Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Topics - Salmeuk

Pages: [1] 2 3
1
this is place to post my storyjournals as I attempt to recreate a shinto style shrine in Dwarf Fortress, inspired by my recent trip to the Izumo shrine near Matsue.

===

day 1 vod here

goal: shrine to a god

important concepts:
 the god is attracted to and may live within the shrine
 the shrine is a place for people to visit with the god
 a certain object may attract the god, such as a large tree or rock formation, or the god may choose to reside in a constructed altar
 otherwise it is an exercise in reproduction of aesthetics since a lot of the above cannot be simulated in DF
 
 A group of dwarves embarks for a forested valley north of Takenhowls, the elven settlement. The valley is known as 'The Prairie of Grooves' and is surrounded by 'The Jungle of Dunes.'
 The land is untamed wilds and all civilizations have access.
 
 The group Nņmčrith, 'The Godly Labor', is led by Mūthkat Eshtānkobel, 'Smithsummits'
 -- a dwarf who greatly values decorum, dignity and proper behavior and does not care about fairness.
 The group symbol is known as 'The Windy Whispers', an image of a circle and a cloud. The circle is devouring the cloud.
 
 Joining Mūthkat are
 
  Ral Isakbomrek, 'Spatterwhip'
  Ducim Kadolmūthkat, 'Hatchetmansion'
  Kadol ļngizgim, 'Ceilingtwists'
  Urist Oslannebél,
'Windadmired'
  Goden Nåzodeduk,
'Dreamymanors'
  and
  Catten Medtobiseth,
'Blockadequests'

 Unfortunately, most of the supplies were lost en route to the shrine's location. Only a single barrel of 60 plump helmets remained, along with some basic tools, the pack animals, and three cats.
 
 The place would be later become known as Okun Kudar, 'The Shrine of Immortals'.
 
 ========================
 
 On the 15th of Granite, 83, the seven dwarves arrived at Okun Kudar, 'The Shrine of Immortals'.
 
 A giant snapping turtle was spotted in the northern stream.
 
 The dwarves picked this spot since they had seen a gigantic tree halfway up the southern hillside. A towering highwood, as wide as three horses in a line, and taller than the rest of the forest. This highwood would be preserved..
 
 The shrine complex would be located further down the hillside on a particularly flat piece of land that stretched out towards the stream. There, the forest was thin. A large oak tree stood out from the rest and would become the focal point from which the shrine is constructed.

 The local forests provided the following lumbers:
 
 Oak
 Highwood
 Alder
 Birch
 Willow
 Maple
 
 The following fruit trees were also present:
 
 Apricot
 Pecan
 Cherry
 Peach
 Almond
 Persimmon
 
 A small downward staircase was created, intended as a temporary home and food cellar for the dwarves. Limestone and rock salt were discovered underneath the soil.
 
 A swarm of giant flies was spotted above the forest canopy.
 
 Mūthkat has become greatly annoyed by the rain and demanded the construction of a small hut to protect the staircase. The dwarves conferred, and oak will be the majority construction material, as long as supply allows.
 
 Early in Summer, the cherry tree blossoms fell to the forest floor.
 
 Later on that season, eight dwarves arrived.
 
 A carpenter and a large number of weaponsmiths including Ber Grizzlesyrup the legendary, and Sarvesh Stakescar and her child Inod.
 
 A series of limestone statues of triumphant foxes were constructed to adorn the rooftops.
 Rock salt roof tiles were also installed.
 
 In Late Summer, an administrative building was commissioned by Mūthkat. A shale pathway was laid in front of the two structures.
 
 Further statues, this time of contemplative wolves, were ordered from the masonry.
 
 Traders from the mountainhome arrived, however, the dwarves had not yet constructed any trade goods or even a depot.
 
 That autumn, the wildlife struck back. Giant agitated chipmunks descended upon the woodcutter Solon, ripping off his hand and drowning him in the stream.
 Luckily, the traders had brought competent mercenaries, and they fought valiantly against the wild animals.
 However, the chipmunks were hyper-agile and very comfortable in the dense forests. They also attacked and killed Iton the weaponsmith and Doren the glassmaker.
 
 Kunil the pump operator fell down the open well shaft as it was under construction, and died.
 
 Early in winter, a cavern was discovered.
 
 Giant insects attacked us again - mantises and cockroaches.
 A regular militia would be needed.
 

