Bay 12 Games Forum

I understand that (dwarven) caravans will tailor what they bring based on what's available to the civilization; if they don't have access to iron ores, they won't bring iron products, although they will still bring pig iron and steel for some reason.
My questions are-
A) Does this also apply to plants and animals? IE, if a civilization has access to sun berries, will it bring sun berries, seeds, and sunshine with the caravan?
B) Can this change with user-created forts? IE, if my civilization does not have access to sun berries, I found a fortress which does have sun berries, and then retire that fort and found a new fortress in the same civilization, will the new caravans carry sun berries/seeds/sunshine?
C) Can I domesticate animals for the caravan? In my current fortress, I've pretty well tamed dralthas and elk birds, so if I found a new fortress in this civ, can caravans bring domesticated dralthas and elk birds?
I suspect that's NO for all, but would appreciate some confirmation either way.

See topic. I've got a small section of fortifications that I want deconstructed, and my dwarves aren't doing it. It's totally accessible, no longer under water, but they still aren't working on it. It is under and supporting another section, but it isn't the only means of support. I can find no reason they should be so reluctant. Anybody else know why this should be so?

Have started new fort in mountainous area, and as result, do not have soil readily available. No matter! Am great engineer, have UG river, can irrigate soil and farm on mud. Takes most of the first year to set up properly, but is done. Want to be able to plant above-ground plants, so must pump water up many levels; difficult, but doable, and done. Unfortunately, while can plant UG plants easily enough, the "above-ground" plots say that they have no seeds available for that location, despite many bags full of longland grass, hemp, potato, and even hide root seeds. Is this a bug, and is there any way to plant my above-ground crops? Above-ground plots are standard greenhouse outfit; channeled roof away to expose underground mud to the daystar.

Being as how nobody's willing to sell me any sunberries, I've cheated and gotten them anyway. I used a modded reaction to produce both the berries and the seeds, on the off-chance that one or the other wouldn't work properly. The berries brewed just fine, and every menu I can find says "We have X seeds, which are available for use", except the plots' planting menu. For whatever reason, I cannot use those sun berry seeds that I have.

Also, tried same method with sliver barb, the only other crop I don't have. Same problem; mills just fine, but can't plant.

Have obtained first UG river that I can do something with, and as usual it's infested with vile beasties. Lizardmen, snakemen, olms both man and giant, and cave crocodiles. I'd like to capture them and breed the crocs, and use the other beasts for training soldiers. The problem is, they really don't seem at all interested in my cage traps; I tried to use a horse as a lure, but again, not a whiff of interest. The only critter I caught was a single croc which decided to destroy a door and then attack a citizen, who is perfectly fine.

I have three questions regarding UG rivers:
1. How can I get the beasts in there to run into my traps?
2. Do UG rivers use the same pressure system as above-ground rivers, that they pressurize to one level below the original river?
3. What sort of shrubs can I expect from stone muddied by a UG river? Aboveground shrubs like rope reed and wild strawberry, or underground stuff like plump helmets and cave wheat?

Armok take it, this is the second time I've had a crippled liaison. Damned if I can say how it happened, but my liaison, that just arrived with the first caravan, is missing his left leg entirely. Incidentally, my last fortress had a liaison crippled in exactly the same way. What should I do about this? He falls unconscious too often for me to conduct any sort of negotiations; the only solution I can see would be to kill him and hope his replacement is more able. Is there another solution, one which does not require dwarficide?

Following advice found elsewhere, I created a 1x2 meeting area, which caused idle dwarves to cram in and socialize. This apparently included several children who had nothing better to do with their time. After several seasons, and probably three or four years, I have children who are stronger, tougher, and faster than some of my haulers. The most notable one I found is Minkot Koldakas, who is Mighty, Very Agile, and Very Tough, and Skilled in all social skills. On the other hand, as soon as my fortress gets hit hard, I'll have lots of sad dwarfs and possibly tantrums.