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Messages - Valtam

Pages: 1 ... 20 21 [22]
316
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Raising a broker's skillset
« on: July 29, 2012, 03:16:54 pm »
Thanks for the correction, Garath, and I suspect that it doesn't override XXSockXX's answer, but works as a complement. Your explanation left me with a few new questions, which is great.

You said that
Quote from: Garath
However, as long as your broker has appraisal, any dwarf that trades benefits from it.

Then, through a wiki-reading, I see that you can define the Trade Depot as a burrow, allowing untrained dwarves to learn the know-how of trade. While the legendary broker is alive, doesn't matter if she's fishing or updating the books, everyone might know the real price of the stuff being sold and train in the Depot burrow, am I wrong?
Perhaps is not too dwarfy if they're helping each other and making their lives easier, but for the sake of knowledge I would like to understand how it works.

Also, where the wiki says that each (t)rade made will give 50 distributed points in the broker skillset, it happens just once in a trading season, right? So if a particular wealthy autumn comes with 5 wagons and 3 fleet-footed merchants, I'll only gain 50 points if the offer is rejected 3 times, then accepted and afterwards I bring more goods to trade with them. Or should that be 100 points?

317
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / FB especial corpse disposal
« on: July 29, 2012, 02:45:47 pm »
Well, in a rare glimpse of Fun I had yesterday, a round of FB's made their way from nowhere to reach my island haven. One of them was an humanoid made of mud, so he was laughably easy to kill ("gave" me an artifact axe, on top of that) and I don't mind looking at a flashing H lying in a body part stockpile from time to time, it's a cheery reminder. Next ones were a huge skinless lizard and a fire-spewing tortoise, perhaps Godzilla and Gamera's trashy cousins? After some ordeals they lost their heads and were promptly butchered with expected gusto.

All of a sudden (which is the best and only way for them and for us), a chromite cuadruped appears... That was a hard one. Lost my macemen and a heap of mass produced dogs; limbs were lost in both sides and, surprisingly, a mutt manages to scratch its head and the severed part sails off in an arc.

The chromite FB and its many chopped off parts now clutter my craftsmen's stockpile for bones, hairs and shells, and I tried to atom smash the corpse (along with dozens of remains from hunts past) in a single dump area beneath a 3x2 raising bridge, but the contraption dissappeared without leaving a trace, just scattered and un-smashed corpses and remains.

Shall I give it a ‼Fun(eral)‼ in the magma sea, never mind the basalt-throwing crabs that already had claimed their names with my best souls? Or a drowning chamber might suffice to never, ever see that corpse again? Also, will it ever melt? As I'm reading now, chromite is a magma safe material. Searching in the forums I only found this semi-relevant, derailed thread, but it implies a mod and I don't want to alter my experience yet (also it might not work, thanks to the magma-safeness involved).

Sorry if it took too much to get to my point.

318
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Raising a broker's skillset
« on: July 29, 2012, 02:00:13 pm »
Awesome, that might do it. Having a lot of spare time and plenty of rocks, it might be time to shape an ungodly excess of mugs and crafts.
Didn't knew about the socialising stuff, so it's just counterintuitive for my nerdy broker to be also great at merchant handling. Go figure.

Then, I'll allow them to take my trash, take everything of it. I might find ways to depend less and less of trade, for sure; right now people just let pig tails and plump helmets to wither and rot right in the fields, and I'm just fine with mass tree burning thanks to their production excess, but wanted to know how to take the best edges of trades, whenever I embark again on a less friendly environment.

Have to say that the fortress becomes more and more boring as time passes, getting wealthier at an "unstoppable" rate, but that'll entice me to test new stuff...

319
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Raising a broker's skillset
« on: July 29, 2012, 01:18:13 pm »
Well, this is my first question thread here at the Bay12 community, and as I haven't introduced myself then perhaps I'm missing a step or two in order to avoid being ignored and considered to be just a sane guy who lurks the forums and gives some useless opinions.

Nothing unusual around here, white caucasian male on his twenties who just discovered DF and got an instant, preety creepy hook on it. I've been playing since a month or two, this is approximately my tenth fortress on my third generated world, I think I'll just preserve the one I am until mayor changes apply to the game. It's maybe the second time I've made my way to the third cavern layer and I haven't once reached the magma sea, until now... I wouldn't have come this far without reading the wiki and checking out this helpful (and somewhat deranged) community.

