Bin confusion and miscellaneous questions

[Chaoticjosh]

i'm making bins right? this article:

http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Bin

says that bins can be used for storage, but i can't figure how to place them with practicality in mind. whenever i build a bin, my dwarves pick it up and place it next to my tannery. I don't want to use it for all my leather though (although it is useful), i want a bin right next to my craftsdwarves shop in order to store my many many mugs that i make regularly and plan on trading. In the (b)uild menu, i can't find anything that will allow me to set a bin somewhere. i've tried "container" but it doesn't do anything.

also, i have some wrestlers that seem to refuse to pick up the wooden shields and armor i've laid out for them, even though i've specified them to wear armor and shields. they're not wearing anything else besides the regular clothes they had as civilians.

is it possible to create more than one fortress and/or world and switch between them?

I've read about dates, and apparently most people's worlds are over 1000 years old upon creation. curious, i checked my worlds date, and it is just over 200 years old. is that bad? or is it a good thing that my world is less 'mature' than other's world?

finally, i'm super paranoid about the idiocy of my dwarves. i absolute refuse to order my miners to channel anything more than long strips of land at a time, nothing more, because i'm afraid that if i order then to channel a 'box' of land the dwarves will  either channel the outside first, closing themselve off from the inside, or they'll channel themselve onto an island and they'll be stuck, forcing me to intervene in some way. also, when i order dwarves to place a floodgate in narrow hallway (such as in my cistern) they always place the floodgate so that they are trapped and force me to intervene. is their anyway to force them to stop being idiots? damn the dwarves and their lack of schools.

once again, sorry for the long read.

[Skie]

i'm making bins right? this article:

http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Bin

1)
says that bins can be used for storage, but i can't figure how to place them with practicality in mind. whenever i build a bin, my dwarves pick it up and place it next to my tannery. I don't want to use it for all my leather though (although it is useful), i want a bin right next to my craftsdwarves shop in order to store my many many mugs that i make regularly and plan on trading. In the (b)uild menu, i can't find anything that will allow me to set a bin somewhere. i've tried "container" but it doesn't do anything.

2)
also, when i order dwarves to place a floodgate in narrow hallway (such as in my cistern) they always place the floodgate so that they are trapped and force me to intervene. is their anyway to force them to stop being idiots? damn the dwarves and their lack of schools.

Damn quote-end tag isn't working. anyways:

1) You can change the amount of maximum bins assigned to a stockpile by examining its properties with Q.

2) One solution is to build a door adjacent to the tile where you want the floodgate to go. The dwarf will then build the watergate from the other adjacent tile, ie. it won't trap himself in the same tile where the door is in. You will have to remove the door later for things like water flow, though.

[slink]

One way to stop floodgates from being installed with a trapped Dwarf is to use the setup shown below.  Red is the corridor where you don't want the Dwarf.  It works because Dwarves won't install something on the diagonal, even though they will dig and walk diagonally.


=_==
=_==
==X=
==_=
==_=

[Chaoticjosh]

thats pretty good advice.

i've found the calendar article on the wiki:

http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Summer

states that my world is so young because a "percentage of megabeasts are dead". does this imply that megabeasts can permanently go extinct should a player manage to kill the remaining percentage?

[susancreature]

On the topic of megabeasts...

Can you breed megabeasts, or do anything more interesting than keeping them in cages?  I've got a couple of Titans, and I think it'd be nifty to have baby titans running around

I've tried some setups to get a tamed dragon to be a good defense for the fortress - but nothing's worked so far.

[shoruke]

For one thing, make sure the titans are opposing genders... two male titans will not produce offspring no matter what kind of coercing you use on them 

And you could put the two titans in a hole, link the cages to levers, destroy the stairs, and let them breed for a bit. Then, when they're done that, you can allow them to 'exit'... through a corridor full of cage traps so that they end up in your captivity again. Despite their ability to destroy buildings, they are totally stuck by walls so leaving them in a pit of some kind should do it.

[jaybud4]

For one thing, make sure the titans are opposing genders...

Uh, no.
While megabeasts have genders, the [MEGABEAST] tag prevents them from breeding.  Ever.
That's why they die out so early now that they're hunted.

[Chaoticjosh]

thats an interesting tidbit of knowledge, perhaps it should be added to the wiki for completionism.

another question, on the article on heroes and champions:

http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Champion#Heroes_and_Champions

states that "Once soldiers reach Great skill level in any weapon (or wrestling), they will become heroes". I have a long time marksdwarf, but he is a civilian hunter. he is slowly accruing marksdwarf experience though hunting and is almost to Great skill level. will he receive Hero status, or would i need to recruit him into the military for his Hero status to take affect?

[Wolfking6116]

He will gain great status, but once you put him in the military with it you cannot bring him out.

I wish they would make it so if they have at least a legendary civilian skill you could bring them out of service. >_>