DF: Palelabor 56k (Go Away- Restarted Game, New Thread!)

[Ford Prefect]

For the glory of our settlement, I will not cease in my masonry, lest foul goblinoids pierce our gates.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Seeing as my last name is "Fischer" Being a Fisher in the settlement seems fitting, especially since I doubt the job of "Dwarlf Graphic Artist" dos not yet exist.

[Duckie]

Seeing as my last name is "Fischer" Being a Fisher in the settlement seems fitting, especially since I doubt the job of "Dwarlf Graphic Artist" dos not yet exist.

Engraver.

[The Vortex Empire]

So I'm a Peasant that was recruited into the military, eh? Could I get a promotion to Soldier, because as a Peasant, I'm doomed to use as cannon fodder.

[Duckie]

So I'm a Peasant that was recruited into the military, eh? Could I get a promotion to Soldier, because as a Peasant, I'm doomed to use as cannon fodder.

Soldier is a title that will only be granted to useful soldiers (lower case s). For now, that's Eris. Once any dwarf gains a military rank by achieving basic or better skill in Wrestling, Armor Wearing, and/or a weapon, I'll consider it.

[Kuja]

Does my combi-drill count? >.>

[Cincinnatus]

Man, I'm going to craft the shit out of some bone.

Also, I hope I don't get killed by Goblins. That would suck.

[Crossroads Inc.]

As an Aside... how can WE get and play this game?

[Stark]

Try googling 'dwarf fortress', maybe? Jesus, I downloaded it as soon as I noticed these threads. The game is ... very ambitious, and very cool. Hopefully the adventure mode will get more dev time sometime soon, though.

PS, it has utterly useless documentation, so make sure you read it all but be prepared to have to work heaps of the game out the hard way.

[Crossroads Inc.]

And if we are running a Macintosh and not a PC?

[Stark]

Dude, it's ascii. Surely you've got some kind of windows emulation stuff? It's not very demanding resource-wise, so anything that runs office etc should work.

No, I don't know anything about windows emulation on mac. Sorry.

[Covenant]

How is my road coming along? My Masonic group and I have some funny rituals to do in case we're finished and have nothing else to do.

[GuppyShark]

"GuppyShark" Fokerdodok carefully grubbed around in the cave dirt. The fungus here were growing strong, but they needed more water.

He hefted his farming tools and set off for the control room. As he walked, he passed a newcomer to Palelabor. The new arrival was grumbling under his breath about his lot in life.

Fokerdodok chuckled deeply to himself and pulled at his beard thoughtfully. It wasn't the first time he'd heard it and it probably wouldn't be the last. Well, what did they think? Life on the frontier was hard and uncompromising, not glamourous and exciting. They were always welcome to go back home if they didn't have the stone to continue.

He would be glad when the Sherrif arrived. Maybe then these beardless younglings would learn to shoulder their burdens and find joy in a job well done... or find themselves in deep water.

[Duckie]

Dude, it's ascii. Surely you've got some kind of windows emulation stuff? It's not very demanding resource-wise, so anything that runs office etc should work.

No, I don't know anything about windows emulation on mac. Sorry.

Make sure you google "Dwarf Fortress Wiki", too, otherwise you're screwed. I couldn't even figure out how to dig into the mountain without it. (Edit- hay guys did i mention this is my second game ever and my first dwarfs all starved to death?)

And Covenant, the road is finished. The current Secret and Illuminated Order of Masonic Dwarfs project is smoothing out the fortress and perhaps engraving carvings on the Hall. You and your comrades will also be building doors and coffers (not coffins... I hope) for our new worthless newbies.

I expect a Goblin Siege sometime within the next few years. Food situation is currently unknown due to the chaotic nature of the kitchen and supplies, but I will investigate. Odds are we'll barely pull through the winter but will still manage. Booze supplies are chronically short but getting better.