***

Now that I'm on track, lets begin with the proper question:
I set one of my initial seven to be my broker (and she's also my book-keeper), with adequate appraisal skills and no more. Given that my mother civilization is already extinct (I suppose, their blue omegas don't appear on the embark map) then I wasn't expecting a whole load of migrants with better trading skills, or even better, none at all. Still, time passes, and skipping forward 5 years my broker has legendary +5 appraising skills. Hell of a appraiser is she, you can blindfold her and put a pig tail seed bag in each of her hands, she'll tell you one of them costs 31☼ because it has 10 seeds, while the other costs 61☼ because is has around 20. But she does no more, and the merchants always have the upper hand on her because of their presumably higher skill set in other areas, such as negotiating or intimidate.

I understand that the trading skill gain comes from just opening the window, not the actual trade (however it comes) but is there any chance to get her some helpful points in other relevant areas, so I can barter better prices? Or should I just resort to appoint someone who knows the ropes about interacting with merchants? Also, is this last thing even useful? Or are those yet unimplemented skills?

Thanks in advance.

320
Whew, this community is pretty fast. In the meantime I've been typing this nearly useless block of text, 3 new responses arise.
Anyway, as my "forum newbie" tag might suggest, I'm not that experienced to offer advice, but as far as I've thrived in a few, hand-counted fortresses, I could tell you that military should be almost the last of your defense lines. It's sort of a motto around here.
Try using traps, both simple and complex ones, rely a bit on siege weapons, have a hand with water reservoirs and floodgates, try those snazzy (and really easy to set) falling floor traps... Well, choices are many, but you might notice that with a vast array of defenses your dwarves not only will live longer (to train more and face properly later threats) but you'll also have a chance to defeat a lot of enemies that are simply too much for axes and bolts.

As a matter of example, my own tale of demise:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

321
DF Adventure Mode Discussion / Re: Must....EAT
« on: July 24, 2012, 11:53:54 am »
A pink-lettered status is the ringing bell that tells how your adventurer is almost dead. A bit like the real stuff, you can survive a few days without eating or drinking anything, heck, even without sleeping; doing this around a scorching desert makes no difference at all, but I might be wrong.

However, you'll experiment a serious hinderance while fighting with these conditions, so make sure you're well fed and fresh before any hunting or questing.

322
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Emergency Happiness
« on: July 24, 2012, 11:41:41 am »
I usually leave bedrooms unassigned, just for these kind of emergencies.

Last night I had a miserable bone carver who was throwing lots and lots of tantrums in the dining room, and he happened to share bonds with quite a bunch of people inside the fortress, ergo disaster was looming from the horizon. Just in time, I assigned him a nice bedroom, designated some idlers to smooth the hell out of it and threw a couple of engravings just as cherry toppings. Had to wait until his doozing hour, and Urist McSadbones, who got there in the first place thanks to the lost of some of his masterful arrows that got lodged inside the guts of some Giant peach-faced lovebirds, became an ecstatic and decadent dwarf in no time, just like his peers. A party ensued.

323
DF Adventure Mode Discussion / Re: Maybe I'm missing something
« on: July 24, 2012, 11:24:51 am »
Although this is my first post, I think I might have a suggestion or two about this, cause' it happened just the same when I first tried Adventure Mode.

Take into account world generation parameters, like natural savagery and number of civilizations and sites; I don't know exactly if these two might relate with how "tame" the surroundings of sites are, haven't tested yet, but if natural savagery is low then you might have a hard time trying to find something to spar and kick indefinitely. So, to fold this point, make sure that your Dwarf Fortress world is also suitable for adventures.

Also,
Try sneaking ("S"). If you don't sneak animals will run away from you. You might outrun them eventually, when your stats go up, but sneaking is essential here.
Becoming a legendary ambusher is quite easy if you refrain from fast travel, this way you can spot wildlife easier (but if you have companions vicious poachers at your side, creatures run away all the same). As a bonus, it's a wonderful skill that might save your fat more than a couple of times.

But fret not. If you're having trouble with food scarcity, and the nearbiest town is "far to the southeast" or something like that, try searching for free items inside hamlet houses. You'll likely find bags filled to the brim with berries and reeds, and townsfolk's cabinets usually contain leather equipment, which is quite better that being equipped with yarn clothing.

In any case, a serious lack of food resources could be a challenge, and a nice one while we're at it, so you better get again your dog leather backpack, ask for some troublesome ringleaders or bloodsucking cheesemakers and prepare for some FUN, Adventure mode has loads of it.

[Sorry for my broken english]

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