Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

40d:Stone management

2008-03-06T10:53:21Z

Stormlock:

[[Mine]] for long enough and you'll find yourself surrounded with various [[stone]]s and [[ore]]s. How do you get rid of them?

Here follows several '''stone management''' techniques.

== Techniques ==

=== Making use of stone and blocks ===

Use your masons to the fullest by creating roads, blocks, furniture, floodgates. Blocks can be stored in bins, but bins cannot be made from stone so this diverts wood or metal from other uses.

Craftdwarfs at high levels can produce large quantities of rock crafts very quickly, but this trades the problem of clutter from tons of stone to clutter from tons of crafts. However, crafts can be sold to foreign traders and often merchants have plenty of room for a lot of goods.

You can also use stones (and blocks) to build large structures above ground, and floors over areas such as sand, silt, or loam. The building interface might be slow, but not only do you use up the stone from your excavations, but you also create usable indoor space without having to mine any additional stone.

=== Catapult ===
Build a [[catapult]] (or three), and assign a dwarf (or five) to keep firing stones into walls, or at [[camel]]s. This destroys the stone and also trains dwarves in [[Siege operator|siege operating]].

=== Dump ===

This is a preferred method due to its ease and usefulness. However, it could easily be considered an exploit, and might not work in later versions.{{version|0.27.169.33a}}

# Make a [[zone]] of 1x1 or 1x2 tiles (preferably near your stone-needy [[workshop]]s), and mark it as a garbage dump.
# Press {{k|k}} and find a stone. Press {{k|d}}, and the stone will be marked for dumping. Alternatively, use the stocks menu (faster for mass dumping, but requires some [[bookkeeper]] labor first).
# A dwarf with refuse-hauling will come by, and take the stone to the garbage dump.

* '''Advantage''': No matter how many stones you mark for dumping, they will all be placed on the same tiny garbage tile! So basically, mark all the stones you want dumped and they will be dumped. You are now able to place '''all''' the stones and ores in the fortress on 1 tile!
* '''Disadvantage''': Every dumped stone will be marked as "[[Forbidden]]", and will not be used in stone-production. Use the designation 'Reclaim Items' to reclaim the entire pile. ''(If you want to only use specific stones, you must press {{k|k}}, find the pile, and press {{k|f}} on every stone you want on the list, using {{k|+}}/{{k|-}} to navigate through the list. [[Macros_and_Keymaps|Macros]] may come in handy when employing this method.)''

If the dwarves are instructed to dump the stone into a garbage zone over bottomless lava or chasm, that stone will fall off the bottom of the map and journey back to the center of the Earth.

If you wish to get rid of the stone permanently, it seems less of an exploit to create a magma channel through your fort and mark the edge as a garbage pit. Any stone disposed of will be chucked into the magma, melt, and be gone from your fortress forever. Of course, the disadvantage is that for anything else you mark as garbage will also be lost forever (and unable to be reclaimed).

==== Rock chute ====

You can dig a [[channel]], and make a [[zone]] over an adjacent tile. Mark it as a garbage dump, and dwarves will dump stones flagged as "forbidden" down the channel. The stones will end up in the bottom tile.

==== Rock compactor ====

Similar to the rock chute, but build a drawbridge in the pit and a pressure plate at the entrance to the chute, linked to the bridge. Make sure you set the pressure plate to trigger on citizens. Alternately, just link it to a lever and pull it every once in a while. Mark the channel and empty tile as a dump zone. When a stone is dropped, the drawbridge will crush the stone, permanently destroying it. Note: make sure the bridge is '''up''' when stones are dumped down it, or it will fling stone back up the channel. To achieve this, you will need to hook up another lever, and pull it once before any dwarves go on the pressure plate.

Level Z:
=====
==.==
== ==
==^==

Level Z-1:
=====
=BBB=
=BBB=
==D==

. - Channel
= - Wall
^ - Pressure plate
B - Drawbridge - make sure to set to raise while constructing, as opposed to retract.
D - Door - keep locked to avoid accidently crushing dwarves

==== Magma melting ====
Create a 2-tiles garbage area, one on magma and the other on the floor next to it, and mark all your stones to dump in the stock area (press {{k|z}}, then Stocks, then go to Stones, press {{k|Tab}} to display all stones, and {{k|d}} for each stone). Your dwarves will put all your stones into magma, and after some time, provided you have Temperature activated, the stones will disappear.

=== Minimizing clutter ===
The easiest way to avoid stone clutter is not to produce it in the first place. Use unskilled miners for initial fortress excavation to reduce the amount of useless stone they create, and don't dig out more than necessary. Produce lots of [[barrel|barrels]] and [[bin|bins]] to cut down on your need for stockpile space.

