Dwarf Fortress Succession Game #6 in the Playground! Return of the Evil Biomes.

[Max™]

I got an artifact maul recently, gave it to my incredibly mighty/tough/agile militia commander, then was baffled because the gobs weren't being demolished... then I learned mauls require a minimum size to wield which she doesn't meet.

Upon checking the battle log it was full of:

"The militia commander bashes the goblin in the left foot with her adamantine shield, breaking the bone, etc. x78
The milita commander punches the goblin in the rear left teeth with her right fist, pulping the part. x54
Militia Commander: Death is all around us, this is horrible."

OF COURSE IT IS HORRIBLE, YOU SPENT HALF A WEEK BASHING THE GUY TO DEATH IN THE FOOT AND TOOTH!

[iyaerP]

come grab it in adventure mode once your current fort crumbles.

[Luzahn]

Right, I've finished up the year now. Screenshots and the save should follow shortly.

Spoiler: Log Part II:

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17th Limestone 170:

A caravan from the mountainhomes has arrived, with one of the Barons' consorts apparently serving as our liaison. Apparently Iton's newfound nobility comes with some complications. At least we can actually have him do something. I'd like to defer the costs of his shiny accommodations a bit.

5th Sandstone 170:

Still snowing. We've had another wave of migrants, I'm thinking we'll just draft them all into an army of miners and masons, our recent construction work is going too slowly for my tastes.

9th Timber 170:

By Armok! This place has an unending supply of iron. I'm beginning to see why iyaerP was so enthusiastic about this place.
Well, time to churn out a gigantic pile of deathtraps.

16th Timber 170:

Gold has been struck in the depths. Finally, something shiny for that noble. You know, I'd appreciate it if he actually made an effort to help with it, but nooo.

15th Moonstone 170:

Well, it appears that there was a secret Baron heir amongst our number as well. Damn. We need more gold. Grif has just been elected Mayor, as well.

7th Opal 170:

Max TM has been badly injured in a fight with a Giant Cave Bat, as he worked to seal off a section of cavern for use as a fishing source. A hospital is now being constructed.

3rd Obsidian 170:

We've had another possession. This time the clerk is rambling like a madman. If only we would get a useful craftsman out of this distraction.

Update: the ghost made a wooden cup. Lovely. At least the last guy gave us a figurine of a dwarf killing a goblin. That one was interesting.

14th Slate 171:

The long effort of furnishing the nobles' rooms to optimal shininess is complete, with a gold statue of a rattlesnake now occupying his tomb. I suppose that does look impressive...

14th Felsite 171:

Excellent news! At some point, our line of defensive cages over the cavern breach caught a giant cave spider. I might not have enough time left in my overseeing to set it up properly, but hopefully we can use the beast for silk production.

1st Hematite:

And the year is over. An uneventful one, violence-wise, but I suppose we can't have everything. Death Labyrinth remains sadly unused.

I recommend finishing the mighty ice fortress I've been constructing on the surface; note that the excavations directly under it are intended for an armory and training area for our military. I've set my offices up there as well so, y'know, don't wreck the place.

Save: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=9561

[Grif]

Hold on, I'm mayor now?

*ahem* Yes, of course, that was always expected.

[Max™]

Hold on, I'm mayor now?

*ahem* Yes, of course, that was always expected.

It was inevitable.

Also: bats.

[Max™]

Hah, "Max TM dislikes bats" stood out from poking around in the save.

Also, quantum stockpiles!

# is empty floor
= is stockpile
S is constructed trackstop.

# = #
= S =
= = =

The top stockpile accepts from links only, no wheelbarrows, no bins/barrels, bottom stockpile accepts from one of the big piles scattered around the fort, or even from all of them if you want, make sure top and bottom pile accept the same items.

S dumps to the north.

Then put a new route and select a minecart for it first, then add a new stop on top of the contstructed one, remove all of the conditions and make sure the desired items match both piles, then add a stockpile link to take from the bottom pile.

If it's set up properly you should get a flurry of dwarves hauling stuff over there and piling it into the single square stockpile. Major FPS saver and great for space.

