Dwarf Fortress: the Noobening.

[Rasix]

This is my not my first fortress, but it's still my first week playing the game and I'm learning (the hardway in some instances) on how to make things work. 

Unfortunately, I only started chronicling this intrepid expedition after my first migrant wave, which boosted my population from 7 to 28.  So, let's introduce you to the fortress.



We're not doing bad. Not much weapons or armor yet. Not much variety in diet, but we're getting along just fine.   To be honest, not a lot happened early on except some dumb engineering failures which produced a muddy cistern and a dry lake.



Entrance.  Notice the poor defenses.  Also the only underground farmable area.  It works, but it took me a little time to figure out how to dig/build upwards.



Social area.  Just a barracks, office, meeting hall and some food stocks.



Crafting area.  Wood stocks, workshops, and some other stock piles.  I've built these north of the baracks and other social areas, so according to my limited knowledge, the noise shouldn't be much of an issue.



I've pretty much ripped off Bhodi bedroom pods.  They seem to work out fairly well.  This is about 7 z levels below the workshops.  Office/future bedrooms will be built above and below.  This leaves a lot of room inbetween for prisons and other flights of fancy.


As you can see, the uhh, digging and construction wasn't the cleanest.  The concept is simple but flawed.  Dig out tunnels.  Set up a series of two flood gates.  Tap lake and watch it drain into your cistern, while protecting your fortress from flooding by flipping a switch.  One major snag, however, the cistern was bigger than the lake.


One major snag, however, the cistern was bigger than the lake.  So I ended up with a muddy cistern.  Yah, I could have tapped a bigger source of water I think.



So, I find the river on my map, and dig into that.  Here you can see it going into the cistern.  You can also see my second facepalm moment.  I have it draining in at the bottom level of the cistern.  Ohh well, bottom level of that cistern filled and refilled constant should give me all of the water I'll need.  Dwarves perfer booze anyhow.  Setting up another floodgate and a pump would be more hassle than it's worth.  Functional and stupid is something I can live with.

Ok, I have the screens for the first major happenings in the fortress and that will be put up later this weekend. Possibly after I get back from the bank.

[Rasix]

Episode 1:  Samwise does something very bad. 

In this episide we have successes in the military combined with some triumph and tragedy in the high stakes world of dwarven crafting.

First off, Haemish gets epic:



Great work, Haem.  Ususually when this happens I start queueing up a coffin because the loopy dwarf is going to request something I don't have, go insane/depressed and stop drinking.   Still, a door?  Well, at least you're not a corpse.

As you can see, while Haemish was rocking the carpentry, I get my first goblin attack.



Now, I dispatched my crack wrestler team of Paelos, Righ and Big Gulp.  The goblin is deceased, but I didn't see my troops get him and I can't find the body.



Hoho.  Looks like my defenses weren't that bad.  Stone trap flattened him and his body was already hauled off to the trash heap.

Still, this inspired me to build something a bit more defensible where enemies wouldn't be coming at me from different z levels so close to my base.



Ahh, much better.  Carved out some of the mountain so the approach to my entrance is flat.  At the outter walls is a set of cage traps.  These will get plenty of use.

When construction finished, some new friends arrived.. and another attacker.



In the picture of the new defenses, you might have noticed that one of the traps was sprung. 



Welcome to your new home, assneck.

Meanwhile, the millitary does some training and everyone gets tougher.



Now, pretty much all hell breaks lose.  What happens next changes the face of the fortress..



Ohh shit.  And as you can see at the same time, the goblins are on the attack.  Better queue up some coffins.



Wow.  Goblins got their asses kicked in short order and another cage trap is sprung.  The flurry of dwarven activity consists of stripping their corpses bare. 

Now, back to our insane friend.



Ohh crap.  He wants bone, metal and gems.  I sold all of our gems at my last trading activity. So while I furiously dig looking for some gems, I queue up a coffin.



This isn't good.  This really isn't good. I don't like the sound of berzerk.  WATCH OUT, TRIPPY.