Current settlement goals-
[_] Create Nobility Quarters
[_] Regain Metalsmithing Capacity
[_] Reach Second Digging Milestone
[_] Repulse Invaders
[_] Organize (Cage or Butcher) all (non-pet) stray animals to reduce traffic congestion.
[_] Establish forest of towercap mushrooms underground opposite the farms, across the river, so as to reduce dependancy on outside sources of wood (trees).
[_] [HARD] Potentially, withdraw across river and turn forward base into huge fortification/trap, if possible. If not, withdraw as much industry and carve new bedrooms over the river for security?
[_] [HARD] Build magma channel doomsday device
[_] [HARD] Reach 100 dwarfs and as many Nobles as possible.
[_] [INSANE] Kill the Goblin King of whatever the hell the local tribe calls themselves
[_] [INSANE] Defeat all the [CENSORED]s in the [CENSORED] of the mountain

Nobility will not be random newbies despite arriving in immigration waves, by the way, with the exception of Wong and perhaps a few other famous members of our "SDN Royalty" when their job fits in a good manner (Publius as Philosopher and MkSheppard as Captain of the Guard or something, for instance?). Instead, worthy SDN Patricians or extra-worthy Plebians of any non-current wave will find themselves promoted for outstanding duty, and their job replaced with a hired migrant (AKA, I custom name the Noble a duplicate of their name and then rename their former body into a new guy).

However, with the Fortress going to exceed two score dwarfs next time any immigrants arrive, I may run out of people volunteering. Suggestions from loyal Palelaborians? Should I draft people who are famous on SDN who haven't volunteered, as I have with Wong? (Key Rule: Dead cannot be recycled. Yes, I know that'll suck if you die, but at least you get to see yourself fall in heroic combat. During sieges I plan to slow the timescale significantly so we can see each blow in exciting narrative. BUT OH NO IF YOU DIE IN THE GAME YOU DIE IN REAL LIFE OH SHI)

[Ford Prefect]

[_] [HARD] Potentially, withdraw across river and turn forward base into huge fortification/trap, if possible. If not, withdraw as much industry and carve new bedrooms over the river for security?

I like this plan. Moving as much essential industry across the river is a good plan. It's a lot of work though, but we Masons will be up to the task.

[_] [HARD] Build magma channel doomsday device

This is perfectly dwarfy.

[Crossroads Inc.]

I approve of the future goals... But more planning is needed!

Is it wise to build outside of the main cave? Is it possible to greatly expand the interiors wiht areas for farming food? I would imagine the less you have outside, and open to attack, the better.

I would imagine as long as you can hold up inside your fortress, you can simply outlast oncoming sieges...

HUZZAH for the Turtle Strategy!

[Duckie]

[_] [HARD] Potentially, withdraw across river and turn forward base into huge fortification/trap, if possible. If not, withdraw as much industry and carve new bedrooms over the river for security?

I like this plan. Moving as much essential industry across the river is a good plan. It's a lot of work though, but we Masons will be up to the task.

I like comments on my plans. I will tend to, out of laziness, report major things before I actually do them. Let little dwarfs who avidly check this thread rejoice, for now any dwarven citizen of any class may propose and discuss goals and idea for our fortress.

For instance, turning the front, via strategically placed obstacles, into a winding maze with arrow slits all along it for our marksdwarfs to fire upon enemies. The downside is that to get outside we have to get through the maze too.

4-dwarf military or 8-dwarf military? I intend to keep 4 man fire teams as the basis of our organization. However, is the loss of productivity in hauling worth training 3 peasants and mechanics and jewelers swordsdwarfs under Eris? Should they be demobilized for 50% of the time to contribute? Eris might accidentally cripple one in sparring. She has a steel sword and we have wooden hilts with Obsidian blades, which, while not as durable, are as sharp. Which needless to say against silk or cloth clothes and scraps of leather armour is rather bad. 4 dwarves will make 10% of the society soldiers, for an approximate number. 10% of the Fortress is a good number, in my opinion, but perhaps in this case absolute numbers trumps percentage due to the low number of dwarves.

