Dumping / erasing things by throwing them into laval?

[Celgaming]

I want to delete some early crafts by dumping them into magma. Is this possible? Things like doors and such. I've put a dumping zone above a lava pit but my dwarves never dump anything there. Not even corpses or other refuse.

I don't really know what I'm doing wrong and searching for a guide on how to delete items permanently yielded nothing other than an atom smasher, which I believe is just using a bridge and placing things on the part that turns into a wall.

[graalGGTV]

It's possible, but why not just sell them or even donate them to a caravan? Even if they aren't worth much, you'll still get something for it.

Did you mark the stuff you want dumped to be dumper? The dumping zone is useless otherwise. Also, make sure the dwarves have access to the dump area (it's in an open tile over magma right next to a floor tile they can reach)

[Cytanger]

You can use a garbage dump zone to do what you want. The only issue to be aware of is that magma safe items will not be destroyed by placing them in magma. You'll want to smelt those.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Garbage_disposal

[Celgaming]

Originally posted by graalGGTV:

It's possible, but why not just sell them or even donate them to a caravan? Even if they aren't worth much, you'll still get something for it.

Did you mark the stuff you want dumped to be dumper? The dumping zone is useless otherwise. Also, make sure the dwarves have access to the dump area (it's in an open tile over magma right next to a floor tile they can reach)

I marked all the doors as dumpable one by one in the stockpiles they are in. They are still there years later.

I would give them all away to caravans but I settled on an island volcano and I get like one caravan a year and they can't carry much at all, even if I buy their heaviest things from them.

Could it be that items in the stockpiles are not dumped because they are in the stockpiles? Nothing has been thrown into the dumping zone that is 2x1 wide and floating in mid air at the edge of the volano.

Originally posted by Cytanger:

You can use a garbage dump zone to do what you want. The only issue to be aware of is that magma safe items will not be destroyed by placing them in magma. You'll want to smelt those.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Garbage_disposal

I don't mind if they don't melt, as long as they're thrown over and out of sight. I've even assigned some corpses to be thrown over but they just don't seem to want to do it.

[graalGGTV]

Originally posted by Celgaming:

Originally posted by graalGGTV:

It's possible, but why not just sell them or even donate them to a caravan? Even if they aren't worth much, you'll still get something for it.

Did you mark the stuff you want dumped to be dumper? The dumping zone is useless otherwise. Also, make sure the dwarves have access to the dump area (it's in an open tile over magma right next to a floor tile they can reach)

I marked all the doors as dumpable one by one in the stockpiles they are in. They are still there years later.

I would give them all away to caravans but I settled on an island volcano and I get like one caravan a year and they can't carry much at all, even if I buy their heaviest things from them.

Could it be that items in the stockpiles are not dumped because they are in the stockpiles? Nothing has been thrown into the dumping zone that is 2x1 wide and floating in mid air at the edge of the volano.

Originally posted by Cytanger:

You can use a garbage dump zone to do what you want. The only issue to be aware of is that magma safe items will not be destroyed by placing them in magma. You'll want to smelt those.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Garbage_disposal

I don't mind if they don't melt, as long as they're thrown over and out of sight. I've even assigned some corpses to be thrown over but they just don't seem to want to do it.

Try making the dump zone only 1x1. I'm not sure if it'll help or not, but I've always had my dump zones only 1x1 and never had any problems. This could be a steam version problem, so I'm sorry if I can't give any better advice

Edit: and again, are you sure the dwarves are able to path to the edge of the volcano next to the dump zone?

[BoogieMan]

It's better to dispose of unwanted items in a more permanent fashion to help with game performance. Burn burnables, sell magma-safe garbage to caravans


Or make a trash compactor.

Build a draw bridge that is as long and wide as the area marked as a dump, link it to a lever, and raise it. Once the dump area has enough junk in it, pull the lever. When the bridge lowers it will completely destroy anything but the largest of creatures underneath it.

For added safety put it in a room and lock the door first, so some poor hauler doesn't stroll in at the wrong time and get atom smashed into oblivion.

[Celgaming]

I'll try that. I will also build a 3x3 area around the garbage shoot.

Also any idea why building walls hides the boxes once you start building?

[shoopy]

Don't put your dump zone over the hole, put it on the ground next to the hole.

[Kieran]

Originally posted by shoopy:

Don't put your dump zone over the hole, put it on the ground next to the hole.

I'm looking for a more definitive answer about this. I have tried both methods and they both work, but in both cases sometimes the dwarves just dump things on the edge, sitting there to drain my fps forever.

[Saver Sigonith]

Originally posted by Kieran:

Originally posted by shoopy:

Don't put your dump zone over the hole, put it on the ground next to the hole.

I'm looking for a more definitive answer about this. I have tried both methods and they both work, but in both cases sometimes the dwarves just dump things on the edge, sitting there to drain my fps forever.

You can always unforbid 'em and mark to be dumped again if that happens.
I've had luck putting it on an unforbidden hatch cover, or you can use minecarts to ensure they always dump in exactly the same tile.

[eerr]

if you want to get rid of even magma safe things, there is a specific tile at the bottom of the magma sea. anything that falls into it from above will be destroyed/gone, including magma safe steel and stone. I always put this as a central fortress feature which makes refuse extremely easy to clear out.

[Quack]

Originally posted by eerr:

if you want to get rid of even magma safe things, there is a specific tile at the bottom of the magma sea. anything that falls into it from above will be destroyed/gone, including magma safe steel and stone. I always put this as a central fortress feature which makes refuse extremely easy to clear out.

cool info