thanks for the tips on using channel. 
A last one on that, I now understand how I could build a shaft, I would put a serie of up/down stairs, and then channel/dig an adjacent column of tiles, from top to bottom? But can I make a shaft without this service stairway nearby?
You can designate a ramp on the next-to-top level before digging anything out, then designate the level below that for ramping after the first ramp is dug, then designate channels until you're at the desired depth. The second ramp will block the miner's access out, and then it'll just channel the floor directly beneath them to form the shaft. Do note that unless you have a seperate access tunnel at the bottom, the miner will die of dehydration due to being stuck.
Generally, though, it's safer and overall better to dig the access stairs 2 tiles way from the shaft and just put constructed walls beside the shaft itself, since with the method above your miner might decide that he's too hungry/thirsty to finish and thus not.
Except for butchering them, why would I embark with horses, mules and such?
Butchering is the only purpose, but it doesn't have to be immediate. Embark with 2 of a given species bought with points, and you
will get a breeding pair (except, of course, mules, which are sterile). Getting a guarunteed source of meat, fat, leather, bones, and skulls from the beginning can be worth it for some builds, especially if you're playing a modded race that is carnivorous or can't use cloth for whatever reason, or if you're doing a no-digging challenge where stone is too useful to waste on crafts.
quote]How can I tell a specific dwarf that it is him which should to THIS task and not another? Play extensively with Jobs list so he is the only candidate possible?[/quote]If the job is at a workshop, you can use the workshop profile (q-select the workshop-P) to limit the workshop to allow only the desired dwarf (this also works for levers). Or, since jobs appear to select the closest dwarf with the proper labor and no current job, you can attempt to make sure the desired dwarf is the closest when the job searches for a worker by leaving the job undesignated, drafting and stationing the dwarf nearby, pausing, and undrafting the dwarf and designating the job before unpausing.
Other than that, there's not really a good way to do it.
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Topic: The 40d Little Questions Thread (Read 201769 times)