Bay 12 Games Forum

No.  The best I've managed so far is a reaction that creates water spatters, like what you would find in a bucket of water.  Unfortunately, you can't create the water IN a bucket until we get custom workshops in the next release.

JMZ

Creating weapons also influences the type of sodiers you get.  Forge axes, you might get some axedwarves.  Make wooden crossbows, you might get marksdwarves.

JMZ

Try this thread, it should help.

http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=25746.0

JMZ

I tried 'Play Now'.  Once.  *shudder*

2-4 picks
 1 axe      - unless there are no trees
No anvil    - buy in Autumn
20 turtles  - bones and shells, better than cave lobster IMHO
 1 each of the cheap meats - cook for empty barrels
40 Dwarven Beer                - dorfs need booze
 1 each of the other booze   - cook for empty barrels
20 Plump Helmets               - brew, not eat
20 Sweet Pod Seeds           - need for trade goods
10 each Pig Tail/Dimple Cup/Cave Wheat Seeds
2 silk - moods
2 small gems - moods
20 leather - bags, bags, bags... more if there's magma
4 dogs - bones, meat, leather ... also good for eating kobolds
10 Bauxite (if there's magma)
10 - 20 wood - more if no trees, less if heavily forested

1 Farmer/Cook ... ALWAYS.  good meals = happy dorfs, and syrup roasts for trade
1 carpenter, maybe with metalsmith, for beds/bins/barrels
1 mason, tables/chairs/doors
1 dyer
1 weaver
1 clothier
1 boss (appraiser/consoler/pacifier, maybe negotiator & JoI)

I may add miller or thresher to one of the above, armor and weaponsmith depend on what the dorfs like.

I cook the meat, brew the plumps, plant sweet pods, and trade +Dwarven Syrup Roasts+ for the first 2 years.  By then, I should be turning out dyed Pig Tail crafts, with images sewn on them.  The roasts are good enough to clean out the caravans with large profit margins, and the cloth lets me cut back on farming later.  If there are cave spiders, I can practically shut down farming except for dye and a little booze after 3 years.  High volume smithing doesn't usually start until 2-4 years in, although tagging dorf with dabbling skills in case they get a mood can start in the first Autumn.

Mining and woodcutting level fast, and if I strike ore or gems early I can always mine around it.  Cloth provides bags, ropes, clothes, and you can grow it right away.  Bags can also raise room values quickly for emergency noble rooms.

JMZ

The only dwarves in my forts who don't have axes are my miners.  Work stops when I go to cut wood, but it gets done fast, and any gobbos that harrass my woodcutters have the whole fort right on top of them.  In later years, I don't need as much wood, so caravans usually supply plenty.

JMZ

[MATGLOSS_STONE:OBSIDIAN]
[NAME:obsidian][COLOR:0:7:1][TILE:177][LAVA][SHARP]
[IGNEOUS_EXTRUSIVE]
[VALUE:3]


Nope, nothing about damage in the material definition.  I think all of the stone weapons are equivalent to steel, and that is hardcoded into the craftdwarfs workshop....or somewhere.  Using a reaction should make them do damage as regular stone, i.e. 50% of iron weapons.  But logic and DF have a very tenuous relationship, so things that make sense are often wrong.  Test it and find out!  It could be FUN

JMZ

Also, make sure you have a barracks defined.  I had the same problem, only it extended to all of my military.  It took almost a year before I realized that my room full of beds wasn't set to (b)arracks.  If your marksdwarfs can't spar in barracks, they'll just hang around chatting, never practicing their archery.

JMZ

My last Elf caravan brought a page and a half of wood, 1 stack of rat weed, and 1 stack of prickle berries.  Total value:  86.  Paid for it with 4 *chalk bracelets* worth 960 total.    Hopefully they bring something better than the caravan before them (2 bins of rope reed cloth.  That's it, 2 bins, nothing else. )

What they bring is random, but usually it's got a better distribution of plants, seeds, wood, and animals... and all that other stuff I don't buy.

JMZ