Bay 12 Games Forum

Something I've noticed in previous versions (but haven't tested recently): if you forbid items after the mood!dwarf grabs them, he brings them back, then drops them and goes to get something different. This only works on the decorations though; if you try to forbid the first (base) item after it's been acquired, the dwarf immediately considers the mood failed. So mass banning materials as soon as you see the workshop chosen is the best way to determine what your artifact is made out of.

Correct. For both, you're establishing the lower and upper maximums; a clutch token of 2:10 will randomly choose somewhere between 2 and 10 eggs.

I always end up with at least two squads for my militia: one ranged, and the rest melee. If it's not a full squad, I'll sneak a melee dwarf into the ranged group as something of a bodyguard.

I have my squads rotate active times so they can train and get sun exposure without cutting down too much on the workforce, and I do set up a training range as well as all the tweaks to make them actually use it. Supposedly training makes them more accurate, but it more importantly increases the rate of fire. Archers function as area denial and long-range harassing in my forts.

As for actually using them in a pitched battle? I haven't had much chance to, between long periods of being too busy to play and starting over so I know what the heck is going on in the fort. They do play a part in The Lonely Road defense (a winding, trap-filled path invaders are forced to path through). Maybe if I can stay focused long enough to get regular sieges in, they will see more use.

Bonus References: My squads all have a color in their names. The archer squad is usually The Green Arrow. (Melee squads get designations like The Silver Sentries and The Red Barons.)

From what I hear, loose items are the main cause of FPS death these days. If you haven't already done much with them, you might want to research/experiment with atom smashers to get rid of surplus stone.

How deep do you want your hollowing to go - match ground level? Dig down to the first cavern layer? The magma sea?

The frequency has jumped dramatically in the new version. Most of them have "Creator of ." as a title; they made artifacts during world gen.

And yes, it doesn't actually name the artifact, nor do they have the associated fulfilled life goals for things like "creating a great work of art" or "mastering a skill". One thing at a time.

My go-to group name lately has been "The Just Stop". I customize the symbol to be two animals (usually cats, dragons, or unicorns) looking offended.

Now I feel better about my 45ish elven visitors in the first year. They seemed to start leaving a few months after I actually set up a proper tavern, so maybe they're getting stuck because they can't "Socialize"?

As long as nobody trips... you don't stop until the bottom of a staircase.