Easier to check one square and scroll through a list for stuff rather than having to figure out which square in which pile has what you want.

Spoiler

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The tileset is this btw:

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It's big enough that you can zoom in or out and it looks crisp.

[Wookieetank]

Our ilustrious Mayor Grif is up next to lead us to loots and glory.

Max^TM you've been added to the list of overseer volunteers due to your participation in thread (and I'm intrigued to see what kind of Fun you can cause).

[Max™]

Hmmm...

q *the lever by the newly install magma cistern one z level above the noble bedrooms*
a
Pull the lever!

[Grif]

Our ilustrious Mayor Grif is up next to lead us to loots and glory.

Max^TM you've been added to the list of overseer volunteers due to your participation in thread (and I'm intrigued to see what kind of Fun you can cause).

A bit busy at the moment, but I'll see if I can get it played within the next few days.

[Wookieetank]

A bit busy at the moment, but I'll see if I can get it played within the next few days.

If you want one less item on your plate we could let Max^TM take your turn. I'm in no rush though so I can wait.

[Max™]

Not like there is any way I could implode the fort into the depths of hell or anything.

[Luzahn]

Look, so long as you make the hell-depths-imploding symmetrical I'm fine with it.

[Max™]

We likeses our fearful symmetries...

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Hmmm, I took some things for granted which I shouldn't have, so when the goblins attacked I let them into the trap hallway, but the traps didn't seem to do anything, and I apparently forgot to make sure the civilians wouldn't start doing things like SMOOTHING THE WALLS IN THE TRAP HALLWAY WHILE IT IS FULL OF GOBLINS... so, one thing leads to another, and then uh...

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Not shown: me dedicating all the miners to a last ditch rush to find candy in hopes the discovery would help me counter the tantrum spiral... I did find some, but not fast enough to prevent a few berserkers going nuts, despite setting up coffin/booze/bed production, and apparently the doctor wound up taking up a bed in the hospital.

There wasn't a manager apparently, so I fixed that, the baron started ranting and demanding stupid crap in the middle of all this, so I built a bridge in one of the bedrooms and burrowed him and the count in there, you can guess what happened next.

Apparently the goblins got the baronness and countess, so hey, thanks for that at least?

In positive news, setting up five quantum stockpiles and draining the more crowded piles into them gave me a bump of about 50 FPS!

I think that all took place by autumn, so yeah, if Grif doesn't take this turn I'll start over with a bit different order of priorities (like setting up a manager! give them a table/chair, j -> m -> q to add more work orders, tell folks to start brewing booze, smelting ore, and so forth!) because that was a mess. :D

[Max™]

Hmmm, looks like Grif is a no-show?

I'll get started on a turn then, since I've got my nanofort at a good spot atm. Try it out! Hit embark-tools nano enable I think with dfhack, let's you embark on a 1x1 site, which is an interesting experiment in space management, the whole map is about as large as the living area in the top of the ss:

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Since the map is so small, sieges pop up right next to you, so with proper planning you can... well, make a huge mess, I decided to just leave it rather than cleaning it all up, started stacking body parts in the open space between the weapon traps. Last couple of sieges even seemed a little leery of just rushing straight up a staircase caked in goblin blood to jump facefirst into a bunch of gigantic sawblades covered with more goblin blood, though I doubt the sight of all the goblin chunks piled up next to them mattered really, but hey, it's fun, right?

[Grif]

Hmmm, looks like Grif is a no-show?

I'll get started on a turn then, since I've got my nanofort at a good spot atm. Try it out! Hit embark-tools nano enable I think with dfhack, let's you embark on a 1x1 site, which is an interesting experiment in space management, the whole map is about as large as the living area in the top of the ss:

Spoiler

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Since the map is so small, sieges pop up right next to you, so with proper planning you can... well, make a huge mess, I decided to just leave it rather than cleaning it all up, started stacking body parts in the open space between the weapon traps. Last couple of sieges even seemed a little leery of just rushing straight up a staircase caked in goblin blood to jump facefirst into a bunch of gigantic sawblades covered with more goblin blood, though I doubt the sight of all the goblin chunks piled up next to them mattered really, but hey, it's fun, right?

