Bay 12 Games Forum

Well, in DF you could grind down any stone to create "sand".
DF sand is unique in that it is always the correct mix for every application - like glassmaking. =)

Then perhaps I should be more specific: I am not creating sand, I am creating a ground "stone powder".  Which stones would be suitable?

Feldspar is a flux material at these temperatures.

I'm asking if adding those materials (Na, K, Ca) by adding salt or potash or other materials to a mix will make it more suitable for any given reaction?

Basically that's what is is.
DF is just strange in that there are areas without sand.
On this planet, if there are any minerals whatsoever, there will be sand.

Even on the moon - without any water or atmosphere for erosion - you have sand.
(thermal erosion works if you're not in a hurry =)

Yes, but we're working in DF, and I'm trying to find substitutes.  What kinds of stones make a reasonable substitutes for the "right sand"?

Well, appraise is affected only by the first time you look at the goods that have been brought to the trade depot as far as I know.  What you bring, or how much you trade makes no difference (does affect other negotiating skills, though, but you can get that by just socializing).

Mechanics don't really matter, except for room value or weapon traps (I don't know if that flinging things with a drawbridge matters), and maybe trap-laying speed.

I'm guessing, though, the real problem, then, is that you simply have one less set of hands to work with.

(I guess you should work on a 1x1 meeting area so that you get some marriages and pregnancies?  Be sure to set a low child to adult ratio in the init file. May be cool to have a fortress composed entirely of two or three families who escaped the ravages of their decimated homeland to rebuild their homeland... plus no nobles.)

Still, you should probably try Dwarf Therapist, instead.  I've found it much more useful than Dwarf Companion, and you don't need to worry so much about crashing things.  If you go into options on recent versions, you need to check the "I'm a dirty cheater, let me modify everyone's work duties" option.  Dwarf Therapist, as a bonus, has a much more polished interface, although it doesn't show quite as much information as Dwarf Companion does (no warnings for low money, for example).

I don't have one I named after myself, but I do have a dwarf that I share a fairly large amount of empathy with...

When I was starting my fort, at embark, I was looking through my dwarves' personalities, and found a good candidate for a leader - she was never discouraged, made friends quickly, easily moved to pity, often cheerful... but she also had "dislikes intellectual discussion".  As such, I named her "Sunny", and gave her a few ranks in pacifier and consoler. (Primary profession as carpenter, secondary as brewer, although she dropped that when I got migrants.)

To compensate for a lack of thinking, however, I got another dwarf, one who had "takes time in making decisions," "open-minded to new ideas," and "Candid and sincere in dealings with others" as traits, and gave her my appraisal ranks. (Primary profession cook, also odd-jobs until migrants.) 

I kind of like the notion of having a leadership duo with a charismatic "face" who manages to motivate and negotiate, and then a dour manager who does the actual planning and work.  Since she was taking this psuedo-support role, I named the second dwarf "Luna" for completeness.

It kind of helps that Luna is not just record keeping and trading and price setting, and was my first legendary, but is also pretty much running the show in terms of fortress value, as her legendary cooking skill makes her capable of pretty much sneezing on a quarry bush and making it worth more than most artifacts.  (I just keep notions that she's "staying in the kitchen" aside...)

I prefer to picture her as doing the actual planning of fortress design, while Sunny runs around hugging cats or demanding more goblets and fine pewter or meeting with dwarves who are unhappy that they are bankrupted by housing prices caused by all my beds being high-quality.

Oddly, when enough unhappy dwarves got together, even though Sunny had successfully dealt with all the complaints, and even did a "carpenter's union" mandate, they actually did elect a new mayor... Luna!  Now Luna's finally being seen for all her hard work, even if she may not exactly enjoy the additional responsibilities...  (I was just working on giving Luna nicer quarters, as well, but now Sunny and Luna are switching rooms, since my mayor's housing is pretty nice.)

edit: Oh, Luna's last name is "Thathilstukos", or "Autumnrazor".  Sunny's, if anyone cares, is Kubukribar = Lancehomage.

Sorry if I skip some things, but certain parts caught more of my attention than others...

Glaze "powders" - you mean the colour pigments?
Those are required in very small quantities and would be ground with a mortar and pestle.

Yes, the easiest DF catagory to appropriate is "powders", alongside dyes (and flour), so I was just trying to put it into game terms.

I already had hoped that powdering an ore would provide very large amounts of pigment for glazing (although maybe less so for ash glazing), with something like 10 or 20 powders in a stack per ore.

Usually you only use sand (different kinds of) and maybe around 10% of clay.

Funny how there is a boatload of different "rocks" but only 3 or so types of sand.
For every rock there is also a sand. =)

For glazes you'd use quartz and feldspar sand. Usually you get both at once.
That you only need "sand" to create glass in DF isn't that far from the truth.
You're just lucky to get a meltable mix every single time. =)

The melting point is defined by the recipe and which kind (Na, Ca, K) of Feldspar you use.

For Porcelain you'll mostly want potash(orthoclase), for earthenware albite (Na).
Calcite is somewhere in the middle. For stoneware you'll use a mix of K and (Na/Ca).
And no feldspar is ever pure. You always get a mix of several ones.

Ugh, I'm looking for alternatives, here... Albite isn't even in DF.

So, if we are looking for something with the right chemical composition, and sand isn't available, is it possible to just grind up a certain kind of feldspar, or a combination, and try to get something in the right ballpark of where we need to be?

Also, the Wikipedia link said that you could add flux material to modify the melting points - would a powdered feldspar of a certain stone become acceptable by adding a flux material to the mix, like that chalk/limestone/other flux or potash or salt (which would be Ca, K, and Na...)?

Oh ya, always think about the obvious bits last.
Porcelaine consists of up to 50% (or more) glass. Literally glass.
That's why it's so mechanically unstable during the firing.

Quartz and feldspar (K) are the typical suspects for providing the materials.
That's why it's usually not such a big deal that Kaoline deposits always contain quartz.

In which case, we just make porcelain just be kaolin and sand?  If there is any sand-substitute, it would have to work for glass, as well?  I don't really mind restrictive material requirements too much, but making it the exact same restriction as applies to glass just tells people "sand in your map, or don't even bother"... people are already like that with glass, anyway.

Well, chalk it up as another thing Dwarf Companion can't chalk it up to, and start training another mechanic and appraiser?

I mean, really, mechanic is easy (if you actually use up every available stone in your embark, you should win a medal), and it's not like mechanism quality matters for their primary purpose.  Appraisal is slower, taking a few years, but it's not like it takes very much of the dwarf's time to just walk in and look at the trade goods.

Incidentally, I dislike having just one of anything, especially something you might need to rely upon.

Umm... drop his marksdwarfship skill lower, then give him a fey mood?

blasphemy

NW_Kohaku has become an Iconoclast.
NW_Kohaku, Iconoclast, is more experienced.

As in like in a electric fan.  Just came to mind, some sort of disk with lift that can be thrown high and long to land on the poles.  And, you don't beat the fan into submission...you beat the oposing team into submission.  The second part...not sure where I was going with that.  Must have been somewhere, but my mind goes waaaayy out there at times.

So... a frisbee.