect to the Pump.

I'm pretty sure the gear assembly is unnecessary - I've got a few millstones connected directly to a windmill (no gear assemblies, no axles) and they work just fine, and I don't see why screw pumps would behave differently in this case.

Repeating what has already been said, especially two levels above: I think the key issue is the gap (channeled hole if ground->subterrainian, or non-built floor if raised->ground-level) that the centre of the windmill must be placed over (and possibly this counts only over the output side of the pump, BICBW).
This seems to be the thing people get wrong, the most, so I thought I'd emphasise it.

Actually the hole is unnecessary for windmills, speaking from personal experience.  To test, build a windmill on solid ground.  After it's built and active, dig a tunnel under the center of the windmill.  Build a gear under the center of the windmill.  The gear will be active after it's built.

With the pumps, you probably need to build them after the windmill is built, if you want them to be active and direct-drive.

[Sevrun]

Everything everyone else said about the mills/pumps is true, cept if you're going for a direct connect (I don't so I can guarantee a killswitch) then it needs to be directly over the portion the dwarf stands if they were pumping manually.

[Greiger]

With the windmill thing all I can suggest is to make sure you didn't install the pump backwards.  Lord knows how many times I did that and spent hours trying to figure out why it isn't working.

[Quietust]

Everything everyone else said about the mills/pumps is true, cept if you're going for a direct connect (I don't so I can guarantee a killswitch) then it needs to be directly over the portion the dwarf stands if they were pumping manually.

This is not true, since the only way to pump pressurized water without it overflowing is to put the machine connection above (or below) the unwalkable tile.

[Sevrun]

Everything everyone else said about the mills/pumps is true, cept if you're going for a direct connect (I don't so I can guarantee a killswitch) then it needs to be directly over the portion the dwarf stands if they were pumping manually.

This is not true, since the only way to pump pressurized water without it overflowing is to put the machine connection above (or below) the unwalkable tile.

Huh, I thought it was the walkable part you had to connect to...  probably for the best I always use the Gears where they touch both or I'd spend hours scratching my head.  Now I've got to go build mechanical works to try and make sure.

[Scarpa]

5.  I have the long-standing problem that items on the ground I command dwarves to dump won't get moved.  I've tried all sorts of dump zones and flagging/unflagging/reflagging items as dump.  Is there any way to make them actually clean up?

What kinds of items? If it's clothes dropped on the floor, they are still owned and won't be dumped.

[buzz killington]

I'll try the gearbox for the windmills.

I made a lot of one square beds in a common room after my generic 3x3 rooms weren't getting rented.  I think the problem is that lacking magma, my dwarves basically do the following:

Farm
Cook
Brew
Milk
Make Cheese
Masonry (megaprojects)
Hauling
Crafts (rock)

The first 5 are taken up well by legendary dwarves.  The masonry I try to keep to a dedicated crew so I don't have a ton of low-level masons getting mason fey moods.  I also have way too many legendary craftsdwarves so its not a really big way to spend time.

Occasionally I clear-cut/gather to get wood but I use it up really fast in barrels and charcoal so I don't do a lot of metal-work.  Most of my dwarves just move items from all the food and trading, or when its time to clearcut.

If I put a ton of them in military training, do they get paid for that?  Otherwise I don't have a whole lot for them to do other than haul (I have a zillion rocks that need hauled too).  I could also use my non-trained dwarves for all the non-moodable farming I listed, although that obviously cuts down on legendary meals and drinks.  Is it worthwhile to do so though?

The queen wanted "a box in her bedroom" for about a year, until the request turned red.  Eventually she "forgot a demand" now it just says "an item in her bedroom" (still red)


I think most of the "dump item" stuff I want to get rid of is random owned clothing 


If I had inexhaustible coal or magma I could practically build a metal fortress, the mountain has so much magnetite, malachite, casserite, and silver its ridiculous.

[buzz killington]

5. you need a Gear Assembly between the screw pump and the windmill and it'll work just fine.  and you'll also need a hole in the ground under the center of the windmill so the gear assembly will connect to it, and a hole beneath the Gear assembly to connect to the Pump.

I'm pretty sure the gear assembly is unnecessary - I've got a few millstones connected directly to a windmill (no gear assemblies, no axles) and they work just fine, and I don't see why screw pumps would behave differently in this case.

My millstones are connected directly under windmills and work quite well, I've been confused on why my pumps won't do the same