GitP Dwarf Fortress Succession Game 4: Dwarves on Patrol

[Leecros]

In my opinion, the ability to get migrants/merchants is less important than actually starting. That is indeed part of the challenge of evil biomes and would be something to be dealt with sooner or later by the players.

[Gnoman]

Almost managed to get going with a wall, but the stupid dwarf building the last piece kept insisting on standing on top of the construction site, which didn't work, letting a polar bear corpse in. It was over rather quickly, at least.

[Shpadoinkle]

This fort is Fun already.

[Luzahn]

Hmm...I wonder if it is possible to coerce the migrants into entering from the caverns.

If not, we can always build a large, trap-lined tube into our basement. Sure, we'll lose the first couple migrant waves before it's set up, but I never liked those guys.

[Leecros]

It....might be possible. I remember in the previous version people were having merchants arrive through the caverns instead of overland, but the caverns can be just as(if not more) dangerous.

[Schylerwalker]

Perhaps we should just start in a frozen area near a tower or a fort? Or on the edge of a cursed land? Instead of, you know...right in the middle?

[Shpadoinkle]

That actually might not be a bad idea, but let's see if Gnoman can get this fort off the ground, first. If he can't make any progress by Monday, let's try another area.

[Leecros]

So i decided to do some poking around the site and seeing if i could get a fortress off the ground. Not that i'm very good at the game, but phew do those undead come in fast and hard.


I started it up and all was fine and good, no undead to be seen so i set up a wall and before i could blink there were about 10-15 undead....i think they were Ravens...just swoop in and rofflepwn my dwarves.


There was much rejoicing.

[iyaerP]

So I have managed to get what I wouldn't necessarily call a fort, but I would call "a start" up and running. Good news is all seven starting dorfs survived. Bad news is that I did so by going almost pure military and the peahens I was planning on using for egg supply got trapped outside with the skeletal reindeer. We are safely underground with all of our supplies and walled away from the surface, but where to go from here I am not sure. If someone wants to take over, i'd be fine with that, if people are okay with me being our first year's overseer, i'd be fine with that too. Just don't be surprised if we starve to death.


edit: Nevermind, it doesn't matter, I discovered shortly after posting this that my game is glitched as hell and for some ungodly reason, I can't dig beyond a certain radius of the starting wagon, and can't dig down into stone. No stone means no working fort.

I dunno what to say now other than it IS possible, I just have a glitchy game apparently.

[Gnoman]

I've been trying, but I can't get a wall and a roof (pesky flying zombies) up, or get everything underground. fast enough.

[iyaerP]

I was able to do mine with 4 dedicated military dorfs with a copper battleaxe, 2 silver hammers and a silver sword, 2 dedicated miners and a doctor/building designer. just channeled a diagonally down tunnel and put an everything stockpile at the bottom and then walled myself in. I was just then unable to dig out....


OH GOD DAMN! I just realized what my problem was, I still had the stupid indoors burrow from before I had walled in on. that;s why they wouldn't dig. /facepalm

[Shpadoinkle]

Well, it seems Gnoman's turn is effectively over, as it's been a week with no progress, so if you're going to have some time to dedicate to the fort within the next few days, post here and we'll see if someone else can get the fort started.

[iyaerP]

our starting setup:

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It is the first of Slate, in the year of Armok 101. We have been on this glacier for a month to the day this morning. Why the leaders in the mountainhomes decreed that we must settle here is beyond me, but as it was decreed, so shall it be done. I hadn't had a chance before now to actually sit down and write, we have been so busy. Knowing how dangerous this type of unholy climate could be, we embarked upon our journey with four mighty warriors, myself leading two hammerdwarves and a swordsdwarf. Although Gnoman is technically the leader of our expedition, he clearly lacks any kind of experience, and when the foul beasts of this waste fell upon us he panicked and froze. I yelled at him to grab the extra sword and he picked it up and swung blindly at the skeletal ravens besetting us and surprisingly managed to down two with his wild swings. Surprising really, as civilians aren't used to warfare, but having to take over for him has been inconvenient to say the least. I don't know much about managing civilian affairs, but after the Artifacts of Creation and I dispatched the rest of the foul undead, I set the two miners, Leecros and Schylerwalker to dig down into the ice to find the sweet stone below that would form the foundations of our home in this land.

