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[Passive Fist]

I can't give up playing DF, even during turbulent patch times. I realize now that I was heavily depending on dfhack's dfvdig.exe for designating ores for digging. Probably time to stop depending on it so much.

Anyway.

What are some good strategies for finding/designating ore? Designating every square by hand works, but it's labor intensive on my part and inefficient. Doing big rectangular chunks is efficient for me but not my miners. Surely there are some tips you all can share for ore digging!

[gtmattz]

there is no law stating that you absolutely HAVE to run the most current version...  Wait a few and a stable non-buggy release will come and in the meantime keep playing a version that works right that all the 3rd party stuffs work with.

Thats my tip.

[Xenos]

Dig out a grid that leaves 2x10 blocks undug.  you get the entire z level explored with minimal digging.  then just designate small chunks

[Hans Lemurson]

When I run low on a certain type of ore, I just go to the various veins of it I've found and do a dig order on the exposed surfaces.

Alternately if I want to map-out a whole area, I just dig a bunch of parallel diagonal lines for full reveal.

Code: [Select]

##D####D#
#D####D##
D####D###
####D####
###D####D
##D####D#
#D####D##
D####D###
Alternately you could try vertical shafts in a grid spaced 2 squares apart.

[Xenos]

I do believe that those are more efficient than my method...but mine is easier to designate than that diagonal one. 

[Passive Fist]

Those diagonal tunnels look neat. Do you designate it with a macro or a mouse or what?

[Absentia]

Real dwarfs designate everything with the keyboard. You can tell them by their permanently hooked fingers.

Personally I dig everything out in big rectangular hunks. It's easy, it looks nicer, and it's extra practice for the miners.

[Hans Lemurson]

I figured out that diagonal pattern when I was playing Civ3 and was trying to figure out the most efficient pattern for charting the oceans (get rid of all that stupid blackness!).

For making the pattern, I suppose you could do it with a mouse fairly easily, but I've just done repeated UP+LEFT ENTER ENTER key-presses with my right hand working the arrow keys (pressing them in concert) while my left alternates with the double enter-key press.

The parallel diagonal method removes 1/6 of the stone, and allows for a complete reveal while working on only one z-level.

If you like art, you can do the following pattern radiating from a central staircase:

Code: [Select]

#D####D##D##D####D#
##D####D#D#D####D##
###D####DDD####D###
####D####D####D####
D####D###D###D####D
#D####D##D##D####D#
##D####D#D#D####D##
###D####DDD####D###
DDDDDDDDDXDDDDDDDDD
###D####DDD####D###
##D####D#D#D####D##
#D####D##D##D####D#
D####D###D###D####D
####D####D####D####
###D####DDD####D###
##D####D#D#D####D##
#D####D##D##D####D#

[Lemunde]

Patterns. Feh! I use the mouse to draw squiggly lines going out from a central shaft eventually growing to look like a spider web. It looks much more organic and takes very little time to do.

[Xenos]

but how efficient is it?  also, the mouse is iffy for me.  it will only occasionally work.  and the keyboard works better.

[Hans Lemurson]

Patterns. Feh! I use the mouse to draw squiggly lines going out from a central shaft eventually growing to look like a spider web. It looks much more organic and takes very little time to do.

I am a fan of a somewhat organic look, but my desire for efficiency trumps this.  Also mouse-work is even harder with a touch-pad on a laptop.

[Xenos]

very true...touchpad=just use the keyboard   

mine is probably 2nd or third for efficiency but it is probably one of the easiest to designate.  while being efficient.

[krenshala]

I've found that DF picks up on the mouse pointer location better if you move it slower; about half the speed you'd normally think to use for designation stuff.

I've used the "freehand" mouse method to designate hidden sections of a vein to dig out before... one I got all but one tile of about 100, and on the other three (same map) I hit about 1/2 to 2/3 of the tiles by guessing where the vein was going.  On the bright side, the "extra" stone I dug out was useful as my stonecrafters and masons were running low on non-economic stones to use.

[Hans Lemurson]

Also if you're using the mouse, you can use your other hand to switch between 'd' and 'x' for erasing mistakes.

[Bronimin]

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