Dwarf fortress

[Justyn]

Indeed, fun is the most important part

And don't forget about the Fun.

[Suicide Junkie]

Speaking of fun, I was neglecting magma safety rules again... I was building a magmaduct around the outer edge of the fortress, planning to use pumps on the walls to splash it all over invading gobbos.

Well, I figured I might as well fill in the small lake under my south wall with obsidian.
I neglected to demolish the buildings on the edge lake to build a retaining wall, figuring I could just pump a little bit.

Naturally the kid at the pumps went a little overboard, and half my fort burned down, including a pile of 150 wood (I saved 5 logs by hauling them underground), and 200 expertly crafted and designed empty bags, and the barracks under my archery tower. Only three dwarves died, somehow, one of which sacrificed himself to chop a hole in the outer wall and stop the flow of magma into the fort.

Right after I'd agreed with the elves to not chop down the forest...

[Rockphed]

It's only elves. They can only zerg rush you with tall warriors willing and able to eat your very flesh while singing rustic folk songs and cavorting with giant eagles and elephants. Piece of cake.

[Destro_Yersul]

I got sieged by elves once. They walked up to my front gate and were promptly torn to bits by a bunch of champion swordsdwarves.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Elves are like goblins with weaker weapons. Also they aren't a free source of iron for you smelters.

[Suicide Junkie]

Speaking of iron sources, I'm managed to burn through 300 iron trying to train up some armorsmiths with a forge-melt-repeat loop. (I don't care about the money, I just want 10 masterwork suits of armor!)

There just aren't enough gobbos to feed my forges, even though I open the gates to ensure they all get inside and none of the metal runs away. :(

[Artanis]

train up some armorsmiths

That's your problem right there. Train up one at a time, and it'll go faster.

[Maxymiuk]

Ok, oddball (and perhaps difficult) question, but how can I tell your typical river from a river canyon upon embark? I saw some screenshots of one recently, and now I want to run a fort that's a series of bridges strung out over it.

[Lord Herman]

I just bought a caged giant eagle from an elven caravan. It it safe to let it out of its cage, or will it kill all my dorfs?

[Justyn]

Elves are like goblins with weaker weapons. Also they aren't a free source of iron for you smelters.

But they give you wooden weapons, which can be used to prevent training accidents.

I just bought a caged giant eagle from an elven caravan. It it safe to let it out of its cage, or will it kill all my dorfs?

If it's tamed, then yes, but I wouldn't, as it eats up framerate.

Ok, oddball (and perhaps difficult) question, but how can I tell your typical river from a river canyon upon embark? I saw some screenshots of one recently, and now I want to run a fort that's a series of bridges strung out over it.

Look for steep cliffs where a river is during embark.

[Lord Herman]

If it's tamed, then yes, but I wouldn't, as it eats up framerate.

Well, I let it out, and it hasn't mauled anyone so far. It does seem to have brown wounds to all its vitals, including its brain, just like all the other animals I bought off the elves.

[Cubey]

Elves are cruel bastards, they tame animals by beating them into submission!
All over the body, apparently.

[Lord Herman]

And inside the body, too.

By the way, will a dwarf ever adopt one of the more expensive animals? I have a 1000-dwarfbuck grizzly bear still looking for an owner, and I've had him for years.

Edit: Uhm... my bear is covered in puke. As in, full body coverage. I guess it's not such a good idea for a fuzzy animal to be hanging around an outdoors meeting area full of cave adapted dorfs.

Another edit: In fact, I looked around, and everyone in the meeting area is completely covered in vomit. And they've also puked all over my nice silver-and-gold floor mosaic!

[Artanis]

Ok, oddball (and perhaps difficult) question, but how can I tell your typical river from a river canyon upon embark? I saw some screenshots of one recently, and now I want to run a fort that's a series of bridges strung out over it.

Hit tab on the site-choosing screen until it gets to the elevation and cliff size screens. Look for big elevation changes and steep cliffs in the pattern you want.

Alternately, check out this thread on the official forums. It has a map you can d/l (or get the specs to gen yourself) that has exactly what it sounds like you're asking for.

