User:Maunder

This is my corner of magmawiki.

As a new player I'm going to list the questions I have a hard time finding the answers to. Hopefully these will help improve the wiki, and when I include the answers, it should also help future new players such as me.

I began playing v 0.31.12 and updated as then flurry of bug fixes came to 0.31.16. All questions below are relevant to these (DF2010).

I've been playing for a couple weeks so I've already sorted many early issues out. I'll just start with the things which are annoying me right now.

New Player Questions

Resolved Questions and Problems

The wiki needs a general guide to using magma, or laying out magma workshops.

• A big question I had was how to make the final connection to allow magma to flow. I went with my original plan to channel from above, at the shore of a magma reservoir, to open the edge and let it flow down the long "hallway" I'd made. Wiki explains that channeling now creates a ramp (it didn't used to), and the only ways to remove the ramp both involve getting down into that channel afterwards. Obviously I don't want to do that since the magma is going to be there. Will the ramp interfere with the flow?
  • No. I left the ramp, the magma flowed just fine. I then covered the open channel (including its ramp) with a constructed floor. I have just succeeded in erecting my first.
• Another question was the positioning of the forges and workshops. Only the Magma Forge page indicates that one should locate the forge with "one of the impassable squares" over the hole to the magma below, but nowhere did I find specific instruction about which squares they are. The "picture"s on the right side of these buildings were helpful, but without a key, I was just guessing.
  • The "impassable" squares of a magma forge are the "east" and "west" sides. Because the Magma Smelter's has the hole on the "north" side, that means the two kinds buildings can't be aligned along a magma channel -- one set of buildings are necessarily offset from the others.

• mason positioning. it's happened many times that my masons have constructed the last bit of wall trapping themselves within. What is wrong with these guys? even dividing up the job into smaller pieces in various orders I can't seem to avoid this. Multiple times I've had them immediately deconstruct that last bit they just built in order to get out, then wait for them to decide to leave, then re-assign the same construction.
  • Construction#Avoiding_Entrapment (I wrote this section based on information provided by Another on my talk page)

• A mason builds a segment of wall in the caves, then just stood there for a long time. He was listed as having No Job. The path he used on the way in was now blocked, but it seemed to me there were other ways around. Other segments of wall were queued nearby, but as yet unbuilt. He's in the lower right corner, while the entrance back to the fortress is in the upper left:
  
  .
  • The fungiwood tree to his east blocked his path! Thanks for the explanation, Quietust!

• how do I get animals trained? many many times I have added the job "Train a War Dog" only to be told "none is available". But my fortress has half a dozen adult dogs! What am I doing wrong?
  • Pets cannot be trained! That explains part of my training problem. I'm not sure if that's sensible, but now that I have the idea, I know to train dogs the instant they mature to adults! -- Maunder 17:07, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

• immigrant dwarves with skills in foreign ranged weapons (Bows and Blowguns) will never acquire ammunition. Dwarves can't make arrows/blowdarts, nor can they get it by trading. (Possibly can be acquired by defeating enemies using them?) Similar situation if a strange mood dwarf makes one of these things. This should be considered a bug. Don't bother equipping dwarves with these "preferred" weapons.

• gem cutting. when adding a task, the list shows which types of gems you have still uncut. but there's no way to know how many of each type. if you queue up 5 times "Cut Wood Opal", but you only have 2 uncut wood opals, you get job cancellations. to avoid having jobs cancelled, just queue one cut task of each available type. But then you have to do this repeatedly to get all your gems cut. If you have two uncut wood opals, why not have the task entry grey out the cut task if you've already got two queued?
  • the "solution" is to just try use repeat on all tasks. the cancellation notice will occur when there aren't any more of that type of gem. what I don't know is whether that "breaks" the work chain (does the dwarf walk away and consider a different task when his current task ends?)

• How can I release a (tame) creature from a cage? i've followed wiki instructions but have not yet managed it. first: you can't use 'q' to operate a cage that is in a stockpile, because 'q' controls the stockpile options instead. second: i "built" the cage in question on an open floor, selected the specific cage with the animal in it. then 'q' on that cage lists assigned animals -- but the menu doesn't seem to function the way others do, and "deselecting" the given dog as per the wiki instructions doesn't seem to let him out.

It's also confusing and disconcerting that after toggling the "assignment" of an animal, your only option to leave the dialog is then "Escape - Cancel".

