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Author Topic: The 40d Little Questions Thread  (Read 203986 times)

Sphalerite

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1650 on: February 17, 2010, 12:05:18 pm »

If I set up an automated slaughterhouse so that animals fall onto a refuse dump will they be butchered regardless of whether they are tame or wild?
Only wild animal corpses can be butchered.  Tame animals can be turned into meat/fat/skins/etc only when taken by a dwarf to the butcher's shop and slaughtered.  If a tame animal dies from any other cause, including being killed by a fall, drowning, repeating spike, or weapon trap in an automated slaughterhouse, its corpse will not be butcherable.  If you want to design an automatic machine that throws dead animals onto a refuse dump for butchering, you will need to stock it with wild animals.  (Or possibly 'savage' animals like cave crocodiles, since those seem to be butcherable after being killed by weapon traps)
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nickbii

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1651 on: February 17, 2010, 12:23:11 pm »

I built a beautiful tower with fortifications all around so my crossbowdwarves could snipe safely. Their first test was a smallish gobo siege that included one elite archer. Who is apparently a super-goblin because he just killed a champion AND her baby. Said champion was a champion Crossbowdwarf, and had managed to kill precisely zero goblins. Both victims were behind the fortifications and one Z-Level up from the goblins.

So I have two questions:

1) Are goblins supposed to be able to hit targets behind fortifications?

2) If so how often does it happen?

Basically I want to know if this is a bug or I'm just super-unlucky.

Nick
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Baron Of Hell

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1652 on: February 17, 2010, 01:14:55 pm »

How far can something fall and still live most of the time? I want to make a pit to toss enemies into that has a dragon at the bottom. I want them to live long enough to fight the dragon. I want them broken but not dead.
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NecroRebel

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1653 on: February 17, 2010, 01:19:33 pm »

1) Are goblins supposed to be able to hit targets behind fortifications?
Yes; fortifications aren't perfect defenses. When a shot would pass through a fortification that the shooter isn't adjacent to, they must make a skill check. If successful, the shot goes through, otherwise it bounces off the wall. Of course, higher skill levels allows for passing the skill check more often, thus fortifications are less effective against highly-skilled enemies.

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2) If so how often does it happen?
As implied above, it happens much more often for elite marksgoblins than the run-of-the-mill ones that come in swarms. It's almost to the point where normal marksgoblins are totally ineffective against fortifications, and fortifications are totally ineffective against elites. Another part of the problem is that elites get a higher rate of fire, so even if only half of their shots go through it's still like the defender is sitting in the open against a few normal marksgoblins, which is of course very much lethal if unprotected.

I seem to remember hearing that the skill check's difficulty is dependent on how far away the shooter is from the fortification (where horizontal distance is exactly as beneficial as vertical distance), but I might be wrong. If so, putting a wide moat around your tower, or even just a ring of wall grates or bars a distance away (grates/bars don't interfere with ranged attacks at all, so they're good for surface shooting galleries where moats are impractical), would help protect your defenders further.

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Basically I want to know if this is a bug or I'm just super-unlucky.

Nick
You might just be super-unlucky, but probably not. In the future, armor your marksdwarves, give them wrestling training when possible (for the dodge% boost), and have them carry shields. Marksdwarf defenders are rediculously effective, but they're not invincible.

How far can something fall and still live most of the time? I want to make a pit to toss enemies into that has a dragon at the bottom. I want them to live long enough to fight the dragon. I want them broken but not dead.
5 is often fatal, but in my experience isn't often immediately fatal (they land, then bleed out). If you want them to actually "fight" the dragon, 2-4 should be enough to give them bruises and broken bones.
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nil

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1654 on: February 17, 2010, 01:26:28 pm »

1) Are goblins supposed to be able to hit targets behind fortifications?

2) If so how often does it happen?

Basically I want to know if this is a bug or I'm just super-unlucky.

