Why shudder at that? We have unlimited containerless storage. Go down or build up. Unless the player's world is prespec'd for a shallow magma pool, I cannot see this causing one goose bump, much less two. I guess it was a point worth raising prior to this release. *shrug* Containerless worlds would be a possible fix. At least for the interim, until the caravan patch.
Aachen, I just now saw your previous response up in there. I am sorry I didn't respond earlier, Aachen. Completely missed it. Bowyers are misrepresented, indeed. As is the its tradesmen, fletcher. As far as siege equipment, ya can't have a fortress game without them. Just to me, the ammo for a ballista is close enough to bowyer to be placed in there, lock stock and barrel. We don't need a whole workplace for siege engines, they are just machinery, like a windmill. If they were mobile I would say, different. As for range, I'm against the two having the same. An arrow flys true. A ball of rock? Not so true. Splash damage of rock, now that is different.
ID'ing gems would aid in level randomization. As things are now, the predictability is rather obvious to the player, as to which level has which gem, after 10% of a level is discovered, what gems might be in the rest of the level, stands out like a sore thumb. Nothing new would I do. ID'ing, like other crafts would be slow and sloopy at low levels. Sloopy as in illiterate and unreferenced. I fail to see the train up as boring, but rather exciting. This could be our differences in playstyles between you and me, however.
I'm not interested in racing through a game, so I'd enjoy the level up, and the possible outcomes. When I have a dozen or so legendary dwarfs strutting my halls, I sorta wanna restart. As for cutting gemstones requiring magma. Yes sir. Gems would be a pinnacle craft, not a sideshow craft, like it is now. Taking backseat to glassware and fabric. I think of dwarfs as tinkers and hoarders. Hoarders of gems. So, yup. Bollocks. As for setting gems, that'd go into the Decorations station and be a simple task, since well, we could buy them out of Depot, or pick them up on the battlefield out of the gums of the dead. Or even extricate them from already bedazzled setups. That only requires a hammer. In a modified melt way, the code of sorts, could include the destruction of precious things.
And your dislike of the term, Factory, is one we both share. I'm all about just increasing the size of an already built station, as to generating a wholely new eyesore in the already cluttered ingloriously filled sub menus. b-upgrade to bulk
What did you think of my suggestion to expand the kitchen and other stations that thwart 3x3 travel, as a result of their unspecified, walled edges? The dwarfs can't pass that barrel in the kitchen, so its layout should be 5x5, not 3x3, to start with. Any thoughts on that?
Sincerely,
Knutor
edit. spelling error