2
so I wrote this while playing, its more notes than story, and admittedly some poor grammar throughout. REGARDLESS, enjoy the goings-ons of Insightcopper over about 16 years of bridge building . Also no screens but I've got a sped up video of the whole playthrough.. very lazy yes.  please enjoy!

======

Insightcopper, "Lūkgusil"
 founded in year 208
by the dwarves

Erith Bellmartyrs
 Vucar Earthreins
 Kel Whippedlined
 Unib Inkbolts
 Logem Pinepaint
 Rith Strappedhatchet
 Zuglar Vaultsalve

 
 who arrived at the bottom of a desert valley where a slow stream flowed,  and here they settled.
 
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


3
lets address the issue with river aesthetics, which is to say, most rivers occlude existing terrain and force flat plains for the surrounding tiles. resulting in river embarks that are mostly uninteresting, 'regular,' experiences, with few of the more exceptional geological formations one can find.

===

to overcome this, become familiar with understanding topology through the world map two functions 'Show elevation' and 'Show cliffs/grade.'

These tool overlays produce certain recognizable artifacts which can be manually hunted down. See as follows, imagining a 2x2 embark in each of the highlighted red circles:

Default embark view:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Show elevation:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Show cliffs/grade
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Let's look at some more specific and quirky examples, using these overlays.

Oceanside Mountains:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

winding river valley full of waterfalls:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

super low terrain due to a river loopback:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)


So there are two principle takeaways from this:

First, the default view lies to you (it always has) in the way it presents biomes before terrain. Mountains are not 'mountains' but regional intersections of temperature, humidity, elevation. . thus you need to see past these biomes to truly perceive what literal shape your embark will take.

Second, you should be prioritizing your hunt for quirks in the generation. Places where too many features occur for it to all generate 'correctly,' thus producing oddities like cliffs next to oceans, or lakes that fall out of the sky. These are super fun and most people don't even know they can be actively, even easily, discovered.


if you simply want a world with a lot of small, winding rivers that intersect terrain frequently, with potential for bridge building / super tall towers, check this worldgen 'Varied Heights 500yrs'.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

there are various other changes but the big ones are the super low erosion cycle count of 40, and 5000 possible subregions. you will not find super large rivers on this world, however, you will find oceans that act like rivers haha. .  'fjords' is perhaps a better term.

4
unless I am mistaken, each given species will only reproduce up to 50 examples before the game shuts down the reproduction of these animals. Is there a method of increasing this hardcoded population cap?

5
DF Community Games & Stories / Dwarf Fortress brewing contest - ended
« on: October 28, 2023, 02:28:22 pm »
prepare to be judged

the task:

Over three in-game years, craft as many metal barrels as possible, and fill those barrels with booze. The player who presents the save file with the highest number of booze-filled metal barrels will be declared winner.

pretty dwarvenly, right?


the rules:

Players have until 11:59PM Sunday, November 19th to submit their saves.

1. you must use the embarks provided below
2. any metal will do, but the containers must be barrels. pots are NOT allowed.
3. any amount of booze in the barrel is valid. 1 unit or 20, the barrel is considered filled.
4. no cheating via speedhacks, spawning of materials, or other varieties of DFhackery. If you use a cleanup utility or other bug-prevention function, just announce this when you provide your save file.
5. savescumming is fine (but for your own sanity i wouldn't restart too much - it ruins the fun)
6. there is no need to arrange the barrels in stockpiles or anything fancy like that
7. you cannot abandon / reclaim the fortress

This contest will occur in both 47.05 and 50.11, so if you're unhappy with premium or still haven't purchased it, you may participate.

Players can attempt to win both contests if they have the spare time.

here is the embark for 47.05: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16899
 A volcanic peak, flanked by jungle forest. The ground is full of iron, but the area is savage and goblins are close.
here is the embark for 50.11: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16898
 A snow-covered forest gives way to a permafrost expanse. The ground is full of a variety of metal, but the area is savage and goblins are close.



After your turn is complete, submit the file to me via a DFFD link / personal message , and I will verify the score and confirm the winners. Players have until 11:59PM Sunday, November 19th to submit their saves.

per the wiki:
 
Quote
Each brewing job produces five units of alcohol per brewable item, and deposits the alcohol in the container, recovering any plant seeds in the process. The size of a stack does not affect how long it takes to brew it, which is based entirely on the brewer's skill...

please ask any questions that come to mind, as this may allow us to further define the rules

While this will be 'competitive' it is, obviously, still very casual and fun and I'm mostly interested in the sorts of strategies that develop.

