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Topics - Quicunque

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DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Melting Metal Blocks

« on: September 18, 2018, 05:24:12 pm »

According to the wiki, "Metal blocks can't be used for metalsmith's forge jobs but can be melted down at a smelter." (emphasis original)

When I try to mark some native silver blocks for melting through the Stocks menu, pressing 'm' does nothing. When I view the silver blocks with 'k', there is no option for melting. Is the wiki wrong? Or am I missing something?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Lag Spike then FPS Spike

« on: September 08, 2018, 04:36:50 pm »

I searched the fora, and found no discussion of this particular problem in 2018 (or earlier); I am using 44.12.

In my past 2 forts, once they reach about 2 years old and about 90 dwarves, I get annoying lag spikes every 15 seconds or so. They last about 5 seconds, and are followed by a brief (3 seconds or so) FPS spike (about 140, even though I set the limit at 70). It makes the game exceedingly annoying to play.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem? I use a Linux system, hardware is less than a year old. Until 3 days ago, I never had these issues. There are no flying units present; I am only 12z deep, so no caves. I can't figure it out.

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Instrument Value

« on: August 29, 2018, 07:15:20 pm »

How does one calculate the value of a musical instrument? I am guessing it would be

((material value x 10 (instrument value according to the wiki) x quality modifier) for each component, added together for the subtotal) x quality modifier for whole instrument

For example, a "birir" is composed of a drum, a stand, and mallets. Thus:

drum: cave croc leather (4) x (10) x exceptional (5) = 200
stand: fungiwood (1) x (10) x masterful (12) = 120
mallet: silver (10) x (10) x superior (4) = 400
Subtotal (720) x exceptional (5) = 3,600

Does this seem to be in accord with your experience, or am I missing something?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Frozen Milk

« on: August 25, 2018, 02:57:40 pm »

How does one thaw frozen milk (without magma, which I do not yet have)? Upon embark, I had planned to get a cheese industry going very early, but my embark was cold, so all the milk froze. I thought that, when the river thawed, the milk would also naturally thaw. That was not the case. Now I have 9 barrels of frozen milk and an idle cheese maker. NEVERMIND -- it turns out that it just took a little more time to thaw naturally.

On a related topic, where is frozen milk stored? I thought all "globs" were stored as food, but my dwarves will not haul it to the food stockpile.

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Death Ratio

« on: August 10, 2018, 06:26:11 pm »

Taremzon, "Fatedhelms", is a 15 year old fort with a current population of 187.
The population of the cemetery is about the same. Of the dead, about 150 were killed by tantruming fellow citizens over the course of the years. Only about 30 were killed by invading enemies, forgotten beasts, or overseer mishaps (atom smashing accidents).
Is this normal? A 5:1 ratio of dwarves killed by dwarves seems high to me, but I rarely have a fort make 15 years. Am I doing this wrong? Should I pay more attention to dwarven psychology? Or is 5:1 typical? Perhaps the fact that the whole population is militarized (in squads on a rotational basis), well armed & armored (steel weapons, leather armor) has something to do with the high dwarvicide rate? What say ye?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Easy Vampire Identification

« on: August 10, 2018, 07:13:52 am »

"Overall, Logem is somewhat focused with satisfied needs."

Except, her name is Sazir, at least that's what she is called elsewhere. So, by glancing at a dwarf's thoughts & preferences, if the last paragraph (on Needs) uses a different name, I suspect a vampire. This subject (Logem, alias Sazir) also has other evidences: a few former member affiliations, no claimed bedroom, many absent relatives, many skills. But if vampire identification is as easy as the different name in the Needs paragraph, why haven't I seen this bit of advice before? Shouldn't it be on the wiki for Vampires, the "Identification" section?

Or am I mistaken about this? Logem/Sazir hasn't yet drained anyone. Moreover, she is euphoric due to inebriation (though I do have a well stocked tavern with a diligent bar keep). Maybe the name change is a fluke. But why the different name, if not vampirism? What say ye?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Stop the Madness!

« on: May 30, 2018, 10:47:27 am »

I am complete suspense: will my 5 year old fort survive the complete descent into madness long enough for the next update to patch the over-emotional dorfs?

I have taken all the usual precautions, met their peculiar needs & desires, decorated the fort like a mansion. Still, after a goblin siege (successfully crushed with minor losses), every dwarf has cracked, having seen one too many corpses of former sentients. The horror!

44.10 = the Emo update.

Please, Toady, for the love of Amok; stop the madness!

DF Community Games & Stories / The Fall of Kadoldetes

« on: May 15, 2018, 07:40:48 am »

The lone child, Alath, wimpered softly, clutching her blanket while she stared at the locked door of her decent bedroom. Through the finely-crafted gabbro door, she could still hear the gurgling moans of the maceman zombie shambling down the smooth-stoned hall. Alath was already at the point of madness on account of all the horrors she had witnessed. Though the Overseer had locked her door to keep her safe, she was now very thirsty, too thirsty. How much longer would it be before she succumbed to dehydration or madness?