Nick
Highly skilled enemies can shoot through your fortifications.  It'll never happen with regular bowgoblins, but the squad leaders can do it nearly at will.

Might as well use this opportunity to flog my dead horse and point out that there is almost never a reason to put your fortified marksdwarves on a different z-level from the things they're shooting at.  Height provides no real bonus and the angle makes it far less likely that missed shots will hit the squadmates of whatever the marksdwarf is shooting at.  Use moats to separate enemies from your fortifications instead.
How far can something fall and still live most of the time? I want to make a pit to toss enemies into that has a dragon at the bottom. I want them to live long enough to fight the dragon. I want them broken but not dead.

1 z level:no injuries ever
2:1-3 yellow wounds
3-3-5 yellow wounds, red wounds possible, death unlikely but possible
4-red wounds, death is common
5-many red wounds, death is probable

Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1655 on: February 17, 2010, 01:44:46 pm »

Might as well use this opportunity to flog my dead horse and point out that there is almost never a reason to put your fortified marksdwarves on a different z-level from the things they're shooting at.  Height provides no real bonus and the angle makes it far less likely that missed shots will hit the squadmates of whatever the marksdwarf is shooting at.  Use moats to separate enemies from your fortifications instead.

What about enemies shooting in? Won't the height/angle make it more difficult for enemy bowgoblins to target your inner fortress dwarves?

When I've put fortifications up a z-level, I've generally only had dwarves standing immediately next to those fortifications get hit.
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vorpal+5

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1656 on: February 17, 2010, 02:21:37 pm »

Thanks Assimilateur.

1. Squads and counter orders
It seems my Dwarfs in squad can break off to drink water when thirsty, is this normal?

So the alternate question is, what happen if I manufacture armors while dwarves are tout not fully equipped? Will they backtrack to wear more stuff?

2.
bonus question, can the priority of tasks altered? Say I want that Woodcutting has a weight of 100 and farming 33, etc. At least I would like to know if a table exists listing the weight of each task, so I understand better how to manage the work flow.

3. If somebody has an answer about Roads: for what they are for?

4. I have berries in a food stockpile, one per square. Why the dwarves are not using one of the idle bin to pool them?
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Cheddarius

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1657 on: February 17, 2010, 02:27:08 pm »

1. Yes, it can be prevented by ordering them to bring waterskins and making some.
  b. Probably.
2. You can't alter priority. I don't think there's a table like that.
3. Roads keep trees from growing. So if you build a road for a caravan, it won't be blocked when trees mature.
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Jim Groovester

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1658 on: February 17, 2010, 02:32:11 pm »

1. Squads and counter orders
It seems my Dwarfs in squad can break off to drink water when thirsty, is this normal?

Yes.

So the alternate question is, what happen if I manufacture armors while dwarves are tout not fully equipped? Will they backtrack to wear more stuff?

Yes.

2.
bonus question, can the priority of tasks altered? Say I want that Woodcutting has a weight of 100 and farming 33, etc. At least I would like to know if a table exists listing the weight of each task, so I understand better how to manage the work flow.

No. Do you have a woodcutter/farmer? That's not going to work very well, since the woodcutter will be chopping down trees because designations have greater priority than building tasks (i.e., tasks generated from workshops, farms, etc.). You can't manage the priority of labor but you can manage your dwarves.

As for what tasks are higher priority than others? Here's my guess. Others will argue differently, and it's only a sampling of all jobs, and I probably forgot a few.

Eat/Drink/Sleep>Fill Pond>Remove Constructions>Pull Lever>Designations>Workshop Tasks>Trade at Depot

4. I have berries in a food stockpile, one per square. Why the dwarves are not using one of the idle bin to pool them?

That's because berries are not stored in bins. They are stored in barrels, like all other food.