Feel free to post here for notifications, or if you want to share strategies.

6
so like if a arsonist dragon shows up all intoxicated and starts a few fires, does that count against the elven contractual limits? science may be needed here. time to piss off the elves for the umpteenth time


due to an impoverished upbringing I cannot decipher the elven legalese, and the Dwarfen Encyclopedia has no reference to this particular topic

7
Every year, you must cull %10 of your population. These dwarves are "chosen" by lottery and you have no influence in the matter.

However, there is one control: if the dwarf is a worshiper of the main death cult of your temple they will always be spared from entering into this death lottery. Unless, of course, there is no one left to sacrifice... at that point even true believers are eligible.

The culled dwarves' remains are not allowed to be buried or honored with an engraved slab. They are to be horded in a great temple of bones.

The main goal is to build this temple of bones in the most epic and evil manner possible, providing worship space for the various cults of death, while also surviving the yearly cull's psychological effects, subsequent hauntings, and all the associated troubles of operating a literal death cult.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Necromancers, if encountered, should be captured and put to good use. Reanimated skeletons are, obviously, very cool.

Only the most depraved dwarves will remain in control of their emotions. Only those that worship the cults of death may find sanity in this place. Only fools would entertain such a challenge.

anyways here I am


===





It is the year of Roc. Dreams of great birds peering down from above. The temple is growing, slowly. Filling with bones..




Zimesh The Ashen, god of death, has set in motion a great plan, and the principal character would be Dumed Glovedance. Lor Glovedbucks the necromancer was master over Dumed, in a pinky and the brain sort of way. Dumed performed whatever she commanded with little question. In this way, Dumed was the stupid pawn of greater powers, and seemed to relish his lack of freedom.

Lor wanted to rule the world, and this fortress was only one of many nodes in her growing network of hidden outposts. Each generated wealth, weapons, and biological material for the experimentations

Before Dumed left the subterranean laboratory of Lor, she was given a powerful image, titled "The Mark of Bones." This image was to be hidden, shown only to members of the cult. It may cause.. deleterious reactions.. in those unacquainted with Zimesh the Ashen.

A warped white moon shivers coldly behind the dark silhouette of a giant raven, which lays prostrate before a small image of Lor standing in upright prayer.




The image was printed on thick parchment with a black ink. Dumed rolled this into a leather scrollcase and left for the waiting caravan.

===

Wheels rolling endlessly. Sodden, broken wheels.. repaired with wood and broken nail countless times on the road to here. Where is here?



  Here is Reigngate, so founded by Dumed Glovedance in year 250 under the direct orders of Lor Glovedbucks the necromancer,  and dedicated to the sacrificial worship of Zimesh the Ashen, the Dark God of the Bloody Beard, who revels in death and dismay and really likes ornate displays of bone and skull.

  Of the seven dwarves, Dumed is the sole worshipper of Zimesh, with the remaining dwarves praying towards a different, lesser god. They would be converted, or sacrificed, there was no doubt!

  The low desert mountain was flanked with dense temperate forests of cedar, wild cherries and persimmons. The ground smelled like magma, or so the miners claimed. Digging through the sand revealed great mounds of obsidian glass. One should always trust miners and their noses.

  It was planned to sink a great divot into this fossilized volcano, an artificial chasm.. this would take years but it would keep the others busy while Dumed planned for the first culling. A temporary hovel was dug into the slate layers of the northeastern quadrant, near the fruit trees. For some reason the dwarves had brought a tame elephant and this was pastured nearby.

  The six laborers were as follows:

Code: [Select]
Etur - worships Mete Milu. Overly talkative. Likely to raise alarm should she notice something.
Kikrost - worships Kadol Luriterib. Built strong and tough.
Domas - worships Mete Milu. Peaceful and sheep-like.
Deler - worships Mete Milu. Easily distracted - an easy target.
Sodel - worships Doren Limarosram. A hard worker but unable to form social bonds.
Sigun - worships Mete Milu. A crazy musician.

  All were competent miners, having been hired into this role, and all were unaware of Dumed's intentions.

  Meanwhile, under the guise of constructing a temple for Mete Milu, Dumed went to work designing a secret shrine to Zimesh. A shrine of death, carved from frozen obsidian, with walls polished into black mirrors.


