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Author Topic: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.  (Read 11729 times)

Kc_spot

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Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« on: November 25, 2011, 02:14:01 pm »

I trailed off the boards there for a while.

found out the tough way that 31.25 came out.

So i'm trying to get back in the game. The following is my fort to make a comeback. Yes, i'm using the LNP. No, I don't feel shame.

I've just decided to upload it to the DF map archive. here's the link: http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-10822-pointedlantern

As you can see it's a pretty good  embark! Gems visable in nearby walls. And some hills to dig into.

I have a dormitory/future barracks on the first floor as well as a large plump helmet farm and a trade depot indoors.

On the next level down I have my workshops. I'm trying to expand them as you can see. I don't have a metalworker shop up yet as i dont have a metalworker. that's gonna change.

next level is my stockpile. I DEFINITIVELY am going to have more stockpiles. but for now one general stockpile is all I need. I don't want a stone stockpile because that's just a practice in tedium. Probably going to use the dump black hole trick if it com es down to it.

next level is my office floor. that's really all i plan to use it for for now.

and then the bedroom floor where all my dwarfs will crash for sleep. I have to say: DAAAAYUUMMM I have enough limestone and coal down there to have a pig iron party!

Also I never knew badgers can be so aggro. seems my fort is in their migratory path. one of them became enraged and killed a rooster! another chased a dwarf into my fort a little stopping around the depot. he was unharmed luckily.

So what do you people think? I'd like some comments on mt bedroom design and just suggestions overall.
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Yours is the fort that will pierce the hells!

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DS

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2011, 02:28:27 pm »

Not bad for early summer. A few things I noticed at first glance:

It appears that you use alternating up and down stairs for your stairwells, instead of using a 2x2 square of up/down stairs, which would accomplish the same thing with twice the travel space (traffic, of course, becomes an issue once you start getting up in population). It's not a humongous issue, but one you may want to consider.

It's only the first year, so you don't have to worry about invaders (except for badgers, which are pretty fearsome). However, even this early you should start thinking about some kind of long-term defense. Right now you've just got a walkway leading right into the heart of the fortress, which could become a serious problem if a pack of giant badgers happens to show up.

It's good that you're already working on bedrooms - I tend to wait until the last necessary moment to dig out rooms for my dwarves, which occasionally comes back to bite me. It's an ok layout (we've all done some variation of it at some point or another), but if this is a bedroom layout you've done before (or do regularly), I'd recommend taking a look at the housing plans on the wiki for some fresh ideas. Even if you don't like any of them, some external influence is almost always a good thing for your plans.
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acetech09

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2011, 02:36:34 pm »

I can barely understand your texture pack, but I can comment on DS' post and what I do see:

Digging rooms is a nice step, but I wouldn't let that distract you from other early fortress survival, though. I've gone with a legendary dormitory until about 40 dwarves and a efficient core industry and then started carving out rooms.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2011, 02:59:09 pm »

Meh, the only time's I've ever used a stone stockpile were times where stone was mixed with goods and I couldn't be bothered to sort them, or when I just felt lazy and wanted dwarves to bring stone to a neat room before I massed dumped.

Biag

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2011, 03:05:30 pm »

It appears that you use alternating up and down stairs for your stairwells, instead of using a 2x2 square of up/down stairs, which would accomplish the same thing with twice the travel space (traffic, of course, becomes an issue once you start getting up in population). It's not a humongous issue, but one you may want to consider.

The separate up and down stairs are safer, though. Dwarves are prone to falling down the up/downs, and if you have a deep central shaft that can be both inconvenient and extremely deadly.

Also, supposedly stairs drain more FPS than digging a spiral ramp. I don't know if that's actually true, though.
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Kc_spot

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2011, 03:06:40 pm »

the texture pack is mayday.

I'm thinking about using the z-level below as my stone source and i'm debating when to dig to the caverns below. probably after 2 waves of migrants... i'm not sure.

also does anyone have this problem? I start up my comp and go to DF and i have a good 30 to 20 fps. i leave it alone for a spell, maybe 3 minutes and it hits 0. rain doesn't' cause it cuz i've operated @ 30 fps THAT DAY.

also i just feel i'm missing something like another room with some kind of function... i just can't put my finger on it.
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Oh look, A DF blog.

This is a goblin skull loo. all craftdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encrusted with troll teeth.

Kc_spot

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2011, 03:07:59 pm »

It appears that you use alternating up and down stairs for your stairwells, instead of using a 2x2 square of up/down stairs, which would accomplish the same thing with twice the travel space (traffic, of course, becomes an issue once you start getting up in population). It's not a humongous issue, but one you may want to consider.

The separate up and down stairs are safer, though. Dwarves are prone to falling down the up/downs, and if you have a deep central shaft that can be both inconvenient and extremely deadly.

Also, supposedly stairs drain more FPS than digging a spiral ramp. I don't know if that's actually true, though.

This. I wanted to stop the "i WARNED you about the stirs bro! i TOLD you dog!" scenario.
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Yours is the fort that will pierce the hells!

