How do I not run out of plump seeds if I stop brewing?

[laagamer]

I have more than enough alcohol for now.

But if I stop brewing won't I run out of new seeds?

[Fel]

Well, if you are not brewing them, you probably don't need to endlessly stockpile them either.

Anyways, your problem probably comes from the fact that your farms are in the soil layers (with "poor soil" warning on them) and/or that you let any random dwarf do the planting.

Spreading some mud on normal stone floor allows you to put farms there that won't have "poor soil", which is something that drastically reduces the output of the farm tiles (making it pretty hard to get more than 1 crop per tile).

You can also asign a specific dwarf as planter instead of leaving as "everybody does this", that dwarf will level up the skill and you will end up with much more output per tile.

Basically, a legendary planter can get you a consistent 4-5 crops per tile, from a seed each.
This allows you to quickly get a lot more seeds as well when you brew the plants or when dwarves eat them raw.

Also, anything other than making prepared meals (in the kitchen) with plants gets you seeds, so as long as you don't let your kitchen use plants or seeds you shouldn't ever really "run out" of seeds.

[Haethei]

Fertilizer duplicates your plump helmets. Easiest way to grow them, you only need to turn wood into ash then ash into potash. but you can enter cavern layers for better soil if you have a decent military and enough dwarves to quickly place constructions to get the land protected. Fertilizer probably isn't necessary with cavern soil, and wood can be scarce on some maps

It is definitely good to have a couple specialized farmers being the only dwarves touching the farms.

[TPark]

What did you plan to use the plump helmets for if you aren't going to brew them into Dwarven Wine? If you have enough alcohol and you have enough food, then you don't need to keep growing plump helmets. Just save the plump helmets you have in a food stockpile (so they don't wither). As long as you don't cook them, you'll be fine. If dwarves choose to eat them raw, that does generate a seed.

[Steve]

Fun fact. If a dwarf eats a raw plump helmet, the seeds get stored after they eat it. But if you cook the plump helmet, no seeds. Therefore, don't put plump helmets in your stockpile used for cooking.

[Varenvel The Festive Dinosaur]

Originally posted by Haethei:

Fertilizer duplicates your plump helmets. Easiest way to grow them, you only need to turn wood into ash then ash into potash. but you can enter cavern layers for better soil if you have a decent military and enough dwarves to quickly place constructions to get the land protected. Fertilizer probably isn't necessary with cavern soil, and wood can be scarce on some maps

It is definitely good to have a couple specialized farmers being the only dwarves touching the farms.

you dont need military if you seal it off , this is a bit RNG but as far as i am aware caves are not loaded/rendered till you dig into them , so first time you dig into them you have about few months of relative peace to sealoff certain land into underground farm/fort , this is tricky and can be dificult due how building works as you have to seal every crany , and make sure there is no holes even if something flies

it pains me i still see in the forums tips of "dont use plump helmets for cooking" , you can make booze from many plants

one of best sources of booze is fruit , if your fort has any forest(who most do) you can make zone for gathering fruit (bushes , trees and fallen) , even designiting 10 trees is usualy enough for relativly large fort to sort it on booze , a bit more and you also dont have to worry about food (just make sure not to chop fruit trees)

paired wth a bit meat and foreging to vary up a diet you dont have to worry about farming , settingup or worring about seeds

i generaly dont farm much in my forts as i more rely on animals and meat as well traping animals as this also makes fort...relativly safe for most threats

somone can ask "all nice but what about pig tails for cloth" just get male and female sheep , from trades or from start , animals do need a bit setup and if they are outside you need to make "them a fort" so they dont get murdered by goblins and designate a pasture , but after that its hands free and you will be drowning in meat , and likely they will reproduce faster then you can eat.


fruit zone might be the best way to get food and i rarely ever see anyone mention it , my current fort has 6000 units of food who most is fallen fruit.

only time i done any farming is when i settled on desert.


another reason i hate plump helmet vine is dwarves will get upset from same booze every day

[Fel]

Caves can definitely have wildlife in them when you breach them for the first time.
I had plenty of experiences where miners just opening the caves (by chance of course) get torn to pieces by a giant bat or whatever lived there and happened to be relatively close to where the breach happened.

[Haethei]

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't just make a path into the caverns without a decently competent military. One skilled dwarf with bronze/steel equipment might be good enough, or a couple weaker ones. Tough enemies can spawn in there at any time.

Gathering fruit is definitely underrated though, you can also gather surface plants for booze and food but some of those plants require milling. You can almost always find a zone with a high average temperature to embark on, which makes plants show up constantly and water will never freeze ("Scorching" temperature does nothing to upset your dwarves)

[laagamer]

Originally posted by Varenvel The Festive Dinosaur:

Originally posted by Haethei:

Fertilizer duplicates your plump helmets. Easiest way to grow them, you only need to turn wood into ash then ash into potash. but you can enter cavern layers for better soil if you have a decent military and enough dwarves to quickly place constructions to get the land protected. Fertilizer probably isn't necessary with cavern soil, and wood can be scarce on some maps

It is definitely good to have a couple specialized farmers being the only dwarves touching the farms.

