Bay 12 Games Forum

Follow up question...

If someone is staying in the hospital for a long time, then something has gone wrong with the medical system. There is no convalescence in DF. The patient stays in bed and receives treatment
after treatment until the treatments are done...

What about Traction Benches? I've always built them, but never noticed them being used.  (Doesn't mean they haven't been, just that I've never noticed it if they have.)  Do they merely allow a doctor to set/cast a bad break and then send a dwarf on their merry way, or (as in real life) do they keep the dwarf "in traction" for the duration it takes for the rare compound break to mend?

If the latter, then a dwarf would, indeed, be there for a while. But maybe I've just never had a "compound fracture" (or the equiv) that a dwarf (or that fort, ahem) has survived.

...They do include a bed, but I've never turned that into a bedroom... I engrave all floor tiles but don't know if that matters.

If you don't make a bedroom, then it certainly can't help improve the "value" of the bedroom that doesn't exist. However, it could provide additional "admires art" thoughts, same any high-quality statue or animal trap.

Cool, thx.

And no, just want to avoid as many simple stressers as I can.

I'm not certain about long-term visitors, but I doubt that they have stress or care about room quality.

Dwarf Therapist reports that they have values for Stress, and they change w/ time and activities - drinking, praying, good art - about 2 dozen of them. Doesn't mean those values work on visitors exactly the same way they work on Fortress Dwarves, but they have them.

Visitors do sometimes get stressed.... I think room's total value matters?

DT lists "admire art" - guessing that's a catch-all for seeing an exceptional Quern, etc etc., and rooms would fall under that - maybe? But if so, def $ value.

I understand that, with prisoners, chaining them and giving them a "bedroom" environment will keep them cheery while they serve their durance vile.

Does the same apply to long-term hospital bedcases? 

Does "stress" effect long-term visitors to the fortress? (at least, such that I should care?)

With each of these, do they want the standard "cabinet + chest" pair to go w/ their bed? Easier to dig/furnish the minimum 1-tile niche for guests if I can get away with it, but perfectly fine w/ expanding if that's the safer route.

I try to make standard bedrooms 4 (or 5) tiles big, to include the default "bed, cabinet & chest" trio, with the extra room for an item (or two) for preferences. Is that a plan for visitors and long-term patients as well? 

Any other "design" suggestions for hospital rooms/visitor rooms?

(A note about wading pools - make sure that water circulates, either via a flow in/off the map or screwpumps. Some contaminants can be spread after they are (partially) washed off.)


I'm currently installing a hospital w/ an automated mister at the entrance, so 100% of patients get the cleaning treatment (and a happy thought to balance out the loss of that spleen).

Requires (at least) a 2-tile long entry way - 1st tile is a pressure plate, 2nd tile is the delivery point of a stack mister:

o http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Mist#Stack_generator

Pumps are permanently powered. Pressure plate is linked to a hatch that sits over the output of the lower pump (the pump that "sucks in" the water" that just hit the floor below the mist). That water sits there in a 1-tile big, 3/7 pool indefinitely, until someone walks in - then the hatch opens immediately, and the water starts cycling, instantly creating the welcoming mist before the dwarf can take that next step into it. 100 ticks later, the hatch closes, the upper pump has nothing to suck up, and the water is deposited in that lower tile again, minimizing any FPS issues.

This has the added benefit of a mist display for anyone who is in a nearby bed, and the medical staff.

If you want (I did) you can go with a 3-tile long entry and install a 2nd pressure plate to clean all who leave.

(Misters are pretty easy to set up w/ a water reactor powering it from a couple levels below. I use a similar mister  (but double-wide) at the grand entry to my dining room/tavern. I figure 99% of the dwarves will go there sooner or later.)


I also put a dedicated well near the middle of the hospital for the old-fashioned cleaning option. Takes some work, all told, but it's the right move.  Designated as a water source but not a meeting place (don't want a crowd there interfering with your medical staff, and I'd rather they all socialize at the dining hall.)


@ all: afterthought - related Question:
I like to use 3-d designs whenever possible, using "up/down" as shorter access to stores/rooms/whatever, rather than walking miles across a single z-level. Is that possible w/ a hospital, to designate 3 zones on top of each other, connected w/ ramps/stairs? If I treat a patient in one zone will they find the hospital beds in the rooms in the next zone down?

I'm guessing that "stores" from a "storage hospital zone" will not be stolen by the "surgery hospital zone" above it, correct? But if I put traction benches and bedrooms in a vertically adjacent zone, will those work?

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/483566-Most-efficient-TR-questing?p=5934019&viewfull=1#post5934019

Havne't specifically tried it myself, but I would ~think~ you could separate your non-edible crops (dyes, I assume?) into a separate area, and then use Burrows to restrict which dwarves harvest, and where. A "harvest plants" job is a job, after all. :/

Long time player, back after a break of a few versions, with one of several questions before striking the earth yet again...

I used to have ballistae batties as a long-rang goal - create a looong entry corridor for siegers, and then gun them down.  But I've read that ballistae are now both weak and buggy? So... just write that off?

(btw - embarking on a Savage Wild biome, did a test-embark to check it out in advance - giant Rhinos. Not sure anything short of a ballista (or an expendable squad of lucky, suicidal military)  is going to hurt those muthuz.)

Long time player, back after a break of a few versions, with one of several questions before striking the earth yet again...

Taverns and visitors (and Temples) are all new to me. I've read the wiki, but in a nutshell, what are the important considerations?  How big, how soon, what precautions, what common mistakes/pitfalls/bugs?

Are visitors immune to simple traps, or do I have to have open paths for them?
I've read recent(ish) threads on how to get rid of visitors - is it better to not have (m)any at all?
How important is mug quality? Do masterpiece mugs work better in a tavern?

thx in advance!

Make and trade prepared meals - that usually is worth enough to get what you need AND buy more than enough food to replace the meals.