Play nice you two....
My codding is practical and works. It isn't text book but does it have to be?
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Solving your fuel needs is simple and has two solutions. I recommend option 1, 'cause it's easier. I leave which one to use to you:
1.)
[REACTION:FREE_CHARCOAL]
[NAME:make CHARCOAL]
[SMELTER]
[PRODUCT:100:1:BAR:NONE:COAL:CHARCOAL]
This provides free coal at the smelter. It is included in the copy/paste I posted to place into your raws.
2.) Use "Tweak" available on the DF wiki utilities page. Edit in a tile with magma, enable magma forges. This eliminates fuel, magma trenching from pipes, fire creature danger, etc.
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You seem to be asking for ways to get free things at workshops other than smelters. This is not feasible currently. Most of the workshop reactions are hardcoded. This means it is a major pain in the a** to deal with it. Absent being a programmer equal or at least comparable to Toady himself, you will not be able to do it (or at least without screwing things up badly). Most people on the modding section of this board will not touch this area, because it is complex. I will not bother going into this area myself for the same reason.
In short, you can cheat and get free metals and even finished items but only at the smelter currently. It's a small price to pay for free items isn't it?
As for your concerns about legit playing, I can sympathize with them. I have a different solution that I have been suggesting Toady make standard for some time. It's simple: increase the speed and trade capacity of caravan wagons. This allows you to trade for more goods and heavier goods like wood and flux stone.
Go into your raws. Look up the "Creature equipment file." There will only be one entry: Wagon. It will say something like "Trade capacity. The number will be 15000, or something like that. Whatever the number is add a 0. ONLY ADD ONE 0. Sorry to capitalize but it is very important. If you add more than one 0 you are increasing the weight capacity of he wagon too much. Two things will happen if you make this mistake:
A.) Your FPS will die. The more things on the map, the lower FPS. More things in the wagon = less FPS.... A whole crapload of things in the wagon = dead FPS.
B.) The wagon itself will crawl so slowly across the map that it will never get to your trade depot. It will actually say the merchants are leaving, before it even gets close.
Yes, I am speaking from personal experience.
Point is, you can trade for these things.