Oh, goddamnit. SOMEONE KILL HIM.  I scramble the military and queue a coffin. .  (I should have plenty by now).



He doesn't even die as Samwise.  Jerk. Trippy deserved better than to die at the hands of his insane fellow crafter.




The next thing on my plate will be putting this entire incident out of the minds of the dwarves. First of all, Lantyssa is promoted to sheriff and a prison is built. We need someone to kick ass and keep them all in line.  The dwarves do need a pick me up, however. Something to cheer them up and perhaps at the same time entertain them..



In those cages are our previously mentioned captured goblins.  In two of the adjoining cages are a cougar and brown bear.   



 

[Samwise]

 

[Trippy]

ZOMG am I still alive?

[Rasix]

ZOMG am I still alive?

Second to last image. Sam and you are buried next to each other.   He hit you so hard there were dwarf chunks on the stairwell.  They caused a really bad miasma.  For some reason the last thing dwarves want to dump is chunks of humanoids.

[Trippy]

[Samwise]

I repeat:   

[Lantyssa]

Oh yeah, it is ON.  Respect Mah Authoritah!

[Xerapis]

YAY!!!  I got my dwarf-fix 

Gratz on the promo Lantyssa.

For the rest of you....~fetches bagpipes and the sheet music for "amazing grace"~

[Rasix]

You might not be so happy when you see the next update. 

[Rasix]

Ep2:  A Goblin Assault


First thing first, the fortress has expanded to 50+ and things are looking well.  Glass making had just started.  Metalworking was in full production producing cages, chains and iron armor.  The backbone of the economy continued to be the tireless efforts of my crafting slaves. 




I haven't the slightest clue what to do with a fortress guard. All I know is that Lantyssa began exploiting her power in a variety of ways.





To be fair, the zoo has become the new party place. Everyone wants to get down with the cougar.  The children, when I'm not having them man the furnaces, spend a lot of time around the animals.

I'm not sure what Frogurt did, but he wasn't happy.  At least I placed some booze next to him and gave him a bed to sleep in.  Although he kept wanting to spar really bad and his efforts caused him to forgo a lot of sleep in the vain hope that someone would come into the jail and punch him.

Of course, before the animals were placed in the zoo, they served another purpose.  Punishing the captured goblins.  Now, this may seem a little Roman or even a bit like Saw, but I felt feeding them to the cougar and bear would be an efficient and entertaining way to off them.



The design is quite simple.  One lever controls a floodgate. When that is activated, there is no escape from the room.  Another level releases the cages.  Goblin in placed in the middle.



The end result is predictable.  Goblin gets killed.  This took several minutes, the bear and cougar must have been sleeping or something.  The cougar never moved and then the bear just wandered up there and one shotted the sucker.  Two more goblins to deal with.



I decided to eliminate the dramatic "wait for the bear to see the goblin" element and just placed the bear/cougar in close.[/img]



It wasn't a bad fight.  I really needed to disarm them, but the description of how to do this is retardedly tedious.  The last goblin got some good shots in on the cougar, but he was kibble all the same.   This will likely be my last goblin v. beast execution.  Setting up the triggered cages is a pain because you have to completely reset them after they are triggered.  Maybe I'll just build an execution shaft or a tower and heave the bastards off it.  Same effect really, one feels a bit more Mayan.



Dwarves seem pretty happy to just let them rot. 

Now, during this time some other things occurred.



I was voted out as mayor. Jerks.  I had to give up my posh living quarters and dining room.



Fordel managed to not die/kill anyone while crafting an artifact.



And the goblins increased the ferocity and frequency of their attacks.  In this particular situation they managed to kill of the entire dwarven caravan except for the diplomat. 



New migrants trickled in and the population hit 60.

So, I decided to begin construction of a tower/ziggurat at the entrance to my base.  In retrospection I could have handled this differently. 

a)  I should have built some temporary walls to slow down any advance. 

b)  I shouldn't have picked a material far away.  What I didn't know is what direction my dumbass masons would gather it from, which turned out to be tragic.



