Dwarf Fortress

[Rasix]

Mine's just too quiet.  I'm searching desperately for the glowing pit.

[FatuousTwat]

Ok, I'm having some kind of retarded problem where my dwarves aren't using Bauxite at all. I have all other stones forbidden, it's easy to access and not in the process of being moved/dumped, but the masons/mechanics (trying to set up a magma smelter/forge) wont do a thing with it. AGH!

[Jade Falcon]

Don't know why they're not using the Bauxite but it isn't required for the smelter and forge only things submerged in lava need to be made with it or any other heat resistant material,like say you wanted to make a flood gate to control a lava flow then the mechanisms and the door would need to be fire proof.

[FatuousTwat]

Yeah, I want to make a grate in order to keep fire imps and other things out... I'll just have to use a steel grate and not have a mechanism attached.

[lac]

Ok, I'm having some kind of retarded problem where my dwarves aren't using Bauxite at all. I have all other stones forbidden, it's easy to access and not in the process of being moved/dumped, but the masons/mechanics (trying to set up a magma smelter/forge) wont do a thing with it. AGH!

I ran into the same thing and it was because Bauxite was flagged as an 'economic stone', stones your dwarfs won't use because they can be traded with the caravan.

From the wiki:

you must press z for the status menu, then go to "stones", and enable whatever economic stones you want to build with

[FatuousTwat]

Oh damn, I think I just remembered what the deal is. I somehow changed bauxite into a non economic stone (I had a good reason at the time, I just can't remember what it is now). Off to find out how to turn that off (or back on).


Edit: or maybe I had the stone mod on? oh god

Edit2: nope, i don't have that installed... bah.

[Jade Falcon]

Just curious,have you ever actually had a fire imp pop out of a lava trench?Mayby it's cause I always seem to have to route the lava a ways to get it where I want my forges but in all my forts never seen one pop out.

[FatuousTwat]

I did the first time I made one... First time to see a booze storage explosion as well, haha. I remembered that plain iron can withstand lava, so I just made an iron grate, put it in place in the tunnel, attached a mechanism to it, opened the grate, dug out the last few spots then closed the grate when everyone was out of the tunnel. Worked out ok. I just need a damn well now.


Edit: Oh, another odd thing about the bauxite... They will use it to build workshops and wall and the like out of, but nothing else. BAH.

[Jade Falcon]

Hehe ya booze explosions are pretty cool in a  sadistic sort of way.Been meaning too see if I can trap an imp and set up a booze pile trap for goblins.Might be tricky keeping the dwarves away from drinking the ammo on me tho.

[FatuousTwat]

You can always set the stockpile, wait for it to be delivered, then remove the stockpile and forbid the barrels.

[climbjtree]

Anyone have any guidance here?

I've gotten to the point of building a trading post with the help of a tutorial I found. Once I've made it that far, what's the next step? Keep mining, keep producing things to trade and look forward to the next caravan?

[FatuousTwat]

In relation to the trading depot, yeah, that is pretty much it. After a while, you wont even need to make crafts or instruments or any of that crap, because goblins and the like drop narrow/small/large clothing that your dwarves can't wear. I just melt down all the metal junk and sell the cloth.

If you are talking about in general, well, there really isn't any goal... Just mess around and build stuff you think is useful/interesting. I just got done building an underground greenhouse, dug trenches a couple of z-levels into the ground, then built green glass block floors on the top. Just before that I made a tower (only 2 stories) above the entrance to my fort that only has access from underground, only 4 xbowdwarves have held off a ton of goblins at once.

[Aez]

Does the game detect the greenhouse and give direct sunlight to the plants?

[FatuousTwat]

Yep... When you dig a channel into the ground, the bottom will say outside, light. If you build a an opaque floor (rock, block, wood or metal) over the hole, it will say inside, dark. If you use something clear (green, clear or crystal glass) it will say inside, light. The whole point is for your dwarves to be able to grow things that require light, without being exposed to the surface. I've heard of people putting glass over their central staircase so their dwarves don't get light sensitive, I was thinking about doing that perhaps (sick of seeing the entire entrance of my fort being covered with vomit).

I wonder if it would work with a metal grate or bars... Might be an idea for a fort without sand or magma... Is obsidian opaque in the game? In real life you can see through it if you polish it.

[FatuousTwat]

Mine's just too quiet.  I'm searching desperately for the glowing pit.