• • Apparently deselecting the given animal from the cage will let him out eventually, when a dwarf comes by to do it. I haven't witnessed it yet though. I'm not sure yet on how to slaughter the animal.

• Why can I not construct upward stairs on a constructed floor? How does one build a tower, if this is not possible? I also could not construct a ramp, or even a wall!
  • constructed stairs must be built over an empty space -- leave a hole in the floor you're building where you plan to put stairs. It makes sense for up/down stairs. Doesn't make sense to me for building up stairs, or walls, but that's how it works. If you already built the floor, you can deconstruct it again with 'dn' and then construct the stair/wall whatever. this info should be added to the wiki somewhere.

• retrieving shot bolts or enemy items. Either my hunter or military units fired bolts at something. Several are scattered around. How do I encourage them to retrieve them for reuse?

On a related note, one squad managed to kill a Goblin Thief earlier, and, following orders, brought the mutilated corpse back to the refuse pile. But they left his goods, including a silver dagger. I didn't even realize it until I got a message about a raccoon stealing a silk shirt. How can I set orders to pick up these items as well?

I suspect that those items are marked as "Forbidden" - [K] over them and check. This prevents your workers from running out of your base in the middle of an attack and trying to collect all the junk on the ground. 76.20.35.236 15:32, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

• • Thank you, yes, the items were default marked forbidden, the option to change this is in 'o' set orders menu. However, changing the orders only affects newly dropped items, not those already forbidden on the map. There is also an option to retrieve "used ammunition", although I've been advised not to do this because items aren't stacked into inventory slots again, but remain individual. Does that have the effect of limiting the number a dwarf would carry?

Open Questions and Problems

• How can I collect and use the bodies of vermin and other defeated creatures? I've tried "Butcher a dead animal" and other tasks many times, only to be told "none available". What am I doing wrong? Yes, I have refuse stockpiles so the bodies are brought nearer the butcher shop. Not all are the "vermin" category, I think.
• I have multiple traps with caught live vermin, like two-legged lizards, and a (tame) cockroach. What do I do with them? Can't I make food or leather out of the lizard?
  • Part of this is my confusion about what is "animal" and what is "vermin". There's no real cue to let you know what you're dealing with. In my mind, now, is the idea: "vermin" == useless. "animal" == butcherable, in theory. But when I saw barrels of butterfly ichor and the like available from the trade caravan, it made me think I can do something with those "vermin"...

Still trying to sort this one out.

• In a similar vein, I have not had much luck with Trapping, Fishing, and Hunting. I can't seem to get these working successfully. The wiki needs guide to making these industries successful -- the tools, skills, workshops necessary, layout of piles and workshops, zone placement, etc.
  • i've had some luck with hunting. as I was told -- one simply creates enough equipment, then a dwarf with "Ambush" skill will pick up equipment and sometimes go hunt game. however, i've had hunters complain about not having any ammunition even though i'd assigned it under 'mf', some were marked in that menu as being equipped, and there were 250 bolts available besides.

still learning the details.

• how can I get the military units to wear the best armor? the military equipping menus are really opaque. i understand the idea of creating uniforms and assigning them, but really, early on, i don't have that kind of supply. i just want one of the best fighters to have the few steel items that i got from trading. I can't create and assign a "steel" uniform, because I don't have all those items. in a related problem, meanwhile, a "recruit" has grabbed a hammer, and the somewhat skilled hammerdwarf has none. The best pick is in the hands of a Novice miner. The battle axes were grabbed by military guys, and I need them available to the woodcutters. Argh! Getting a dwarf to drop an item and reassigning is such a mess! I'm not even sure how I managed it once, but it took over half a year of game time.
  • Part of the problem with the military equipment dialogue is similar to that with assigning squads. In the right column is a list of all items of a given category , including those you've already assigned to another . It's good that you can see all items, so you can take an item from someone who shouldn't have it and give it to someone better suited. But you have no indication that item is already in use by another dwarf. This results in confusion as you assign that nice bear leather armor to dwarf 2, only to realize later that dwarf 1 no longer has any armor. This dialog needs some indicator telling you it's already assigned to someone (or perhaps just in use by someone, although that's less useful, it would be easier to implement). Maybe a letter "A" means item has been assigned to another dwarf, or else another dwarf has "become attached" to the item, otherwise a letter "U" means being used by someone but wasn't necessarily assigned to them.
  • I had a similar problem with assigning dwarves to squads, initially, because the list on the right shows all dwarves, including dwarves already assigned to another squad. but I see now there is an indication in the upper right corner if the currently selected dwarf belongs to another squad.

