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[shadenight123]

i have a couple of questions:
is there any way to "move" from your fortress square to another "area" of the "world map" or is it not possible in no way?

is there any way to make the starting area "bigger" or "smaller" ?

how can i convince my amok-damned woodcutters to grab a battle axe and start chopping down trees? (i have three woodcutter profession active, three battle axes, and a single woodcutter, the one of the first expedition.)

is there any way to "un-assign" pets like war dogs/hunting dogs from their dwarf?

the unimportant side-questions:
how should one dig down till a magma layer? how much down? and what precautions should be taken? ( being a newb, and a slow player, i'm of the idea of using first all the space in the higher layers and only then moving down. so far, i'm at my 4th layer...on top of a mountain.

"channeling" becomes an effective moat after how much? do i only need to set the area of the channel once on an area (and see the triangles upward and downward), or do i need to do it twice?
when i retract a bridge which i ordered to close/open as retractable, i do not see the bridge anymore in the space (using a tileset), but doing so is still as effective as closing it off, right?

[Blackdutchie]

i have a couple of questions:
is there any way to "move" from your fortress square to another "area" of the "world map" or is it not possible in no way?
Not yet, i believe it is a dev page thing though.
is there any way to make the starting area "bigger" or "smaller" ?
Yes. Press Shift+U or Shift+K when selecting an embark site, this should increase the size of your starting area.
how can i convince my amok-damned woodcutters to grab a battle axe and start chopping down trees? (i have three woodcutter profession active, three battle axes, and a single woodcutter, the one of the first expedition.)
Make sure they have been assigned the job (press v, move cursor to woodcutter, press p->l, navigate to woodcutting, make sure it is white), and make sure the dwarf is not in the military (i had this in my current fort, took me a while to figure out as well)
is there any way to "un-assign" pets like war dogs/hunting dogs from their dwarf?
Not that i know of, i'm afraid. You could kill the dwarf or the pet, depending on what your problem is and how important they are.
the unimportant side-questions:
how should one dig down till a magma layer? how much down? and what precautions should be taken? ( being a newb, and a slow player, i'm of the idea of using first all the space in the higher layers and only then moving down. so far, i'm at my 4th layer...on top of a mountain.
Well, assuming normal worldgen settings, you will first come across: (will spoiler this, open only if you wanna spoil the surprise)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

3 cavern layers, big open area's or systems of tunnels, you'll recognise them when you come across one. The magma sea is generally a few levels above the absolute bottom of the map. You could get lucky and find a magma pipe extending upwards from the sea, though. Then you'd come across it when finding a cavern layer.

"channeling" becomes an effective moat after how much? do i only need to set the area of the channel once on an area (and see the triangles upward and downward), or do i need to do it twice?
I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but a single row of tiles should be enough to stop non-flying baddies from crossing over. (be sure to remove the ramps though, or they can crawl through. On my current fort i dug out a channel, with a single square at the corner extending out to make an exit, then i removed all the ramps except for the exit one. (also, depending on your constructions, you may want to use a wider moat so baddies are a bit further away from your wall, this could help crossbowmen stationed on the wall firing on them)
when i retract a bridge which i ordered to close/open as retractable, i do not see the bridge anymore in the space (using a tileset), but doing so is still as effective as closing it off, right?
Not quite... If you have a retractable bridge, think of it as... a garage door turned turn-ways? if you open it, it just sorta disappears, and doesn't block anything off. You may want to switch to a drawbridge style bridge, which is the one that closes to a particular direction, this creates a sort of wall that blocks enemies and projectiles from entering. For added protection, do it over a moat so building-destroyer type enemies cannot destroy the bridge when it is raised.

I myself have a question: Is it possible to assign the quick-zoom hotkeys 9 through 16? The function keys don't work for them.

[cynest]

I recently lost a fortress due to starvation issues. When I realized it would be some time before caravan/sufficient farm yields, I instructed a couple of immigrants to gather plants. They proceeded to idle, even when plant gathering was the only available labor. What happened?

[Kogut]

I recently lost a fortress due to starvation issues. When I realized it would be some time before caravan/sufficient farm yields, I instructed a couple of immigrants to gather plants. They proceeded to idle, even when plant gathering was the only available labor. What happened?

You need to have accessible plants ordered for gathering [(d)esignation menu (p)lant gathering]

[shadenight123]

thanks for the answers.
i know have other questions also.

1)why are there dresses in my dwarfs chambers? and why aren't they hauled to stockpiles or the like of it?
2) what does "seize goods" actually do? it makes my dwarf attack the enemy caravans guard and kill them for loot, or it just make them grab everything i highlight, while the caravan guards watch and get a little bit angry?

[Sphalerite]

1)why are there dresses in my dwarfs chambers? and why aren't they hauled to stockpiles or the like of it?

