Print

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

[BlueeulB]

Hello everyone, yet again, I am back with another newbie question.

So, I see that a lot of people decide to make their forts in mountains but from what I can tell there just seems to be a large mess of stone all the time and it would make building stockpiles annoying since the rock would occupy the stockpile spot. Does this happen or am I just stupid? :3

[Mushroo]

You can clean up all those rocks lying around by:

1. Make a one-tile garbage dump someplace by pressing i, enter, enter, g
2. Press d, b, d and highlight all the rocks you want to dump

[wrajjt]

A quantum stone stockpile will solve all your needs! 

Basicly, you designate a single tile somewhere in your fortress, preferably near your mason/craft workshop, a garbage dump. I think it's i-g for this. Then use d-b-d and mark all the stone you want removed. Your dwarves will gather all of that stone in the single tile where your garbage dump is. Then use d-b-D (i think) to reclaim the stones and make them usable for crafting etc.

[BlueeulB]

I knew about stuff like the quantum stockpile but the problem I have with them is that it distracts dwarves from doing meaningful tasks and it would become a problem at higher mining levels. :c

[JAFANZ]

turn of (iirc) refuse hauling on those dorfs you don't want carting crap to the dump.

[Dutchling]

You can also hide and forbid them in the same menu. This will make it like they are not there at all (allthough they might block stuff so you'd want to unhide them than)

[ral]

Hopefully you are using Dwarf Therapist.

For important craftsmen I just disable all of the hauling and cleaning labors on them so they won't waste their time hauling. For some semi-important ones I disable only refuse hauling, stone hauling, and cleaning.

[obeliab]

Turn hauling off for your Miners.

[Nidokoenig]

You could also use multiple quantum stockpiles throughout your fort and hope your dorfs always use the closest ones. This will reduce cleaning up time upfront, and you can transfer them to the stoneworking areas during quieter times.

[wuphonsreach]

I have a few strategies for stone management (and I do large-scale mass dumps).

- As much as possible, I run only a single quantum stockpile at any point.  And it's only 2-3 tiles away from my main staircase, and either at the very top or bottom of the fortress.  Usually at the bottom of the main stairs because that puts any scooped up raw ore closer to the magma smelters.

- Keep your mason workshops, stonecraft workshops and mechanic workshops *far* away from the location of the stockpile.  If the stockpile is too close, then you'll have them grabbing stone from the dump pile after you do a d-b-c reclaim.  So my workshops tend to be at the top with the quantum stockpile at the bottom of the overall design.

- Right outside my mason, stonecraft and mechanic shops, I create small 2x3 and 3x3 stockpiles of the types of stone that I want to be used for those crafts.  I keep these workshops away from the other types as well.  Since the workshops are 10-20 tiles away from the quantum dump zone, the workers will pull from the smaller stone stockpiles right outside the shops.  If I have 3 mason shops in a row, I'll have 3-5 small stockpiles feeding them (total of 15-30 tiles total).  Those are basically my only permanent non-economic stone stockpiles.  The stone haulers keep them filled, and the mechanics / masons / stonecrafters only walk a few tiles to fetch stone to make stuff.

- If I'm getting ready to do large-scale wall / floor building, I will create temporary stockpiles of up to 50 tiles worth of the desired stone type.  Once the stockpile fills up, I'll start construction.  Even for smaller construction projects, small 3x3 or 3x5 stockpiles let the masons construct walls / floors faster.

- Down by the smelters, I will create narrow 1x11 strips of the various ore types (Limonite, Magnetite, Tetra, Native Gold, etc.).  Again, the stone haulers will keep them filled and my furnace operators won't go wandering all over the fortress (or 50+ tiles back up from the magma) to get raw materials.  Don't forget a 3x11 stone stockpile that takes the 5 flux stone if you're doing steel.

If the fort is compact (keep within a 40x40x40 cube, don't sprawl) and the quantum dump is in the middle then it doesn't take all that long to clear the entire fort of loose rock / ore.  With nothing more then 15-18 tiles away from the main stairs, moving things around goes *fast* and my stone / refuse haulers end up idle a lot by the 2nd/3rd year.

