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Author Topic: A new respect for miners  (Read 3492 times)

SenorPiquante

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A new respect for miners
« on: July 02, 2010, 12:43:36 pm »

I would just like to say that after spending six hours yesterday swinging a pick to pull up a lawn, I have a new respect for the dwarves who can mine through solid stone in a matter of minutes. From now on, my mining crew is getting fancy bedrooms.

How about you guys, what DF labours have you performed that were a lot harder than you thought?
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Lord Herman

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2010, 12:51:19 pm »

Farming. Dorfs make it seem so easy. Turns out making a 2 by 3 metre farm plot in a grass lawn takes hours and hours of sweat inducing work.
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Cruxador

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2010, 12:56:11 pm »

Just about everything the Dwarves do is actually a shit-ton of work. That's why you don't see kids digging fortresses in real life.
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Tehran

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Re: A new respect for treecutters
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2010, 01:19:04 pm »

I was clearing out the underbrush in a small forest a little while ago, (I've never done this before) and chopping down some small trees, (1, 2, 3 inches in diameter) and I get to this 7 inch diameter, 2-stories-high maple tree. Kind of a small tree, right? It's tall, but that's not very thick at all. Surely, this thing will go down in no time.

Wrong.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to chop down a tree? Especially a harder wood like a maple? Let me tell you, IT IS NOT EASY.

I must have swung that axe more than 200 times. And I had to stop every now and then because the force of it was hurting my hands. And then I got out the saw so I could try to saw in even deeper. And then I hit it with the axe some more.

"I am too hard on my dwarves," I think to myself.

Eventually, it was kind of leaning over a bit, so I used some rope to pull it down even further. But then it got STUCK in the branches of some other trees, so I climbed on top of it and started jumping. Then I got down and struck it with the axe some more. All of these actions were accompanied by manly grunting.

Finally, the tree separated from the stump. I was thrilled. I could not help but to triumphantly yell, "AAAAAGH!! I KILLED IT!!!"
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QuakeIV

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Re: A new respect for treecutters
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2010, 01:31:00 pm »

I was clearing out the underbrush in a small forest a little while ago, (I've never done this before) and chopping down some small trees, (1, 2, 3 inches in diameter) and I get to this 7 inch diameter, 2-stories-high maple tree. Kind of a small tree, right? It's tall, but that's not very thick at all. Surely, this thing will go down in no time.

Wrong.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to chop down a tree? Especially a harder wood like a maple? Let me tell you, IT IS NOT EASY.

I must have swung that axe more than 200 times. And I had to stop every now and then because the force of it was hurting my hands. And then I got out the saw so I could try to saw in even deeper. And then I hit it with the axe some more.

"I am too hard on my dwarves," I think to myself.

Eventually, it was kind of leaning over a bit, so I used some rope to pull it down even further. But then it got STUCK in the branches of some other trees, so I climbed on top of it and started jumping. Then I got down and struck it with the axe some more. All of these actions were accompanied by manly grunting.

Finally, the tree separated from the stump. I was thrilled. I could not help but to triumphantly yell, "AAAAAGH!! I KILLED IT!!!"

So thats why elves worship these things...
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Untelligent

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2010, 01:36:24 pm »

Don't forget, what seems like a couple minutes to you is actually a full day in dwarf-time.
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Cruxador

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Re: A new respect for treecutters
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2010, 01:40:51 pm »

Finally, the tree separated from the stump. I was thrilled. I could not help but to triumphantly yell, "AAAAAGH!! I KILLED IT!!!"
A true dwarf.

...albeit one of perhaps 12 years of age.

Not all trees are as hard as that, though, and the health of the tree makes a big difference.. I can regularly pull down smallish pines with my bare hands, for example, though severing the base requires tool use if it's not already starting to decay. I'm not sure if DF takes things like this into account.
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Qloos

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2010, 03:23:44 pm »

Quote
2-stories-high maple tree
Quote
But then it got STUCK in the branches of some other trees, so I climbed on top of it and started jumping.

« Last Edit: July 02, 2010, 03:25:18 pm by Qloos »
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shoowop

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2010, 03:27:02 pm »

Don't forget, what seems like a couple minutes to you is actually a full day in dwarf-time.
I was gonna say this.  It's actually taking these so called professionals half a day just to mine out a foot or two of stone. lazy I say!

remove their bedrooms, throw their children in magma and tell them to work harder!
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Tehran

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2010, 03:29:37 pm »

Quote
2-stories-high maple tree
Quote
But then it got STUCK in the branches of some other trees, so I climbed on top of it and started jumping.
FACEPLAM

It wasn't really that dangerous, the tree was at about 15-20 degrees from the ground at this point, and the stump was about a foot tall
The jumping did not accomplish anything.
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Qloos

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2010, 03:35:41 pm »

It wasn't really that dangerous, the tree was at about 15-20 degrees from the ground at this point, and the stump was about a foot tall
The jumping did not accomplish anything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_%28accident%29
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sonerohi

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2010, 03:44:34 pm »

The metal trades and animal skills. Worked with my grandpa on his ranch for a summer. Making horseshoes takes a lot of patience to get just right, and even then the shoes I made were pretty crappy. I've tried making things with some at-home facilities, and it took me a whole day for an uber-shitty breastplate. At the ranch again, keeping the horses clean, well fed and comfortable is a great deal of effort, especially when the horses didn't feel like complying with me.
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RCIX

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2010, 03:56:05 pm »

Quote
2-stories-high maple tree
Quote
But then it got STUCK in the branches of some other trees, so I climbed on top of it and started jumping.



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« Last Edit: July 02, 2010, 03:57:37 pm by RCIX »
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Stove

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2010, 04:26:40 pm »

Making alcohol. It takes a lot more patience than the game suggests.

Also, I've recetly taken an interest in hunting mushrooms. Dwarves don't have to worry about accidentally eating something poisonous. Even a dabbling herbalist never makes a mistake. In real life, knowing that there are mushrooms and plants that can very easily kill you makes it somewhat difficult to willingly eat what you've found, until you get comfortable with the idea!
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Snook

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Re: A new respect for miners
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2010, 05:32:08 pm »

I find chopping wood relaxing, actually. Or even fun, when you compete with your buddies to see who can swing "Magnum", our full-steel, 40 lb. sledgehammer with the most power and accuracy on the wedges/spikes.
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