That's a great strategy, Steve. There's a tiny downside to automatic ladders though - enemies will start teleporting if you punch through to a mob room. So you'd do well to connect that shaft to your hearth with a corridor of traps or a guard post.
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I usually have a forward Gaud Post not far from my exploratory Digger for just this reason.
I’ve also tried to place ladders as they fall – maybe some of you can do that, but I just cannot get the timing right on the clicking with that. It’s best to just wait until they are all done falling and then place it on the top.
After the first couple of times of getting slaughtered by teleporting monsters, I switched to the same outposts strategy that Xerkis mentioned. Also started to dig more carefully. 
I still sometimes have trouble placing ladders and erroneously thinking that two levels are properly connected, but keeping an eye on the top bar (for triangles) helps to spot any possible problems quickly. I definitely like the ideas that were posted in the thread.
I still sometimes have trouble placing ladders and erroneously thinking that two levels are properly connected, but keeping an eye on the top bar (for triangles) helps to spot any possible problems quickly. I definitely like the ideas that were posted in the thread.
In most of my games I usually only ever have one (maybe two) Diggers at a time because I like to go that slow with my advance through the rock. I’m sure (and know) other are much more aggressive with their style of play though.
One other point with the “advance guard post” is to make sure it is well furnished with beds, table and a chair or two.
One other point with the “advance guard post” is to make sure it is well furnished with beds, table and a chair or two.
The process is generally slow so nearby unexplored rooms usually update long before I'd accidentally dig into one.
A "lift" would be awesome - make it cost power for every level it extends down to and you've got yourself a fairly balanced alternative to ladders in my opinion.
I don't think it needs power (I'm not a fan of the power concepts in the first place), this isn't an Otis-elivator its more like a dumb-waiter in which the person inside the elevator pulls on the rope inside the box to move themselves. Considering your your just replacing a group of cheap wooden ladders (that can be placed instantly) I can't see it being considerably more expansive, a bit of wood and iron should be more then enough.
Keep them out of the 21st century - is that it? OK I think I can go along with that.
It's a matter of opinion I suppose - I personally think they should use power and go up/down with a simple lever on the platform instead of being dwarf operated. Especially when the game already has a power system that works.
That's how I see it, too. The power/"electricity" system is already in the game, so it's a bit of an obvious choice for the operation of a movable platform. I'm all for choice, though, so a slightly inferior (much slower?) manual platform mechanism that requires no power could be an alternative? Then the player could just go with their preferred choice.
Well, like there are many ladders. why not have many lifts? some that use power and some that don't.
Now we are all happy.
Now we are all happy.
What if you'd dig 2 shafts for a new project?
Say left shaft stays as is and goes from level 0 to -4.
Right shaft goes from level 0 to -5... and this is the one you dig deeper.
Until it goes down to level -9 or -10 (depending on how you count), the ladder in the right shaft will keep falling down... and the dwarf can still hop over to the parallel shaft and climb the rest of the way up.
An automatically extending ladder. =)
Eventually you have to extend the ladder, maybe even extend the first shaft when you're deeper down, but you don't have to watch it all the time.
Good theory – but it still ends up being about the same thing. It really isn’t all that big of a deal.
I usually mark off about 8 to 10 levels deep at one time and go about doing something else in the game. Let my Digger dig all the way down. Go back to check on him and when he is finished then just build the ladders all the way up. Now repeat. No issues.
If you dig many more than 8 or so levels at once without watch it, then you run in to the issue of possibly digging in to a room you didn’t know about.
Just cause something exists in the game isn't a reason to require it as a cost, the cost needs to be commensurate with the benefits.
I just don't see any justification for making vertical movement devices expensive and inconvenient, the whole SELLING POINT of the game is that its in 3 dimensions, why must the player pay through the nose to do something which is just fundamental to any real or imaginary mining/tunneling activity. Zeal already decided that vertical movement was important enough to allow the player to instant-build cheap wooden ladders, the only problem we the player face is remembering to build the ladder after the digging is done, so if we had the option of a 'build device at the top and build shaft downward to hearts content' that costs an amount comparable to the ladders it replaces, then the benefit is merely that are forgetfulness is not punished.
I see no reason we should pay in game resources like power for the relief of our out of game attention span limitations. No one would expect to pay gold to open the scenario-objectives, or review the messages from the prince.
Finally have you considered that even a manual lift platform in which the dwarf moves at normal ladder climb speed is still a major bottle neck in traffic if only ONE dwarf can use it at a time? That's an assumption I've been making all along and I don't think anyone else has considered it. My 'cheap but slow movement' alternative would be a rope tied to a wooden frame that costs almost nothing but can be used by multiple dwarves simultaneously.
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maybe the slow and only one issue would be that this could only be used in a two wide shaft? In it would be two platforms tied together. As one goes up the other goes down. . . . . . but then - I guess that isn't all that much better - is it?
Maybe a moving platform is just not as workable of an answer here as first thought. But it would be more for the living areas of the home and not the exploring parts.
Maybe a moving platform is just not as workable of an answer here as first thought. But it would be more for the living areas of the home and not the exploring parts.
... which is exactly why a powered alternative would be much better in terms of bottlenecking - pay ingame resources? Sounds like you've got the opinion that value_X is too much? No one has attempted to formulate a price in electricity yet so I really cannot see the validity of your argument.
Yes a pulley system could work - but a powered elevator would also work. I don't see why you shouldn't be able to have both. They both balance themselves out by becoming increasingly bottlenecked the lower you allow them to go.