Hey, another newb with a related question. (Oh gosh I have so many questions, but I guess I can start here.)
My Miner dwarf is possessed (I hate the possessed ones) and wants
bones...yes
bars...metal
cloth...thread
tree...life
stone... rock
When I press Q and mouse over the Mason shop where the dwarf has holed up, it seems to always start with the bones line, so I assume that's the 'base' request? I saved the game several hours ago and no longer recall if she went and got any materials yet. There are two refuse piles outside with bajillions of Cow Moose bones (14) and Deer bone (16) and the like, so wouldn't she be able to get as many bones as she wants? I'm not skilled enough to know how to make a hunter go find a specific type of animal to kill and bring back and hope she gets bones out of the butcher shop.
I thought I was short on cloth, so I did the edit-plant-fibers-with-yarn thing but I guess that wasn't the issue? Also I checked my Z>stocks menu and it says I have
cloth 9 (white) 200 (red)
giant cave spider silk cloth (42)
sheep wool cloth (13)
llama wool cloth (19)
alpaca wool cloth (28)
cave spider silk cloth (38)
pig tail fiber cloth (69)
So, shouldn't that be enough to choose from? Also next to my loom I have stockpiles of pig tail fiber cloth (and sometimes the name has parentheses or other symbols next to the name, gotta figure out what that means).
I don't understand the metal bars line.
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Bar and
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Metal make me think I need to have a bar of a 'pure metal' and not off the 'alloy' chart? Z>stocks>bars says
nickel bars
bronze bars (3)
coke (10)
My smelter only has white options of hematite, cassiterite, tetrahedrite, magnetite, bronze bar (use ore), billon bar (use ore), fine pewter bar (ore), trifle pewter bar (ore). So, I can't make a pure metal bar? Even though I have 'nickel bars' in my inventory (although I have no idea how to find where in my fort they are?), that... doesn't work? Or it does work, but she still spouts the full list of what she wants until she has everything?
I JUST lost a really high-lvl dwarf because he went insane and I locked him in a room till he died, and this dwarf has a child so I feel REALLY bad about thinking about doing the same to her... but omg I'm so confused ;_;. I have buckets of chopped-from-trees wood in the room right next to her, and of course stone is evvvvverywhere... so I feel like I'm close to saving her! Help me please? ;_;