Quote from: ldog on August 27, 2014, 05:36:43 pm My own modification of this [TITLE:Wiki - raw materials to make tools, heaps of coal (minmax build)] out of the extras folder works well (for me anyway):

Discipling and swimming 1 on all.

1. Mining 1-3 & Armorsmith 5

2. Mining 1-3 & Weaponsmith 5

3. Carpenter 1, Woodcutting 1, Diagnose 2, Dress wounds 1, Surgery 1, Set bone 1, Suture 1

4. Plant 5, Brewing 1-2 Armorsmith 1 (in case of strange mood)

5. Plant 5, Cooking 1-2, Armorsmith 1 (in case of strange mood)

6. Masonry 3, Architect 1, Appraiser 1, Judge of intent 1, Persuasion 1, Negotiator 1 or possibly Mechanic and Stonecrafter 1 instead of the last 2 (becomes leader and broker)

7. Metalcraft 5 (mechanic instead if you are really into traps), Smelt 1, Wood burning 1, Blacksmith 1 (or really anything you want here depending on embark conditions and your plans)



I really like your approach! Is the metalcraft 5 for bolt smithing? I'm also thinking about giving dwarfs single medical skills since you do not wish to train them on your wounded dwarfs. Woodcutting is completely useless at the start imho because most of your time will be spent hurling all the blocks. At later stages the hurling time takes even more time. This is probably new to 0.4x versions though since the trees yield a lot of blocks.



What would you cut if you tried to start out with a dedicated hunter/marksdwarf and how would you skill him?



I tend to have problems acquiring the leather needed for military uses (quivers+backpacks). What poultry is best suited to help in this regard btw? From the wiki I think Blue Peafowl but I'm not sure, maybe there is poultry that yields leather when butchered without being fully grown?



Another thing I couldn't really find info about is how profession impacts skill rust and xp gain when dwarfs do different work. Does it have an impact at all? Having read the wiki article about moodable skills it seems that you do not want your weapon/armor smiths to become miners.



Thanks in advance for any tips on those matters!



Metalcraft 5 for general crafting utility (tradegoods), metal bolts are made by weaponsmith. I've found you can make it with anything for trading. My current game I got carried away digging and building and I forgot about the caravan til it showed. Last minute I had my low-skilled carpenter making wooden corkscrews and I still was able to trade for just about everything the caravan had.Number 7 (the metalsmith) is the dwarf I would cut for the marksdwarf if you want to start out with one (which is a very good idea for more difficult embarks). Markswarf 5 and...ambush is used for hunting. I don't know how fast it trains or how much effect it really has. I've not a lot of experience with hunting. I'd probably go with a level of armor, shield and ambush (and of course swimming & discipline) since it seems to me armor and shield take forever to get the 1st level on an untrained dwarf.The birds, I wish I knew. I'm having bad luck again in that I seem to have gotten a sterile bunch for embark. It takes a few years to get your leather industry going no matter what it seems. I butcher everything I can and make sure to trade for all the leather and any packs & quivers I can afford the first few caravans.You are correct that letting the smiths get their mining skill high is counterproductive for strange moods. Depending what my first two migrant waves look like I try to retire them from mining asap, sometimes you get lucky and have high level smiths immigrate (like my current game) so the starters may remain miners their whole lives. I've also been starting that 7th (metalsmith) as a miner as well, so I have 3 to start with. When they aren't crafting I'll have weapon and armorsmith work the furnaces as well. Skill-rust doesn't seem to be that big a deal. Pretty easy to prevent/get rid of if you just remember to have them do said skill at least once or twice a year. Medical of course there's nothing you can do (other than purposely get someone injured). Discipline on civilians will keep rust-free if you make them go by the corpse pile (requires corpses of course) once in a while. Anytime they get horrified they will get xp. Really squeamish ones I have seen get to lvl 4.Medical I am not sure it pays to spread the skills around. Current game I've gotten a lot of immigrants with 1-2 very high medical skills, but I am starting to strongly suspect that the dr skills don't affect the quality of treatment but only time to perform task (like many other skills). I've got 1 gimp around for a few years who got really badly wounded early on, was cleaned, sutured, dressed, splinted etc. Still walks on a crutch (motor nerve damage and torn arteries in his leg which I guess are not fixable by dwarven medicine) and has trouble breathing & an infection in lungs and upper body (had a lung puncture) I retired him from military duty, let him go back to his original profession of hunter, figured let him die doing what he enjoyed, but he has become an effective hunter even with his injuries (I notice he does clean himself frequently which keeps his infection under control I guess). I'm rambling again, but anyway, treatment history shows everything required was done, original diagnosis by a lvl 6 but subsequents by a lvl 13 so I doubt anything was missed. The few other wounded (who didn't get brutally killed in battle) I had have had 100% recovery from their injuries, even one with a broken back (arrow vs steel mail, guess it was just a chipped bone) and my bone dr isn't very skilled.