3. If somebody has an answer about Roads: for what they are for?

They're used to pave areas with less materials than building floor tiles tile by tile. They are also one of the requirements for the king to arrive.
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nil

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1659 on: February 17, 2010, 02:37:07 pm »

When I've put fortifications up a z-level, I've generally only had dwarves standing immediately next to those fortifications get hit.
True, but personally I rarely if ever have dwarves near fortifications who aren't immediately next to them.  Other exceptions would be if you have stuff (e.g., trees) you want to shoot over or if the fortifications shoot down a gradual slope.  I did say "almost never."

Man, you can barely even answer a question in this thread before someone else beats you to it! ;D

vorpal+5

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1660 on: February 17, 2010, 02:41:45 pm »

hu ok... so for squads, you'll see a constant stream of soldiers going to bed, drinking, adding a new armor if available, etc. from the frontline? This is not very cool...

As for berries, I also have spare barrels, i.e have barrels in a stockpile, berries one by one in my food stockpile... and they are not pooled.

new question, I'm very confused by what my hauler will grab or not outside. Not speaking of claim/forbid here... Let's suppose that I have a refuse stockpile and that I have made sure that some stuff are not forbidden to them, what would prevent them from picking say the corpse of an antman outside, or some bone? Some general setting I mean? Because I would like them to clean the surrounding, but they don't.
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nil

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1661 on: February 17, 2010, 02:51:58 pm »

hu ok... so for squads, you'll see a constant stream of soldiers going to bed, drinking, adding a new armor if available, etc. from the frontline? This is not very cool...
True, but if it makes you feel better this will be much improved in the upcoming version.
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As for berries, I also have spare barrels, i.e have barrels in a stockpile, berries one by one in my food stockpile... and they are not pooled.
It takes time.  First a furniture hauler has to bring the empty barrel to the food stockpile, then food haulers will (slowly) fill it up.
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new question, I'm very confused by what my hauler will grab or not outside. Not speaking of claim/forbid here... Let's suppose that I have a refuse stockpile and that I have made sure that some stuff are not forbidden to them, what would prevent them from picking say the corpse of an antman outside, or some bone? Some general setting I mean? Because I would like them to clean the surrounding, but they don't.
In the [ o ]rders menu there are general settings for refuse.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2010, 03:31:37 pm by nil »
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happydog23

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1662 on: February 17, 2010, 03:20:52 pm »

hu ok... so for squads, you'll see a constant stream of soldiers going to bed, drinking, adding a new armor if available, etc. from the frontline? This is not very cool...

As for berries, I also have spare barrels, i.e have barrels in a stockpile, berries one by one in my food stockpile... and they are not pooled.

new question, I'm very confused by what my hauler will grab or not outside. Not speaking of claim/forbid here... Let's suppose that I have a refuse stockpile and that I have made sure that some stuff are not forbidden to them, what would prevent them from picking say the corpse of an antman outside, or some bone? Some general setting I mean? Because I would like them to clean the surrounding, but they don't.

What's even better is if your squad leader decides he needs a nap, the rest of the squad will follow him to bed to guard him while he sleeps.

I don't think it will happen during combat...  But right before the enemy gets there or as they are on the way to engage and haven't seen the enemy yet.... definitely. 

Footkerchief

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1663 on: February 17, 2010, 03:22:00 pm »

Asking Toady to do a study on this doesn't make much sense to me

Architect said "ask Toady himself OR do an extensive study."  Y'all should work harder on identifying miscommunicated points.
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assimilateur

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Re: The Little Questions Thread
« Reply #1664 on: February 17, 2010, 04:10:26 pm »

Asking Toady to do a study on this doesn't make much sense to me

Architect said "ask Toady himself OR do an extensive study."  Y'all should work harder on identifying miscommunicated points.

Oh shit, I really should have paid more attention, especially afterwards (the apparent misunderstanding on Architect's part should have been a hint of me having fucked up somewhere). Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Architect: I'm sorry for busting your balls over this.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2010, 04:17:01 pm by assimilateur »
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