Also, what should be our primary objective in forging? Once we regain an anvil and can forge, bear in mind without careful mushroom forest harvesting we have a very limited wood supply once every tree is cut down in the area. Even with, our wood takes years to grow and comes in limited numbers.
Options:
[_] Coins- will start our economy (we currently are an anarchocommunist commune where everyone does work for no reason. Coins will enable payment, at least in theoretical money, boosting efficiency. Downside? They take a lot of effort to mint. We might potentially need a forge with a metalsmith like Pick chained to it making coins on the dwarven equivalent of 80-hour work weeks to keep currency circulation in proper quantities). Note that Nobles will eventually require us to utilize money, but actually doing so rather than having a "Gold Standard" imaginary credit with only minor backing would be better.
[_] Military Supplies (Weapons, Armour, Ammo, etc.)- good for defense, also for trade. downside- expensive to make, as metal takes charcoal which takes wood, and metal must be forged into bars which must then be forged into weapons (or worse, most good armours like chain takes multiple bars). Also, we are only capable of making Tin, Copper, Silver and Bronze right now which limits our weapons' usefulness.
[_] Craft Goods- very good for giving to caravans. downside- useless, potentially wasteful of metal.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Is there a way to set up external Settlement? Such as perhaps a logging camp far away? Or exploration groups? I am also curious if there is a larger map of the land around the Fortress, but not as large as the "Full" mega map.

For troops, I think, untill the Fortress is truelly attacked, and we know what we are up against... 10% seems a good starting point for troop numbers.

[Ford Prefect]

For instance, turning the front, via strategically placed obstacles, into a winding maze with arrow slits all along it for our marksdwarfs to fire upon enemies. The downside is that to get outside we have to get through the maze too.

Well, we could always lots more doors. Presumably our front door is a true work from the mason's heart, but what an extra nine doors? And walls to go with them. Worse comes to worse, we can pull back behind each door in turn, firing upon our enemies through arrow-slits, thinning their numbers.

Each level of defense they take would be paid in blood. Hopefully.

4-dwarf military or 8-dwarf military?

The loss of four useful labourers could be dangerous, as could accidents in training. However, should we come under siege, having those extra four trained dwarves would be comforting, and allow us to absorb losses better. However, equipping an extra fire team could be arduous, especially when it comes to metal.

[_] Coins
[_] Military Supplies
[_] Craft Goods

Of the three choices here, I'm not sure craft goods would be the best, at least eventually. Conversely, coins sound really intensive, though very useful. At the moment, we have poor metal for weapons, but its better than using fishbones. For the moment, I suggest weapons and armour, simply because there's an end in sight - with only four to eight dwarves to equip.

[Duckie]

Edit- Double Post Mod Please Delete?

[Duckie]

Is there a way to set up external Settlement? Such as perhaps a logging camp far away? Or exploration groups? I am also curious if there is a larger map of the land around the Fortress, but not as large as the "Full" mega map.

For troops, I think, untill the Fortress is truelly attacked, and we know what we are up against... 10% seems a good starting point for troop numbers.

Alas, while the creator of this game would like to add stuff like that in (a hybrid Adventure/Fortress mode "Civ Mode" or similar), in the current release (Alpha 0.23.130.23a) it is low on the lists of priorities compared to bugfixes and other smaller marginal improvements (such as actual fluid dynamics for flooding/lava, armour stands and weapon racks working right, animals needing physical proximity to mate (currently a male and female can mate from across the fortress in cages!) and more complexity, usefulness, and importance for nobles.)

However, you'll note of the next 3 major (0.24, 0.25, 0.26, presumably) updates that one of them mentions that when you have a Baron you will become a civilization of your own right (presumably starting as a vassal/ally to your mother country by default) and have the ability to send out military patrols across the map. Another planned update mentions concretizing the "Mechanics of starting and ending wars", another hint at the future Mid-Level Mode.

