Bay 12 Games Forum

Do you have metal ores and wood? If yes, build a wood furnace and make charcoal. Use the charcoal to smelt the ores into bars, which your dorf will then be able to use. It's better for him/her to become a legendary something than to lose that dwarf to insanity, even better if said dwarf claimed a metalsmith's forge.

Also, unless you edit the raws so that your dwarves will butcher and eat sentients (like those cursed elves do), you can't butcher the enemies you kill for bones, meat, and such.

I use lots of ramps, almost no stairs, and almost zero stockpiles.  I quantum stockpile inputs like stone and wood, which are more efficient to move in large quantities, but not inputs like sand, which can be generated quickly when needed.  I don't use output stockpiles at all, except for food and booze.  Made stuff stays in the workshop where it was made until it is used, traded, or melted down.  This completely solves the tied-up-container problem for virtually all resources that aren't on the food stockpile list, and it ensures that trade goods are moved to the depot ONCE, and then stay there until traded and are never moved again.  SO MUCH HAULING never happens anymore.

So, for instance, the workflow for clear glass involves 1 quantum stockpile for the wood, and 1 normal stockpile for the sand.  Ash moves from the furnace straight to the ashery, and from there straight to the kiln, and from the kiln straight to the magma glassworks, without touching a stockpile in between.  If these workshops are aligned in a row, very little dwarf movement is necessary, and NO hauling of the intermediate products.

Dangit. I should just do that instead of quantum stockpiling everything! It would save me so much time on hauling everything. The only thing I may actually stockpile besides food/booze would be ammo near my archery towers/ranges, but that's about it.

Especially for those elves, making the journey without any escorts whatsoever. Who knows what perils could await an elf caravan on its way to a dwarf city...?

They want 50% profit on just about every transaction? Damn, those merchants are ruthless.

Farmers also manage to grow more crops per seed used as they gain in rank, so if you start off with a high level grower you should be able to avoid running out of seeds early. I know that I just reached the point in my fortress where I really have too many plants due to all my farming (3k+) so I'm putting a halt to it until I truly need to again. It also helps that I have herds of cows, regularly butcher rhesus macaques that try to steal my stuff, and slaughter elf caravans, so I'm rolling in food.

A weresloth just popped up outside my fort. Fortunately, an entire contingent of war grizzly bears were waiting for it.

Now I just have to put down the one bear the weresloth bit, and all will be well again in Combatcloistered.

In addition, if you so choose to trade with those tree-hugging elves, if you offer them anything made of wood, clear glass, or crystal glass either as an offering or in trade, the merchants will immediately become offended and leave without further trading. It's a good first step towards fostering hostile relations between yourselves and the elves if you want them to attack, but on its own it may not be enough.

Human trade caravan came to town. Decided to bring in a specific roast that I made that was too large for a pot.

"This is a stack of 192 exceptionally prepared hen egg roast. The ingredients are exceptionally minced dragon meat, exceptionally minced rye beer, exceptionally minced hen egg, exceptionally minced hen egg, superiorly minced hen egg, and exceptionally minced hen egg".

Trade value is 47,000+. I could probably buy out everything I want with this one meal alone.