Bottom level walls to support the floor.



Starting contruction on the next level.

Now, during the construction, those bastard goblins come charging in.



Now what I realized too late was that my masons were somehow gathering the stone from up north east.  How or why, I don't know.  It turned out to be rather deadly for Xerapis.





Probably not the best time or place to rest, ya dumb dwarf.

My hunter, Elbow picks probably the worst time to get nutty.





The fierce battle went on for some time.  There were maybe 2 to 3 squads of goblins supported by humans (figures).



In the end, my band of wrestlers were triumphant.  On a side note, why do they all turn out to be wrestlers, even when I assign them weapons?





Three more goblins were captured.  They will wish they were not.

[Xerapis]

Oh, the Dwarfanity! 

Also....mason?  Really? That's the gayest job they have? No bards or jesters or anything?

~sigh~

[Rasix]

It was very important work!!! .. until I found out you can't build walls on top of floors.    

[Lantyssa]

I like partying with the cougar, huh? 

[Ard]

In the end, my band of wrestlers were triumphant.  On a side note, why do they all turn out to be wrestlers, even when I assign them weapons?

Do you actually have dwarf sized weapons they can use?  If there are no weapons available, they revert to dwarven kung fu.  The only normal weapons people usually start with are battle axes for chopping lumber, and maybe the odd crossbow if you started with a hunter.  Pick Axes don't count as any weapon type, as far as I remember,  and Large and Small weapons aren't usable by dorfs.

[Hoax]

As always games are more fun when you get to rename the characters, same was true of final fantasy, which is why the NES version was the best.

[Ironwood]

Oh, the Dwarfanity! 

Also....mason?  Really? That's the gayest job they have? No bards or jesters or anything?

~sigh~

At least you're in there.

 

[Rasix]

You're a miner.  You worked your way up from an unused siege operator to do some masonry and mining, but you eventually became a miner.   Would you like to join the army?  I don't know if  your husband Arnold would approve.

[Slayerik]

Make me something, ole pal!

[UnSub]

Make me something, ole pal!

I've already died in one DF; happy to die in another!

[Rasix]

Slay is in the fortress guard and Unsub's been in the military. I'll likely write something up this week/weekend.  I wouldn't say it's been eventful, but being a hunter/fisher has the lifespan of a banana in this fortress.   

Just some minor tragedies.  People shouldn't do their outdoor chores carrying their children.

Damn, looking at the military page.. Paelos' kills scroll off the screen.

[Ironwood]

You're a miner.  You worked your way up from an unused siege operator to do some masonry and mining, but you eventually became a miner.   Would you like to join the army?  I don't know if  your husband Arnold would approve.

Uh, no...no.  No, thank you.

I wouldn't want to do anything to piss off Arnold.

 

[Simond]

Dwarf me up, please.

[Rasix]

Episode 3: Worst. Seige. Evar.

Before we get to the goblins doing their best impression of Detroit Lions, some filler!

Most people warn of the inevitable catsplosion, where your fortress and framerate succumbs to feline breeding.  I had a horse of a different color.. or more specifically: donkeys.



So, we round them up into cages.  And begin "taking care of" the problem.  Mmmm..  fresh donkey.





Now, there's something I'm unsure of.  Do caged animals show who their owners are? Because I'm not sure if some dwarves were getting upset due to dwarven deaths or the fact that I was purging the donkey menace.  The donkeys I was killing showed their owners as "unavailable". 

Now, my dwarves don't fool around much.  Either that or they're just not interested in procreating.  Still, there were some notable births. 

Simond and Bloodworth welcome a new baby, who would lated be named RK47. 


Jonny Cee (sp) gave birth right before the goblin seige and was retired from the army.


During this time there were some sporadic goblin ambushes and few deaths resulted from this.


War is everywhere.  No action shot, I really had no clue where he got jacked.


Kildorn got thwacked in the head and later suffocated from his wound.


Mazakiel died during the same encounter.