To achieve these goals, a few new items are up on dev: Core44, Core45, Core46 and Core47. Core44 and Core47, overland migrants and cleaning of worthless historical figures, are required to keep the world alive when wars start decreasing populations. Core45 and Core46 are the actual mechanics of starting wars, raising armies and attacking other armies and towns. The dwarf mode part was already established in Core26 (now narrowed) and Core27. The bulk of information formerly in Core26 is present in the Army Arc and will be re-Core'd as new goals come up.

Since the ability to send out patrols is linked to the Baron, I'll add an option to keep the economy off so you don't have to worry about the current issues that arise when you get the Bookkeeper. Sending out patrols sooner might be considered when it would matter. Right now the primary reason to send out armies would be to halt invasions from kobolds and goblins (or to attack the elves), which you won't be worrying about or accomplishing until you have more dwarves. Because the armies used to attack you would actually be raised from the populations of the attacking civilizations (Core26), your attacks will have tangible effects on invasions (not that you need to worry if you are just crushing them with a drawbridge, but that's a side issue). Whether or not the current pace of the game is maintained depends on the effectiveness of repopulation efforts (Core44) -- these are adjustable so any problems can be corrected.

Now, if you've been keeping track of the "Future of the Fortress" thread, you'll know that there's a lot of groundwork that needs to be laid down before armies are possible. Mostly, this concerns changes with how the map is stored. Before armies move around, it's important to make sure that all maps are in something closer to their final forms. This has involved adding seamless map transitions (e.g. being able to walk across the world in adventure mode without going to the separate travel mode) and also adding a third dimension to dwarf mode. This in turn led to the need to update mountain features such as the cave river, including support for 3D flows. This work has slowed the usual release cycle considerably.

So perhaps in a year or two a primitive version of what you want will exist. For now, we'll have to be content defending the mountainhomes.

[Cincinnatus]

Would it be economical for us to set up lots of traps, or a moat? Would they be enough to allow us to stick with a four-dwarf army?

Also, do nobles provide any benefits? It seems like they just take up more resources and don't do any work. Is there anyway to discourage them from coming? What would be the downside of allowing them to "accidentally" drown in the river?

I hope asking this doesn't get my Dwarf investigated for communist sympathies.

[Covenant]

Would it be economical for us to set up lots of traps, or a moat? Would they be enough to allow us to stick with a four-dwarf army?

Also, do nobles provide any benefits? It seems like they just take up more resources and don't do any work. Is there anyway to discourage them from coming? What would be the downside of allowing them to "accidentally" drown in the river?

I hope asking this doesn't get my Dwarf investigated for communist sympathies.

A few of them are useful, and if you kill them, they just show up next year sometimes with more retinue. It's not useful.

An idea from Evil Genius: could we build a ton of entrances that lead nowhere to confuse the goblins? Lots of doors for them to open and things to investigate, locks to pick, etc... but nothing of interest or value? Theoretically, if they spend so much of their time looking for our real entance, the ones that survive the traps in the dummy entrances will be weakened enough to fall quickly if they do eventually find the right door.

We could also combine several of these trap zones with magma channels so that when these enterprising goblins eventually reach the end of the dummy corridor, they find out that the stone doors behind them concel a prize of liquid stone. I don't know much about the AI in DF's goblins, but I do know that even in modern games, computers are generally dumb enough to split their forces among several of the wrong doors, sneak through them hoping for interesting things, and generally get killed off long before they reach anywhere of importance.

[Stark]

I think coins are an important aspect of growth - not just for trade, but for professions etc. If the alternative is overproducing chairs or something, I say go with coins that are basically guarranteed to be useful.

Also, given the buffing qualities of booze, we seriously need some brewing going on. I'm not sure what the best base for alcohol is, though. Is there a problem with using some farmers to grow a 'cash crop' just for brewing? I'm not 100% up to speed on the food situation.

[Starglider]

Skills don't degrade if they're not used do they? Wouldn't it make sense to have two to four permanent soldiers and then rotate the peasants through weapons training in groups of two, so that if there is an invasion you have plenty of minimally-trained defenders?