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[Triaxx2]

One simple thing to do is setting up a track to move food stuffs from farm area stockpiles to dining room stockpiles. I have the farms on z-1, and the dining room down at z-5. So the easiest way to move the fairly HUGE stockpiles created by cooks and hunters, was to set up a simple track running out through a wall, down to z-5, and then into the dining room stockpile. A dump works good to automate it, though if you have the haulers, it looks nicer to have it just sit at the end and be unloaded manually.

I've also got a loop set up to bring water up to the surface, a full 75 z-levels, though I've been having some issues, mostly because of the somewhat haphazard method of design. Plus I can't count.

I also have a single track running up 10 z from the workshops, to the top of the fort and into a stockpile right beside the depot.

[wuphonsreach]

Drop shafts are very simple.  (Although I have one that isn't working... the other one is working fine now.)

Uses so far:
- Dropping clay from the surface down to the magma kilns
- Dropping metal ores, charcoal/coal blocks down to the forges
- Dropping economic rocks down to the magma forges

Notice that in order to drop from top to bottom, you'll have to scout out the location of your magma sea, all your caverns, and find a drop shaft.  I actually created (2) side-by-side shafts to start which gives me some flexibility.

Code: [Select]

....................
#####........WWWW...
###S=========+SPW...
#####........WWWW...
.............L......
....................

# is stockpile
S is constructed track stop
= is the carved track
+ is door, hooked to the lever (L)
P is the pit

1. You need a hole to drop stuff into.  I usually position this somewhere that I can drop a 1x1 pit from top to bottom in one designation.  Same rules apply to digging other pits, you need to do it as a channel (d-h) from top to bottom and make sure that very bottom tile has no designations below it.

Note: This is just a hole.  You don't need to setup a "pit" zone.

2. From the drop shaft, carve out a track (d-T) from the tile on the edge of the hole to a convenient place for a stockpile to collect things from the local area.  In the case of clay, this might be very near your clay collection zone.  In the case of metal/economic ore, this rail head might need to be near your central stairs.  For charcoal production, you might run a rail head over near your wood furnace.

As you look (k) along the track you should see it with designations like "Track (E)" for the left end, then a bunch of "Track (EW)" and finally a "Track (W)" at the right end by the pit.

Straight E/W or N/S runs are easiest to start with.  Stay away from ramps or bends to start.

3. Create a stockpile that wraps around the rail head.  Erase any stockpile designations that overlap with the track/stop (for neatness sake).  Set the stockpile up with wheelbarrows and the proper designations.  My stockpiles are usually 3x5 as shown.  Once setup, you should see dwarves filling up this stockpile with the goods to be put down the chute.

4. Build a door and hook it to a lever.  Once built, throw the lever to force the door open.  When the door is in place, carts cannot move down the track.  When the lever opens the door, carts can be pushed to the pit edge.  This gives you manual control over whether items will be raining down on the heads of dwarves at the bottom of the shaft.

5. Create a second stockpile in the tile at the bottom of the shaft which accepts everything that you're throwing down the hole.  You may also want to place a door at the bottom which you can lock to keep dwarves from touching anything in the stockpile.

6. Construct a track stop (b-C-S) at the stockpile end on the dead-end bit of track.  Note that you *must* set the track stop settings before placing it.  In the case of a stop that pulls from a stockpile, you must have "Dump = No" (use the "d" key) and the friction doesn't matter.

7. Construct the track stop (b-C-S) at the other end by the pit.  Note that you must use the "d" key to change the dump direction to dump stuff from the track stop tile into the open pit.

Now for the tricky bit, the route.  Note that routes are not directly tied to tracks, they are a separate system of designating what happens at the points you define.  Naturally, you should line up your route definitions with the track stops and tracks that you have laid down.

A. Open the route menu with "h" then use "r" to create a new route, then "n" to give it a name (such as "Chute Stones").

B. Hit "v" to assign a vehicle to this route.  Select a minecart that is not yet assigned to a route.

C. Move your mouse cursor the location where you built the track stop at the stockpile.  Hit the "s" key to create a new stop.  Use the +/- keys to highlight this new stop and change the nickname (such as "Pickup").

