Bay 12 Games Forum

This type of situation is, it seems, the kind where specific advice would be worthless because we can't take into consideration all the nuances of your relationship with your parents.

I can, however, offer some general observations:

First, I've always fared better in an argument when I've held my temper in check and allowed the other person to finish speaking/acting before I reply.  People arguing with one another are rarely trying to convince the other about something.  Usually, it's just a matter of trying to communicate (albeit poorly) anger/frustration/fear to the other.  Respectfully et them finish, acknowledge their point of view, and only then calmly communicate your position.  All this is really hard, particularly when you're emotional.

Second, remember that seemingly irrational anger often really arises from a different source that the immediate cause.  I bet she was thinking about more than the hammer when she was yelling.  This means two things: (1) you shouldn't argue about the hammer, because it's not the real issue, and (2) her reason for being upset may be totally legitimate even if the excuse for the argument (hammer) is ridiculous.

Third, winning an argument is worthless when you loose the relationship.  Now, you don't have to best friends with your parents, but I bet you'd be a lot happier if your relationship with them was better.  Take responsibility for building that relationship even, no, especially, if they are doing a bad job of it.  You owe it to yourself.

Good luck.

How many wood blocks are there?  There's a really quick and dirty way to move them where you want without building a stockpile.

Build a floor with them.  Build a 10 x 10 floor, then deconstruct it.  Voilą, you now have a wooden block stockpile with 100 blocks in it.

It was here.  It's tough to tell how much real interest there is still here.  If anyone wants to seriously talk about specific plans they might want to just start a new thread.

OK, so, I read through the first bout of posts, to page 13 or so, then skipped all the silliness that followed.

If anyone's still actually interested in this I have a few thoughts.

First, a Co-Op model seems better than a Commune model.  Smaller group, focused upon a specific building/property, in or on the outskirts of the urban area you're already located in.

Allow for transferable equity interests (shares) and voting rights.  Standard 50% or 66% quorum requirements for decisions.  Incorporate the Co-Op as a 501(c) or similar and have monthly dues.  Allow for people to make non-cash contributions for their dues through an appropriate approval process.

A pipe dream geekhive will never happen.  Smaller 7-20 Co-Ops are thriving and successful.  Take that model, apply it to the area you already live in, and generate/find interest in social groups (Bay12) guaranteed to provide some minimal amount of common interest and camaraderie.

I actually got really excited about this as I read through the first 12 pages.  Unfortunately (fortunately?) I'm engaged and have accepted a job offer for next year, so I have no geographic/housing flexibility.

But it could work.  If you actually wanted it to and took it seriously.  I couldn't join, but I'd be happy to draw up documents, file legal forms etc... for anyone interested enough to actually do it.

I'm not sure from your description exactly what your setup looks like, but yes, you can plug an aquifer with a cave-in.  Keep in mind that you must use natural walls, as constructed walls deconstruct when they fall.

Dwarf up!

Plowing through the caverns with your original layout despite the inconvenience is a fun part of the challenge!

Minimize the cavern layer size, number and distance to the surface. Don't mess with min/max elevation settings, just embark on a completely flat surface. I managed to get the magma sea at 10 below ground level like this.

This.

Go to "Design New World With Advanced Parameters" on the main menu.

Hit Esc. to continue to the next screen.

On the right is a list of default configurations.  Choose the size you want and hit {c} to copy it, then hit {t} to rename it.  I call mine "CUSTOM".

With CUSTOM highlighted hit {e} to enter the advanced parameters.

Now you're looking at everything that goes into genning a world.  If the only change you want to make is to bring the magma sea closer then there are only a few settings you need to tweek.

Scroll down several pages (prolly 7) till you see "Cavern Layer Number".  This is the number of underground caverns.  The default is 3, but you'll want to lower it to 1 or 0.  I like 1 because that still lets me get spores.

Go down to "Cavern Layer Openness Max".  This caps the number of z-levels high the cavern can be.  Set it to something reasonable like 4.

Go down to "Magma Layer".  Make sure it says "yes".

The next part is the (somewhat) counter-intuitive one.  Scroll down to "Z Levels Above Layer 1".  This controls the number of levels between the top of the first (only) cavern and the ground.  I set mine to 5 to allow for some minerals and room before I breach the cavern.  Change the other "Z Levels Above Layer X" to a small number.  1-3 is good.

That should do it!  Now, starting from the bottom, you've got a magma layer, then one level between that and the bottom of the cavern, then cavern no more than 5 levels tall, then 5 layers of stone, then ground level!  If that doesn't give you enough space to dig/build you can bump the numbers up.

Also, note the "Z Levels Above Ground" setting.  This defaults to 15, but I almost always build up pretty high.  You can increase this all the way to 100 if you like tall structures.

I figured that part out, but I don't think it'll do quite what I want.  I think if I change that to 10 it will require 10 stacks of bone rather than 10 bones.

I don't actually think I can do what I want without first separating the bones into individual stacks first, and that's just too much dorf labor for what I have in mind.