Anyone play Dwarf Fortress?

[buzzkill]

If the hive has been built it would show up in the (R)ooms menu. (Probabliy at the end of the list) Type R, navigate to the hive and press t to zoom to where it has been built.

Thanks, tjat did the trick. It really blends in with the plants and the nearby (easily recognizable) natural hive must have moved. Perhaps I'll remove and relocate it.

[buzzkill]

Military success!!! My dwarves managed to kill something other than the native wildlife. A goblin snatcher was easily minced by a couple of militia members. It's almost unfair that I can, on a whim, lock any door, block any exit, and force the goblin-kind back through the heart of my caverns. There is no escape. Well, there was, but not any more.

Which got me thinking about traps and locked doors. Before I read up on them I assumed that my dwarves would be able to navigate their own traps and pass through their own locked doors. Since they apparently can't, I can't envision how to use them passively.

I've been reading a bit about Dwarf Fortress:Masterwork. Seems that without any mods turned on it's just plain old DF (pretty much) with a nicer UI. With mods it takes the game into strange new places, with a nicer UI. Is there a reason I should prefer plain old DF over DF:MW. I mean, I'm already using a tile set and Dwarf Therapist.

[Mondkalb]

Dwarfs (and friendly creatures) can safely pass traps. Only if they manage to fall asleep or get knocked down or get caught in webs they may trigger a trap.
Some enemies are able to avoid traps.

Doors are another topic; they can be kept close for all dwarfs or all pets or enemies (though some are able to destroy them). Doors can also be linked to levers or pressure plates which can be set to only trigger on certain weights.

[LostTemplar]

Dwarf Fortress:Masterwork

It has a lot of stuff, if you like a lot of stuff play it. I prefer normal DF for it's simplicity.

[fph]

I prefer normal DF for it's simplicity.

Wait, are we speaking about the same game here?

[LostTemplar]

Yes, DF is complex, but masterwork DF is 4 times more complex, that is the point. If DF was simple, the more complex version would be an improvement (I allmost never build all of the original DF buildings, and masterwork has 4 times more building types, it is too much).

As for UI I am so used to original unmodded UI, so I find stuff like Therapist redundant and useless.

[buzzkill]

Oh my, where have all the children gone. Goblin raiders keep making off with the new born babes. That can't be good for morale. Because of the wide open nature of my complex, there's not much I can do to stop them. I have since started building walls, but animals keep getting in the way, disrupting construction. This is going take a while to nail down, but lesson learned for my next fort.

Question, can I assign a single member from a squad to guard an entrance/area, or do I need to create a new squad? I don't suspect that one dwarf will be able to stop an intruder, but early warning would go a long way. Normally I don't gat an alert until the snatcher is on his way out the door, and then it's a foot race that I'm not going to win.

What I've learned recently: Several hundred bolts don't last very long, and my hunters complain of "no ammunition" even when ammunition is plentiful and AFAICT allocated to them.
If a dwarf decides to lock himself inside a workshop, it will invariably be a workshop that you need immediate access to, and he'll be demanding things that I've yet to touch upon. Now I have to build a kiln and build myself a way to fuel it, all for the sake of a brick.

[Mondkalb]

For alert guarding any animal will do. You can pasture dogs or other animals in your entrance. But, each animal only sees its adjacent tiles if the intruders are sneaky (which thieves are).

If a dwarf has claimed a workshop he is in a mood and will need certain things. Try to get them ASAP or else the poor fellow will snap and either die of melancholism or go on a frenzy killing spree.

For moods, demands, and consequences of failure or success see

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Strange_mood

No moody dwarf will require a brick. Check the demands part of the article to work out what you need. Does he require blocks? They are made of stone at the mason's workshop.

[LostTemplar]

To make simple defence dig a moat, remove ramps from it, all around your camp. Walls are to hard to do.

[fph]

For alert guarding any animal will do. You can pasture dogs or other animals in your entrance. But, each animal only sees its adjacent tiles if the intruders are sneaky (which thieves are).

Even better, chain a dog close to the entrance, so that it won't move at all. It won't starve or complain, and it won't block caravans.

[buzzkill]

No moody dwarf will require a brick. Check the demands part of the article to work out what you need. Does he require blocks? They are made of stone at the mason's workshop.

I don't see where he can't require a brick? He clearly demands cloth... thread... blocks... bricks... bones... yes.... Oh, now I see it.

The wiki says that bricks refer to kilned clay creations, so I'm was going with the notion that's what he wants. After reading the link you provided, and checking the workshop with the 't' key, I think he needs a jet block, which I should have, and I do have, WTF. I'm beginning to wonder is if "yes" is going to make itself known as another unavailable demand once the bricks are provided. I'm more confused now than before.

[Mondkalb]

In your screenshot the jet is the material the workshop is made from.
Blocks have to be produced at a masons workshop from rock. Just add a task to make blocks from rock. (The material shouldn't be relevant, any blocks should do).
Also, do you have cloth and thread? If so, sometimes the material is important, he may want either plant, wool, or silk cloth and thread.

[buzzkill]

Blocks have to be produced at a masons workshop from rock. Just add a task to make blocks from rock. (The material shouldn't be relevant, any blocks should do).
Also, do you have cloth and thread? If so, sometimes the material is important, he may want either plant, wool, or silk cloth and thread.

I have block of just about every kind of stone material (that I've encountered). I don't have wood blocks. I do have thread and cloth but I didn't produce them myself, so there's not likely to be any more varieties popping up in the near future.

[Mondkalb]

Do you have a hospital? Sometimes the dwarfs store huge amounts of thread and cloth in the hospital making it unavailable for other uses.

As a last resort you could use the showmood command from dfhack to reveal what he needs. (Dfhack comes with the lazy newb pack, the command window is automatically opened upon start of DF.)

[buzzkill]

He went insane and killed a fellow dwarf. Killed him quick too, one shot. He didn't last long after that. The militia turned him into a bloody mess on the floor. I guess all the cloth and thread I was in trade negotiations for is for naught.