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Once a small chamber in the ice had been hollowed out, I told the miners and Grif, our mason, to bring our supplies below while the Artifacts and I stood guard. We dispatched several more of the foul zombies and skeletons that beset us as the civilians worked, but nobody was hurt, and our only casualties were some of the peahen we had brought with us for food-stock. By the time the vast majority of our goods were below, including the lumber supplies and the all-important anvil, I could see a herd of skeletal reindeer on the horizon. Knowing that these would be a far more formidable foe than the ravens and stoats we had easily dispatched, I ordered the entrance walled up and the last few barrels of food left on the surface. Their retrieval will have to come at a later date when we have forged armour for ourselves and daring the surface is no longer a fool's errand. For now, I have ordered beds constructed for the sake of moral and the miners to dig down into the rock and start work on what shall be our great hall so that we might start to secure our livelihood here. There is more work to be done, so I must continue writing again later. The outpost of Domainstaves has officially been founded and will be the next great chapter in our civilization's glorious history.

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[iyaerP]

15th of Hematite:
The great hall has been dug out now, as are the living quarters. There was a great deal of trouble with the butchering of our draft animals, ordered to prevent their starvation and thusly waste a good deal of their valuable meat. Better to do it while they were still lean and strong rather than skin and bones. The butchering itself proceeded apace, but no sooner had the beasts been slaughtered, then a most terrible thing happened. A dreadful haunting moooooo was heard throughout our tiny settlement, and we all rushed to the scene. The skin of the slain yak had arisen and taken the shape it had when alive and was trying to strangle Shpadoinkle! The Artifacts of Creation and I managed to dispatch the haunted skin without much trouble, but it seemed that no sooner had we done that then the hair of the beast began to wrap itself around our legs and attempted to trip us. This began a horrifying cycle of slaughter as the undead skin and hair of the animals would attack us, be slain and reanimate to try again.

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Although this had occured on the surface as well, there we had been able to retreat underground and thusly break the cycle. Here in our homes, there would be no respite, and I knew that we would tire long before the malevolent evil which enchanted this land would. I was at my wits end, desperately trying to think of some way of defeating this evil, when word came that our miners when digging out an area for the foodstocks, had breached an underground cavern. While I knew that at some point, we might wish to make use of the cavern, particularly for growing crops, I could think of no other course of action than to toss the skin and hair in to the hole before they could torment us again. Besides, as I threw the still struggling undead skin into the hole, I was able to spot a giant cave spider lurking nearby. For now, the caverns simply aren't safe. While this might prove to be a problem long term, it at least kept us alive for the moment.

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After dealing with the resurrecting yak skin crisis, I set myself to the task of ensuring our fortress's profitability come fall. The mountainhomes traditionally dispatch caravans to outposts such as ours, and while they will bring many needed supplies and relief as well as a liason to assess our status before dispatching immigrants, they don't work for free, so we will need something to pay them for. Thusly, I have ordered the creation of a supply of trinkets and jewelry crafted from stone as well as the creation of stone mechanisms. These will be doubly important as they will enable us to construct weapons traps and machinery for our own use, but also command good prices back home. I have placed the depot in the center of our great hall, but widening the passage to the surface as well as securing it will be challanges for another day. I have until fall after all, and by peering up through the ice, I can see that our friends the zombie and skeletal reindeer still roam the glacier above us. Securing the surface will have to wait until they leave.

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[Luzahn]

Excellent, we've got a viable fort running. Did you manage to build fortifications outside?

And we are perfectly capable of building with ice, you know.

[iyaerP]

Excellent, we've got a viable fort running. Did you manage to build fortifications outside?