D. Hit "Enter" on the first stop to go into settings.  Press "s" to link to a stockpile, move your mouse cursor over the stockpile and hit the "p" key to finish.  There should now be an entry that says "Take from: XYZ Stockpile #999".

E. Hit "Enter" again while inside the stop settings menu to "Set desired items".  You will need to match (or exceed) the settings of the stockpile that you are pulling from.  So if the stockpile only accepts Dolomite Stone, you could have the stop's desired items set to allow all stones.

F. You now need to set your departure conditions for the origin track stop.  Departure conditions have (4) parts:

- Whether it will be pushed, ridden or guided.
- The direction that the cart will depart.
- When.
- How full the cart has to be.

For the track stop at the stockpile in the above diagram:

- Guide east immediate when full of desired items.
- Guide east in 14 days when at least 50% of desired items.
- Take from Stone Stockpile #999.

G. Move your mouse cursor the location where you built the track stop at the pit's edge.  Hit the "s" key to create a new stop.  Use the +/- keys to highlight this new stop and change the nickname (such as "Dump").

H. For this stop, remove all existing departure conditions and create one that simply says:

- Guide west immediately when empty of desired items.

At this point, your dwarves should start loading the cart, then guide it down the tracks.  When you look at your route screen, you should see:

Chute Stones
- Pickup 0% V
- Dump

I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between various colors of "V" symbols other then "green is good".  I'm also not sure why my other track isn't working even though the dwarves loaded it up with goods.

[orfax]

You can also make a very small quantum stockpile with only a single route stop:


..Q..
/-*-\
\-#-/
IIIII
IIIII


The Q is the quantum stockpile.
The * is a track stop with low friction that dumps to the north.
The # is a track stop with highest friction which does not dump.
The I is the input stockpile.

Define the route stop at the # and set it to push or ride east or west when full / 50% / etc. Do NOT set it to guide.

The cart will be filled up, and when full it will be pushed or ridden around the loop and dump the content on the way. This has the bonus of not requiring being pushed back from the other end of the track.

In the example above it is best to ride the cart, as it goes around so fast it will hit the dwarf that pushed it. If you make it slightly larger (the track being 7 x 3 or so) then a pushed cart will not hit the dwarf that pushes it, usually.

If you set it to guide, then when it is full a dwarf will go and stand on the cart and do nothing, and your FPS will drop.

[Snaake]

A couple of big hints I've learned from other threads.

- Apparently a dumping track stop just always dumps, not just when the cart moves onto the stop. So all you need is 1 track stop set to dump on a quantum stockpile tile, make a route with 1 stop only (at the track stop ofc), then set the source stockpile and desired items, remove all push/guide/ride commands. The dwarves will load stuff into the cart, which will immediately empty into the quantum stockpile. Of course, this feels even more cheaty than using the small loop recommended by orfax, or a 2-tile, 2-stop, back-and-forth quantum stockpiling track like I've done (which takes 1/3rd the space that orfax's does, but requires an extra job to move the cart back to the loading stop, like he says). I do recommend using his version, with a longer track, for refuse or dumping down chutes, your dwarves don't have to go anywhere near the chute/miasma/whatever.

- You can avoid dwarves walking on tracks completely, by making the track inaccessible.

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A simple horizontal break (top view), track stays on same z-level:
o=.==Where o is the track stop, = are tracks (continuing to wherever you want on the right), and . is a channeled open space (not a ramp!). A pushed (low speed rollers give the same speed as a dwarf's push btw) cart has enough speed to jump over the gap, but dwarves/pets/liaisons/non-flying invaders can't path through.

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A version with a 1-z vertical drop (side view, # is wall):
z-0:   o=..
z-1:    #===Here the track drops down 1 level, but similarly to before, has speed and keeps on rolling
to the right. Again, blocks the pathing of non-flyers.

Note that in either version you can't put the channeled hole on the tile right after the track stop, since the behaviour with a push command seems to be (more or less) that dwarves guide the cart 1 square (off the hauling stop set to push), then push it off. So it actually doesn't have any speed until after 1 square of movement.

