Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[G-Flex]

Regarding beehives:

If beehives are destroyed when the honey is harvested, what is the purpose (historically or in game logic) for collecting and relocating the bees in the first place instead of harvesting the honeycomb on the spot? I'm curious whether or not there's some historically-based reason, like protecting the bees from other animals or making the hive easier to monitor.


Man, I'm hoping we'll be able to brew honey into mead. That would be great. Not a difficult thing to ferment, either.

[EDIT]
My stupid and cursory research on Wikipedia seems to indicate that beekeeping wasn't really that popular until the 18th century or so because even artificial hives had to be killed off in order to get the honey. Interesting.

[Kogut]

And beehives working like loom...

[NSQuote]

Will you bee able to load beehives into catapults? Will said bees angrily attack whatever they land on/near and mercilessly chase them down? What would you do if said bees were attacking you? Can bees kill with their sting, or only produce bad thoughts? Will there bee different species of bees with different threat levels? Are bees limited to certain biomes? Will we have Forgotten Bee-sts?

Oh god yes, beeeeeees~

[Urist Imiknorris]

I bee what you did there.

(the not-obvious one)

I would assume bees would be limited to certain biomes - I can't imagine a beehive on a glacier.

[nenjin]

We have titans made out of snow.

Sound I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility.

[Mel_Vixen]

From the dev-blog:

We don't have flowers yet -- just a requirement that bees be kept adjacent to an open outside tile.

You know from the trees you have in the raws, Acacia, Ash, Alder, Birch, Candlenut, chestnut, [...] are flowering trees and acacia respective birch honey are even regarded as special and tasty varieties of honey. So actually we wouldnt need flowers at all and there are bees that are specialised for forrest environments even though they produce less honey.

Will said bees angrily   attack whatever they land on/near and mercilessly chase them down? What   would you do if said bees were attacking you? Can bees kill with their   sting, or only produce bad thoughts?

I guess there arent any Killer-bees (affrican hybrids) in df. Since we have a very potent poison framework i hope they get a minor one - we still need a system for allergies though. Most honeybees stay next to the beehive only the more aggressive types tend to attack on longer ranges.

[Cruxador]

Since beehives are now in, any chance for a parallel underground creature in the underground? Or will wax production (once that's a thing) require that you keep your fort open to the surface?

And an entirely different question,
Is honey brewable into mead?

[Mel_Vixen]

Honey ants would be nice too.

[Alehkhs]

We have titans made out of snow.

[So] I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility.

Well, titans are quasi-magical beings, whereas bees are insects - which are cold-blooded. I could see bees being bought in cold locations, though they would have to be kept warm.

That brings about the issues from winter though, when real beehives tend to go into a dormant state.

Honey ants would be nice too.

Eh, for diversity perhaps. Outside of aboriginal snacking and rare cultural instances, honeypot ants aren't really suitable for cultivation. For one thing, they don't produce too large a surplus, and for another - if they are not placed in the right conditions, they won't even undergo the pleregate phase, as this is actually an adaptation to barren, usually desertified areas.

Concerning the "sweet" nature of these ants: not all honeypot ants store nectar or honeydew - not even within a single species or colony. Rather, any given might instead be storing fats, water, even digested prey such as termites or other animals.

[freeformschooler]

I'm sensing exploits already. However, honey and bee keeping will be a fun mini-game/addition to the main game. Regardless, Toady's signature "he he he" has begun to frighten me. It could mean any of:

-Hah, that's mildly amusing.
-Hah, that's correct and mildly amusing.
-Hah, the new release will include greater horrors than your feeble minds could possibly imagine, and these terrors on dwarfkind will stop at nothing to feast upon the flesh of your alchoholic midgets.

This has probably been asked, but what are the planned uses of wax collections, once they are implemented?

[nbonaparte]

I would assume that will be useful for the lighting overhaul when it comes.

[Cruxador]

I'm sensing exploits already. However, honey and bee keeping will be a fun mini-game/addition to the main game. Regardless, Toady's signature "he he he" has begun to frighten me. It could mean any of:

-Hah, that's mildly amusing.
-Hah, that's correct and mildly amusing.
-Hah, the new release will include greater horrors than your feeble minds could possibly imagine, and these terrors on dwarfkind will stop at nothing to feast upon the flesh of your alchoholic midgets.

This has probably been asked, but what are the planned uses of wax collections, once they are implemented.

It will be used for candles, I'm sure, once lighting goes in. That's by far one of my most anticipated additions that nobody ever talks about, incidentally. I hope it comes soonish, although there's an entire dev page full of things that are higher priority.
Once we get written correspondence, it will be used to seal letters, I'm sure.
When/if Toady makes things use more different materials in Dwarf Mode (not before hauling is improved upon) cheese will probably require it, and it could be involved in lost-wax casting.
When styling is in, it could be used in mustache wax, if someone cares to find a recipe that was used before 1400.
It's been used for waterproofing historically, so it could be used in place of tar in boat construction or if constructed walls/floors ever gain the ability to leak.
And it was used in some old forms of painting, so depending on how much depth there might eventually be there, it could be involved in that.
It could also be used for sculpting directly as a medium, as in a wax museum.
It can be used in the preservation of dead people, such as with Vladimir Lenin or certain of the Egyptian mummies.

That's just what I came up with from a moment's thought, and another moment poking wikipedia.

[tps12]

Other wax-using crafts that come to mind are batik and "Ukrainian eggs" (sure there must be a more accurate name, but that's what I learned them as).

[Quatch]

Wax makes waterproof cloth, is a good finish on wood, seals food (home made jam?), is used on bowstrings, a lubricant on skis and other sliding things, etc.

Oh, and lost wax casting. Casting at least is dwarvenly, I'd think.

[RedWick]

The addition of bees means that we'll have a chance to fight titans and forgotten beasts made of honey!