How had it come to this? Kadoldetes had been a thriving fortress in its third year. Migrants had swelled its ranks to over 100 hardy dwarves. The only entrance to the fort was guarded by a bank of six ballistae behind a fortified wall, not to mention the well-trained sqaudron of marksdwarves. The young but vibrant steel industry had well-armed the squadron of axedwarves, and though they were raw, they were ready. How was it that the only survivor of the massacre was now cowering, helpless, in her exceptional chestnut bed? ...

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Best Trap Component

« on: April 20, 2018, 04:40:20 pm »

I have searched the wiki & the fora, and I cannot find any !science! regarding trap components. I am wondering which you have found most effective. Do giant axe blades or serrated disks deal more damage? What is your favorite, and why?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Badlly Distracted

« on: April 10, 2018, 07:09:16 pm »

My fort is now in its 10th year, and I notice many of my dwarves are "badly distracted after being unable to practice a craft". Since, for example, my wood burner (who burns a lot of wood now), is so badly distracted, that means that by "practicing a craft", farming tasks don't count. I suspect only actual crafts (like leatherworking, glazing, etc) count.

So, do I need to enable some craft on those dwarves and que up some crafting jobs? It seems to be an excessive amount of micro-managing to do so, not to mention a waste of some resources just for this mood problem. Any thoughts? How have you dealt with this bad distraction?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Candy Virgin

« on: April 08, 2018, 01:53:09 pm »

Praise the miners! I found my first Candy. I have extracted the precious strands and smelted them into wafers. Now the question: what to do with the rare metal? More to the point: Should I make mail at a cost of 6 wafers, but only with a 2 armor rating, or breastplate at a cost of 9, but with a rating of 3? Is the extra armor rating worth the extra expense?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Garbage Explosion

« on: April 07, 2018, 03:14:04 pm »

Like most dwarves, I have an atom smashing bridge with which I eliminate garbage. I have used it dozens of times, without incident, in the past. Today I pulled the lever on a particularly large pile of trash from a recent goblin siege. Something odd happened. The bridge came down, then snapped back up (after the subsequent lever pulls). Instead of smashing the trashing into oblivion, it flung garbage far and wide (about 40 tiles wide) in every direction, a horrible mess. The only unusual item in the dump was a still living goblin in a cage.

Any ideas as to what caused this catastrophe?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Pollarding Trees

« on: April 04, 2018, 04:15:54 pm »

So, I got my first elven "ambush" today. They sent 10 elf recruits on foot. Four of my patrolling squad met them in the forest around my fort. Nine elvish corpses were collected & subsequently atom smashed. I purposely allowed one elf to escape, badly wounded, to tell the tale. My four dwarves, clad in leather (no metal in this embark, bummer), suffered three bruises in the fray.

Anyway, I was surprised that the elves attacked me. I have been very conservative with my wood usage, even to the point of getting bituminous coal from traders for my forges (I have discovered magma in the lower caverns, but I am loathe to send my dwarves into danger, with two FB's wandering about). The elves had warned me about respecting the trees, but had not yet set a limit; I have probably cut down only twenty trees since the warning two years ago.

Now, to the point of this post: What if I only pollarded the trees, cutting only the upper branches (a z-level above ground) while leaving the trunks at ground level? Would such pollarding anger the elves, that is, would they count that tree as cut down? On a different tangent, would the trunk grow new branches in the future, more quickly than a new sapling? Is pollarding to conserve wood resources a "thing" in DF? If so, then I continue to be amazed at Toady's omniscience.

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Unwanted Water Stacks

« on: April 04, 2018, 08:14:47 am »

As time passes, I find buckets of water piling up around the fort, usually in bedrooms. Through the Stocks menu, I mark the water for dumping in the garbage zone, but it never gets dumped. How (besides magma) can I get rid of the water from these buckets?

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Lycanthropy Vectors

« on: March 23, 2018, 06:47:17 am »

My 5th-year fortress Besmarulab, "Pulleysquirts", was attacked by a werellama. The accursed beast was discovered by my patrolling militia, "Reputed Windy Bells", and was quickly surrounded by the squad. Thinking the threat was safely contained, I did not send my civilians to the indoor alert burrows (a foolish decision). As soon as the first civilian spotted the mutant llama, a crowd of dorfs rushed the beast, and were promptly bitten. Some (5) were torn to shreds. The Windy Bells just laughed at the civilian incompetence before sending the llama to the afterlife.

When a werebeast bites a dwarf and tears the muscle or fat, does the lycanthropy thereby spread without any corresponding message in the combat log? Or must I see some message about "spreading the vile curse" or some such?