And we are perfectly capable of building with ice, you know.

check the edited post. that is what the surface looks like right now. and while our 4 dorf military may be fine for ravens, yak skin, and stoat slaughter, I am pretty positive that seven skeletal reindeer will ruin our day. Besides, they are getting unhappy enough as it is. any fighting I can avoid for the time being, I am perfectly happy to do so.

For the time being, I gotta go take care of some RL stuff, but I should be able to get in an hour or two before bed. my biggest worry is how to make our home caravan accessible. I've thought about digging down to the caverns, but with 3 zombie bits, that GCS and a tribe of olm men down there (just what I can see from our one vantage point) I am leery of doing so. I think what I will end up doing is a retracting bridge on the surface that covers the ramp down to our home. It'd be vulnerable to building destroyer 2s, but it is either that or try and play the endless re-spawning game with a goddamn GCS. I'll take my chances with the reindeer. What I am more worried about right now is food production. Lacking a soil lair, we have no easy way of getting farms up, and my previous worries about the cavern layer are only more arguments about farming it. I wouldn't mind trying if we had some dorfpower to spare, but we are spread pretty thin with only our starting seven and I'd like to avoid casualties for the moment.

[Luzahn]

If we can manage it without being swarmed, a moat would keep out the grounded nasties. We could make do with a bridge that is only deployed once merchants come, keeping us safe from destroyers. Of course, we'd lose out on Wagons, but it's a small price to pay.

Either that or a tunnel o' death, lined with stone traps. For added lethality, make a pitfall on either side. Undead dodge, right?

By the way, what is the listing of named dwarves and jobs? Just curious.

[Leecros]

The best thing that could happen is finding magma, but that seems unlikely until you hit the magma sea.

The biggest problem with the moat/drawbridge idea is the fliers. That requires a roof overhead to solve and i just don't think you would have enough time to set that up before being swarmed

Unless you do it a little at a time which would be quite a bit of micromanagement.

[Luzahn]

The best thing that could happen is finding magma, but that seems unlikely until you hit the magma sea.

The biggest problem with the moat/drawbridge idea is the fliers. That requires a roof overhead to solve and i just don't think you would have enough time to set that up before being swarmed

Unless you do it a little at a time which would be quite a bit of micromanagement.

Well the fliers can be dealt with easily enough. Nothing really lethal there. I'm more concerned with the eventual armies. Or did we not camp near a tower?

[Shpadoinkle]

There's no water in the caverns? With a bit of luck you could set up a well, and use that as a water source to designate a pond (actually, you'd probably have to designate a lot of ponds) so we can get some muddy stone.

Also there was supposed to be a turn lottery as standard but okay, whatever, this works. At least we've got a foothold, and one of the primary things I wanted to avoid was death due to loss of interest.

Eh... I'm also considering a change in the rules- once the save is posted, the first person to download it and post an update (a substantial update, NOT just "I've got the save") takes the turn next. It's probably going to be chaotic and it's a bit more luck-based than I'd like, but let's see how it works out. Again, if no updates are posted within 2 days that player's turn is skipped.

[Luzahn]

There's no water in the caverns? With a bit of luck you could set up a well, and use that as a water source to designate a pond (actually, you'd probably have to designate a lot of ponds) so we can get some muddy stone.

Also there was supposed to be a turn lottery as standard but okay, whatever, this works. At least we've got a foothold, and one of the primary things I wanted to avoid was death due to loss of interest.

Eh... I'm also considering a change in the rules- once the save is posted, the first person to download it and post an update (a substantial update, NOT just "I've got the save") takes the turn next. It's probably going to be chaotic and it's a bit more luck-based than I'd like, but let's see how it works out. Again, if no updates are posted within 2 days that player's turn is skipped.

I see the usefulness of a system like that, but I feel like we could get most of the advantages and some order out of it by doing a turn order, but with a strict pickup time. Say, if an individual doesn't take their scheduled turn within a day of posting, the next person should take it, without waiting for verification.

Prevents confusion of the fortress diverging into two paths accidentally.

[Shpadoinkle]

I see the usefulness of a system like that, but I feel like we could get most of the advantages and some order out of it by doing a turn order, but with a strict pickup time. Say, if an individual doesn't take their scheduled turn within a day of posting, the next person should take it, without waiting for verification.