you dont need military if you seal it off , this is a bit RNG but as far as i am aware caves are not loaded/rendered till you dig into them , so first time you dig into them you have about few months of relative peace to sealoff certain land into underground farm/fort , this is tricky and can be dificult due how building works as you have to seal every crany , and make sure there is no holes even if something flies

it pains me i still see in the forums tips of "dont use plump helmets for cooking" , you can make booze from many plants

one of best sources of booze is fruit , if your fort has any forest(who most do) you can make zone for gathering fruit (bushes , trees and fallen) , even designiting 10 trees is usualy enough for relativly large fort to sort it on booze , a bit more and you also dont have to worry about food (just make sure not to chop fruit trees)

paired wth a bit meat and foreging to vary up a diet you dont have to worry about farming , settingup or worring about seeds

i generaly dont farm much in my forts as i more rely on animals and meat as well traping animals as this also makes fort...relativly safe for most threats

somone can ask "all nice but what about pig tails for cloth" just get male and female sheep , from trades or from start , animals do need a bit setup and if they are outside you need to make "them a fort" so they dont get murdered by goblins and designate a pasture , but after that its hands free and you will be drowning in meat , and likely they will reproduce faster then you can eat.


fruit zone might be the best way to get food and i rarely ever see anyone mention it , my current fort has 6000 units of food who most is fallen fruit.

only time i done any farming is when i settled on desert.


another reason i hate plump helmet vine is dwarves will get upset from same booze every day

Some stuff to play with! Thank you for the great post!

[Varenvel The Festive Dinosaur]

Originally posted by Fel:

Caves can definitely have wildlife in them when you breach them for the first time.
I had plenty of experiences where miners just opening the caves (by chance of course) get torn to pieces by a giant bat or whatever lived there and happened to be relatively close to where the breach happened.

yeah its rng based but most caves i breached to was usualy safe early on , and only one time(from all forts) my fort died from it but back then i was new player without military , if you work fast you can seal it off within a month (who i done in my current fort)

you can also make trap tunnel , as well "forgoten beast" traps too (who i done to capture one just yestorday)

[Varenvel The Festive Dinosaur]

Originally posted by Haethei:

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't just make a path into the caverns without a decently competent military. One skilled dwarf with bronze/steel equipment might be good enough, or a couple weaker ones. Tough enemies can spawn in there at any time.

Gathering fruit is definitely underrated though, you can also gather surface plants for booze and food but some of those plants require milling. You can almost always find a zone with a high average temperature to embark on, which makes plants show up constantly and water will never freeze ("Scorching" temperature does nothing to upset your dwarves)

i used to think so but if i asked myself a question "how many times i actualy got attacked by breaching into it" answer was "once" in all other times i did have military but there was no imiditate threats so my military just hanged there while my dwarfs seal it off and nothing happens.

and you can alweys utilise trap tunnel (weapons or cages) to trap whatever is in there and at most you only gono lose just a miner (bad scenario)

i got quite ship aproach to my forts , with airlocks , tunnels , and bulkheads but quite often then not it turnsout its not that needed

worst case scenario you can close the door who most of the time will keep you safe from most threats , but caves can be also only source of food depending if your in moutains or desert , i usualy access the caves within first 10 years so i can relese the spores

but honestly DF beuty is it gives you so freedom you can play how you wish

[J]

Yeah, if it's very important that the quality is good always a sign only one or two people to it

[laagamer]

Originally posted by Varenvel The Festive Dinosaur:

Originally posted by Haethei:

Fertilizer duplicates your plump helmets. Easiest way to grow them, you only need to turn wood into ash then ash into potash. but you can enter cavern layers for better soil if you have a decent military and enough dwarves to quickly place constructions to get the land protected. Fertilizer probably isn't necessary with cavern soil, and wood can be scarce on some maps

It is definitely good to have a couple specialized farmers being the only dwarves touching the farms.

you dont need military if you seal it off , this is a bit RNG but as far as i am aware caves are not loaded/rendered till you dig into them , so first time you dig into them you have about few months of relative peace to sealoff certain land into underground farm/fort , this is tricky and can be dificult due how building works as you have to seal every crany , and make sure there is no holes even if something flies

it pains me i still see in the forums tips of "dont use plump helmets for cooking" , you can make booze from many plants

one of best sources of booze is fruit , if your fort has any forest(who most do) you can make zone for gathering fruit (bushes , trees and fallen) , even designiting 10 trees is usualy enough for relativly large fort to sort it on booze , a bit more and you also dont have to worry about food (just make sure not to chop fruit trees)

paired wth a bit meat and foreging to vary up a diet you dont have to worry about farming , settingup or worring about seeds

i generaly dont farm much in my forts as i more rely on animals and meat as well traping animals as this also makes fort...relativly safe for most threats

somone can ask "all nice but what about pig tails for cloth" just get male and female sheep , from trades or from start , animals do need a bit setup and if they are outside you need to make "them a fort" so they dont get murdered by goblins and designate a pasture , but after that its hands free and you will be drowning in meat , and likely they will reproduce faster then you can eat.


fruit zone might be the best way to get food and i rarely ever see anyone mention it , my current fort has 6000 units of food who most is fallen fruit.

only time i done any farming is when i settled on desert.


another reason i hate plump helmet vine is dwarves will get upset from same booze every day

So, I tried to get a dwarf to gather, and I can't seem to make only one dwarf do it.

If I select a wide plant gather area, everyone in my damn fort goes running off LOL

I do have the "plant gather" labor selected on only one dwarf with only him allowed to do it. So that's an odd result to me.

[Varenvel The Festive Dinosaur]

you can designate farmer and gatherers in labour and select "only these dwarfs do it" , or i belive even asign dwarf to gathering area(i think)

tho for fruit/tree gathering i dont think skill impacts anything , and if it does you get so much fruit anyway so getting more would not do as much