[Kylarus]

I had a chain of them set up on a couple levels that I used in a previous fort while playing with them. It was set up with a central stockpile set for all stones, bars, plants. From there, I had several tracks in different directions coming and going. One set came up from the mines, with several offshoot tracks leading to it from the further mines. Another took ore stones and coal/coke to the smelter with a sister track to bring the bars of metal back up to stockpile, to be loaded on another cart to the smithy. One set of carts took stone to a processing area, with a machinists shop, mason's shop and craftsdorf shop. It cut down on labor quite a bit and was simple to set up, with 5-10 stonecarver/carpenters setting up the track. Wheelbarrows were situated at each stockpile that stored stone. I'm quite happy with their inclusion.

[wuphonsreach]

How do track stops interact with levers?  What happens when you hook up a track stop to a lever?

[Snaake]

How do track stops interact with levers?  What happens when you hook up a track stop to a lever?

Haven't tested this yet (probably more useful to link pressure plates than levers if automatization is your goal), but I assume that when appropriately triggered, the track stop effectively disappears: both it's friction effects and dumping settings would cease to work.

[wuphonsreach]

Haven't tested this yet (probably more useful to link pressure plates than levers if automatization is your goal), but I assume that when appropriately triggered, the track stop effectively disappears: both it's friction effects and dumping settings would cease to work.

If so, that means you could have a manual, safe method.  Or at least safer method which requires minimal intervention.

- Track stop which does the pickup from the stockpile at the top of the chute is linked to a lever at the bottom.  (There's also a track stop which does the dumping, but it's not useful to stop that one from operating.)  The default state for a track stop hooked to the lever is to be operating?

- Items fall down the chute, land on a hatch 1Z above the bottom, also hooked to the lever.  Default state for the hatch is closed.

So, throw lever and the mine cart up above should stop being filled or departing.  Hatch opens up and dumps items into lower stockpile, wait a beat or three, then throw the lever again and things to back to working.  Your dwarves now have a far lower chance of being killed by falling items?

I could even see this setup with a pressure plate and another minecart on a track to act as a timing mechanism.  The other minecart track would be set to depart always every 14 days, as it goes around the track it would go across pressure plates and trigger the hatch?  You'd just need a dwarf to guide it every 14 days.

[Snaake]

...
- Track stop which does the pickup from the stockpile at the top of the chute is linked to a lever at the bottom.  (There's also a track stop which does the dumping, but it's not useful to stop that one from operating.)  The default state for a track stop hooked to the lever is to be operating?

- Items fall down the chute, land on a hatch 1Z above the bottom, also hooked to the lever.  Default state for the hatch is closed.

So, throw lever and the mine cart up above should stop being filled or departing.  Hatch opens up and dumps items into lower stockpile, wait a beat or three, then throw the lever again and things to back to working.  Your dwarves now have a far lower chance of being killed by falling items?

I could even see this setup with a pressure plate and another minecart on a track to act as a timing mechanism.  The other minecart track would be set to depart always every 14 days, as it goes around the track it would go across pressure plates and trigger the hatch?  You'd just need a dwarf to guide it every 14 days.

The stop where the loading happens wouldn't be useful to link to a lever (that's what I'm reading from your post?). The loading of the cart is dependent on the hauling stop's settings, not whether or not there even is a track stop at the location, never mind whether the track stop is "on" (the exception to the aforementioned being if there is a dumping track stop at the loading stop; this is only useful for quantum dumping). Either way, some schemes to avoid stuff from your chutes falling on your dwarves' heads have already been suggested: the best I've seen had pressure plates that the hauling dwarves at the bottom triggered so that the hatch only opened when they weren't inside the room at the bottom of the chute (at least if there was only one dwarf burrowed to do the hauling for the chute).

[wuphonsreach]

If you need a bendy bit of track to turn a corner, does it have to be on flat ground?  How close can the nearest ramp be?

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WWWW WW+WW WWWWW               
WTTW WTTTW WT^WW               
W^^W W^W^W W^WWW               
WWWW WWWWW WWWWW               
                               
^=ramp, +=door, W=wall, T=track
Left - Cart comes down left ramp, makes a 180 degree turn, then goes down the right ramp. Does this designate well and work?  Can you put a door into any of the walls on the bend and not have the ramp come off the tracks?