[Justyn]

And inside the body, too.

By the way, will a dwarf ever adopt one of the more expensive animals? I have a 1000-dwarfbuck grizzly bear still looking for an owner, and I've had him for years.

Edit: Uhm... my bear is covered in puke. As in, full body coverage. I guess it's not such a good idea for a fuzzy animal to be hanging around an outdoors meeting area full of cave adapted dorfs.

Another edit: In fact, I looked around, and everyone in the meeting area is completely covered in vomit. And they've also puked all over my nice silver-and-gold floor mosaic!

[Lord Herman]

Hmm... a yellow arm wound means a dorf's arm is broken, right? One of my dorfs has a yellow wound on his brain. Does that mean his brain is broken?

Edit: Uh-oh. Tantrum spiral. In a 200-dorf fortress.

Another edit: Yup, this fortress is down the crapper. Axemurdered survived for 32 years, was obscenely rich and entirely self-sufficient, and was destroyed because one stupid planter decided to take a stroll outside during a siege.

[Artanis]

Hmm... a yellow arm wound means a dorf's arm is broken, right? One of my dorfs has a yellow wound on his brain. Does that mean his brain is broken?

Edit: Uh-oh. Tantrum spiral. In a 200-dorf fortress.

Another edit: Yup, this fortress is down the crapper. Axemurdered survived for 32 years, was obscenely rich and entirely self-sufficient, and was destroyed because one stupid planter decided to take a stroll outside during a siege.

Yeah, yellow means "broken". Take that as you will with the brain. One way or another though, he's a permanent invalid: hurt dwarves stay in bed until they heal, and nervous system wounds never heal.

[Destro_Yersul]

Another edit: Yup, this fortress is down the crapper. Axemurdered survived for 32 years, was obscenely rich and entirely self-sufficient, and was destroyed because one stupid planter decided to take a stroll outside during a siege.

Never had that happen to me. Probably because my champions have a tendency to murderate goblins before they can do much. Is why I stopped playing that fortress so much, actually...

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Sucks when the dwarves all emo themselves to death.

[XBobbis]

I just discovered this game a few days ago, so incredible, I love it. To anyone just browsing the thread, go check it out, it's awesome.

[TheSummoner]

If a dwarf gets a yellow wound to his brain, spine, or neck, hes worthless. Arrange his death.

If a military dwarf gets even a light gray wound to any of these areas, he will no longer spar. If you want him to improve, he will have to become a marksman (They'll still shoot at the archery range). Another alternative is to have them train against wild animals or captured goblins... they'll still fight, they just wont spar.

[Player_Zero]

If a dwarf gets a yellow wound to his brain, spine, or neck, hes worthless. Arrange his death.

If a military dwarf gets even a light gray wound to any of these areas, he will no longer spar. If you want him to improve, he will have to become a marksman (They'll still shoot at the archery range). Another alternative is to have them train against wild animals or captured goblins... they'll still fight, they just wont spar.

Correction: put him in the fortress/royal guard. He'll just sit in bed, but those two jobs are fairly useless anyhow unless you're training someone up.

Incidentally, I have found setting someone as a fortress guard makes them gain xp faster. As long as you switch them to military and put them in a squad before they hit the becoming a hero point you'll have a legendary champion much faster this way.

Another edit: Yup, this fortress is down the crapper. Axemurdered survived for 32 years, was obscenely rich and entirely self-sufficient, and was destroyed because one stupid planter decided to take a stroll outside during a siege.

Too bad they didn't admire a fine door recently. Then they would've forgotten about their friend's death because damn that was some door let me tell you.

[Milskidasith]

The thing is, my dwarves don't make friends. I make sure my main meeting hall is absurdly large, so my dwarves never really train their social skills. A small/fairly large decrease in overall dwarven attributes (small for a meeting hall that couldn't reasonably hold my whole fortress, fairly large for the "one square meeting hall(s)" idea that gets all dwarves to friend everybody) is a small price to pay when you consider that a single dwarf getting murdered probably won't depress anybody. Only my military really matters if they die, and they pretty much have an inverse relationship between their chance of dying and the number of friends they have.

