Print

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

[MantisMan]

First thought: "Magma Crabs? wtf?"

Second thought: "How much Adamantine can I safely mine?"

Third thought: "Now to set up a magma smelting industry to get rid of all this useless gold and tin!"

How should I best accomplish this? The sea is around 150 z-levels under most of my fortress. I didn't dig very deep. I swear, next time I'll try to make a vertical cylinder fort. What are the respective pros and cons of making a big magma pump stack? Which method of using magma forges would you recommend?

What I'm doing now is I'm hollowing out a stockpile area for the metal and crafts, with the smelters on the level below to cut down on all the digging cancellation messages. I plan to set up a couple of beds and put a moderate-sized stockpile of both food and booze. Am I missing anything here, other than both my legendary blacksmiths who are currently in the hospital after a siege? I'm sure I've got an armourer and possibly a weaponsmith hanging around.

[Eoganachta]

Build your forges directly over the sea or drain a little off the the side. You can also build a magam proof pump stack to get the stuff to the surface or by using the 'piston'. Check the wiki or search the forums for more details

[Dorf3000]

Hauling will be your biggest problem if you set up smelting down by the magma.  All those ores will need to be taken either by haulers or by furnace operators, and you probably can't put in a wide staircase without opening up the caverns.  Then you'll need to store the bars down there, so they can be turned into useful things at the forge, and those things will then need to be hauled all the way back up.  If you've got lots of idlers normally then this is the best method.

Pumping is better if you plan to do something interesting with magma at or near the surface, although you can still set up your forges at the sea and make the pump later if you want to do that.  You'll probably need to do that anyway to make enough magma-safe pipes and screws, and it's tricky to find an unbroken column of rock that goes through all 3 caverns.  You need at least 5x6 for the pump itself, the stairs to access it and the surrounding walls.  It's a lot more satisfying though, when you finally get rid of that seige with a wave of magma.

[Dutchling]

Or try this:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=59894.0

[JimboOmega]

Hauling will be your biggest problem if you set up smelting down by the magma.  All those ores will need to be taken either by haulers or by furnace operators, and you probably can't put in a wide staircase without opening up the caverns.  Then you'll need to store the bars down there, so they can be turned into useful things at the forge, and those things will then need to be hauled all the way back up.  If you've got lots of idlers normally then this is the best method.

Pumping is better if you plan to do something interesting with magma at or near the surface, although you can still set up your forges at the sea and make the pump later if you want to do that.  You'll probably need to do that anyway to make enough magma-safe pipes and screws, and it's tricky to find an unbroken column of rock that goes through all 3 caverns.  You need at least 5x6 for the pump itself, the stairs to access it and the surrounding walls.  It's a lot more satisfying though, when you finally get rid of that seige with a wave of magma.

If you go through the cavern, build some walls.  Problem solved.

[Nameless Archon]

If you go through the cavern, build some walls.  Problem solved.

Mostly. the other thing you have an issue with is hauling, as moving ore down to the smelters is time-consuming.

To avoid this, build a chute that leads straight to the bottom of your fort. Dump all interesting stone/metal/bones/whatever into this chute, and reclaim it at the bottom. Presto - your haulers move 10-15 steps, and the rock moves itself the 30+ steps to the bottom of the fort, where it's in position for your reclaiming smelters/masons/crafters once you reclaim it.

This doesn't solve getting the finished products back to the surface, but you'll cut your hauling jobs in half (or more) depending on how you arrange stockpiles at the bottom of the chute.

[Triaxx2]

Of course you could exploit the fact that manufactured items float, by running water over your stockpile to a water lift. Use a repeating initiator to cause it to seal off, flood to the top, then close grates and drain the water back out. Then your dwarves at the top can take the stuff to a closer stockpile. Will occasionally kill your FPS, but takes less effort than sending dozens of dwarves charging up and down the stairs.

Plus it's better dwarfineering.

[GamerKnight]

First, flood the caverns with magma. This mudt be done. Then drain it, and mine anything useful, including obsidian created. Then convert the caverns into ready-made housing and magma forges.