Any way to do something similar with non-military dwarves... ?

• path finding. the weavers are nuts, trying to "collect webs". they choose a web which might be fairly close geometrically, but is really far through the stairs, hallways and caves that they need to get there, meanwhile running past and sometimes getting caught in and stomping existing webs on the way there. How do I keep the weavers near my entrance to the caves, where they can be safer (and take less time)?

• gem encrusting. i queue up a bunch of "encrust finished goods", then I end up with items that have many many gems on them, and most items with nothing. is there any way to encourage the dwarf to spread the gems across a larger number items? I now queue up just four encrusts at a time, but then the shop ends up being idle a lot. :(

• using magma. what balance of various magma workshops/furnaces are needed? which are needed near each other? any pointers?

• do some embark areas have absolutely no sedimentary layers? that would be disappointing... are sedimentary layers always nearer the surface?

• do I need to avoid walking on my farms? set traffic area to avoid it?

History of Momuzsuvas (Cryptlustrous)

This is a wonderful map location, excepting the lack of iron which could be bad. I've got two extensive cave systems already, and I haven't ventured that deep. The first cave system begins 6 levels below the valley floor and continues down to level -9. It contains vast quantities of water held on level -10. The next cave system begins already at level -12 and continues down to level -16. It contains an opening to a magma pipe, with the pool of magma reaching level -16. I've checked somewhat and haven't found any connection between these cave systems -- there appears to be a single solid layer between them. I've still not found a single sedimentary layer, so no iron ore yet available. (I need more anvils!)

Without any screw pumps and no "piston" magic, I've got magma industry only 15 levels below the valley floor!

I have just completed two years of game time. We had a large immigrant wave after one year, none at other times. One dwarf starved himself after not being able to make an artifact.

We traded with Elves once, Humans once, and Dwarves twice. Didn't get much from the first dwarf caravan, just food, but in each of the others, we had large collections of gem-encrusted stone crafts, so we bought lots of stuff. Two squads of four dwarves each have been training six months out of the year. We haven't had much trouble with outsiders yet, just nuisance wild animals, including birds stealing crops from our farm.

In part of the first cave system, on level -9, there is a village of eight "reptile men". Out of concern for my wandering legendary weaver gathering webs, I built a few strategic wall segments to keep them and us safely separated (19 tiles all told), until my military is better trained and equipped. They don't seem to move around much, but there's plenty of resources on our side of the walls still.

During the second winter, final construction in preparation for magma industry was completed down on level -15. The first magma smelter began smelting silver and my Weaponsmith finally got excused from farming duty for the first tasks in the magma forge just as spring rolled around. He started making silver spears (the dwarven civilization told us they'll pay 207% for spears next year)!

10 Slate 1054

Forgotten Beast, Umil Al Ronik has come! A gigantic hawk with external ribs and a short trunk. Beware its poisonous sting! He appeared on level -15, in my second cave system. Fortunately, I'd been careful about "puncturing" the safety of my fortress into each cave system. There were three access points to this cave, but I found a spot to build a single segment of wall that would close them all off from my fortress. I suspended all other queued construction jobs, and one of my masons went down there promptly and built it. Safe! The beast roams the cave system undisturbed, along with a wandering crocodile at the moment.

16 Slate 1054

21 migrants arrived, bringing a good Animal Trainer, Animal Caretaker, Gem Setter, all-round Fisherdwarf (who's also a good Liar -- I suspect we'll have trouble with that one), Butcher, Soaper, two Mechanics, and a Metalcrafter, Armorsmith, and Weaponsmith. Now we have two High Master Weaponsmiths, but no Blacksmith! I had two spare bedrooms already made, now digging out another bedroom complex.

18 felsite 1054

Elven caravan arrives. they don't seem to want anything in particular, but are willing to pay double for a few richly decorated silk clothing pieces.

21 felsite

A goblin raid appears. Fortunately I was just able to finish a drawbridge on the main entrance. A hastily built 1-block wall closes off the western exit. Where do the goblins go when there is no entrance to the fortress? They mill about the main entrance, where I have a bank of traps. I wait patiently, building more defenses behind the safety of our gate. One by one, the goblins get caught in my cage traps. Finally, only one remains free, I muster my active squads to the entrance area and lower the bridge. It takes a minute before he notices the bridge is open, then moves ahead. I see one bolt fly from the squad, and then the goblin trips another cage trap. We've got them all in cages!