Print

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

[Nekudotayim]

Hey everyone,

I am new to this game, watched tons of tutorials and now my very first fortress is becoming a capitol. :-)

So I am planning to do some mega project work on this cap. It is basically a giant kind of pyramid made entirely of obsidian/orthoclase blocks with glass windows at the inner side of the walls (shiny decoration) and some self made engravings at the outside wall by placing some stones here and there, so that the pumped magma will have a path to follow and this will result in some kind of image then. However before I start this, I have some questions, which answers I cannot find in the wiki.

1. When I pump magma from the depths of hell, which seems to be infinite magma (from the edge of map) to the top of this pyramid/tower, it will get pressured by using pumps, meaning, this should be the armageddon for the entire world, shouldn't it?

2. If magma touches natural stone/mountains made of non-magma-safe material, will they melt away? Meaning, will almost everything on my local map melt away?

3. 9 years after settlement on this site, my dwarves noticed, that there is no flux stone and no sand. In order to encrust the bolts for better damage, I liked to make cut glass. If I use an atom smasher to smash a bag of sand, the sand will spread on the ground. On a tutorial video of an older version of DF, that guy said, that a floor covered with sand, will never ever become empty, meaning you will have infinite source of sand. Is this a way to get the large amount of sand I need? Does this work?

4. The entrance of this fortress will be a long road build at some higher level. It will mainly consist of draw bridges, which I can raise, if invaders are on them, so that they will fall into the magma. In case of an attack of a magma safe creature, I am planning to be able to fill this self-made magma sea with water. Will this kill the creature or will it get back to life, when I dig away the obsidian tile on it?

Hm... I think that's all for now. :-)

Thanks in advance!

[ZetaX]

1. When I pump magma from the depths of hell, which seems to be infinite magma (from the edge of map) to the top of this pyramid/tower, it will get pressured by using pumps, meaning, this should be the armageddon for the entire world, shouldn't it?

Theoretically yes. Practically, no. The game just lets it vanish at the edged, so if you embarke at a neighbouring square, there will be no magma. But it's the end of the world "we" know, as in: the whole rendered surface (your embark rectangle).

2. If magma touches natural stone/mountains made of non-magma-safe material, will they melt away? Meaning, will almost everything on my local map melt away?

No, natural stone and constructions (from b-C) are completely immune to any damage from heat. They are immune to almost all other things, too (dwarfs and cave-ins being the only exceptions).

3. 9 years after settlement on this site, my dwarves noticed, that there is no flux stone and no sand. In order to encrust the bolts for better damage, I liked to make cut glass. If I use an atom smasher to smash a bag of sand, the sand will spread on the ground. On a tutorial video of an older version of DF, that guy said, that a floor covered with sand, will never ever become empty, meaning you will have infinite source of sand. Is this a way to get the large amount of sand I need? Does this work?

I have not tried that mathod, but if it produces more than one sand (like in: two), it will produce infinite amounts of it.
Another way to get sand (one I've tried myself): If heat-dried (beast fire, or magma), the original muddy cavern floors get sand floors. But the sand (or mud) vanish forever if you dare to build something over it, so beware.

4. The entrance of this fortress will be a long road build at some higher level. It will mainly consist of draw bridges, which I can raise, if invaders are on them, so that they will fall into the magma. In case of an attack of a magma safe creature, I am planning to be able to fill this self-made magma sea with water. Will this kill the creature or will it get back to life, when I dig away the obsidian tile on it?

Encasing in obsidian is one of the few things that are guaranteed to kill everything (others are encasing in ice and cave-ins directly on their head).

[Girlinhat]

I've never heard of glass encrusting to provide additional damage.  Is there any proof to this?

Also, route the magma back to the magma sea, let it refill itself.  The same is done with water when use cavern pools and rivers.  The cool thing about this is that you just let it fall, plummeting down back to the depths of the sea, or route it through your fort wherever you want!

[Nekudotayim]

Thanks for the quick replies.

1. When I pump magma from the depths of hell, which seems to be infinite magma (from the edge of map) to the top of this pyramid/tower, it will get pressured by using pumps, meaning, this should be the armageddon for the entire world, shouldn't it?

Theoretically yes. Practically, no. The game just lets it vanish at the edged, so if you embarke at a neighbouring square, there will be no magma. But it's the end of the world "we" know, as in: the whole rendered surface (your embark rectangle).

What a bummer! No Armageddon Tower then...

3. 9 years after settlement on this site, my dwarves noticed, that there is no flux stone and no sand. In order to encrust the bolts for better damage, I liked to make cut glass. If I use an atom smasher to smash a bag of sand, the sand will spread on the ground. On a tutorial video of an older version of DF, that guy said, that a floor covered with sand, will never ever become empty, meaning you will have infinite source of sand. Is this a way to get the large amount of sand I need? Does this work?

