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[ringringlingling]

I don't know if I speak for all players, but I find building a pump stack incredibly tedious.  I also don't like running a reservoir through a cavern or fiddling with a map until I get a usable volcano.  (Also, without a water cavern my fortress ends up dying of thirst)  I was thinking that maybe somebody could make a sort of "magma well", or come up with some way to haul magma into a pond using pots, buckets, or cauldrons, perhaps using gloves.  Perhaps a less imaginative solution would just be to allow pump stacks to pull liquid up from multiple z levels below.

As is, magma seems like a really neat, interesting feature that nobody can really use without df hack or tons of tedious repetitive build tasks.  I know that doesn't really apply to most of the more savvy programmers, but as a player it is kind of like a toy in sandbox your not allowed to play with.

I also don't like hauling things between 100 z levels.  "Candy" is waaay at the bottom of the map and trying to get it to your fort is a pain.  Some sort of dumbwaiter or elevator would be a nice edition to DF, letting you haul things up and down using a pulley and manning it with a dwarf "puller".  I know you can use a drawbridge or hatch to drop things quickly, but that presents a hazard, and it only works for things going down.

Both seem within the technology and scope of the original Dwarf Fortress, and have been used since ancient times.  Since a "magma forge" is strictly a fantasy convention, I don't really see the harm in adding an easier way to move magma up to the surface.  I know the minecart situation was supposed to address some of these issues, but I personally just find them to be way too complicated, too labor intensive, and too tedious to work with.

[Fleeting Frames]

Everything you mentioned was implemented in 34.11 with minecarts.

Also, if you don't like going through 100+ z-levels you can settle on thinner places. Coasts perhaps (haven't run Create New World in ages), or a purpose-built worldgen can have 12z from embark z to magma.

[ringringlingling]

Did you not read my post?

I don't LIKE minecarts.

[Henry47]

If you don't like hauling things up from the depths of the earth, then perhaps making the depths less deep could help? Using advanced world gen you could make it so that the magma sea is only 20 or 30z levels down, allowing you to  build your magma forges on it without having to spend an insane time hauling like you would if you built your forges on a deep magma sea.

[ringringlingling]

That kind of feels like cheating.  If all I wanted was to add magma, I could just use a DFHack script.

You think maybe if I offered a Toady a couple hundred dollars he'd code it for me?

[Shonai_Dweller]

That kind of feels like cheating.  If all I wanted was to add magma, I could just use a DFHack script.

You think maybe if I offered a Toady a couple hundred dollars he'd code it for me?

Moving fortress parts are planned (boats release). Seems likely that you'll be able to build an elevator or a dumb waiter when that happens.
Send Toady a couple of hundred dollars anyhow, just in case.

[taptap]

You can literally haul up a filled minecart. If that is too complicated, hauling a bucket will be too complicated as well.

[Fleeting Frames]

Sorry, I derp. I have made suggestions for less complications with minecarts though.

I think the last case of previous sponsoring to add new creatures and such to the game was back in 2012 - some creatures have in "sponsored by the generous donation of bay12 community", so I doubt it'd happen.

It might be more difficult than learning minecarts (and I understand - months with them, and my understanding is still incomplete), but since you're already willing to use dfhack, you could try to mod those things in if you're not going to wait for them to be added - I know there have been teleport buildings, so elevator is definitely possible, and magma well + filling a pond zone with it seems like it could be possible to at least give an illusion of (if not already implemented, haven't looked much into modding).

PS: If you think thin is bad, you can also go the other way and have 500z thick embark with planning. Or anywhere in between

[Bumber]

I think we're getting pipes, so a pump stack might get less difficult in the future.

[Batgirl1]

I think a dumbwaiter sounds like a pretty good idea.  Same basic principle as a well, but for hauling...stuff.  Uses I can think of: Lowering food into prisons or pits, slightly faster hauling than making a dorf run down/up stairs, slightly safer hauling in areas where a stairway leading to the main fort is a security risk, raising/lowering explosives or other hazardous materials because reasons.  Could especially come in handy if Toady makes long stairways more dangerous, as was once suggested.

Not sure how I feel about the magma stuff, though, since it doesn't seem very realistic.  Yes, I say this knowing that the game already has eyeball grass and beasts made of puke.

[anewaname]

I have not built a magma pumpstack, though I'm getting more use out of macros and am considering it. It's been easier to Dump into a chute and then let the dwarves haul the finished metal products back up in bins.

My concept of one-gizmo-fits-all machinery for hauling things up or down would include one pulley at the top of the chute, one pulley at the bottom of the chute, chain loops connecting them, and a "minecart". Then assign it as a type of hauling route. Now you have a vertical "minetrack".

Any "trackstop" put on that route will need a "pump station/track stop" for a dwarf to crank the wheel. When the cart is dumped, the contents would move through the "pump station/track stop" like with a screwpump so if the contents are liquid they can fall into a pit. The floor below the bottom pulley could be channelled so the container can freely swing below the pulley and scoop up liquid.

The tensile strength of the chains and combined weight of the chains/containers could limit the weight allowed.

If there are multiple "pump stations/track stops" on the route and the Depart Conditions are triggered, it could trigger "pump operator" jobs for each stop and every dwarf helping would increase the speed (the combined weight of the chains/containers/contents could need a lot of dwarf power and one dwarf might not be enough to get it moving.

Now I am wondering why dwarfs with loaded wheelbarrows go up stairs so quickly...