Just seize all the next trade delegations items, or build your depot out of wood to piss the elves off.

[Ard]

Yep... When you dig a channel into the ground, the bottom will say outside, light. If you build a an opaque floor (rock, block, wood or metal) over the hole, it will say inside, dark. If you use something clear (green, clear or crystal glass) it will say inside, light.

Unless something changed since the last time I played it, that's not actually true.  There's some functionality that never got fixed.  Once an area gets exposed to light, it's always flagged as being such, even if you build an opaque floor above it.  So for a greenhouse, it doesn't matter if you use glass for the floor or not.    That said, I still use glass personally, since it'll get fixed one of these days.

[Slyfeind]

Grates or bars work too, but enemies can shoot through it and throw things at your hapless farmers. I never tried using metal or wood for my greehouse roof. I guess I just want to pretend that particular bug is fixed!

[Lantyssa]

I made a giant trench a few z-axis levels down, then walled it off upstairs.  That way my farmer dwarves could have outside harvests without any threat.

[FatuousTwat]

Yep... When you dig a channel into the ground, the bottom will say outside, light. If you build a an opaque floor (rock, block, wood or metal) over the hole, it will say inside, dark. If you use something clear (green, clear or crystal glass) it will say inside, light.

Unless something changed since the last time I played it, that's not actually true.  There's some functionality that never got fixed.  Once an area gets exposed to light, it's always flagged as being such, even if you build an opaque floor above it.  So for a greenhouse, it doesn't matter if you use glass for the floor or not.    That said, I still use glass personally, since it'll get fixed one of these days.

It must have changed, because I tested out putting a tile of rock floor instead of glass and it said dark.
Edit: Ah, I guess I was wrong. Just rechecked it, and it said light... Must have been looking at the wrong tile.

Grates or bars work too, but enemies can shoot through it and throw things at your hapless farmers. I never tried using metal or wood for my greehouse roof. I guess I just want to pretend that particular bug is fixed!

I'm not sure they can shoot through it... I tried making murder holes in an entrance tower once, and the dwarves wouldn't shoot down through them.

[Simond]

Don't know why they're not using the Bauxite but it isn't required for the smelter and forge only things submerged in lava need to be made with it or any other heat resistant material,like say you wanted to make a flood gate to control a lava flow then the mechanisms and the door would need to be fire proof.

That's the second most annoying thing about bauxite. The most annoying thing is that you can't smelt it to aluminium.  Seriously, just make it 'magma smelter only' or something.

Well, at least my fortress has nice blood red walls now.

[Simond]

Someone decided to make a isometric visualiser for DF: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxUYIZsu664
Also, development of the the next version stumbles onward.

[Ironwood]

Getting there....

[Slyfeind]

Oh. My. Gawd! 

[Yegolev]

I can visualize it just fine.  Not the problem.

[Sophismata]

Also, development of the the next version stumbles onward.

I would have used marches, rather than stumbles. The man makes regular updates, frequently meeting his predetermined milestones.

[sidereal]

I would have used drills

 

[Sophismata]

Even better.

[Teleku]

I would have said shambles on.  The last released update was over a year ago.   

[Slyfeind]

Maybe a steady crawl?

[Sheepherder]

Maybe a steady crawl?

Through a tunnel?

[tazelbain]

A steady crawl by a narcoleptic dwarf.

[WindupAtheist]

Someone decided to make a isometric visualiser for DF: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxUYIZsu664
Also, development of the the next version stumbles onward.

If that comes with any sort of non-retarded interface, I will totally play it.

[Pagz]

Matrix-Vision (tm) kicks in: "I don't even see the ASCII. All I see is miner, mason, axedwarf"

New update should be very very close. Sadly no backward compatibility. For those who don't know, the guys behind dwarf fortress put up a podcast every month where Tarn talks about what his plans are for the game and they answer questions from the forums.

They can be grabbed here.

[grebo]

The list of new features/changes/wacky stuff is here as well.  Lots of new stuff.

I read back over Boatmurdered a couple days ago to get psyched up for the new version.  I suggest you all do the same.

[Murgos]

I read back over Boatmurdered a couple days ago to get psyched up for the new version.  I suggest you all do the same.

If you've finished Boatmurdered you should check out Headshoots and it's successor fort, Syrupleaf.  It is also on it's way to being archived, it's finished (in an orgy of death, as befits it) just being cleaned up.