Calling all dwarf metagods!

[Lancefighter]

but.. traps seem so.. *sigh* i suppose traps can be made with considerably less people for greater effort.

just a mechanism, and some trap things, right? i dont need to attach them to levers unless i care about turning them on and off? >.>

[Echo35]

but.. traps seem so.. *sigh* i suppose traps can be made with considerably less people for greater effort.

just a mechanism, and some trap things, right? i dont need to attach them to levers unless i care about turning them on and off? >.>

Basic stone fall traps just require some mechanisms. You really should be getting more advanced than that though. Step up to spike pits, giant corkscrews, and when you dig deep enough, flooding magma into your entrance way with perhaps a magma safe drawbridge is always hilarious. Water also works if you feel like being less dorfy. I once had a drawbridge over a river with a box built around it that went 3 levels up and had a pump stack going to it. When I had a siege, I pulled up the bridge, activated the pumps (Levers inside of course) and filled the entire area around my entrance with water.

[Lancefighter]

on magma - how exactly do i find it >.>

For the moment, i generally stop going down once I hit the first cave layer, and then wall myself in..

And by that, I've never actually come across magma. I do understand the general principals of screw pumps ect, so I believe setting up a complicated flooding system should be fairly simple (i think I could design a fairly simple method of flooding an entrance hall with water, then unflooding it based on high water levels, but id have to put it into practice to make sure it works)

Of course, magma would be more fun, but as above :\

[Mánagarmr]

As for military, you shouldn't have your dwarves go out and fight unless they are AT LEAST proficient fighters and *weapon* skill. Also, never have squads of more than 3 when they are training. Set the schedule to train all year, and set minimum dwarves to 2. That way, 2 will always be training, and switching out one dwarf for civvie duty every month.

That way, they'll train WAAAY faster than if you have 10 dwarves in one squad. So make multiple, smaller squads for training.


As for magma. Keep digging down.

[Lancefighter]

how exactly does that make a difference?

rather

how is that more advantageous than having multiple larger squads that take shifts each season?

[Mánagarmr]

Because when you have two dwarves training at the same time, the teacher (the more skilled) focuses all his attention on one dwarf. With a squad of 10, he has 9 students to take care, heavily extending that time it takes to train.

It's a bit of a flaw with the current teacher/student system. That's why 3 dwarf squads, with one of them being a replacer, is currently the most efficient way to have your dwarves train and spar.

[Lancefighter]

but.. if they are all untrained anyway, (no leader/major skilled guy) how does that come into play?

[Mánagarmr]

The first dwarf to "level up" their skill will become the teacher. This is also advantageous when you wish to train new squads. Already having a couple of Axelords, and dividing them up as teachers in new squads speeds up the learning process.

[Lancefighter]

ok.. I assume I should start this soonish? like, build some useless training weapons and distribute them around, making anyone generally non-furnace/non artesian military?

I suppose then, just let those who are offduty/not training be peasantystuff..
And what of armor? I never seem to have any leather, mostly because I dont particularly deal with animals much (animals imply something i cant control..) and leather is probably more useful making quivers..
Iron is fairly simple, but really, its usually only a few steps apart from steel, so I dont see why I wouldnt just make steel off the bat. Other alloys generally seem to rare, and not worth it to make stuff out of.

[Mánagarmr]

Copper armor and weapons are good for dealing with local wildlife and unarmored cavern-dwellers such as lizardmen and troglodytes, but once the goblin ambushes and sieges show up, you really need iron at minimum. And as you say, if you have access to steel, go for it. There's really no reason not to.

I generally have at least one squad (3 dwarves) up from my first migrant wave and they will keep training. Once they are legendary, I put one of each in different, new squads, to teach the rookies.

[Lancefighter]

but.. I generally find more iron than copper.. and with a sedimentary flux layer, like i said, its trivial to make steel 

I assume having legendary people makes training go better/faster?

[Mánagarmr]

If they are legendary weapon/figher/dodger skill they teach faster to others yes, even though it's a hidden "teacher" skill that affects it.

And yeah, if you have tons of iron AND a flux layer, crank out steel already No use going for copper then. Copper can be used to make bins, barrels and whatever else you need in bulk.

[Lancefighter]

I'm still a noob and pretty much only starting on amazing optimal spots, so er >.<

[Mánagarmr]

I'm trying to be, but I always end up missing something vital and having to compensate on the spot. My current embark has flux, sand and CRAPLOADS of trees. Excellent for a smithing industry, right? Except it has NO weapon grade metal at all. No copper, no iron, nothing. Zinc, Nickel, Silver and Gold.

Yay me?

[Lancefighter]

Yesh. And I thought the bright white sedimentary rock indicator was a tad obvious >.>

theres always obsidian?