v0.31:Stonegears/Metalworking

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Uses for metalworking, glassmaking and ceramics

• If you have the INVADERS option‡ set to YES then you'll definitely need to make Template:L armor and weapons. A Template:L with equipment made entirely from Template:L, Template:L and Template:L isn't going to be very effective.
• Some nobles‡ will make Template:Ls and production Template:Ls for metal, Template:L and Template:L items.
• Making Template:Ls out Template:L, Template:L or Template:L is a good way to make high-value Template:L which can be installed into Template:Ls to raise their quality or be put into communal areas so admiring them can give happy Template:Ls.
• Template:Ls made from gold can be used to buy a lot of stuff from the Template:Ls).
• If your fortress is at a site with no Template:Ls on the surface, like a Template:L or Template:L, you can make Template:Ls, Template:Ls, Template:Les and Template:Ls out of metal in order to conserve your supplies of wood (though you can get everything but bins from Template:Ls.
• If you have any Template:L or Template:L floors on your site you can collect an endless amount of the materials for making glass and ceramics.

Normal forges and furnaces vs magma powered ones

Template:Ls and Template:Ls need power in order to operate. Normal ones are powered by consuming Template:L, either Template:L made from Template:L or coke refined from Template:L or Template:L. The Template:L version are powered by being placed one Template:L above magma and need no fuel. Magma is usually obtained from the ubiquitous Template:L, but is sometimes acquired from a Template:L instead.

Advantages of magma power

The advantage of magma power all stem from the fact that you can use it endlessly without using up any fuel:

• You can Template:L all of the iron weapons and armor left behind by Template:L Template:Ls, turning them into bars your metal workers can use, without using up all your fuel.
• You can train your Template:L and Template:L by having them make weapons and armor out of Template:L and Template:L, so they'll have more Template:L when they later use Template:L or Template:L.
• You can recycle all your low Template:L products via melting.
• If you have any sand on your site you can churn out endless amounts of raw glass to train your Template:L and Template:L.
• If you have any sand or clay on your site you can churn out endless amounts of glass and ceramic goods to trade to the caravans. Glass and ceramic are three times more valuable than ordinary rock and 50% more valuable than Template:L. (Of course, a skilled stonecrafter is going to make more valuable stone goods than an unskilled glassmaker or potter).

Disadvantages of magma power

The big disadvantage of magma power is that the magma usually comes from the magma sea, which is usually 60 or more z-levels below the surface, meaning that not only do you have to dig down quite a ways, but if the main part of your fortress is up near the surface there's a long round trip of anyone involved.

Mitigating the problem of magma power

There are multiple ways of dealing with the problem of the long round trips:

• Make a second living area down near the magma sea, including Template:Ls, and manually assign the bedrooms to anyone working down there. This way the only dwarves making long round trips will be the Template:L.
• You can make a 1x1 tile wide pit going all the way down to your magma works and put a Template:L next to it so that Template:L items will be thrown down it, to save the time on hauling items all the way down. However, this requires a bit of micromanagement, especially to dump down Template:Ls of Template:L without spilling the sand.
• Choose a fortress site which has a Template:L, so you can put your magma works near the surface.
• Move some magma up closer to the surface (taking advantage of the fact that magma in Dwarf Fortress never cools, thus acting as an infinite source of energy):
  • You can move magma up by using Template:Ls made from Template:L materials.
  • You can take advantage of the game's simplistic simulation of liquid displacement via a Template:L, which will teleport magma up many z-levels.
• Build your fortress down near the magma sea. You can use the water from the lowest Template:L to Template:L rock for Template:L, leaving only few dwarfs up near the surface to cut down trees for wood. You'll only need to go up to the surface to Template:L with Template:Ls and to fight Template:Les and Template:Ls.

Building a magma works

We're going to build a set of magma powered workshops, so you will know how it's done, and so you don't have to worry about running out of Template:L. If you end up using it a lot you should make a second living area down there for the workers (including a Template:L, Template:L or Template:L so they don't trek all the way up to the surface when Template:L).

Safely tapping into the magma sea

You are going to dig some tunnels and connect them to the magma sea to flood them with magma, thus bringing the magma to your workshops. However, there are dangerous monsters living in the sea that you want to keep out. You could use either a Template:L or a Template:L connected to a Template:L to let magma into the tunnels and then block off the sea, but since some of the inhabitants of the magma sea are Template:Ls which can destroy floodgates you'll want to use a drawbridge. Since the drawbridge and the Template:L connecting it to the lever are going to be submerged in magma for a while they need to be made out of Template:L material to prevent them from being destroyed. ((INSTRUCTIONS ON DIGGING OUT SOME MAGMA SAFE STONE))

Now put a stone stockpile next to the mechanic's workshop, accepting only the magma safe stone. Once some of the rock has been deposited there, add three "make mechanism" jobs to the workshop to ensure that at least two magma safe mechanisms are made (the first chunk of rock your mechanic picks might not be a magma safe one, depending upon where s/he is when the job is accepted). Only the mechanism attached to the drawbridge needs to be magma safe, but to avoid accidentally attaching the wrong mechanism to the bridge both mechanisms involved in the connection should be magma safe. The mechanism the lever is made from does not need to be magma safe.