However, unskilled miners also have a low chance of creating valuable stones and gems when they dig out a tile. It may require some micromanagement to prevent unskilled miners from wasting potentially valuable materials.

=== Stockpile ===
'''This is not a recommended method due to space requirements.'''
Build a large [[stockpile]] for stone away from your fortress. Dwarves will carry stones out to the stockpile, and they will no longer clutter up your fortress. The stockpile needs to be placed somewhere without stones, because only 1 stone will be placed per tile, and will result in long hauling trips.

=== Block Stockpile ===
Simply have the stone cut into blocks then stockpiled. As long as you have enough bins, this works quite well, since 10 blocks can be stored in a single bin. Depending on the rate you mine out the fortress, you may need several (Or even a dozen) Mason workshops. Just set them up wherever you want the stone cleared, and have them removed when they are no longer sitting amidst a pile of stone. This will also train up extra masons, which is helpful if you decide to make any large scale constructions. A word of warning: The maximum number of artifacts your fortress will produce is based on the lowest of two numbers based off of mined out rock, and items produced. If you use this method to mine out a huge area, make sure you're prepared for the artifacts which could skyrocket your wealth very early, leading to seiges, nobles, and huge immigrant waves.

== Reasons for managing stone ==

=== Stockpiles ===
On some stockpiles, you will be unable to use the tiles that contain a stone. It will therefore be a good thing to clear up room for the things you want to stockpile. Alternatively, if the top Z level comprises soil/loam rather than rock, then you can clear it out for stockpiles without worrying about stones filling the new space.

=== Aesthetics ===
Many players find the fortress more enjoyable to look at if it looks nice and uniform. Random stones lying about are clutter which block the view of a tile and prevent stockpiles from being filled. Create smooth clear floor for a leaner, fitter, happier fortress.

=== Not '''Actually''' Necessary ===
You actually don't need to remove stones at all, except for the stockpile thing. Clearing out the fortress for stone is more of a personal priority rather than an essential need or requirement. Remember that there is no such thing as '''excess''' stone to a dwarf. However, people have had a tendency to ask about and discuss this specific subject, so here you are. A guide to stone management.

[[Category:Guides]]

{{Mining FAQ}}

40d Talk:Starting build

2007-11-01T15:12:56Z

Stormlock: /* Steel Axes? */

Hey, I'll have to see who wrote these starting builds and see if I can't contact him/her, but "About & Challenges" sounds uh... not informational? How about "Overview"? I don't want to edit your work here without your approval (even though I could do so on my own.) [[User:Schm0|Schm0]] 22:14, 31 October 2007 (EDT)
: Feel free to adjust the "About & Challenges" to anything else. It was just something to group one of the blocks of text and encourage others to write similar blocks of text. "Overview" sounds much better. --[[User:Shagie|Shagie]] 22:55, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

i wrote the dwarves & skills part and wrote a small info on why to take this kind of a build as most of the items you take are heavily dependant on the area you are in.

Overviw sounds better though so i agree with that

also for the guy who asked why 10 bags; bags might be hard to come by in this version since cave spiders arent always there, which leads to little or no silk in the starting areas, and hunting might not be the best idea if you have dark gnomes or something like that in the area, and if you dont have any bags, making a glass indrusty will prove very hard.

:No ''sand'' on a map makes making glass even harder. No, impossible.--[[User:Draco18s|Draco18s]] 05:52, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

== trade goods ==

The mountain build suggests lots of turtle for trade goods as you'll have no wood, however shell and bone goods are worth next to nothing and roasts are worth enough to build out whole caravan. So rather then crafter and wood cutter skills I'd just go with a high-level cooking and sell excess food. (on the other hand shell and bone goods don't rot away ¬_¬) --[[User:Shades|Shades]] 06:03, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

== Food ==

The builds suggest taking at least 6 of each 2 cost food items, but I would suggest only one of each 2 food item (for a free barrel) and a lot of turtles, which leave both shells and bones. As other meats only leave either a bone or nothing at all. So for the easiest game use turtles. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 09:16, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

== Steel Axes? ==

I noticed in the build it says to get 2 copper picks and one steel axe. The first real attempt I made at getting a fortress going, the first thing I did was ditch the _steel_ axe in favour of a cheaper material, and got a better pick. Steel items cost 300. Copper costs 20. While it makes sense to have a few extra copper picks in case your miner gets killed, a good solid iron pick will make the early mining (And his skill increase) go a lot faster. Contrarily, you really don't need steel axes. Iron is more than enough. Even copper will do just fine. And you really only need one. And, rather than ditching your anvil for stuff, try ditching your steel axe for 100 logs. Thats more than enough to last you till you have a smelter going and can make your own axes. - Stormlock 7:03 Nov 1

40d Talk:Starting build

2007-11-01T14:49:34Z

Stormlock: Steel Axes?