After this work, Dumed took one of the larger obsidian shards, and secretly fashioned a blade. More dagger than sword, the flat edge was sharper than any steel, and was concealable under a shirt or cloak. And so Dumed felt assured.

Summer arrived, and the dwarves labored on.



===

"Hey, I thought this was a temple to honor Mete Milu? Why are we installing these creepy obsidian statues of Zimesh all over the place?"



late summer, two migrants arrived.

Code: [Select]
Mebzuth - worships Doren Limarosram. High master metalcrafter with great strength.
Ubbul - polytheist, worships all the popular gods, but also Zimesh. A legendary gem setter at the young age of 84.

A worshipper of Doren, and a polytheist who shares sympathies with Zimesh. Curious - could this Ubbul Paddlebreaths be trusted with the activities of the cult, despite her split allegiance?



The digging of the great chasm began.



Early in autumn arrived the mountainhome traders. The dwarves traded obsidian swords for meat and cloths. Exporters of death, they were! Zimesh was proud.



Late in autumn, 11 migrants arrived, as follows:

Code: [Select]
Eral - worships Mete Milu. Woodcutter.
Rigoth - worships Mete Milu. Peasant.
Ezum - worships Avuz Idavuz. Clothier.
Vucar - worships Rimtar Onmemad Nirmekrit. Stonecrafter.
Zuglar - worships Egu. Strand extractor.
Atir Enjoypulleys - polytheist, worships Zimesh. Ranger.
Tun Churchnets - polytheist, worships Zimesh. Fisherdwarf.
Oddom Nuthall - polytheist, worships Zimesh. Fisherdwarf.
Rakust Roughnessshythm - polytheist, worships Zimesh. Farmer.
Deler Tinscaled - worships Zimesh alone. No skills but very strong.
Erith Oarswords - worships Zimesh alone. Accomplished weaponsmith - very useful.


Due to their overwhelming exclusivity of their faith, Deler and Erith were chosen to join the inner council of the cult, along with Dumed, and so were given the title "Priest of Zimesh".

This brings the total cult size to eight dwarves, of 20.



Etur, one of the unchosen, the laborers, got into some kind of strange mood, and stole a bench at the stonecutters. Curious, we allowed her to work... she took a large boulder of obsidian and created a huge, menacing cabinet. Covered in spikes of razor glass, it was exactly the last thing you want to place in your bedroom. Perfection! We considered indoctrinating Etur as a reward for this artifact, but her faith in Mete Milu was too strong. She would remain in the lottery.

===

On the full moon of the 28th of Obsidian, the black month, the final month, the deepest winter nights, Dumed called for the priests. Deler and Erith both appeared, dressed in dark, with a list. Each non-believer was given a number, and the priests cackled as they rolled the obsidian dice... 1 and 9. Vucar and Kikrost.

They were told a reward was waiting for them, in the room at the back of the obsidian room of the purest black, filled with a statue gallery of skeletal gods and necromancers. Way back behind the locking door..

Vucar and Kikrost were informed, and happily moved into "the room". The door was locked. and .... the lever was pulled and .... the sacrifice was made. Zimesh surely looked on in pleasure.





Spring brought 17 migrants, too many to list here.. New cultists galore, and plenty of non-believers - Reigngates was growing fast. New terraced farms were placed near the obsidian outpost.



New priests include Domas Dimplecrafted, Limul Citybelt the master of mechanisms, and two others.

One particular non-believer smells funny. Urvad Ropenourished .. keep an eye on this one.

Curiously, one of the migrants claimed to not believe in any gods at all... what a fool! Doesn't he feel the raw energy emanating from the bloodied chamber of death and dismay? The obsidian heart beats loudly now....



The Umbral Faith requires a temple and a priest.

Of course, my lord, anything for you - but didn't you notice that we already have three temples and nine priests?




to be continued

8
Behold, The Universes of Destiny:




 A series of weakened dwarven civilizations cling to life in this patchwork land of ocean and forest, mountain and swamp.  Of the Twenty Eight dwarven civs seeded by the gods, only four remain in any true capacity, the rest represented by a handful of nomadic bands.


The Merchant of Walls
The Eternal Fortification
The Corridors of Cooperation
The Gloved Work

Some survived through treaties with goblins, others let necromancers into their ranks, and some were beaten into submission and now live through the sheer benevolence of their captors. 