Sorry, looks like I can't squeeze in time after all. Go ahead and take a turn. Hopefully next week would be better.

[Luzahn]

Keep in mind that .11 is out now, so we might want to switch to that.

One thing that's still really bugging me is the new plant system. I'd really like to be growing the new crops, but as far as I can tell they're still effectively disabled.

...I've also acquired banana seeds. Not quite sure how that works. An orchard building wasn't implemented at some point, was it?

[Max™]

By the molten blood of Armok this place is a mess, and they expect me to whip it back into shape?

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the designation of living quarters, stockpiles, hallways, or workshops, and there seems to be the strangest sort of catsplosion I've ever seen in one great big cage near the forges... which upon further inspection seems to be a Well? Half the population crammed into a 25 square urist area? Absurd. Though I've always wanted to know if you can build a well on top of a well, but unfortunately excavation was interrupted by a breathless scout telling me goblins were sighted two ridges away and en route. I recall an early survey finding an aquifer a couple of z above the farm level so I requested someone direct me to the manager so I can get pipe and corkscrew production moving while we excavate a suitable tunnel and expose it to the frigid air on this bloodforsaken hunk of ice.

...apparently there is no manager though, so, needs must, I'll have to take over, though I have a feeling it's going to be like trying to wrangle cats.

Right, so far so good, Operation GOBLIN SNOWCONE didn't work as intended... had to resort to drowning them due to a glitch in how I dug out the chamber, but trying to get it working right ended up as a megaproject itself so I'm just going to go ahead and make use of it as is and repurpose it into something else. Operation BROILED SHISH-KE-GOB is much more consistent, but it seemed like a waste to do the same thing you can do anywhere with easy access to LIQUID FUN.

Spoiler

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Fixed the depot situation and tweaked the wagon route, added a general pile which feeds into hauling routes that distribute the stuff accordingly below.


The well was just packed with people, getting injuries and stuff around it, so I thought for a bit and decided to go upwards.

Then I decided to do it again, and again, and capped it off with my office/bedroom/tomb.

Here is the new and improved and ready to use frosty machine, pump water into the space behind the bridge, let the gobs filter in by luring them with passable doors before forbidding them again, get them trapped in there and pull up the bridges around them then dump the water in and it should freeze instantly.


The staircase goes up towards this:

The bridge there can be raised, but it has to be down for wagon access, with it up the only choice enemies have is to try to climb smoothed walls with fortifications and crossbow squads training there (those are two target ranges on either side, why not?) and if they choose to take the easier route?

COME ON IN GUYS, WE DON'T HAVE MANY REFRESHMENTS, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT'S KINDA LIKE A REFRESHING DRINK?

THAT'S RIGHT, A BALLISTA!

So if they make it through all that, they get to take the executive staircase into the GOBLIN SNOWCONE machine.


Oh, and to pick off stragglers hanging in annoying spots, a catapult sealed from outsiders, accessible from the staircase near the forges.

Uh, I think iyaerP dehydrated to death but I couldn't find them anywhere, no clue what happened there. I got some kitchens and butcher shops set up as well to trim out the pet population, and I got the crap the worthless nobles need to stay happy, but they can shove their mandates unless they accidentally get completed.

[Grif]

Keep in mind that .11 is out now, so we might want to switch to that.

One thing that's still really bugging me is the new plant system. I'd really like to be growing the new crops, but as far as I can tell they're still effectively disabled.

...I've also acquired banana seeds. Not quite sure how that works. An orchard building wasn't implemented at some point, was it?

You can just build a greenhouse made of glass if you want.

[Max™]

Oh yeah, late autumn atm, I'll post the save once I get through the winter.

Changed my title/name to "maxtm, Cat Wrangler" and I'll try to find appropriate replacements for iyaerP and apparently Celesyne? What the hell, they weren't injured, weren't in the hospital, weren't in the rooms assigned to them, weren't above ground, weren't one of the miners lost when I learned that excavating the boundary between a rock layer and ice layer when both are "indoors/dark/subterranean" you have a great chance of the ice collapsing into a heap of water.

