Bay 12 Games Forum

I never have much trouble getting up to that road value.

But, then again, I also get very peevish that merchants keep getting stuck behind trees at the very edge of the map, so I make a square 3-wide road encircling the -entire- map border, with various routes to my trade depot.

Quantity is a lovely thing, neh?

Quote from: Cavalcadeofcats on August 14, 2008, 11:11:47 am

Neoskel: But they won't clean up things that are outside. It'll be slow, but it could work.

But you won't be able to use it anyways. It's be 'items' as opposed to actual water.

Don't be so harsh -- you can't drink it, but that hardly means it's useless.  It's actually not too bad of a building material if he hasn't fixed that yet, because constructed ice walls tend not to melt.

advance warning:  All of my examples are going to come from the same fort -- which was made primarily to be tidy, rather than just for efficiency.  Some things are made to be massive, instead of just practical.  Pardon in advance, I don't have anything else worthwhile uploaded.

Hallway size:  I prefer hallways that are at least three wide, personally speaking -- Here are some examples of why.  While occasional side-passages that are 2 or 1 square wide are okay, it's a lot easier to make 3-wide halls everywhere on the off chance that you expand your fort out that way later.  Having the main hall be 4-5 wide is a nice aesthetic choice, but probably not as efficient.

As for movement between floors...  I'm a fan of a grand central staircase in the very center of a fort, and periodic (every 16-20 squares, ideally) similar stairways all throughout the main halls in the fort.  I use up/down stairs in every fort; and have never had a problem with dwarves falling to their deaths.  Careful interlinking across Z-levels is really one of the keys to efficiency, I think.

I'm also fond of modular housing and compartmentalized refuse heaps that ensure miasma can't spread.  Big enough compartments that it saves space; small enough that dwarves don't usually have to venture into miasma.

Trash chutes (although defensively risky) are quite handy for handling a number of issues around the fort, especially the disposal of unwanted items or creatures.  For this reason, it's nice to build one's graveyard, refuse pile, and a few butcher shops / tanneries / bonecrafters in the general vicinity of the bottom of the trash chute.  Just make sure to zone it such that the dwarves will walk around the bottom of the chute, not under it, to avoid crushed dwarves.  It's also a good idea to have stairways in this vicinity; because dwarves sometimes get very picky about which floor they want to throw things off of, if they're given a choice.

For trading -- build a tower and sub-basement above/below your trader's depot, and make sure all (or most) of your saleable goods are stored in that tower/basement.  It makes trading much, much faster.

For food -- build a few stockpiles somewhere near your farms, and have all of your stills / kitchens right beside them for ease of cooking / brewing.  Put smaller stockpiles inside dining halls however -- for more efficient eating.  It may also help to have numerous small dining halls, instead of one big one.  Haven't tested that yet, though.

For water -- All I can say is that it should be near the very center of the fortress, if you want anything to get done.

And very hard....took me a week to beat the digging machine boss, and I still haven't finished the game (damn the Japanese and their "lets have a boss right after this boss, no healing, oh, and we'll put a harder boss after that, followed by his second form and then, why not, another boss").

Still off topic, but...  Are you going for the normal ending, or the secret one?

The burrows idea does seem related, though.  It's essentially the same thing -- the only major difference is that in Burrows you get to choose the groups of dwarves that get assigned to each "zone", instead of having to choose between "military" and "civilian".

I -really- like the idea of zoning options that allow us to order our dwarves around, though.  Soldiers soldiering, Civilians not running around like headless chickens...  What could be better?

Fair enough.


Are fish still the bane of all dirtbound life in the new version?  Are they going to stay that way?

Quote from: erendor on July 27, 2008, 04:40:43 am

Search the room for a cat!  It probably had a lie down on his face while he slept, leading to tradgedy!

Either that was an odd reference to Catch-22 or you've suffered some hilarious childhood trauma.

There are some very interesting myths about cats, if you care to read up on it sometime.  The relevant one involves them sneaking into bedrooms at night, sitting on peoples' (or childrens', specifically) chests, and stealing their breath / soul away as they slept.

There are reasons black cats are considered unlucky, and are involved in stories with witches -- even if they're entirely illogical mythical reasons

I'm surprised no one's suggested a half-wagon yet.  They're creatures too (technically sorta)!