Action shot of Faraday getting ambushed by a human.


But the worst of these was Bloodworth taking her new baby out to work. Notice the hero dwarf fleeing for his life in the first shot.







Luckily I got the coffins built before they rotted.

Siege write up to be added to this post.  Pop hits a high.  Annoying nobles arrive.  But first.. dinner.

[Trippy]

Might as well just rename me Cannon Fodder

[Rasix]

Might as well just rename me Cannon Fodder

Ohh, names in the deceased list cover the duration of the fortress.  Would you like to be reincarnated?  Fisherman, herbalists and rangers have a 90% casualty rate. 

And anyone that wants their name in, let me know what you want to do.  Most people that have asked were already in, just had boring jobs.  I have no control over who has something happen to them. 

[Rasix]

Episode 3 continued.

Before the siege, some random updates. 



Huey was elected mayor.  He was actually a child very early on in this fortress.  A look at his family tree reveals something interesting:



Notice the name on the mother.  Yep, that was Samwise (mad crafter and slayer of Trippy).  Guy's had a hard life but is nearly friends with everyone in the fortress. Huey's the only mayor so far to be reelected. 

Another crafter went berserk, but the military was able to suppress it with ease.



Now, on to the main event.

The defenses have been improved and that comes into play very quickly here.





The second picture shows one z-level up and this is where the goblins advance from.  There's a platform in the upper left with carved fortifications.  The land and all choke points are trapped (not excessively).

And now, the siege.. or whatever you want to call this failure.

The goblins bring a decent sized squad and set up north and a z-level or two above the fortress.



The army springs to readiness, daring the goblins to approach.



The goblins advance and draw heavy fire from Sjofn, Walter, Donnie, Fabricated and Ironwood (turns out you weren't hitched).


The never make it past the initial traps and hail of crossbows. 


The siege promptly ended right then and there.  There were no more waves.  My wrestling (with a smattering of hammer and axe dwarves) didn't even get into the fray.   

This prompted a new wave of migrants and an influx of pain in the ass nobles: the Hammerer, a baroness and her baron consort, and a fucking tax collector.





Names for said pains-in-the-ass have not been set yet.  Well, except my fruit dungeon master Jobu, who spends his days at the forge.

Here's a look at the now largish fortress. 



Here's a better look at the expanded military roster just in case anyone is curious.



Looks like some either gave Kildorn CPR, or I forgot he died and remade him.





(Royal guard and some fortress guard names available. Not much will happen in these positions.)

And there it ends for now.  The economy has started and almost everyone's too poor to own a room.  I suppose I'll have to reactivate my interior barracks just so my broke ass citizens can sleep somewhere without going outside.

[schild]

I'm a happy engraver formerly known as a miner.

[Strazos]

Did I die at some point?

[Rasix]

Did I die at some point?

A fey mood took you and you left behind whatever you were doing to pursue gem cutting.

[Ironwood]

What's a Hammerer ?

[Strazos]

Why, one who is skilled with Hammers, of course. 

I'm guessing a hammer-based guard.

[Murgos]

Why, one who is skilled with Hammers, of course. 

I'm guessing a hammer-based guard.

The Hammerer is the fortress executioner.  He uses a hammer, you see?

Stick me in there somewhere, Hammerer would be good.   

[Trippy]

Might as well just rename me Cannon Fodder

Ohh, names in the deceased list cover the duration of the fortress.  Would you like to be reincarnated?  Fisherman, herbalists and rangers have a 90% casualty rate. 

Sure, put me anywhere.

[Ard]

Now, there's something I'm unsure of.  Do caged animals show who their owners are? Because I'm not sure if some dwarves were getting upset due to dwarven deaths or the fact that I was purging the donkey menace.  The donkeys I was killing showed their owners as "unavailable". 

Unavailable means that they're set to not be adopted as pets by dwarves.  You can change that status on the same menu.  You however, can not do this for cats.  The cat menace needs to be put down as soon as they're born, lest more get adopted, since you can't butcher pets.