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[Nilik]

If you build a bridge or road out of rough stone, it will look different than if you build it out of blocks, at least with the Mike Mayday tileset. For this reason, my bridges and roads are always made from blocks. They're also a fantastic way to train new masons.

[Drawde]

Do you still need a certain value of roads for things to happen, like the king?  If so making roads out of blocks means you'd need fewer roads.

[Vhorthex]

Will a Stonecrafter use blocks to make crafts?

[Quietust]

Do you still need a certain value of roads for things to happen, like the king?

Yes.

Will a Stonecrafter use blocks to make crafts?

See below:

Blocks are more or less useless for anything but construction, as they cannot be used to make things.

[ledgekindred]

I generally let my masons sit and make blocks over and over and use them for all constructions.  Mainly to get rid of stone.  One trick is to make a larger room, put the mason's workshop in one corner and fill the rest of the room with a stone stockpile.  Then assign only one or two kinds of stone to that stockpile.  (i.e. granite, orthoclase, whatever)  Your mason will use the closest stone, so as long as you have a few dwarves keeping his stockpile full, he'll only ever use those stones.

I do this where I'll assign, say cobaltite, and my mason makes blue blocks.  Then assign to only orthoclase which I think I recall is yellow.  Olivine is green, etc.  Since only the right color stones are assigned, he'll only use those stones, so you don't wind up with a lot of extra white or grey blocks you might not actually want to use.  Then I can build colorful constructions out of blocks, which with the phoebus tile set also look nicer than rough constructions.   

Yeah I'm a little OCD about it but hey, my cobaltite-and-olivine barracks smooth floor with the cinnabar design in the middle looks fricken cool. 

[Crifmer]

I generally let my masons sit and make blocks over and over and use them for all constructions.  Mainly to get rid of stone.  One trick is to make a larger room, put the mason's workshop in one corner and fill the rest of the room with a stone stockpile.  Then assign only one or two kinds of stone to that stockpile.  (i.e. granite, orthoclase, whatever)  Your mason will use the closest stone, so as long as you have a few dwarves keeping his stockpile full, he'll only ever use those stones.

I do this where I'll assign, say cobaltite, and my mason makes blue blocks.  Then assign to only orthoclase which I think I recall is yellow.  Olivine is green, etc.  Since only the right color stones are assigned, he'll only use those stones, so you don't wind up with a lot of extra white or grey blocks you might not actually want to use.  Then I can build colorful constructions out of blocks, which with the phoebus tile set also look nicer than rough constructions.   

Yeah I'm a little OCD about it but hey, my cobaltite-and-olivine barracks smooth floor with the cinnabar design in the middle looks fricken cool.

Heh, I just did this with orthoclaise for my yellow brick road.

[Lord Darkstar]

I build ALL of my bridges out of blocks. The reason is simple--- all my dwarves crossing those bridges will get a happy thought about it. "Admired a finely made bridge". Since those go very early, they are a real boon for keeping up morale at new fortresses, before they have a chance to get great prepared foods or legendary dining halls.

[Quietust]

I build ALL of my bridges out of blocks. The reason is simple--- all my dwarves crossing those bridges will get a happy thought about it. "Admired a finely made bridge". Since those go very early, they are a real boon for keeping up morale at new fortresses, before they have a chance to get great prepared foods or legendary dining halls.

I don't think using stones versus blocks actually makes much of a difference in that case - it's the value of the architecture and masonry that has the biggest influence.

[slothen]

I just set some workshops so only masons with below level 5 skill make blocks, and set them on repeat.

[Dok Enkephalin]

That's what I do, good way to build mason skill and compact stone storage. Most the time I keep the workshops busy with tasks promoted over that, but if the queue runs out, there's still something for it to do.

[Auto Slaughter]

Heh, I just did this with orthoclaise for my yellow brick road.

I was just thinking about this the other day.  Did you have the forethought to rename your embark group something along the lines of "The Lollipop Guild"?

[Fredd]

Hey, whats wrong with a yellow brick road? Get the glass makers cranking out green glass blocks, for building, build a room outside the philosophers room, with really creepy constructions. If the dwarfs aren't disgusted by that, start making clothes with green dyed cloth. Then if there any insults, train a good military to react to any "Sissy" comments. Name the fort Oz, with a attitude, lol.

[Leonidas]

This thread got me to thinking about blocks and rocks, so I did some science.  It turns out that building with rocks takes three times longer than it does with blocks.  That's just building time, not hauling or clearing time.  I posted my results here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=67504.0

[darkflagrance]

The internet ate my original post. It was quite long, too.

a) If you designate a ton of constructions, your dwarves won't be able to reach them all simultaneously, meaning that there is a cap on how many effective builders you have at one time. Therefore, if you're building something that'll take years to complete, better to devote extra labor to making blocks and hauling them.

b) If you need to throw something up urgently, like a bridge to access water or a wall to keep out monsters, if rough rocks and blocks are equidistant, go with the blocks.

So blocks do have their purposes other than simply raising value and being coincidentally faster to build.

[Crifmer]

Wow... Guess I'll be designating a new mason to turn the jet stone into blocks so I can get the wall up quickly.  I read through the cited post with all the science, and the "total time involved plus hauling" argument is pedantic.  I want to limit the amount of time my masons spend outside in danger.  I don't care about how much time it takes overall... so I guess I'll be putting off the wall project a little longer for staging in safety.

And the grand entrance/stairway of the apartment building will be all green glass.  The next fortress will be the emerald city.