 All have dreams of a return to the time of the Dwarven Kings, when the magma churned in our forges, and the raw mineral of the underground was wrought into massive hordes, worthy of dragon's envy. Will you seek to return one (or more!) of these remaining civilizations to its former glory?


=== The Rules ===

If you wish to take a turn, simply post in this thread and I will add you to the list of players.

Each turn, you have one week irl to build a fortress. Any whim can be followed, any goal pursued, however impossible. You can spend as many years as you wish on this fortress, but once it falls you must pass on the turn. Obviously we cannot prevent save scumming but - do so at your own risk. Armok is always watching.

You are encouraged to post an image journal as you play, or a summary after your turn, or even not post anything at all and simply contribute a mysterious fortress to this Universes of Destiny.

Utilities for UI and cleaning or fixing bugs are allowed of course!

Finally, two mods are applied for ease of access:

-See through smoothing designation mod
-interface tweaks 1.3


let me know and I can help you find the correct mods.

My intention is to update this map with fortress locations and other interesting things.

=== The List ===

1. Salmeuk | post1 | post2 | post3 + save
2. Delphonso | post1 | post2 | post3 + save | post 4 AAR
3. AvolitionBrit | post1 | post2 + save
4. Maloy | post1 | post2 + save
5. Delphonso | post1 | post2 | post3 | post4 |
post5 + save
6. Salmeuk
7. Bralbaard

(updated 08/05/2023)

=== The Histories ===

An Abridged History of the Various Royal lineages of The Merchant of Walls
The Abbreviated History of the Many and Varied Governing Entities of The Eternal Fortification

So inspired by the brilliant World of Bones, and at the insistence of Delphonso, let us begin this tale.

9
It is very tough to recall which tab holds what skills, and with the new mouse U.I. we are forced to scroll each list completely to discover the specific skill we are looking for. I understand why skills were split into tab categories - to help new players identify useful or important skills, and to make selection of skill faster.  however this new form works against these purposes.

player understanding is not served well by the rather arbitrary categories of "Crucial" and "Labor". This new U.I. forces players to memorize these randomly selected lists of skills in order to avoid a series of annoying menu interactions, since the categories themselves do not really apply to every skill contained within. and new players are not used to memorizing arbitrary lists of things, unlike us old hats.

for instance, the "Mason" skill has been relegated to the old function of architect, with the rather confusingly titled "Stone Carver" replacing the previous utility of furniture building. I do not consider the speed or beauty of a well to be, um, "Crucial" especially considering that a skill every fortress uses, Weaving, is left in "Labor".

similarly, "Herbalist" is almost necessary for certain survival scenarios since it provides a ton of food early on, and most fortresses have access to wild plants.

maybe if the U.I. remembered your scroll state in each category so you weren't forced to continuously click between the tabs and the scroll bar , this would also help.

so yeah. categorization that aligns with player experience is only useful if the players have experience, right?

this was one of the first things I noticed when going through the new embark U.I. (besides not being able to quickly select large numbers of items) and I still have not found myself "getting used to it."

10
DF Community Games & Stories / Against the Storm inspired challenge
« on: April 04, 2023, 01:08:56 am »
rough draft so please leave comments or suggestions, or post your own playtests in this thread if you desire to join in.

The goal of this mode is to give a series of tasks to the players, giving DF some context, loosely modeled on Against the Storm.

these generators should be used:

https://perchance.org/4hqt7o9ngl
https://perchance.org/5zv1ana691

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Every year, the player must offer randomized tribute to the queen, who waits patiently back at the Mountainhome for her chosen goods. Think of this like a meta noble mandate. In return, she provides you with a randomized selection of 'blueprints' of workshops and other buildings, or allowances for increases population, or reputation.

The final goal is to reach 30 reputation. This will take at least 4 years of tribute rewards, but likely more. You lose if you reach an arbitrary 20 impatience.

You start the game by drawing three starting workshops using the above generator. Draw 3, pick 1. You always start with the still and the trade depot. All remaining workshops must be earned through the tribute mechanic.

At the start of the game and at every Autumn trade meeting thereafter, you select 5 tribute goals from 8 offered. Tribute Goals are randomized requests for specific objects or materials. Each Goal has a request amount and a targeted object or base material. Goals also come with 'bonus objectives' which grant an additional bonus if they are fullfilled. The usual format is "object type, object material".

To fullfill a tribute, the requested goods must be delivered to the dwarven traders each autumn event. Failure is punished by the Queen's impatience rising by 3pts. 