I have not tried that mathod, but if it produces more than one sand (like in: two), it will produce infinite amounts of it.
Another way to get sand (one I've tried myself): If heat-dried (beast fire, or magma), the original muddy cavern floors get sand floors. But the sand (or mud) vanish forever if you dare to build something over it, so beware.

Thanks for this tip! I think I am going to get my sand this way. Does it work only with original muddy cavern floors or on self made ones too?

I've never heard of glass encrusting to provide additional damage.  Is there any proof to this?

Also, route the magma back to the magma sea, let it refill itself.  The same is done with water when use cavern pools and rivers.  The cool thing about this is that you just let it fall, plummeting down back to the depths of the sea, or route it through your fort wherever you want!

Isn't the quality modifier part of the damage calculations?

[ZetaX]

Only original muddy cavern floors work.

[Girlinhat]

No, damage is based on weight, edge, and strength.  Steel has an enormous edge, and low weight, which means a steel axe can be swung quickly.  On the other hand, a steel hammer is light, so you can swing it fast and hit like a squeaky hammer.  Blunt and projectile weapons work according to higher weight, while piercing and slashing works according to lower weight, and armor works according to tensile and impact strength.  To put it simply, steel is better for making an axe, but a steel hammer is worthless in combat.  A silver hammer will do a lot of damage, as it becomes a wrecking ball, but a silver spear is just a heavy stick.

So, for projectile weapons, heavier is better.  Blood Thorn is the heaviest tree available, and is preferred for cheaper ballista/crossbow ammo, silver is the best of the commonly available metals because of its density, although platinum is denser, yet not able for weapons unless you mod things or get a Strange Mood.  Decorations have zero impact on combat performance, while the difference in - + * ≡ ☼ qualities are in debate.  In 40d, they were confirmed to give a combat bonus of 1-3 skill's worth, but there's been no conclusive evidence for DF2010

[Nekudotayim]

Thanks again.

There is something else bothering me, I almost forgot here... My entire fortress, mainly cloth stockpiles (finished goods -> armor, leggings etc.) and any kind of bedrooms are covered with clothes, which are being owned by some dwarves. I am not able to get rid of them. Dumping doesn't work. I guess it's because of the fact, that someone owns this object. There is no possibility to move them, except I build something on them. Then they will be moved away from the construction side. The only thing, that works, is hiding them. Same counts for enemy corpses outside of my fortress. They stay there forever and aren't rotting away.

@Girlinhat

That's strange. So there is no need for the possibility to encrust bolts then.

[ZetaX]

You could atomsmash those owned items, but that's a lot of work. They should put it in their room or chest or cabinet eventually if they have their own room with these things. On the corpses: Did you unforbid (d->b->c) them¿ And did you turn "gather refuse from outside" (o->r->o) on¿ Both would stop them to gather the bodys.

[Nekudotayim]

Yep, they all have their own rooms but once such clothes are being dropped elsewhere, they will never ever move them again. Why are they dropping their clothes anyways? Too much beer and whine? :-)

"Gather refuse from outside" is turned off by default. I see.

[Girlinhat]

Dorfs will store their owned things in cabinets if available in their bedroom.  Popping out a dozen rock cabinets its usually very easy too.  Chests are currently only used by the hospital.  Chests are supposed to be used by dwarves to store their owned finished goods and coins, but Dwarven Economy is edited out of DF2010, so they don't do this right now.  Chests just store hospital stocks (sometimes) and fulfill noble demands.  It adds room value to common bedrooms to have a chest, but not enough to bother with.

And that's correct, adding decorations is purely value-based.  Granted, a stack of steel bolts studded with platinum will sell for a LOT of dwarfbucks, but aside from that there's no real reason to encrust ammo.  Well, you can train a gem setter or metal studder or something, but that's about it.  So unless you're selling weapons and armor, or you're using a custom "armor display" like I am, there's no advantage to decorating soldier equipment.  That is, unless you just want to look FABULOUS~

[Nekudotayim]

I will give them cabinets then. Hopefully this will clean up the mess.

Maybe they could enhance the combat system causing positive moods.

"He got happy by watching a shiny and beautiful bolt penetrating through [enemy name]'s [bodypart], while he lost his left arm by a Goblin Axeman lately."

[Girlinhat]

Lol, if only, but no, weapons and armor don't give moods

[ZetaX]

... was decapitated by a wonderfull ☼<☼giant axe blade☼>☼ lately.

[Girlinhat]

... was decapitated by a wonderfull ☼<☼giant axe blade☼>☼ lately.

I snickered...

[Fredd]

actually, i have seen dwarves put rations in coffers, when I unassign a couple from the basic training squad, and move then to a combat squad. Least the coffers prevent miasma, from them just dropping rations on their rooms floor