If said heap of water pushes someone into the wrong square you get a block of ice and a week later a message about a missing dorf. >.<

Oh, and this happened a couple times:


I don't even know what to make of that, it melted when I checked back on it, was gonna sell it to a caravan as it was worth like three dorfbucks for some reason?

[Gnoman]

Oh yeah, late autumn atm, I'll post the save once I get through the winter.

Because of version changes, this particular fort's turn cycle is mid-summer to mid-summer instead of spring-to-spring, isn't it?

[Max™]

I'm not sure, haven't gone through a winter yet as I sit and rather obsessively plan everything out before even unpausing, which leads to occasional issues like trying to get the "outdoors/light" square on the right spot for the ice cream machine, which can't really be predicted cleanly due to mass channeling designations being fatal for someone inevitably.

Had a dwarf who made me guffaw loudly enough to startle the cat and woman.

O is open space
# is ground tile

I asked them to channel off the jutting out section, starting with this tile -
---v
O # # O
O O # O
# # # #

So you think he would stand on the tile to the right of it and do it, yes?

Nope, he stands on the OPEN SPACE BESIDE IT, CHANNELS THE SQUARE OUT, AND THEN HANGS THERE LIKE WILE E. COYOTE FOR A SECOND... KABOOSH!

>.<

Was only a 1 z drop and he wasn't even stunned, but still, holy crap, bad enough you gotta go and hang in midair while mining, but forgetting to fall until you remove the square next to the open space you're hovering above?


Oh, I figured out why I kept having random people show up dead... we had a captain of the guard for some reason, so I assume he has been beating mandate breakers to death and or jailing them. >.>

Didn't catch it because I saw it and read it as "the top non-noble dorf is always the militia commander, herpderp, so I totally don't gotta worry about him hammering anyone to death"... whoops.


Edit: yes, it's hematite to hematite, good to know.

[iyaerP]

Well, iyaerP Should be militia commander. Except I am apparently dead. Which is troubling, because celesyne was the other military starting dwarf, and if both of us died, it seems like we might have an infiltrator in our military. Or just a skeletal polar bear or something.

[Max™]

No, I double checked that there were no corpses, blood spatter, combat logs, they were both apparently locked up or something and left there until they dehydrated and died, last I saw them they were both training and chilling in the barracks, nothing wrong, then the message pops up that they, and a couple of random people like a farmer and some fishery worker were found dead in the same condition.

I'll go over the combat logs when I get done with the lawn later, but note that the status screen has over 1k booze, we've got three active wells, one of which is hospital adjacent (though I think I'll relocate the hospital to the bottom well as it is the right size and it will encourage people going up to hang out to walk past anyone recuperating and feed/water them) and the biggest thing is that I could not find them anywhere. Not in a bed, not in a room, not trapped above ground, do we have a oubliette I don't know about?

[Max™]

HOLY GODS THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER DONE IN THIS GAME BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHALKJSLKDJFL:KJSDF

*breathes*

Ok so, a huge swarm of goblins show up, with trolls in tow, so I'm like ok, I can handle this, they'll screw up my door lures, but I built backup bridges just in case anyways. a couple of them wouldn't play right so I bridge smashed them, the rest went back up top to the ballista battery.

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The results were as expected, had to deal with people running, but I just enabled siege operator on EVERYONE and went from there.

So then the gobs got smart and tried to go downstairs, I activated the side bridges too early and smashed a couple, spooking them back upstairs for another round of ballista fun, the survivors were lurking around outside as I took potshots with the catapult right?

THEN A GIANT EYELESS PIG HILL TITAN SHOWS UP AND STARTS KILLING THEM FOR ME!

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Hey man, thanks a lot, hope you don't mind if I keep lobbing rocks at you, nothing personal, but the enemy of my enemy is still a gigantic web spitting pigmonster that will kill me without hesitation... no lucky shots on the pig that I can tell, but I think I smeared a couple gobs, so hey, bonus.