Every successful tribute you can select whether to:

 decrease impatience by 1pt
 draw a new workshop or building (draw 3 pick 1)
 raise popcap by 5
 increase reputation by 1pt

Thus pop cap slowly grows as you complete tribute. Children locked at 10%. Starting popcap is 10.

The patience of the Queen is also related to various traumatic events that might occur during play. The following events increase the Queen's impatience:

Death or Unrecoverable Insanity of a Citizen: 1 pt
Loss of Trading Caravan: 4pt
Theft of an Artifact: 1pt
Theft of a Child: 3pt
Failure of a Noble's Mandate: 1pt
Failure of a Tribute Goal: 3pt

Positive events, deemed valuable to the efforts of the Mountainhome, are awarded with an increase in the Settlement's reputation:

killing / capturing forgotten beast: 2pt
killing / capturing titan: 2pt
killing / capturing megabeast: 1pt
driving away a siege (not just surviving until they leave): 3pt
producing an Artifact object: 1pt
Offering 10k of goods to dwarven caravan: 1pt

Battle deaths during sieges dont count (sacrifice impresses the queen).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Cavern Breach Rule:

When breaching each cavern layer for the first time (including the magma sea), a special draw of tribute will occur (draw 2 objectives, keep 1). This randomized tribute must be sacrificed as soon as possible - smashing, magma burning, throwing off a tall cliff into an inaccessible pit are all acceptable.

Failure to meet this tribute demand in three in-game months results in the queen's impatience raising by 3. Success grants you the usual tribute reward.

As the years pass, the queens demands grow. This will be arbitrary increase in lower bound (+10) and upper bound (+50) of the tribute demands for this first round of testing.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Oh, and for added challenge, you embark with only a pick and an axe. No anvil.



I will be posting test journals as I have time  :D

11
hey. AI is powerful. here are some of my early attempts at provoking the all-knowing chatGPT to provide me with creative ideas for Dwarf Fortress challenges.

suggest unique challenges for dwarf fortress
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I was amazed by how coherent the responses are, without repetition. nothing super new or interesting challenge-wise, however, except perhaps the 'blind' challenge.. so I prompted further:

please provide me with more unique challenges for dwarf fortress

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

here you can see the limits of AI: repetition due to uncreative prompts. you really need to provoke the beast with different input material to get something interesting.

please provide me with challenge goals for dwarf fortress

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Now this was good. I was surprised by how the specific numerical goals were fairly appropriate for the given time-frames. truly powerful technology my god

please provide me with more specific numerical challenge goals for dwarf fortress
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

now we're talking! These are genuine challenges. I particularly like the '10,000' units goal after 5 years.

please provide me with ideas for megaconstructions in dwarf fortress
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

alright, alright, I could see how this would be useful for someone new to megaconstructions. nothing super interesting however. chatGPT is very trope-filled.

please provide me with more ideas for medieval-themed constructions in Dwarf Fortress
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

the idea of doping the prompts with specific themes came to mind. you could pick specific universes or books or whatever to add theme to the results.

please describe a monastery blueprint to build in dwarf fortress
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Now, this? this is perfection. For anyone who has embarked on a fortress only to run out of ideas for what to throw down next.... this kind of checklist is awesome. again, not revolutionary, but the fact you could replace 'monastery' with just about anything is futuristic.

finally, i asked the one question on everyone's mind:

how to defeat keas in Dwarf Fortress
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

no no no. wrong, AI, you are wrong.

how to permanently defeat keas in dwarf fortress
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

NO. no  no no. you were supposed to have the answers.

who is helping the keas attack my fortress in dwarf fortress
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

NO. how DARE you not believe in the conspiracy of the 'green shadow', a globalist conspiracy to destroy new fortresses and control the sale of gold and silver by employing trained kea assassins.

why is dwarf fortress so difficult
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

do note, no specific mention of U.I.  :P


thoughts? anyone else have some good prompts to share?


12
DF General Discussion / harsher penalties for citizen death?
« on: January 03, 2023, 07:54:04 pm »
so, not gonna lie, my usual playstyle is a bit run-and-gun and with 47.05 I was used to losing a few dwarves a year to odd accidents, yet replacing them on the reg with migrants and not really noticing the difference.

