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[Firnagzen]

Hey, just started playing DF. Can anything be done with vermin remains? Wondering if I can get bones/hide/flesh from them.

Also what does it mean when one of your dwarves flashes a red question mark?

Also, I just started to build a 3x3 staircase, and at the second level, the top right two blocks just refuse to be built into up/down staircases. Down staircases will be placed fine, but it just won't let me place any up/down staircases on those tiles.

Vermin: Nope, sorry. Set up a refuse pile outside and let them rot.

Question mark: It just means they're deciding what to do next.

Staircase: You have already dug out the tiles, so you can't (d)ig up/down stair cases there any more. You will have to (b)uild one.

[celem]

The red question mark means 'no destination', it often appears for a moment when 1 task ends before he starts another.  Blue questionmark is 'no job'

[stolensteel]

Unless something's changed in .17/.18, water loses pressure when it travels diagonally.  Dig your ocean channel like this and you shouldn't have flooding issues.


No ideas why my obsidian digging isn't working?

This is how I de-pressurized the ocean when I did it, but it's also a decent idea to make the diagonal tile the last one mined, so you dwarf will mine it at an angle and be able to run before the hall fills with water.

[ottottott]

Wait... If the red question mark means they are deciding what to do next then why does pretty much everyone get it after I designate a few tiles to be dug out. I understand about miners but what about the doctor or the expedition leader? Or the little kitten?

[szoltomi]

Hey guys, I have a strange problem I can't provide a screenshot, because I've accidently deleted my DF folder :<

The thing is, I captured a giant in a cage, and decided to make him into an archery target range. I carved out a 4x4 room, I put the giant-in-a-cage into the room, attached a lever to it, then walled the room in with fortifications.
I ordered my marksdwarf squad next to the room then pulled the lever.
The giant got out of the cage, it was completely clogging the hallway because it scared the civilians, but the marksdorfs didn't attack it, even if they were set to attack him, it said "cannot follow order".

At least one of them had a crossbow, quiver and bone bolts with him, so that issue is likely out.

Why wouldn't they attack the giant? I had a similar problem, when the above giant came, I ordered the squad up to an archery tower, but they just stood there looking out, not shooting the giant.

[ottottott]

I can help about the screenshot issue... Just click the little button named "Print Scrn" on your keyboard. Then go to... paint or whatever and paste the picture there.

[szoltomi]

I can help about the screenshot issue... Just click the little button named "Print Scrn" on your keyboard. Then go to... paint or whatever and paste the picture there.

Sorry if this wasn't for me.

I know how to take a screenshot, I've raised and ruined good few fortress already, but I always managed to repel attacks with traps and siege engines. I just decided to try out military, because they are more flexible and whatnot. The problem is, I downloaded DF and put it on my desktop, and it got caught in my last desktop cleaning accidently.

[lowlevelowl]

Is there anyway to...

1. see the contents of a barrel or container

2. see the inventory or equipment of a dwarf

Also, I just started a game and am sitting on a lot of magnetite, but am hesitant to use it to build mundane things such as thrones and tables, since it is an ore of iron. I should build a wood burner to make iron out of it, before building with it, right?

[ottottott]

I'm sure there is a way to see both but for the dwarf inv just press v and move the X over the dwarf whose inv you want to see. Then press the button that says inv on that menu.

[Lord Shonus]

Is there anyway to...

1. see the contents of a barrel or container

2. see the inventory or equipment of a dwarf

Also, I just started a game and am sitting on a lot of magnetite, but am hesitant to use it to build mundane things such as thrones and tables, since it is an ore of iron. I should build a wood burner to make iron out of it, before building with it, right?

1. "k" over the barrel, select it in the list with +/-, and press enter.
2. Already answered.
3. Magnetite is extremely common, and extremely useful. Using the stone as-is is not likely to hurt you very much. If you have any at all, you've probably got whole layers in your embark. Turning it into metal is also an excellent option, as it will train your furnace operators, blacksmiths, and metalcrafters, assuming you have already acquired magma or have lots and lots of bitco/lignite to turn into coke. (You can turn trees into charcoal at the wood burner as well, but that's much less efficient due to the often limited wood supply.) Please note that the wood burner is only used to burn wood. YOu want a smelter to turn rock into metal.

[KingOfBudgies]

Ok, so I've started up a fortress, and one of the first orders of business after I've got the important things taken care of (supplies moved indoors, farming and irrigation systems set up, rooms for stockpiles carved out, et cetera) is to start making crafts to trade to the caravan in exchange for goods and valuables.  However, when my dwarves go to put the crafts in the stockpiles, they don't take a bin out of the furniture pile so that the crafts can be stored - they just put them one by one on the pile, costing precious space.  How do I get them to use the bins?

[Lord Shonus]

Wait. They'll bin them eventually.

[Kat]

On the topic of bones...I'm pretty sure I've heard of people extracting usable bones from dead goblins and elves and the like to turn into bolts, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do it.  I have a stockpile full of dead goblins and dogs and my butchers won't touch them, regardless of whether they're fresh, rotting, or skeletal.  The wiki insists that you can butcher skeletal remains for their bones, but there's no special option for them and the regular "butcher an animal" command only accepts unrotten, edible animals.  Have I been misled, or is there some trick to this?

Some people say they turn to useable bone over time, but I've never seen it happen.
But, my fortresses are not very long-lived.

Butcher won't touch goblins, because of ethics, I think. Or he doesn't want goblin blood on his stuff, and who can blame him

The corpses take a long, long time to turn into usable bones, and I'm not sure that all of them will turn into bones. Some might vanish entirely.

E.g. in my game at the moment, it is the 5th year. Since the beginning, I have obtained goblin bones only three times. No skulls. Some of the corpses of kobolds and goblins killed in the first year are still there. Some body parts that I thought would produce bones just disappeared - heads, arms, etc.

War or hunting dogs that are killed, I don't think you can butcher, and their corpses don't get put into pet coffins either.

[szoltomi]

One more question, When you get the option to appoint a baron when the lianson comes, is the correct way choosing the dwarf I want to appoint with enter, then leave the screen with ESC? Or did I just cancelled having a baron at all?

Edit: Also, is there a way to stop the goddamn screen focus and pause when a dwarf finds a damp/warm stone? It's really starting to make me want to break my computer apart.

Edit 2: It seems it takes some time for the baron to get elected, now let's have some FUN.

Edit 3: I missed the lines for those announcements in the txt file. Looks like I answered all my questions myself, except for the first one, which I'm still courious about.

[ext0l]

I captured some goblins in my cage traps. How do I get their equipment without killing them or un-caging them?