Then, I notice some gobs were heading in to the GOBLIN SNOWCONE machine... and what is hot on their tail?

THAT'S RIGHT, SPIDERPIG!

I waited, going forward one step at a time, tapping period until... everything... was... just.... RIGHT!

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SIEGE BROKEN, BAHAHAHAHA, UP YOURS GOBLINS AND TROLLS AND UH.... PIG MONSTER? ANYWAY, BOOYAH!


Oh, dug them out, gotta think of something appropriate to do with the corpses.

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Our silk crafter is going nuts cranking out "Masterpiece Namash Skunkmorning The Oceanic Coast's hill titan silk cloth" incidentally.

If it wasn't for the goblin siege and the fact that he wandered into the snowcone machine I may have tried to capture it for farming silk, but yeah... SNOWCONE MACHINE FOR THE WIN!

That's all hill titan blood down the entrance tunnel, btw, tough he may have been, but enough gobs and trolls and possible stray catapult stones will put a hurting on ya. I know he took a break to kick the hell out of some reindeer and badgers, then went back to goblinstomping. :D

Again, I'm like jumpy and pumped over a damn game about dorfs and goblins, bwahahahaha.

[Gnoman]

I'm not sure, haven't gone through a winter yet as I sit and rather obsessively plan everything out before even unpausing, which leads to occasional issues like trying to get the "outdoors/light" square on the right spot for the ice cream machine, which can't really be predicted cleanly due to mass channeling designations being fatal for someone inevitably.

Had a dwarf who made me guffaw loudly enough to startle the cat and woman.

O is open space
# is ground tile

I asked them to channel off the jutting out section, starting with this tile -
---v
O # # O
O O # O
# # # #

So you think he would stand on the tile to the right of it and do it, yes?

Nope, he stands on the OPEN SPACE BESIDE IT, CHANNELS THE SQUARE OUT, AND THEN HANGS THERE LIKE WILE E. COYOTE FOR A SECOND... KABOOSH!

>.<

Was only a 1 z drop and he wasn't even stunned, but still, holy crap, bad enough you gotta go and hang in midair while mining, but forgetting to fall until you remove the square next to the open space you're hovering above?


Oh, I figured out why I kept having random people show up dead... we had a captain of the guard for some reason, so I assume he has been beating mandate breakers to death and or jailing them. >.>

Didn't catch it because I saw it and read it as "the top non-noble dorf is always the militia commander, herpderp, so I totally don't gotta worry about him hammering anyone to death"... whoops.


Edit: yes, it's hematite to hematite, good to know.

Use ramps from below instead of channels from above. Same effect, but safer.

[Max™]

The square below had already been dug out unfortunately.

Also, apparently nobles are able to ASSIGN positions like captain of the guard? I'm gonna have to assign one and give him like a crappy wood hammer or something because they keep killing people.

[Max™]

Ok, Luzhan, iyaerP, and Celesyne have been redorfed and I restructured the military so I can keep track of them better and make sure they don't get hammered for me not making a freaking slade ring or whatever the hell the nobles wastes of space and booze want.

I'll update later with screenies of the dorfs, but I'll note that we had an awesome mood and I happened to catch it in time to see that they had a thing for war hammers, so I forbid everything but gold bars.

The only worthwhile statted female was a hammerdorf, so I bestow this upon Celesyne as an apology for not figuring out why you were being killed:

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Hopefully it ends up caked with lots of shmutz and goblin juices. :D

[Wookieetank]

I don't believe I've ever seen something menace with spikes of cat leather before. I'm greatly amused that it has an image of itself, on itself. Keep up the fine work there Dorf Max^TM!

[Luzahn]

But...the last thing I had done with the save was make Luzahn the Captain of the Guard. How did I get all murdered?

And it looks like what happened could indeed be a bug.

"09/07/2014 Toady One Mostly to do with prisoner trouble today. Made caged/chained people request water/food with proper frequency"

[Max™]

I knew I wasn't insane. Though there was something else I thought might be related, they were sparring in armor with no helmets?

I went into their inventory and made them dump their shoes and caps and left them forbidden until they equipped helmets and boots properly.