Bay 12 Games Forum

Can't the water flow diagonally up past the Fortification?

If you carve the fortification out, there is still a ceiling, so no flow.  If you have channeled out the ceiling, then you have to construct the fortification where that channel hollowed out the tile below.

It's easy.

You can't slaughter or cage pets without causing bad thoughts.  Chain them up if you want to keep them out from under foot.


Many females and one male will result in many pregnant females.  So, if you want more animals and don't care, let them keep doing what they do, and slaughter only the males as you go (more than one is, literally, useless in the process.)  They can be chained or not while this happens.

Many males and one female can only result in one pregnant female.  So, once you are approaching a good number, cage (and/or slaughter) all the stray non-pet females but one.  Or two if they could have an accident, or more if they are a rapidly-used ongoing meat supply.*

(*By the time you reach the "more than enough" stage, you should have a feel for how fast they are popping out and how fast you're using them.  If you're not sure, start conservatively and adjust as needed. )

This does require that some of your peons have the "Haul Animal" labor selected, but they usually are fairly aggressive about that.  Any that go into a cage are out of the breeding cycle (tho' pregnant females will still give birth - and just assume they're pregnant.)

u r taht.

I had a mining project across the map that was not progressing very quickly, so I installed a door and locked my miners in there until it was done.  I found out what several of those mean. 

So i'm told you can stick Crossbows in Weapon Traps, how does that work exactly?

Just fine, thanks for asking.

Yes, a trap gets 1 stack of bolts per crossbow, and that weapon can then "fire" (into that one tile only) that many times before it needs to be reloaded.  (Someone compared them to the automated defense guns from Aliens, firing at everything that comes near until they're out of ammo - works for me!) 

If some of the crossbows run out of ammo, the rest keep firing whenever someone triggers that trap - one shot per triggering (they don't unload everything on one target unless it keeps coming back for more.)

Be aware - while bone bolts are cheaper (if less deadly), they can also tend to be in smaller stacks, so your mechanics will want to go reload those traps sooner... with everything associated with that activity.  Otoh, if you have not forbidden steel bolts, they'll go right into those traps, even if you wanted them reserved for your archers.

You can also use bows and arrows if you have recovered some of them.

EDIT:  Also, what am I supposed to do with these people?  I already have all of the basic tasks covered.  I mean, one of them can take the position of glassmaker, but what about the others?

7 dorfs can only handle "all the basics" with some micro-management and multi-tasking.  And if you want to do any sort of real project, not to mention a true mega-project, you'll need your fortress to become a machine, not just "the basics".

Optimally, you don't want your armorers and weaponsmiths to be running the smelter and hauling ore, and you don't want your elite mechanic setting the traps and levers.  So make some migrants apprentices - reserve the workshop for your main dwarf, and let the others cover the busy work.  Mason, mechanic, a dedicated furnace operator, a dedicated tree cutter/axedwarf/herbalist, maybe whoever is your architect if you don't care about that small quality perk.  You mentioned glass - usually a couple haulers are needed/glassmaker, unless the forge was built on sand.  What work is ~not~ getting done while someone does the butchering/tanning/leatherworking?

Never hurts to have a couple more legendary miners for when you want to carve out a new area "right now".

If you make one an apprentice Grower, half your crops will be amateur level, but you can turn off "all dorfs harvest" - which is nice when your miners are busy across the map.  (And if you've got farmplots of any size, you have too much food already.)

Then you can dedicate some to any grunt work that might lead to a legendary in that one skill - furnace operator, carpenter, engraver - things you don't have covered, and are not a priority, but would be nice if it happened.  Few players put "Legendary Leather Worker" toward the top of their list, but if you've got everything else covered, why not make it possible?

And any slop can be dedicated haulers (altho' haulers work better with some stats.)

The rest - maybe half - into the military.  Weapon and crossbow dwarfs, but also siege, which takes forever. Never too soon to start a large standing army.  (These last two can be combined if you cross-train/have a "reserves" program.)

That's one of the exclamation points.  Good to read over those (wiki link above) and know the bad ones.  (I bookmarked them.)

Yeah, every time a dwarf completes a task, or has one canceled, they seek a new one.  Some take longer than others, and some blow it off and just go back to the meeting hall and do nothing for a while. (This ~may~ be related to personality, not sure.)

While they're seeking a new mission in life, that question mark flashes.  They all do it, no big unless one is stuck in that mode.

Sometimes when using <q> it will latch on to the ~nearest~ object, not the one you think you are selecting (because that one might not be eligible.)

Only <t> and <k> are tile-specific - I'm mentioning it because as a semi-noob, I've made that mistake a couple times, deleting entire vegetable gardens when I wanted to do something else.