Bay 12 Games Forum

- It's been said a wall jutting out one tile can be climbed diagonally upwards, but a floor jutting out one tile can not. Since a floor looks silly I jut out two tiles (thus ending up with both a floor and a wall).

Ugh, that is not good news.  Unfortunately I am enclosing a 80x80 area for a large above ground city so I can't really afford any trial and error.  Adding two squares to the perimeter of the wall means I'll have to extend my paving as well. 

What is the deal with trees and jumping?  I recall reading that in fortress mode only a one square jump is possible, is that correct?  And it looks like the largest trees on my map are five squares across.  So I'm thinking that I need four paved squares away from the edge of my walls to keep anything from jumping from a branch.  Does that sound right?

Yes, creatures can jump 1z, then hold onto the wall surface, and proceed to climb from there.

Ah, I did not know that.  Unfortunately digging a moat is not a great option because I built paved roads around my wall to keep the trees away.  But if I added a fourth z-level as a second overhang would that work?

How do I build a wall that can't be climbed?  I had read in previous posts that overhangs were unclimbable but that is not the case.    I built a two z-level wall where the second z-level overhung the first and goblins and gnomes have no problem climbing over it.  I also had read that fortifications could not be climbed but I had goblin archers hanging on to my fortifications shooting in at me. There are no trees near by so that is not a factor.  One issue may be that I built it out of logs which are easy to climb.  I am almost finished adding a third z-level, not an overhang, made out of wood blocks but it looks like a gnome was able to climb over one of the completed sections.  How high do I need to go to stop climbers or would a two square overhang stop even the best climber?  In short, how do I build an unclimbable wall?

Quote from: Iamblichus on January 27, 2016, 07:15:29 pm

I am having an issue where workshop repeat jobs are being canceled due to lack of materials even though there are materials available in a nearby stockpile.  This seems to mainly happen with items stored in bins and barrels.

Very extremely common issue.  Either live with it (the cancellations only happen once in a while, and you can just wait a bit and re-queue the workshop jobs), or use the manager to auto-re-queue jobs, or use quantum stockpiles instead of traditional stockpiles, or have SO MANY plump helmets (or whatever) that there's always an un-busy barrel of them for the brewer.

Thanks,  good to know I am not alone.  Questions about the quantum stockpiles- can you use barrels in them and if not will plump helmets and other foods rot in them?

Check that you haven't accidentally enabled "workshop restrictions" on a burrow that covers the press but not the quern.

Thanks, that was it.  I had recently mined out the area that the press and quern were in and there was overlap from another burrow that was covering the press.

Ugh. Now we get to social *shudder* science in the game... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB97Qe2D4V0

Lol, yea as if we don't get bombarded enough with this stuff in day to day life.  That song was horrible by the way.  Didn't stop me from watching it all the way through and LMFAO though.  But seriously this update is amazing.  I can't think of another game that has this complex of a social simulator and we haven't even got to the legal system yet, nor is religion fully fleshed out.  I don't know maybe the game Diplomacy or Paradox Interactive's Victoria series might have a more complex social sciences simulation?  I haven't played either of them so I can't say for sure.  But I am certain that Dwarf Fortress is truly a work of art.

Would it not be easier to retire your fortress, create an expert writer adventurer customised to have all the traits you want to push, write a bunch of books and drop them off at your fortress library?

Yea, that is the way to go about this.  All the Dwarfs I embark with are cultural-marxist anarchists that just want to watch society burn. This was my favorite- Cerol Stukonoddom is disgusted by tradition and would flout any she encounters if given a chance, doesn't respect a society that has settled into harmony without debate and strife and has a negative view of those who exercise power over others.  Cerol should be teaching Critical Theory at Evergreen College. 

I managed to get one stoic philosopher.  I'm going to start with that to see what is possible in Dwarf Mode.  But designing my own prophet in adventure mode and having him share his revealed wisdom with my fort definitely seems like the best way to do this.

Any thoughts on what beliefs would be most beneficial?  At the moment I am looking at these four-

is appalled by merrymaking, parties and other such worthless activities
believes that hard work is one of the highest ideals and a key to the good life
sees romance as one of the highest ideals
sees family as one of the most important things in life

The romance and family ones could be beneficial to folks trying to revive a dead civilization if it increased birthrates in a fort.   I'll have to figure out how to test for that; there are a number of other variables. 

So I've set up an embark profile  that has five of my dwarfs set to the following-

Adequate Wordsmith
Adequate Writer
Proficient Critical Thinker
Novice Teacher

Now it is just a matter of embarking again and again trying to get dwarf's with good beliefs.  I wish Dwarf Therapist was updated for this version, it would make this process easier.

The wiki says that being able to write a value agenda book is dependent on skill.  I am assuming that Critical Thinking,used by scholars when thinking about philosophy, is the skill that is dependent on.  But it could be based on writing ability as well.  Unfortunately, according to the wiki, the relationship between the wordsmith and writer skill is unknown.  My guess it that wordsmith is for writing new works and writer is for copying existing works but I went with two points in each to be safe.