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[Mythos]

I'm trying to get some bauxite mechanisms built (making a magma death chamber) but I can't see any way to actually force the mechanic to use bauxite? Am I just going to have to set bauxite to allowed, disable all other stone related workshops, and have him make tons of mechanisms until he finally decides to use bauxite? While setting the workshop to make a mechanism I don't see any way to tell what to make it from.

[Sphalerite]

There's no simple way to tell him to specifically make mechanisms out of bauxite, you have to force it so bauxite is the only material he can reach.  Either forbid all stone other than bauxite and have mechanism-making the only active stone-using job, or lock your mechanic in a room with a pile of bauxite and a mechanic's workshop so he physically can't reach any other stone. 

[immibis]

Yes.

You should have a bauxite stockpile near the mechanics workshop, and a door between the workshop and the stockpile, and another door between the workshop and everything else.
Then you can lock the mechanic in the workshop, unlock the door to the bauxite, and make mechanisms.

Code: [Select]

= bauxite stockpile
# wall
m workshop
D door
#########
#=======#
#=======#
#=======#
####D####
  #mmm#
  #mmm#
  #mmm#
  ##D##


[Mythos]

Alright, I'll just lock him in a room with some bauxite.

[NW_Kohaku]

If you have plenty of bauxite, and dont' need to airlock your dwarves to prevent bauxite from being used in alternate uses, the simplest way is to just dig a little tunnel out, away from other parts of your fortress.  Then build a stockpile that only accepts bauxite, and takes bauxite from other stone stockpiles.  Put a mechanic's workshop and a mason's workshop on the far side of this stockpile.

Now, it's important to note that dwarves will grab the stones with the shortest direct horizontal distance from where they are - if a loose stone is in a tunnel 10 z levels directly below the workshop, which would take hundreds of tiles of movement to reach, then they will go for that stone, instead of the one that is literally two tiles away in the stockpile.  So make sure you don't leave stone out directly above or below those workshops. So long as bauxite is the closest stone (horizontally, regardless of z level), they will always pick up the bauxite.

The advantage of this is that you don't have to worry about micromanaging an airlock or leaving dwarves to starve because you got distracted.  This way, you can just queue up another 10 mechanisms in the bauxite workshop, or another 4 bauxite floodgates.

[Repulsion]

 There's no need to do that. Just go to the Stone menu and look at all the stones and turn all of the Green shaded stones to red, expect for Bauxite. That will force him to use Bauxite. Use z, then look at the top of the screen where it says kitchen, stocks, and stone, and select stone and do what I said to do.

[immibis]

Alright, I'll just lock him in a room with some bauxite.

And a mechanic's workshop. Otherwise it's useless.

[NW_Kohaku]

There's no need to do that. Just go to the Stone menu and look at all the stones and turn all of the Green shaded stones to red, expect for Bauxite. That will force him to use Bauxite. Use z, then look at the top of the screen where it says kitchen, stocks, and stone, and select stone and do what I said to do.

This only works with the economic stone mod.

[Mythos]

If you have plenty of bauxite, and dont' need to airlock your dwarves to prevent bauxite from being used in alternate uses, the simplest way is to just dig a little tunnel out, away from other parts of your fortress.  Then build a stockpile that only accepts bauxite, and takes bauxite from other stone stockpiles.  Put a mechanic's workshop and a mason's workshop on the far side of this stockpile.

Now, it's important to note that dwarves will grab the stones with the shortest direct horizontal distance from where they are - if a loose stone is in a tunnel 10 z levels directly below the workshop, which would take hundreds of tiles of movement to reach, then they will go for that stone, instead of the one that is literally two tiles away in the stockpile.  So make sure you don't leave stone out directly above or below those workshops. So long as bauxite is the closest stone (horizontally, regardless of z level), they will always pick up the bauxite.

The advantage of this is that you don't have to worry about micromanaging an airlock or leaving dwarves to starve because you got distracted.  This way, you can just queue up another 10 mechanisms in the bauxite workshop, or another 4 bauxite floodgates.

Well, currently my bauxite supplies are a bit low, so I'm just airlocking them for safety. And why would I need bauxite floodgates? My siltstone floodgates are holding back magma quite well for my magma forge area. Do you need them if you're adding a mechanism even if the mechanism is bauxite?

[Sphalerite]

Well, currently my bauxite supplies are a bit low, so I'm just airlocking them for safety. And why would I need bauxite floodgates? My siltstone floodgates are holding back magma quite well for my magma forge area. Do you need them if you're adding a mechanism even if the mechanism is bauxite?

You only need them if you ever intend to open them.  A closed wooden floodgate will hold back magma forever.  But open it and let magma flow though, and any non-magma-safe floodgate will be destroyed even if it's using magma-safe mechanisms.

[Repulsion]

There's no need to do that. Just go to the Stone menu and look at all the stones and turn all of the Green shaded stones to red, expect for Bauxite. That will force him to use Bauxite. Use z, then look at the top of the screen where it says kitchen, stocks, and stone, and select stone and do what I said to do.

This only works with the economic stone mod.

Oh... I use DDwarfier, but I could have sworn I could do this before without mods...

If you have plenty of bauxite, and dont' need to airlock your dwarves to prevent bauxite from being used in alternate uses, the simplest way is to just dig a little tunnel out, away from other parts of your fortress.  Then build a stockpile that only accepts bauxite, and takes bauxite from other stone stockpiles.  Put a mechanic's workshop and a mason's workshop on the far side of this stockpile.

Now, it's important to note that dwarves will grab the stones with the shortest direct horizontal distance from where they are - if a loose stone is in a tunnel 10 z levels directly below the workshop, which would take hundreds of tiles of movement to reach, then they will go for that stone, instead of the one that is literally two tiles away in the stockpile.  So make sure you don't leave stone out directly above or below those workshops. So long as bauxite is the closest stone (horizontally, regardless of z level), they will always pick up the bauxite.

The advantage of this is that you don't have to worry about micromanaging an airlock or leaving dwarves to starve because you got distracted.  This way, you can just queue up another 10 mechanisms in the bauxite workshop, or another 4 bauxite floodgates.

Well, currently my bauxite supplies are a bit low, so I'm just airlocking them for safety. And why would I need bauxite floodgates? My siltstone floodgates are holding back magma quite well for my magma forge area. Do you need them if you're adding a mechanism even if the mechanism is bauxite?

Any floodgate or door can hold back magma. Its just that only some can survive when covered in it. If you have a bauxite floodgate with a siltstone mechanism linked to a lever to open and close it at your will, then the floodgate will survive but the mechanism will melt or whatever magma does. If the mechanism is also bauxite, however, both things will survive.

[Aachen]

Given the lack of rough bauxite, however, it's best to use metallic floodgates. Nickel silver, steel, iron or (I think) nickel would all do the job.

[immibis]

Given the lack of rough bauxite, however, it's best to use metallic floodgates. Nickel silver, steel, iron or (I think) nickel would all do the job.

I modded bauxite to appear as large clusters in all stone layers. I suggest you do the same. The mechanisms still need to be made of bauxite anyway.

[jryan]

The solution is actually pretty simple.  Just set a mechanics shop some distance from the other mason shops, surround the new shop with a stone stockpile that accepts only bauxite, and set all bauxite jobs in that shop.  The bauxite will always be closer and will therefor almost always be used.

[Sphalerite]

If you're going to resort to mods, just use the melting point mods.  It add sensible melting points to all rocks, with the result that you can then use things like quartzite for magma-proof mechanisms and such instead.  I don't even count it as a hack, since there are plenty of rocks that should have higher melting points than bauxite anyway.