Now, there seems to be a longer or semi-permanent hold on migration if you lose, say, 5 or more dwarves in a year. It could also be a series of unfortunate world generations that left me with no migrants. But for one of my fortresses it has been two and a half years without new citizens arriving, after only a handful of deaths.

not complaining (as this is a great and world-consistent increase in difficulty), but I am curious if I have just been unlucky or if this is a real difference others have noticed

13
DF General Discussion / things you really like about the new version!
« on: December 07, 2022, 10:31:28 pm »
while I have issues or wahtever, I wanted to put down some of the things I really really enjoyed about the new release.

1. music (SO good HOT damn) is a perfect reinterpretation of the classic soundtrack. the addition of vocals is awesome

2. embark screen is way more intuitive and will lead to easier discovery of really interesting topography. As well, you can now embark on the edges of map tiles, whereas before you were limited to the grid. though I am sad you are limited to 6x6 embarks. No longer can we span gigantic fjords with megabridges. there is an option to increase to 16x16 (thx Flying Teasets!)

3. as the world generates, the most recent events are shown to you.

4. a majority of the most important features made it into the new GUI, even if you have to dig for them. annoying, but you can tell there was a lot of thought put into the translation of most elements.

5. construction pre-planning is really nice. even if you have to click the same material 100 times which is annoying. it still saves time. and I will not miss being the experience of becoming a 3-d printer of castles

14
DF Suggestions / dwarves no longer display what they are hauling
« on: December 07, 2022, 11:10:42 am »
as stated in the title, it was previously possible to visually inspect what a dwarf was carrying since their character would blink with whatever item is hauled. this is no longer the case. this adds unnecessary mouse clicks! I understand it might look strange to have a dwarf turn into a stone or something. but little features like this are what make DF's management burden somewhat acceptable to the player.

Now, I must visually identify that a dwarf's tile is moving significantly slower than expected, and infer they are hauling, and then click on them to confirm this.


15
DF Community Games & Stories / The Spry Volcano
« on: November 05, 2022, 11:23:31 pm »
Three smiths, two miners, a mason, and a farmer. One volcano. Dreams of steel. Mass possession at the hands of an otherwordly force. Recipe for disaster, surely. .

The Planet of Omen, a medium-sized celestial body 90 years in age, contains only a single volcano: The Spry Volcano. A single exposed lava tube stands tall over the red-sand desert of The Wealthy Dune. To the east live The Lone-hell of Mist, a 3000-strong goblin civilization. To the west, the mountain range The Horn of Air holds The Puzzling Pages, 1700 or so dwarves held up in various mountain fortresses. Finally, the southern plains are populated by various petty human villager-barons.



When the sly gods created this planet, they played a game. A drinking game. "For every wild monster, ferocious beast, or devil-creature you spawn, take a swig from this goats bladder full of elderberry wine. Last god standing will be forever known as 'Goat-Legs'! "

A cruel game, for it was not long before each god lay drunk, half-submerged in the oceans or layed out over the incomplete mountain crests. No god had seen the last one to fall down, wasted as they were, and the resulting chaos and destruction allowed many more monsters to escape from hell than any one god had intended. So, being gods, they got right around to fixing everything, uh huh? Nope. They slept off the hangover and upon waking drank half the lakes in the land, before trodding off into the nether (their footsteps creating a grand series of valleys and river-lakes, so in the end it was kind of a wash).

So the story is told, by the mortal denizens of The Planet of Omen. What else would explain the horrendous over-population of every wild region with dozens of death-dealers? Let us take The Spry Volcano as an example. Within three days one can find five cyclops, two titans (marsh and sand, respectively), a roc, multiple night creatures and various other seedy figures of ill report. This example should serve as a grave warning to any who might choose to settle outside the confines of the homeland.

. . .

But, what's this on the scrying device? A small band of wanderers, leaving tracks in the snow, fighting starving dingoes and rabid ostriches, approaching The Spry Volcano... idiots! What fools! It seems the leaders are three dwarves of the anvil, judging by their singed beards and thickened shoulders.

What might come of this? Will they disrupt the local wildlife? What is their purpose here? Perhaps the dwarves smell the metal underneath.



These dullards have set up shop at the base of the expose lava tube. Now, the three leaders are meeting, hum yes they've agreed to something. They bark orders at the other four, who appears to be hired labor. Hungry, cold, potentially unpaid and definitely unhappy.



As they apply pick to rock, the whole volcanic complex vibrates like a great stone dinner bell, and I begin to laugh.


====

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pages: [1] 2 3