Center - Cart comes down left ramp, makes 90 degree turn, then a straight section, then a 90 degree turn and down the right ramp.  Seems like it would be good for adding rollers on the flat spot, or a track stop, or access via a door?

Right - Part of a helix where the cart comes down left ramp, makes 90 degree turn, then goes down other ramp.  Which could be a very compact design and makes sense visually.  You can turn it into a double-helix? (But it probably looks funny.)

[Triaxx2]

Left works, and is compact, though it's very space expensive for a loop instead of a back-forth track.

Center works, and would be best suited with an up down stair running through it. Will dump to the side fine.

Right works, and will helix, but it needs heels at the ends to loop around.

[Sutremaine]

Ramp tracks don't need to be straight.

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WWWW WWWW WWWW WWWW
WWvW Wv^W W^WW WWWW
WW^W WWWW WvWW W^vW
WWWW WWWW WWWW WWWW

The above will work fine as long as the ramped tracks are all set to NW / SE / SW / NE as necessary. Guiding works without any problems; pushing may or may not require retaining walls to prevent track-jumping.

[Ascyron]

Automatic quantum stockpiles:

The simplest one is the automatic quantum stockpile. Have the first route stop accept loose items from an input stockpile. Then, at the last route stop, build a track stop set to dump to an adjacent tile. Designate a 1x1 stockpile that accepts all of the items being dumped onto it so dwarves won't haul them back to the start as this would create an infinite loop. Try not to have the items fall down one or more Z-level or they could cause injuries.

I've found a way that I think is more efficient than your design - but not so helpful if you're actually moving items around.
Mostly I use it for things like my food/booze stockpiles. Kitchens are already right next to the storage, so no point having an actual route, but I want to auto-quantum it all.

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= destination stockpile
0 track stop w/ minecart
===
=== source stockpile
Easy setup:
1) Build a track stop, ensure on building that it's made to 'dump north on arrival'
2) Create a route w/ one stop (make it on top of the stop you've built)
3) Set the stop conditions (in the 'h' menu) to 'guide north when 25% full of desired items' (or 100% if you prefer)
4) Still in the 'h' menu, set a stockpile link with your source stockpile (remember to set your desired items!)
5) Add a cart to the route.

I don't claim credit for this - I'm sure someone figured it out before me. But it's so compact and efficient and... dwarven!
(Only problem is it doesn't require magma anywhere).

[Urist Da Vinci]

Automatic quantum stockpiles:

The simplest one is the automatic quantum stockpile. Have the first route stop accept loose items from an input stockpile. Then, at the last route stop, build a track stop set to dump to an adjacent tile. Designate a 1x1 stockpile that accepts all of the items being dumped onto it so dwarves won't haul them back to the start as this would create an infinite loop. Try not to have the items fall down one or more Z-level or they could cause injuries.

I've found a way that I think is more efficient than your design - but not so helpful if you're actually moving items around.
Mostly I use it for things like my food/booze stockpiles. Kitchens are already right next to the storage, so no point having an actual route, but I want to auto-quantum it all.

Code: [Select]

= destination stockpile
0 track stop w/ minecart
===
=== source stockpile
Easy setup:
1) Build a track stop, ensure on building that it's made to 'dump north on arrival'
2) Create a route w/ one stop (make it on top of the stop you've built)
3) Delete the stop conditions (in the 'h' menu)
4) Still in the 'h' menu, set a stockpile link with your source stockpile (remember to set your desired items!)
5) Add a cart to the route.

I don't claim credit for this - I'm sure someone figured it out before me. But it's so compact and efficient and... dwarven!
(Only problem is it doesn't require magma anywhere).

Fixed it for you. You don't need a push/guide/ride command or cart movement to make a quantum dumper.

[Snaake]

I don't claim credit for this - I'm sure someone figured it out before me. But it's so compact and efficient and... dwarven!
(Only problem is it doesn't require magma anywhere).

Yea, like for example I just mentioned this method only 9 posts earlier here (#18). Don't people read the thread, or only the last couple of posts? Quite often there's identical stuff even in the same.thread. And I read about it a week or two ago in another thread.