v0.31:Stone management

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v50.14 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

Template:L for long enough and you'll find yourself surrounded with various Template:Ls and Template:Ls. How do you get rid of them?

Here follow several stone management techniques.

Dump

This method is easy and useful. However, some view it as an exploit, and it may not be allowed in later versions.^v0.31.05

1. Make a Template:L of 1x1 or 1x2 tiles, preferably either near the stones you want to get rid of or your stone-needy Template:Ls, and mark it as a garbage dump.
2. Press k and find a stone. Press d, and the stone will be marked for dumping. Alternatively, use the stocks menu (faster for mass dumping, but requires some Template:L labor first). You can also use d,b,d to designate mass items for dumping. You could also use a Template:L to designate large amounts of stones at once. However, macros do not discriminate between stones and other items, so it is best to use them right after you dig out a new area. Be careful when you mark areas containing cave spider silk for dumping, as dwarves will actually come along and destroy the webs!
3. A dwarf with refuse-hauling enabled will take the stone to the garbage dump.
4. Every dumped stone will be marked as "Template:Lden." Use the Template:L menu to globally un-forbid types of stone, or use the designation 'Reclaim Items' (d-b-c) to reclaim the entire pile. (If you want to only use specific stones, you must press k, find the pile, and press f on every stone you want on the list, using +/- to navigate through the list. Template:L may come in handy when employing this method.)

• Advantage: No matter how many stones you mark for dumping, they will all be placed on the same tiny garbage tile. Conceivably, every single stone and ore in the fortress can fit on 1 tile.
• Disadvantage:
  • Anything else you dump will end up on those piles too.
  • Dwarves will Template:L to get to a 1x1 dump.
  • Take care not to lose overview if you use several or temporary dumps.

Pave Floors

Digging out a tile (usually) leaves behind a stone. Constructing a floor (b-C-f) on that tile requires a stone. Use the former to do the latter, and you end up with a room with a fancier floor, and no stone. You can build stuff on top of it, too.

• Advantage:
  • Since you can get a maximum of one stone out of a tile, you'll never run out of tiles to put the stones back into.
  • You can even get the stone back, if you need it later, by designating the floor for removal (d-n).
• Disadvantage:
  • Paved floors cannot be engraved.
  • Requires dwarves with the masonry labor turned on, which can draw from your hauler base or distract your experienced masons from more urgent tasks.
  • Getting the stone back requires removing the floor, and children and/or nobles are likely to respond first, and they work very slowly.
  • Due to an old bug (0001370), building and then removing a constructed floor like this will cause the stone floor underneath to change into the type of stone that makes up the layer.