Oh look, A DF blog.

This is a goblin skull loo. all craftdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encrusted with troll teeth.

Psieye

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2011, 04:20:31 pm »

It appears that you use alternating up and down stairs for your stairwells, instead of using a 2x2 square of up/down stairs, which would accomplish the same thing with twice the travel space (traffic, of course, becomes an issue once you start getting up in population). It's not a humongous issue, but one you may want to consider.

The separate up and down stairs are safer, though. Dwarves are prone to falling down the up/downs, and if you have a deep central shaft that can be both inconvenient and extremely deadly.

Also, supposedly stairs drain more FPS than digging a spiral ramp. I don't know if that's actually true, though.

This. I wanted to stop the "i WARNED you about the stirs bro! i TOLD you dog!" scenario.
I'd have used a ramp instead, but this works too. It's a stylistic thing.

Anyway hmm, I suppose at a quick glance you may want to add on a barracks or a dining hall some point soon.
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Delta Foxtrot

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2011, 04:26:15 pm »

Don't forget to set up a guard animal to your entrance. They may be a petty annoyance, but I'd rather have the kobolds stab a cuddly little animal and run than have them steal a silver battleaxe successfully (and be reminded about it by my engravers for years to come). Bonus points if the guard animal is dog or bigger so that it might actually survive a dagger strike and get a cool scar. And I'd rather lose any single animal than a high master *insert useful profession* because a kobolt was able to sneak inside the fort and sic a dagger through his throat.

Oh, and more farms. It's not priority #1, but more variety won't hurt.
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DS

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2011, 04:32:28 pm »

It appears that you use alternating up and down stairs for your stairwells, instead of using a 2x2 square of up/down stairs, which would accomplish the same thing with twice the travel space (traffic, of course, becomes an issue once you start getting up in population). It's not a humongous issue, but one you may want to consider.

The separate up and down stairs are safer, though. Dwarves are prone to falling down the up/downs, and if you have a deep central shaft that can be both inconvenient and extremely deadly.

Also, supposedly stairs drain more FPS than digging a spiral ramp. I don't know if that's actually true, though.

This. I wanted to stop the "i WARNED you about the stirs bro! i TOLD you dog!" scenario.

I've heard this issue described countless times, and yet I've never experienced it myself. In my current fort there are countless extremely tall up/down stairwells, and yet I haven't had a single death involved with them - except when a dwarf dodges into the vast abyss surrounding the stairs, but that's a different issue entirely.

If this actually does happen, then it's either chance or luck that I've never had the misfortune to have a dwarf fall down a tall up/down stairwell - in either case, I'm convinced that it doesn't happen nearly enough to offset the traffic issues which tend to occur around chokepoints. Kc_spot addresses the issue instead by having two stairwells, which bypasses the entire problem cleanly, though.
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Psieye

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2011, 04:40:59 pm »

I believe it happens with unconscious dwarves (and elves/goblins/etc). Not just dodging, but specifically being unconscious.
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tommy521

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2011, 04:41:41 pm »

I've heard this issue described countless times, and yet I've never experienced it myself. In my current fort there are countless extremely tall up/down stairwells, and yet I haven't had a single death involved with them - except when a dwarf dodges into the vast abyss surrounding the stairs, but that's a different issue entirely.

If this actually does happen, then it's either chance or luck that I've never had the misfortune to have a dwarf fall down a tall up/down stairwell - in either case, I'm convinced that it doesn't happen nearly enough to offset the traffic issues which tend to occur around chokepoints. Kc_spot addresses the issue instead by having two stairwells, which bypasses the entire problem cleanly, though.

I know what your saying, I've never had this happen. Even when the staircase was flooded with water, my dwarves only died because they drowned. If I remember correctly, does it only happen if the dwarf is unconscious? (Or stunned? Not sure)

Anathema

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2011, 04:48:43 pm »

I've seen a military dwarf unexpectedly move several z-levels down a set of stairs when he was fighting something on it (hard to say if it was a 'fall', I should've checked the combat log for impact damage). Not sure if it was due to dodging, or getting knocked unconscious, or getting physically knocked away by an attack. Doesn't stop me from using a long series of up/down stairs in the inner fort, I just (try to) keep combat well away from them.
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krenshala

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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #13 on: November 25, 2011, 05:00:24 pm »

I second the recommendation to have something stationed at the entrance.  Personally, that is where I have my militia train/spar, so they are usually what discovers the kobold trying to sneak in. ;)
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Re: Generic "How's my driving?" Thread.
« Reply #14 on: November 25, 2011, 05:16:53 pm »

i suggest planning ahead for an entrance drawbridge. a 1 z-level drop is enough, and once complete will let you seal your fort against anything that could attack you (short of a flying building destroyer).

you may want to dig a tunnel toward the river, you could simply go due east from the stairs, the some ramps on the z-level below to the north and then open the channel to the river(carving a fortification is safest if you have stone there). set up a well and a grate or two, and you get a safe inside source of water and fishing, which will never freeze.
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