Those are the property of one of your dwarves.  Dwarves will sometimes randomly claim items of clothing left over from sieges or made by your dwarves for themselves.  They'll never actually wear the clothing they take, but they will eventually put it in their rooms.  If you make cabinets and build the cabinets in their bedrooms, they may store the clothing there.

2) what does "seize goods" actually do? it makes my dwarf attack the enemy caravans guard and kill them for loot, or it just make them grab everything i highlight, while the caravan guards watch and get a little bit angry?

Your dwarves will just take the goods.  The caravan guards won't attack, but the traders will get angry, pack up and leave, and bring less stuff next year.

[FuzzyZergling]

thanks for the answers.
i know have other questions also.

1)why are there dresses in my dwarfs chambers? and why aren't they hauled to stockpiles or the like of it?
2) what does "seize goods" actually do? it makes my dwarf attack the enemy caravans guard and kill them for loot, or it just make them grab everything i highlight, while the caravan guards watch and get a little bit angry?

1) Your dwarves are probably claiming the clothes to wear. Due to a bug, they will never actually wear the clothes, but will still claim them.
If seeing the dresses on the floor bothers you, build a cabinet in their room and they will store their clothes in there.

2) That second one. They will also stop trading and leave right away.

NINJAAAS!

[shadenight123]

and here comes my final noobish question (just joking, probably i'll have others to ask)
gigantic panda appears.
i send my wrestlers to fight it.
they lock him in a sort of Tie, because his uncoscious, but doesn't die. I assign war dogs to help the wrestlers, still the panda doesn't die. I finally assign an artifact platinum hammer to one of my crossbowers and he manages to split his head open.
now the points are the following:
1) the mark "kill gigantic panda" still flashes in red on the top next to the squad name. is it normal that i have to manually cancel it or there's something they still have to do? like mutilate the corpse or similar?
2) how come no dwarf is sent to grab the gigantic panda bones or similar?

[FuzzyZergling]

1) I believe that you have to cancel it manually.

2) Do you have your dwarves set to gather refuse from outside? Check the [ o ]rders->[r]efuse screen.

[agatharchides]

Is it still possible to make stuff from chitin?

EDIT: So, what's up with this?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Sphalerite]

1.  Without modding, there's nothing you can do with chitin.  It is possible to modify the material template raw file so chitin counts as shell or as skin that can be made into leather.

2.  You have a ghost.  A dwarf died somewhere and his body wasn't buried.  Make a memorial slab at a mason's shop, then engrave it with the ghost's name at a craftdwarfs shop, then build it somewhere.

[Hoan]

Hoi.
There is a certain masterwork two handed sword in my current embark which i woud like to use against what comes after its removal...

is there any way to do that whithout editing the min_size in the raws? ( and please dont say edit the dwarf size)
I would find it sweet if my dwarves could do the pratchett-dwarf thing and pull a size 10 bunny (Axe) out of a size 2 hat (pocket)
i am guessing not, but i thought it wouldnt hurt to ask.

also: what happens if you activate two uniform-labors e.g. woodcutting & hunting on one (every) dwarf?

[FuzzyZergling]

I would say buy a two handed sword (If you can find one.), then set your military to use them. If you find a dwarf that's big enough to wield it, then problem solved.

You cannot activat more that one of the three equipment-labors at the same time. When one turns on, the others turn off.

[RiderofDark]

Question] While I'm trying to pass some time, I'm making rock mugs, but I'd like to use specific materials to make them, materials that I probably won't want to use. Is it possible I can choose what material I use to make the rock mugs with, and if so, how?

Actually you can do it pretty easily.

Create a stockpile right next to the mug-making facility, and set it to only accept the type of material you want to make mugs from.

If you mine directly under the craftdwarf shop, you might occasionally have your dwarf running downstairs to get a few rocks, but they will typically choose the ones right nearby in the stockpile.

If you don't have lots of extra workers, this can really gum up a fortress though - stonecrafters can use a LOT of rock very quickly and keep haulers running like mad once they get skilled up nicely - especially if they are operating from a stone stockpile that is very close to their workshop.

Once I get a lot of hauling dwarves, I like to mass dump everything straight into the workshop. Punch a hole in the ceiling above, designate as a dump zone, occasionally mass reclaim as the craftsdwarf churns through the rock, and everyone is kept busy until everything's been hauled.

[Hoan]

I would say buy a two handed sword (If you can find one.), then set your military to use them. If you find a dwarf that's big enough to wield it, then problem solved.

As far as i gather its avg.Dwarfsize=60000, the maximum modifier at 125% and the required hight for 2h,maul and pikes at 62500 whoops. so it should work.
is there any way to find out if someone is tall enough except the assign-them-all-and-potentially-screw-up-your-working-equipment-method?

You cannot activat more that one of the three equipment-labors at the same time. When one turns on, the others turn off.

ohh durrr...    thanks *headdesk*