Bay 12 Games Forum

Why is it when I need to look something up, someone breaks the wiki (getting sql errors)?

Anyways, when a dwarf requests glass, does he mean raw or cut?  He's specifically requesting raw gems, cut gems and glass - could he want glass blocks?

His profile does specifically mention a type of preferred glass, but I have green and clear...

[turns out it was raw green - I had raw clear, I wasn't sure about it maybe being blocks, though]

Add this.  Now.  Very dwarfish.


Scientists make super-strong metallic spider silk

By Ben Hirschler Ben Hirschler – Thu Apr 23, 2:55 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Spider silk is already tougher and lighter than steel, and now scientists have made it three times stronger by adding small amounts of metal.

The technique may be useful for manufacturing super-tough textiles and high-tech medical materials, including artificial bones and tendons.

"It could make very strong thread for surgical operations," researcher Seung-Mo Lee of the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle, Germany, said in a telephone interview.

Lee and colleagues, who published their findings in the journal Science, found that adding zinc, titanium or aluminum to a length of spider silk made it more resistant to breaking or deforming.

They used a process called atomic layer deposition, which not only coated spider dragline silks with metal but also caused some metal ions to penetrate the fibers and react with their protein structure.

Lee said he next wanted to try adding other materials, including artificial polymers like Teflon.

The idea was inspired by studies showing traces of metals in the toughest parts of some insect body parts. The jaws of leaf-cutter ants and locusts, for example, both contain high levels of zinc, making them particularly stiff and hard.

Spider silk has long fascinated scientists but producing it in commercial quantities is difficult because spiders kept in captivity tend to eat each other.

As a result, researchers have looked at alternative ways of producing silk without spiders, by duplicating their spinning technique.

Approaches being tried include deriving fiber from the milk of transgenic goats with an extra spider-silk gene and adapting silk produced by other insects, such as silkworms.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

Mother tends to the ballista.
Her five children gather around to watch.
You'd think she'd wait until one moved to fire.
She does not.
The bolt decapitates one of her little girls.
She sits down to a legendary meal of roast chicken, black peppercorns, wild herbs and lemons.
She does not care.

Actually, this is making it sound good...

Seriously, I was a bit mortified at the blood spray that doused the area.  I like having little families in the fort, but I guess I'll need to furlough any of the women that have children.

I saw some people wanting animals, and I had just made some, so I though I'd share.  C&C is welcome.  I take lots of notes in my raw files, so you can cut that out if you don't want it.  If you aren't in to modding, just copy the code and append it to your creature_domestic file in the raw folder.  I haven't done a gameplay pass on values yet, so input is welcome to get them to conform.

sheep

pigs

chickens

edit: spelling.

This probably could be discussed first, but I'll post it and see what happens.

ûz Etar Amud, "ûz the King of Thunder"

ûz most often takes the form of a female dwarf...

I know that they are gods/goddesses with wily ways and there are ample references in our own mythologies to cover this, but I'm not sure it was intentional in this case.

RE: "made volcanic shafts that are visible in embark always exit through the surface"

By 'volcanic shafts' I'm assuming you mean magma pipes as well, not just volcanos themselves.

Just embarked to a site that had a magma pipe shown, but did not show on the surface after embarking.

Is there a setting somewhere to turn off translations?

I'd rather just see the language's words, because the translations are just goofy to the point they're killing the mood.

Building the Undercity, Enôrdùstik Stëtnin, v1.

g+1 (rooms)     g (bar)         g-1 (mtg rm)
╔═╦═╦═╦═╦═╗     ╔═╦═══════╗     ╔═╦═══════╗
║>║θ║θ║θ║θ║     ║X║÷      ║     ║<║       ║
║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║     ║ ║÷  ╥╤╤╥║     ║ ║       ║
║ ╚┼╩┼╩┼╩┼╣     ║ ║÷      ║     ║ ║       ║
║         ║     ┼     ╥╤╤╥║     ║         ║
╠═┼╦┼═╦┼╦┼╣     ╠┼╗٪      ║     ║         ║
║  ║  ║ ║ ║     ║ ║÷    ╥╤║     ║         ║
║θ ║ θ║θ║θ║     ║θ║÷      ║     ║         ║
╚══╩══╩═╩═╝     ╚═╩══┼┼═══╝     ╚═════════╝

The symbols are pretty much the same as in-game, so no notes on those unless you need them.  For clarity, all surfaces are smooth, though floors are not shown.

Overview
This is my version of an inn.  It can be used both on the surface and underground.  See the options, below.  If undergound, its intent is to be a free standing building with the caverns channeled out a few layers above it to give it the large chasm feel.

I'm going for aesthetics, as I play long-time fortresses (last one was 17 years and only stopped so I could take advantage of the new release, so pathing and hauling are not top priorities.

The general purpose is to have a realistic building both in looks and function.  Placing it next to the trade depot is favorable, as it would look like a small village springing up.  It'd be a perfect place for the starting dwarves to use.

As you enter the ground floor, patrons can grab a bit to eat or get a drink on their way to work.  Stockpiles hold 4 barrels of booze, a barrel of the season's edible plants, and a single stack of prepared food.

Down the hallway to the left is the proprietor's assigned room (cook, brewer, maybe planter (see below)), and the stairs leading up to the rooms and down to the meeting room.  A side door can be used for the proprietor to toss out trash or tend his garden (see below).

Going up the stairs takes you to the inn's rental rooms.  Six common rooms and two more comfortable rooms are available.  No extra furniture is included other than the beds.

Going down the stairs takes you to the meeting room.  This is where the locals can gather and discuss the day's events, smoke their pipes, and toss hand axes at each other.  The Captain is sure to put this place on the guard's patrol route, not only keeping them happy, but to keep the patrons in line as well.

Internal Options
Though not shown, I assume each room and some of the ground floor bar would have windows.  Fortifications in the sense of an open-air adobe type building, or glass windows for a more realistic look and feel.  My only concern was after the economy kicks in, not many could afford rooms with windows - though, that may be the point of an inn - various comings and goings.

At the start, the two larger rooms could be used as offices for the expedition leader (or manager/treasurer).

The basement meeting room is intended for a small 'meeting' zone - it looks cool when dwarves are actually hanging out in the inn.  We really need two types of meeting zone, a racial meeting zone, and a 'corral' type meeting zone that animals will go to - it looks funny when Urist brings his muskox in and crashes the party.

I thought of putting a still or kitchen down here for the proprietor, but with the current noise system, the tenants would never sleep.

External Options
Perhaps near a well.
A statue out front to commemorate something.
If on the surface, a small farm plot so the proprietor can grow veggies (I know he may not use that particular plot, but it would look like it was getting used).
The overall construction is assumed to be stone if underground, but with the open-air cavern approach, could easily mimic an above-ground building, ie making the foundation and ground floor out of stone, and making the top level out of wood.

---

Thanks for looking.  Feel free to discuss and adapt as you see fit.  I plan on making several stock buildings that I'll be using in my forts, and I'll continue to post them for review and comment.

edit - I forgot the up stairs for the meeting rm, note on starting dwarves, note on use of large rms, note about smoothing, name change to proper dwarf format, clarify room w/ window, random spelling.