I'm gonna start up a new fortress (or run an old one I still have on my flash drive).

Also, I don't think I could ever run a fortress for 32 years; by that time the goblin sieges generally stop being a threat.

[Lord Herman]

Too bad they didn't admire a fine door recently. Then they would've forgotten about their friend's death because damn that was some door let me tell you.

Thing is, they did. My dorfs spent most of their time in either a meeting hall lined with sixteen ruby-encrusted platinum statues (of myself, of course), with a floor mosaic of olivine, microcline, bronze, silver, and gold, or in the dining hall with masterfully engraved floors and walls and solid platinum tables, chairs, and doors. But apparently, even that wasn't enough to keep them happy.

Oh, well. I'll just watch the fortress destroy itself some more, and then try adventurer mode.


Edit: Ah, I found out what happened. I just checked my food stockpile, and the only things there were inedible plants and ridiculously overpriced roasts. And my booze stockpile was filled with nothing but empty barrels.


Another edit: Alright, I'm starting a new fortress. This one is called Sutungammeb, "The Malodorous Dump", and the expedition is called Nukad, "The Victims". This time, I picked a spot with magma. This is going to be Fun!

[Player_Zero]

Wait, do dorfs actually admire statues by value? I thought they admired them by craftsdorfship. And, I mean, if your platinum statues were masterwork that's all good, bu I was under the impression that it was better to just put your superior quality ones in your meeting hall and save the high value ones for noble demands.

Also, I don't think I could ever run a fortress for 32 years; by that time the goblin sieges generally stop being a threat.

Goblin sieges aren't really a threat at all when you've played the game for long enough. Even when you're just starting out a single siege can be taken out by one lever, a bridge and a couple of traps which you can construct within your first season. Of course, if you get creative and only use military, or don't use marksmandorfs, or use ballista batteries, or lava, or pumps or cave-ins you can have fun even if you know the goblins don't have a chance anyway.

Ambushes are a little more annoying if you are just starting out and your defences are mechanical, especially if you haven't had time to build a wall or large imposing obsidian gate for the other races to tremble in fear of.

[Artanis]

Wait, do dorfs actually admire statues by value? I thought they admired them by craftsdorfship. And, I mean, if your platinum statues were masterwork that's all good, bu I was under the impression that it was better to just put your superior quality ones in your meeting hall and save the high value ones for noble demands.

As far as I know, there isn't really any consensus one way or another. People know that material affects what dwarves consider an item's value when placed in a room (for instance, a dwarf who likes willow will think a =willow bed= costs more than an =oak bed= when thinking about what their room is worth, which comes in handy with nobles). Other than that, nobody knows exactly what combination of item quality, material, overall value, and/or other factors makes a dwarf admire something more.

[Lord Herman]

Okay, the Malodorous Dump died a quick death when all of the Victims starved because there weren't any edible plants or animals on the map.

Next fortress: Firedrowned, settled by the Glorious Vegetables. Another try at playing with magma. This time, I'm making a small moated castle on the highest hilltop, and build the rest of my fortress underground from there.

[Justyn]

Okay, the Malodorous Dump died a quick death when all of the Victims starved because there weren't any edible plants or animals on the map.

Next fortress: Firedrowned, settled by the Glorious Vegetables. Another try at playing with magma. This time, I'm making a small moated castle on the highest hilltop, and build the rest of my fortress underground from there.

Don't forget to embark with lots of food this time.

[Suicide Junkie]

Edit: Ah, I found out what happened. I just checked my food stockpile, and the only things there were inedible plants and ridiculously overpriced roasts. And my booze stockpile was filled with nothing but empty barrels.

Be sure to make a big stockpile of furniture->barrels only. That way the dwarfs will return their empties and prevent confusion as to how much you have in reserve.

[Greep]

Heh, so I've been playing around with the hermit challenge, and apparently stat increases simply don't stop, 16 isn't the limit. So I set him to just mine sand for years and I swear he runs over quintuple the normal speed now. It's pretty ridiculous. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I wonder if I keep going at it if his raw speed will go negative and crash the game.