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[TheHossofMoss]

 

I had trouble laughing at anything again for weeks after the "I'm still finding dog bone doctor teeth everywhere" comment.

Oh my Armok you just made me remember that thread. That was hilarious.

[Staalo]

I keep noticing an odd thing with my graduates. I have put them all through a period of skill grinding after their military service, to train one useful fortress skill up to Legendary. That gives them something to do and raises their value as future über-migrants in the next fortress. I was mentally prepared to flog several thousand low quality trinkets to traders while the graduates struggle through low skill levels.

Funny thing is, they seem to produce masterwork items more frequently than other dwarves, starting right from Dabbling level. Sometimes the very first craft/weapon/armor/etc. they produce comes out masterful and they continue dishing them out like master craftsdwarves after that.

Do attributes affect crafting quality as well as the relevant skill level?

[crazyabe]

Possibly

[blue sam3]

I keep noticing an odd thing with my graduates. I have put them all through a period of skill grinding after their military service, to train one useful fortress skill up to Legendary. That gives them something to do and raises their value as future über-migrants in the next fortress. I was mentally prepared to flog several thousand low quality trinkets to traders while the graduates struggle through low skill levels.

Funny thing is, they seem to produce masterwork items more frequently than other dwarves, starting right from Dabbling level. Sometimes the very first craft/weapon/armor/etc. they produce comes out masterful and they continue dishing them out like master craftsdwarves after that.

Do attributes affect crafting quality as well as the relevant skill level?

Given that it's impossible for a Dabbling X to produce a masterwork under normal circumstances, I'd say this counts as proof positive that they do.

[TheFlame52]

Things that influence item quality:
1. Skill
2. Attributes
3. Preferred item/material

Not necessarily in that order. Someone did some serious science on it a while back.

[NightmareBros]

obviously the students are just punching the materials into masterwork items

it's the only dwarven explanation, that they are now so good with their years of constant training that they can bite bones into trinkets, crush wood into the shape of goblets with their bare hands and carve stone into totems via wrestling, suplexes and punches

[XXXXYYYY]

ptw

[Staalo]

Yes, well, apparently spending your entire childhood elbow deep in rotten ogre entrails somehow makes you naturally talented for creating renowned works of art. Yet another reason to have Dwarven Child Care in the fortress.

[escondida]

Makes perfect sense. They probably used the blood-soaked bones as crude paint brushes, the viscera to create artistically-decorated hanging streamers, the teeth for the dwarven equivalent of kindergarten macaroni+glue pictures, the larger bones as drums (with more bones as drumsticks), and any squishy bits left over to create Pollock-esque modern art by throwing them against the wall and seeing what stuck.

They would then take their creations and press them up against the thin slit in the door. The guard would be revolted and run away to vomit and perhaps cry on the shoulder of the mayor. The young artist, dejection following rejection, would crumple to the floor by the one way out of the horrible place that is their whole world, weeping and banging their fists against the door until they were bloody, screaming "You don't understand! I MADE THIS FOR YOU!"

[Staalo]

Painted here in goblin blood is a masterfully designed image of of Urist McStudent and a zombie troll by Urist McStudent. Urist McStudent is decapitating the zombie troll. The painting is decorated with crundle vomit, voracious cave crawler ichor and troglodyte guts. The painting is studded with manera teeth. The painting menaces with spikes of blind cave ogre bone. The painting is signed with words 'FOR DADY URIST 4YRS.'

[TheFlame52]

I'm pretty sure that if the childcare is working at all, no mere stone door would keep that kid back.

[Staalo]

Is that required? Maybe if I'd mod in a syndrome that adds a BUILDINGDESTROYER tag, spread somehow by the training equipment...

[TheFlame52]

Only certain tags can be added via syndromes, and BUILDING_DESTROYER isn't one of them. Also, friendly building destroyers won't destroy buildings. Sorry mate.

But tantruming dwarves can, so do with that what you will.

[Skullsploder]

I'd just like to say that I've been lurking this thread since its beginning (and I read through the whole of the previous childcare thread) and occasionally posting but now for the first time ever I've actually almost finished putting together a proper working childcare! I have all the beds, spikes, tables, chairs, stockpiles and so forth in place, with the water channels filled to 6/7. I'm about a quarter of the way through linking the spikes. The reason that I'm posting is that I have some interesting preliminary findings! I engineered my childcare to use all the efficient principles discovered by Staalo with his - that is, a communal childcare with communal stockpiles and a raised path filled with spikes over water BUT I wanted to make sure the dwarf kiddies picked the right mates because eugenics is fun. So what I did was give them individual bedrooms and dining rooms that they share with one other. Like so:

Code: [Select]

+vooo  KEY:
+vCTo   o - wall
+vCTo   + - floor with spikes
+Dooo   v - trench with water
+vBSo   C - chair
+vBSo   T - table   
+oooo   B - bed
        S - statue
        D - door

This is one unit. One unit contains 2 trainees. Each trainee gets one bed, table, and statue personally assigned to them.

So what is this interesting preliminary finding?

Well, with this setup, each kiddies' only friendship is with their roommate. Not even a passing acquaintance with anyone else. The oldest pair in the childcare have been in for about a year, since before the spikes were in and all the rooms were furnished. So it is possible to get the primary benefit of individual cells - limited relationships - with a communal setup! all trainees get their food and booze from the same stockpile after crossing the same bridge - the thing is that they bring it back across said bridge to eat in their dorms.

It is possible that they may start dropping the food on the way back once the spikes are active, but I consider that an unlikely eventuality, as I have not seen similar behaviour in other dwarves before. If that occurs, I will simply assign them individual dining rooms on the stockpile side of the bridge, but if it doesn't, the bridge should get twice the mileage of young, pokable feet that it would otherwise.

So all in all, things look good in Lanceweakened. Expect more tidbits and screenshots SOON^tm

[Staalo]

Looks great Skullsploder! That could help marrying the graduates with right spouses; Big Ral and Immense Ïteb still haven't married despite having spent over a year locked up in their Love Shack. Individual room concept is definitely an improvement if you can still get them to spend enough time on trapped tiles.

Dwarves won't usually drop their food while dodging except when they end up swimming after it, in which case they may leave it to the tile where they started their dodge. Then they'll just climb back from the pool and fetch the food they dropped (most of the time).

Are you planning to do any combat training?