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[GoldenShadow]

I decided to build everything as masterpieces, aside from bins, large pots and barrels.  What I do is focus on one item type as time.   I have two large stockpiles for a single item type(like beds)  In the left one, I set it to accept only quality less than masterpiece. In the right side, I set it to masterpiece only. I let my highly skilled worker go do his business and my haulers sort out all of the junk from the masterpieces.  I have a atom smasher close by and when the junk pile gets full, I designate it to be dumped. Then When the masterpiece pile is done, I pause production and remove all the bedrooms. They too get sorted into the 2 piles and I designate dump on the junk pile again. At this time, I only should have masterpiece beds left. I have my haulers put them all back in the rooms.

I am doing this for just about everything. Mason, crafts, carpentry, mechanisms.

I am training my architech right now. I turn off the mason labors on everyone(so nobody actually builds them after they are designed) and lay out hundreds of archery ranges to be built. The architech goes and designs them all, then I remove them. It seems to train architects really quickly without using up any hauling labor until you remove them all and the haulers pick up all the stones.

Question. Can an architect design a masterpiece? How to tell if a building, like a well, has a masterwork design?

I'm playing with invaders off, moods off, 20 pop cap and uncapped fps, so things get done pretty fast without issue. I plan on turning them back to normal once I get settled.

So is there any advantage to doing this or is it a waste of time?

[NecroRebel]

Architects can design masterpieces; you'll get a message saying "Urist McArchitect has designed a masterpiece!" when they do such a thing. Buildings can also be masterfully constructed (which is totally separate from the design's quality), which makes a message that says "Urist McMason has constructed a masterpiece!" I don't believe there's a way to tell the building's design or construction quality after it's built, however.

The only advantage to this would be the happy thoughts your dwarves will get from seeing and owning high-value furniture.

[BackgroundGuy]

It is in fact a colossal waste of time and effort, but if you feel better for doing it, go ahead.  Afaik, good thoughts are generated based on the value of the object.  So a finely made gold statue is still more good-thought conductive than than a masterwork granite statue.  As for discerning whether or not a designed object is masterwork, I believe it gives you a message upon completion.
Ninja'd

[GoldenShadow]

Thanks for the tip about the base value of the material.  I will switch to high value metal parts and melt down non masterpiece parts instead of dumping them.  hahaha

[ZeroSumHappiness]

Are you going to go for masterwork floor engravings as well?

(I don't know if you can scum out the walls unless you cast obsidian for them.

[Tirion]

It does, in fact, make sense to do this with weapons and armor. Good luck getting enough metal for that- goblins will bring copper and iron, but no flux or tin.

[GoldenShadow]

My problem is that I don't have any iron and very sparse trees, and no coal. But Tons of Flux! I don't think I will be having steel in this fortress. I have tons of tetrahedrite and galena, as well as some gold nuggets. I do have a huge pile of raw adamantine mined and stockpiled too.

The only good news is when I broke into the 3rd cavern, I quickly walled off the outer perimeter so I could use it as a tree farm. Nothing but bloody thorn trees grow there. Its truly epic how much wood I have all of a sudden, and they replenish so fast.

[Starver]

Ninjaed?

It does, in fact, make sense to do this with weapons and armor. Good luck getting enough metal for that- goblins will bring copper and iron, but no flux or tin.

Currently, OP has the Invaders=Off, so no goblinite.

Personally, I'm OCD about same-quality items in a related set of constructions/buildings/whatever.  Always blocks for permanent walls (even though they could be raw stone) and if I've got a set of bridges (all of the same stone-typed block) and a set of levers (all of the same stone-typed lever, and of the same quality), I link them all with a further set of mechanisms that are again all of the same base material type (usually related to bridge or lever, which are to each other, but not necessarily as long as it is logical) and quality to each other.

Colossal waste of time, indeed, but it's a self-imposed aim of the game and quite a lot of the more interesting fortresses are derived from similar self-determined aims.  I wouldn't condemn it.  Indeed, I equipped my (eventually Count) appointed noble's quarters with masterwork lead chests/chairs/tables/etc, even though it would have been simpler to have taken all the not-quite-masterwork stuff made while getting that stock together and just stuffing the room full of it.  (Or, indeed, high-quality engraving images on all the walls and floors, but I don't really like going beyond smoothing at all.)

[Quietust]

I don't believe there's a way to tell the building's design or construction quality after it's built, however.

There most definitely is a way to view this - view the [R]ooms list and find the building in question, and it'll indicate both the design quality and the construction quality (as well as who did the design and construction). I'm pretty sure this has been in the game since forever - I recall being able to view this even in the old 2D versions.

[Jelle]

Sounds about what I sometimes do when I don't have anything else planned at the time, except I also keep the exceptional stuff. All the rest goes in a lower quality stockpile that takes all goods next to a trade depot or garbage chute into semi molten rock.

I have never heard of a room list, will have to check that out.

[Urist Imiknorris]

I have never heard of a room list, will have to check that out.

R.

[Zorromorph]

It is in fact a colossal waste of time and effort

In other words, it is epicly dwarven and no other approach is even worth considering! 

[nightwhips]

It is in fact a colossal waste of time and effort

In other words, it is epicly dwarven and no other approach is even worth considering! 

YES!

Also, I feel somewhat disappointed to hear that only value matters to dwarves, over quality. Though I do realize that base value is modified by quality, so it's factored in.

[GoldenShadow]

Trying to make masterpiece armor. I am building them one at a time using the manager screen. I get mostly duds. 8/10 battleaxes and 10/10 short swords made from adamtine were not masterpiece, even though the weaponsmith is Legendary+5(all my metalworkers are 15+5)

Of course, they all go in seperate piles based on quality. When I made a pair of gauntlets, funny thing happened. I only ordered one pair made. This includes a left and right handed version. The weird thing is only the right hand is a masterpiece and the left hand was only exceptional, so they got put in seperate piles. Now I'm worried that I might end up with more right or left handed masterpiece products(gloves and boots) after I'm all done.

[khearn]

Sometimes, life just sucks that way. The good news is that it should be self-correcting. The guys with one masterwork and one lesser gauntlet are more likely to get the hand chopped off with the lower quality gauntlet. Then they'll be back to wearing all masterwork armor. Problem solved.