I have a feeling I'll finish this sucker in record time. Far quicker than I got the Bloodfist done, so I'm giving myself some side-projects to work on before/during/after I finish the ship to keep things interesting.
Got any ideas? This's already impressive in of its own.
Especially after Year 1's Ground Breaking phase is done; I'm doing a test-run of it right now to come up with a good way to start off, and to take notes on what I should adjust when I actually get to work, I'm going to have more than enough wood to kick off the fort itself (lodgings and some tradables so we can purchase some anvils and extra goods), especially after I secure at least 1 or 2 parts of the embark perimeter (the river corner is perfect as a security checkpoint and decoy depot spot, since it becomes an island once secured, unless I just decide to keep it as-is, and just use the river as a natural divider; save on work for a 3rd perimeter portion)), easily by then. That border/perimeter claim is just like the one in my other fortress I have going on as well, and it works wonders where security is concerned, and trust me when I say, "Lucca" learned from the poor setup from the last one, and would consider this a very good idea to implement for a much larger project. Only thing to worry about is a jaguar and a few monitor lizards; but even so, they provide some good soap-makings for our medical teams.
Anyway, Year 2 will be dedicated to building the scaffolding for the main project while quarrying out some more stone, and setting up a magma forge, and maybe even establish a magma-duct with the river below being pumped in order to produce an obsidian factory, despite the plentiful bounty naturally given to us. Consider it a practical side-project for my dwarves to build a water tower pipeline aqueduct system, so that filling up the boilers should become less of a chore, as well as pumping out Obsidian like a madman. Alternatively, I can just make a downward magma pipeline with a floodgate controlling magma flow with a pressure canceller at the bottom of the pipeline so I can better control my obsidian production, while minimizing damage to my wood bounty needed for ship building.
Hopefully, by year 3, most of the scaffolding and dry-dock should be done (especially when I hit 25+ dwarves working), and we can actually start working on the ship itself. If there's anything I learned from the last project, it was that I was rushing into things, and much ‼fun‼ ensued. Thanks to waiting (working on security and the happiness of the workers, while keeping value modest enough to minimize invaders), wood and stone bars/blocks should be more than plentiful enough to get things moving, easy to haul and build with, and thanks to a coordinated effort in setting up the dry-dock and scaffolding, everything will be ship-shape and staged plenty well enough to haul ass with the construction.
Of course, if I have a surplus of materials and workforce, my side-projects will be the obsidian factory, a means of pumping water closer to the ship (may need a power station near the river for that), and some spelunking and conquering to get the red fungii materials, or alternatively the cinnabar down there, and if I'm right about my copper supplies (imported and mined out), lesser airships to serve as an escort legion.
Oh right, I meant to ask this from everyone, but what would be a good naming convention, in case numerous reclaimings would be in order like the last place (not as likely this time around). I mean, the Bloodfist megaproject had all my overseers named after Final Fantasy and other Squaresoft characters that are either owners or operators of airships, or are otherwise gearheads in their respective series. Haven't come up with one yet, the the previous list has run rather short.
Like I stated before, to save up on space, and maybe to expand a little more on creativity with my reports (not to mention it was quite tedious the last time around, especially now that I refined my DF playstyle a lot more), I might keep my saves, reports, and DFMA uploads either bi-annual or annual. Although the map I'm using is probably smaller than the Bloodfist's (didn't check yet), I don't think there would be as much to report seasonally like last time.
EDIT:
Just got this song stuck in my head now, when I soon have a fleet of Bloodships at my command.EDIT EDIT:
Year 1 is done for testing, and for what it's worth, I have a rather nice land, and a good idea of how I want to go about this project, as well as making it work as a Community Fort (future adaptations can allow for it to become a
madhouse succession fort/project for Bay-12 to build their own ship; the site, and others like it are perfect for it). Wildlife isn't as hostile as last time, there's one hell of a tree bounty, I have a source of fire clay (perfect for making clay crafts, especially clay jars to save on wood for food/drink storage), a source of sand, and both of them right next to each other, so I can make a collection zone to mass-produce both raw materials as I see fit. The river life isn't as hostile as last time either, and thanks to easy access to sand and clay (which takes up a generous portion of mountainside), I can quickly establish lodgings, storage and otherwise at the start, and I have plenty of obsidian to make obsidian crafts and swords for defense and export. Fanciest stuff is reserved for my overseers. What's also nice is that it looks like some of this land actually looks like a dry-dock wouldn't be off-putting to see (and placement of this ship can still make for a convincing flyby video when completed), at least, where airships are concerned.
Where work sites are concerned, I've hit the jackpot here; and it seems worthy of the DF Worldgen Cookbook; especially if anyone wants to take notes, or continue from the scaffolding stage, to make their own airships and any other kinds of megaprojects and such.