[varangian]

I've tried using quantum dumping and stone stockpiles to clear areas and although they work the former involves lots of designating stuff to be dumped and can get tedious when there's ore etc. mixed in with the rocks that you want to keep hold of. So my current strategy, which is working out pretty well, is to build multiple mason's workshops and get a manager working asap. Create stockpiles in handy locations (one on the surface to start with) that take only stone blocks and then use the manager to start mass producing stone blocks. Since these, unlike boulders, can go into bins large quantities can be stored in a small stockpile.

Combined with the usual needs for furniture, doors and crafts enormous amounts of stone can be cleared very quickly and you get master masons in no time at all.The only constraint is that you need to mine out areas progressively, if you create too many rooms in one go then dwarven perversity guarantees that the one you want cleared out first is absolutely the last place they'll pick stones from. Then I use the blocks to create walls, towers etc. for the surface defences and any other structures I need. I don't know whether the dwarves find these better than those made out of rough boulders but I find it aesthetically more pleasing. I've created the working/dining/sleeping levels this way for 220 dwarves and only resorted to dumping boulders a couple of times.

[AdeleneDawner]

I've tried using quantum dumping and stone stockpiles to clear areas and although they work the former involves lots of designating stuff to be dumped and can get tedious when there's ore etc. mixed in with the rocks that you want to keep hold of.

[z] > stocks brings up a list of everything that your fort owns, with notes on what's forbidden, set for dumping, etc. So you can [d][b ][d] a section of stones, and then go into your stocks menu, scroll down to 'stone', and un-dump-designate the ores and things that you don't want inaccessable.

Also, you can use that menu to selectively un-forbid certain stone types when everything is in a quantum stockpile, so you have clean floors *and* access to your ores, and more control over what stones are used for furniture and crafts as a bonus. The downside is that you do have to wait for things to get dumped, this way. (Setting up stone stockpiles and letting those get filled up with enough stone/ores to last through the dumping process before you start mass-dumping things will help.)

I don't know whether the dwarves find these better than those made out of rough boulders but I find it aesthetically more pleasing.

They're more valuable. I don't think the dwarves actually care about the value of things other than their rooms, the dining room, and statues and stuff that they get thoughts for admiring, but it'll affect how serious the goblins are about attacking you and how soon you get to become a barony, and things like that.

[Reelyanoob]

A quantum stone stockpile will solve all your needs! 

Basicly, you designate a single tile somewhere in your fortress, preferably near your mason/craft workshop, a garbage dump. I think it's i-g for this. Then use d-b-d and mark all the stone you want removed. Your dwarves will gather all of that stone in the single tile where your garbage dump is. Then use d-b-D (i think) to reclaim the stones and make them usable for crafting etc.

d-b-D is to erase the dump flag on yet-to-be-dumped items, which cancels the dumping, and is useful if you have flagged a whole lot of dumping, but it overwhelms your haulers or a trade caravan comes in etc. Once items are dumped, they lose the dump flag but gain the forbid flag. d-b-c in the garbage zone to reclaim the items. BTW, your garbage dump can be inside an atom-smasher, unlike a stockpile.

I usually make any garbage dumps on the central stairs, so the stuff is central/easier to haul away later, and it removes the chance of a garbage dump many z-levels away being technically closer (plus easier to know where to find them to delete the zone)

I try never to leave old garbage dumps active because of said ridicuolous pathing.

[wuphonsreach]

I've tried using quantum dumping and stone stockpiles to clear areas and although they work the former involves lots of designating stuff to be dumped and can get tedious when there's ore etc. mixed in with the rocks that you want to keep hold of.

If I have stone laying around, where I'm about to put down a stockpile that won't be used to hold said stone type, then I always do a d-b-d mass dump on the tiles where I'm about to put down the stockpile.  The refuse haulers cart the junk away and simultaneously free up locations on the stockpile to hold the stuff that I want stored there.

Also, I always put my main garbage dump zone behind a set of doors, just in case something starts to rot.  So it looks like [stairs] - [door] - [garbage zone] - [door] - [corridor].