Bay 12 Games Forum

I'm trying to figure out how to most efficiently set up a steel industry to generate steel bars through recycling, due to the over-unity efficiency of "melt a metal object". Chiefly, I'm trying to figure out what skill my armorer should have while creating steel leggings for maxium recycling efficiency. High skill means faster production, but also means that I get masterworks that I would prefer not to melt down (my dwarves are already on edge enough). So under the assumption that masterworks never get melted down, and that travel distance is negligible (for now; I may add it back in later), what is the most time-efficient armorer skill level for steel bar creation (specifically, through steel leggings)?

My favorite embark tends to be on a glacier with a towering volcano. And I recently found something fascinating in an embark that was a bit different from my usual embarks.

The volcanoes often have some ice walls on the first level. Obviously, it's not hard to melt these walls by putting magma around them. Putting magma below or to the side doesn't really work by itself (as in either of those cases, unless the square with the ice has been dug out and floored before, the water will merge with the magma to form obsidian), so it's best to spread magma over top of the ice. If you do this on top of an ice wall next to an open square, the water will then spread - and if magma isn't also on top of the new square, and that square is outside, that new square will gain a new ice wall. And due to the fluid mechanics (specifically, because ice always melts to 7 water), this will spread exactly one square beyond the extent you allow the magma to spread. In other words, a self-constructing ice wall.

In my case, I'd built a rectangle of floors 5 wide surrounded by constructed walls at z=+1; this resulted in a rectangle of water 5 wide surrounded by ice walls at z=0. The water was essentially self-refilling due to irregular freeze/melt cycles (even with the magma constantly on top of it - I wasn't even manipulating the magma after getting it out of the volcano), and digging into the ice walls only resulted in the ice wall reforming (and, once, killing the miner - I'm guessing the miner moved in the wrong direction). I haven't tested how various construction like bridges on either level will affect it, or the possibility of draining the water.

I have a few thoughts as to how this could be used in case of sieges, wagon safety, and a few other things, so I was wondering: has this been discovered before and/or put to dorfy uses? Or do you guys have any thoughts on how to use it for !!FUN!!?

I decided to add a small lookout tower to my fort, using glass windows and floors (having seen people talk about them before). I looked at the wiki, and it said that windows could be made from any kind of glass. I have plenty of all of the kinds of glass (uncut), and the game is telling me that "Needs sand-bearing item." Anyone know how to make them properly?
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I've been playing this fort for 20 years. During the first few years there were goblin snatchers and kobold thieves, but since then I've seen neither hide nor hair of either. No ambushes, nothing. I've restricted the population to 20 dwarves period, but even then I should still be getting ambushes, shouldn't I?
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A challenge: make a fort that could in theory last forever. Not just for a couple thousand years - forever.

Note that the game does have a mechanic that does limit the longevity of the fort; changing init.txt and d_init.txt is enough. Bonus question: what is that mechanic, and specifically what change would be needed?
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So last time I played, I figured out a nice way to have an infinite amount of obsidian based on lava and ice. However, what I built could only get 10 or so squares per bridge used; I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to do it en masse (i.e. 100 squares per bridge used or so). Does anyone know how to do it?

A plus would be to be able to do it pumpless, as I had been able to do; however, this is not required.
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Is there a hack to turn your initial 7 dwarves into vampires?

If so, has anyone tried using that and an embark anywhere hack to embark on an ocean?
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Apparently the wagons pass by even if

Is there a way to have an "impenetrable" fortress and still have the wagons appear? For example, would this work:

Have two walls, an inner and an outer, such that you control movement through the walls (by bridge, etc.). The outer wall is open whenever there are no merchants there yet. Inside the outer wall is a "fake" depot that will never actually be used, but is there to make sure the wagons appear and get inside the outer wall. When all merchants are inside the outer wall, the outer wall is closed and the inner wall opened; the "fake" depot is then forbidden, and the wagons should go to the "real" depot inside the inner wall.
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