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Author Topic: Dwarfy Construction Materials?  (Read 1361 times)

Girlinhat

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Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« on: September 26, 2011, 12:56:30 am »

So I'm working on a fort.  I've got low scarcity (ore everywhere) and I plan on calling on caravans for the foreseeable future to bring me small supplies of everything.  The question then is, what do I do with this?  What is neat to build an above-ground fort from?  I'm currently planning a sterling silver entranceway, where my soldiers stand on duty to face any invaders in the pristine white corridor, and probably a lot of rose gold elsehwere.  Modded in siegers bring me a lot of copper, iron, and some silver.  Steel is also valid, and copper is more than abundant, because these can be requested from caravans from multiple ore sources.  Similarly, sterling silver is nice because silver has a few ores and can be diluted with copper for more bars.  Black bronze wouldn't be bad either, as it takes silver, gold, and 2 copper, but getting the gold might be tougher.

I've got a lot of time and a lot of money.  What's fun to build with?

Tevish Szat

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Re: Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2011, 01:02:34 am »

If you've cranked the scarcity down... well, I've found many maps where a good layer or two makes gold more common than silver.  As precious metals go, it's not just valuable, it's also common (or perhaps it's just the conditions I like to embark on: wooded, no aquifer).

for true insanity I'd go for building a tower or pyramid using every metal (alloys like rose gold or black bronze included) in ascending order of value, one material per level, until you get to candy on the very top.  Well, maybe that's not so insane, but if you need MORE of a challenge, metal-code the entire z-level, building above ground with everything on z0 made of one metal, z+1 the next most valuable...  with the one grand edifice getting all the way to glorious candy.
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A medium-sized humanoid fond of fantasy and science-fiction.

Tevish Szat likes books, computers, board games, and cats for their aloofness. When possible, he prefers to consume hamburgers and macaroni and cheese. He needs caffeine to get through the working day.

Mitchewawa

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Re: Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2011, 01:05:11 am »

It's not particularly hard to find, it's cheap and it's relatively useless. But I really, really, really love Cobaltite. Dark blue looks wicked in ASCII.
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Girlinhat

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Re: Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2011, 01:10:54 am »

I've been stockpiling the cobaltite veins on my map, yes... love that deep blue!  Also, this is a 5x5 embark so it's fairly... massive.  This means a lot of ores to draw in and concentrate on my fort, but I can't really pave the whole layer.

Cheveux

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Re: Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2011, 01:13:35 am »

for true insanity I'd go for building a tower or pyramid using every metal (alloys like rose gold or black bronze included) in ascending order of value, one material per level, until you get to candy on the very top.  Well, maybe that's not so insane, but if you need MORE of a challenge, metal-code the entire z-level, building above ground with everything on z0 made of one metal, z+1 the next most valuable...  with the one grand edifice getting all the way to glorious candy.

I vote for this. I might try, it sounds pretty fun.
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Girlinhat

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Re: Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2011, 01:16:50 am »

I would, except that I'm a tad OCD on the matching bits.  If anything, it would be more of a wave pattern, less of a layer.  Still fun, have candy in the center bottom of each side and copper on the edges from bottom to tip.

krisslanza

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Re: Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2011, 07:28:05 am »

If I ever had the materials, I'd probably use silver or gold in an aboveground construction. That or bauxite, because that blood red looks awesome. The best I ever got was a wall made of bauxite, before an invasion of goblin lashers killed everyone in my aboveground fortress.

There's also the option to pave the roads with gold too. Make a dorfen El Dorado?

MarcAFK

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Re: Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2011, 07:48:24 am »

I'm rather partial to Gunmetal myself, also known as red brass, actually I'm of the mind that dwarf fortress doesn't have enough types of brass :/
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Girlinhat

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Re: Dwarfy Construction Materials?
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2011, 09:04:37 am »

Considering DF has just "Brass" then I assume you're right on that.