Steam Community Update 3 June 2021: "All About the Bees"
https://steamcommunity.com/games/975370/announcements/detail/3026962135264045409 Full text:
Hello again!
Mostly I've been spending these last two weeks moving apartments after 13 years in one place. So much junk... and my vacuum caught on fire, ha ha ha. But there was still a bit of time for work, and now we can show you the very important DF industry, beekeeping!
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34693670/1ffda07947e1c10c90d7504960c17048cd578485.png)
This industry came about after the community voted on which of some hundreds of animals should be added to the game over a decade ago. Being a practically minded community, the animal that led to naturally to several new industries was the overwhelming favorite! Above you can see some artificial hives, ready to accept wild colonies.
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34693670/2d61720cd186bce48492dad5a50309a646a681c5.png)
Hives can be populated either using a wild colony, or by splitting an existing colony in an artificial hive. You'll want to balance your splitting and gathering of products, since gathering products destroys the hive in question.
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34693670/752fcf754b398c5bfb91db048e3d1e3589d4dbd7.png)
Natural hives can take some time to appear and aren't on every map. Above, I've used debug commands to place all of the possible wild hives together. From the top going counterclockwise, there's a bumblebee colony, an ant hill, termite mounds, and then the one we are looking for, the honey bee hive!
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34693670/4be205a5a8031066c4244a7e8b133cae06f00785.png)
Once installed, the bees will begin working (the second hive down on the right side has little bees buzzing around it.) You can also see an individual wild bee above the right column. These pop up around artificial and wild colonies, and are mostly okay, but will occasionally sting!
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34693670/f1154dc7199cf2fcb9d466716857defde03417b2.png)
After a time, the bees' work is done and products are ready to collect! I've also split the first colony to another colony on the left side. In this way you can keep expanding your industry.
![](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34693670/c3c457c4d84c8533ce2327fde0259614e45321a0.png)
Here you can see the products in the hive building, wax honeycombs and some royal jelly. Royal jelly can be collected in a jug and used in cooking (though as old hands know, there are some jug storage issues there we're still working on!). Honeycombs themselves must be brought to a screw press. The pressing produces a wax cake and also some honey which can be stored in a jug. Honey can be used in food or made into mead, and wax can be used for crafts.
- Tarn