Prevents confusion of the fortress diverging into two paths accidentally.

I can see where you're coming from, but we've freaking tried that three times already, and three times it bombed.

[iyaerP]

There's no water in the caverns? With a bit of luck you could set up a well, and use that as a water source to designate a pond (actually, you'd probably have to designate a lot of ponds) so we can get some muddy stone.

See the note about the giant cave spider. The caverns are stupidly more dangerous than even the surface, and in this climate, we simply cannot fight what is in there right now.

Eh... I'm also considering a change in the rules- once the save is posted, the first person to download it and post an update (a substantial update, NOT just "I've got the save") takes the turn next. It's probably going to be chaotic and it's a bit more luck-based than I'd like, but let's see how it works out. Again, if no updates are posted within 2 days that player's turn is skipped.

I have to take issue with this simply based on how my work schedual is. I have a 2 days on, 2 days off rotation with twelve hour shifts, and monday and tuesday were my days off and I now work for two days, on on my work days, I quite simply do not have time for dwarf fortress. While I may be able to lurk the dark corners of the internet whilst at work, gaming is another matter. Besides which, two days is simply unreasonable. The established standard is a week for good reason.

[Shpadoinkle]

I have to take issue with this simply based on how my work schedual is. I have a 2 days on, 2 days off rotation with twelve hour shifts, and monday and tuesday were my days off and I now work for two days, on on my work days, I quite simply do not have time for dwarf fortress. While I may be able to lurk the dark corners of the internet whilst at work, gaming is another matter. Besides which, two days is simply unreasonable. The established standard is a week for good reason.

It seems I was unclear: How long the turns are would remain unchanged- you have a week real-time to complete one in-game year, and when your turn comes up you have 2 days to post SOME kind of update. It doesn't have to be the result of hours of work, I mean something like "I have the save and it's working*" and maybe a couple thoughts on the fort as it stands.

*This is a result of a couple times in prior games where someones turn came up, then five days later they told us "Oh yeah, I can't get the save to work. Meant to mention that five days ago but I forgot" or "I know it's been five days and I'm just now trying to start on it but it won't work." To be perfectly honest that kind of pissed me off.

[iyaerP]

Oh. My appologies, I was getting self-righteous and indignant over nothing then. Carry on.

[Luzahn]

No, it's good! Indignation can be used to murder zombies!

Or was that lava? I always get the two confused.

[Gnoman]

Sorry I wasn't able to get things started. I'll gladly take a turn later on. I'm just not good at starting THAT quickly.

[Schylerwalker]

Sorry I wasn't able to get things started. I'll gladly take a turn later on. I'm just not good at starting THAT quickly.

It's okay man. I would have been murdered so freakin' quickly. You should all just be thankful I'M not going first.

Post some dwarf stats by the way! Any of us particularly skilled at anything yet?

[iyaerP]

I'll do so once I get home and playing again. I'll be honest. I wasn't sure that I would be able to actually get the fort off of the ground, and I started it just to see if I could, and then saw that shpadoinkle had put first turn up for grabs, so started posting.

I am still brainstorming how I am going to deal with creating a surface entrance. My current thought is to have a long tunnel filled with a series of drawbridges over deep pits, and to just drop the undead down into the pits when they try and cross. Alternatively, just use the drawbridges without pits as atom-smashers. It is just that that reeks of cheapness and is undorfy. I just can't think of a better solution right now.

[Leecros]

My current thought is to have a long tunnel filled with a series of drawbridges over deep pits, and to just drop the undead down into the pits when they try and cross. Alternatively, just use the drawbridges without pits as atom-smashers.

With a set up like that you may be forced to put atom-smashers at the bottom of the pits to mop up some of the zombies to reduce lag. Only as necessary. A pit of Undead for defense is very Dorfy.

It wouldn't really be an issue unless the fortress makes it in the long-term, but it's something that, if you're going to put in it should be put in now so you don't have to worry about dealing with it retroactively.