Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[spfifle]

Folks in the df subreddit were looking for the chance to attempt a difficult challenge as a group, so this is what was posted: http://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/2ghan4/the_rdwarffortress_september_challenge_water/

Here's the full text:

This challenge is designed to test your ingenuity, construction abilities, and knowledge of dwarven physics. Be warned that this challenge is very difficult and time consuming, so I heartily recommend the variations unless you're quite determined. The variations will also allow you more creative freedom due to the limited solutions to the main challenge and the small floor plan you'll likely end up with.

The primary challenge rules are as follows:

• Construct fortress under (not on top of) an ocean.
• Having a land fortress is alright, but the goal is to have at least 7 dwarves live and generate food without visiting the land fortress.

Having a land fortress is alright, but the goal is to have at least 7 dwarves live and generate food without visiting the land fortress.
Bonus Points:

• Free standing ie no connections except to the ocean floor.
• Room made entirely out of glass.
• Open gates ie no traps and no walling out enemies
• Difficult biome

Variations

• Fortress underneath an artificial water body
• Complex water feature

Posting Results

• Please make note of any mods used. Quality of life utilities like Therapist, autobutcher, or autolabor don't need mention.
• Also note any relevant settings changes (like invaders off, aquifers, etc)

Hints:

• A long thin embark will probably be necessary to get some nice depth from your ocean
• Constructed walls will collapse into rubble when disconnected. Natural walls will simply fall. Casted obsidian walls count as natural. The "Moses Effect" may also be of some help.

If you have any comments about the challenge or suggestions for a future one please leave a comment below. You can also check the reddit comments for additional discussion and suggestions

[vjek]

Only one comment..

... the goal is to have at least 7 dwarves live and generate food without visiting the land fortress. ...

Afaik, you can't farm in an Ocean biome.  I guess fishing might count?

Spoiler: from the wiki (click to show/hide)

... Farming of above ground crops is only possible on tiles that lie in a biome supporting their growth. Those are "land" biomes excluding the notoriously cold Glacier and Tundra, but also all Mountain biomes. Ocean biomes are also excluded, since they are not "land". ...

[Girlinhat]

I believe you can still underground farm in an ocean biome.

[vjek]

I believe you can still underground farm in an ocean biome.

I just tested it to see..

It's true you can farm on muddied stone beneath the ocean, that is, 1Z under the lowest level of water.

However, to actually farm IN the ocean, that is, in a structure surrounded by (or on the top of) the ocean water tiles, it doesn't work.
"No seeds available for this location"
1Z level lower than the ocean, plump helmets no problem.  In the water or on the water, can't plant, even though you can create the Farm Plot.

I mean... technically the challenge is:  Construct fortress under an ocean.  If that means beneath the lowest level of water, that is, not surrounded by water?  Sure, but that's not really a challenge.  That's just: dig down and over.

[Tacomagic]

I believe you can still underground farm in an ocean biome.

I just tested it to see..

It's true you can farm on muddied stone beneath the ocean, that is, 1Z under the lowest level of water.

However, to actually farm IN the ocean, that is, in a structure surrounded by (or on the top of) the ocean water tiles, it doesn't work.
"No seeds available for this location"
1Z level lower than the ocean, plump helmets no problem.  In the water or on the water, can't plant, even though you can create the Farm Plot.

I mean... technically the challenge is:  Construct fortress under an ocean.  If that means beneath the lowest level of water, that is, not surrounded by water?  Sure, but that's not really a challenge.  That's just: dig down and over.

I take it to mean a significant amount of the fort resting on the floor of the ocean, and not under it.  I think for the purpose of the challenge, digging down one level for farmland is probably an allowable exception.  Either that, or just utilize the bounty of the ocean.

Using diagonal pressure relief you could create a drainable reception tank and try to lure in oceanic critters, including ye-olde giante whalee.  Let's see, for 7 dwarves you need roughly 70 units of food per year.  A giant sperm whale produces at least 9,000 units of food.  Should only need to catch one of those every 130 years or so.  Just gotta make sure there's a butcher shop pretty much right next to it.

Although, even a normal sperm whale is enough for 10 years.  I think it's very viable to create a whale-based food solution.

If you get really lucky, you could snag a mating pair of seals and create a complete meat industry, too.

Booze would be the big problem.  The only way to create booze under the ocean but above the sea floor would be to keep bees.  I hate bees.

Then again You could also feasibly bring whatever animals you want with you to generate food and still be within the rules.  1 turkey hen and gobbler would be enough to produce food in perpetuity via eggs and eventually meat.

[fourpotatoes]

I once attempted something similar: Oilgulfs (which I swear was the name the RNG gave me) was going to replicate the Deepwater Horizon disaster with the HFS, so the dwarves were going to live in the offshore platform instead of under the water, but otherwise the engineering challenges were similar.

I accidentally embarked on a site where the oceans froze in the winter. I abandoned because of the hour-long delays every spring when the ocean melted and the difficulty reaching magma for the casting I wanted to do, but with a faster computer, that'd be an easy way to reach the ocean floor without digging on land: Wait until the ocean freezes, dig through the ice, get everything below and close the hole up again before spring. If you don't make any ice constructions, the only trace of your activity would be a single constructed floor at the top of the wall you use to seal the hole.

[Tacomagic]

I once attempted something similar: Oilgulfs (which I swear was the name the RNG gave me) was going to replicate the Deepwater Horizon disaster with the HFS, so the dwarves were going to live in the offshore platform instead of under the water, but otherwise the engineering challenges were similar.

I accidentally embarked on a site where the oceans froze in the winter. I abandoned because of the hour-long delays every spring when the ocean melted and the difficulty reaching magma for the casting I wanted to do, but with a faster computer, that'd be an easy way to reach the ocean floor without digging on land: Wait until the ocean freezes, dig through the ice, get everything below and close the hole up again before spring. If you don't make any ice constructions, the only trace of your activity would be a single constructed floor at the top of the wall you use to seal the hole.

Oh, good idea.  Over the course of several winters you could expand your base everytime things froze solid.  Timing would be everything as you'd have a very narrow window to work.  Screw up, and you just either flooded your fort, or drowned your workforce.  Makes the polar waters more attractive for this challenge, though.

However, it would also kill off everything in the water every year, which could lead to animal extinction and food problems.  A breeding program of some kind would be pretty much mandatory for survival.