Print

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

[Steedat]

tl;dr: If I retire a fortress that has a well-stocked library with a Necromancer Scholar, what are the chances that books containing 'secrets' could show up in caravans to subsequent fortresses?

The dwarves of StrangerAbbey managed to create a well-built, self-sufficient fortress. But things were getting a bit boring. It was my fault; I was so excited to find a site with useful metals and a nice waterfall that I forgot to check for nearby civilizations. No humans to trade with, no elves to annoy, no goblins to fight.

I was finishing some constructions in preparations to retire when something interesting occurred. A routine hunting expedition turned deadly when some hunting dogs went from chasing impalas to being mauled by impala corpses! Apparently a Necromancer migrated to StrangerAbbey a few years back, and today decided he'd try his hand at hunting.

While this revelation does make things more interesting (There are a number of different roles I could put him in), I still plan on retiring this fort eventually. If I build a library first and make the necro a scholar, is there a chance he'll eventually write books containing secrets of life and death? Could those books get traded, and spread through the world?

[Justin]

You can still get contact with other civs, you just have to send them a raiding party. This will start a war, and they can send armies at you from there.

In the case of the humans, if your lucky they will eventually send a peace delegation. Accepting peace will end the war and they should start sending caravans to trade.

[delphonso]

Dwarves don't seem to read outside of gameplay, so although it's possible to spread a book full of secrets across your civ, you won't see an uptick in necromancers.

I think it's possible, if you assign them as a scholar for your fortress that they'll eventually write books, even after retiring. No experience there, but seems reasonable. I wouldn't expect more than one book a year, and it's likely they'll write about any of their many experiences while being a dwarf in your fort before they write a manual on undeath, but it can happen.

You can make that happen a lot faster with an adventurer, but it'll be much less natural.

[doublestrafe]

You can still get contact with other civs, you just have to send them a raiding party. This will start a war, and they can send armies at you from there.

You can just ask for tribute, which shouldn't start a war. You'll have to figure out what to do with the wooden figurine of a cockroach you get, though.

[Steedat]

You can still get contact with other civs, you just have to send them a raiding party. This will start a war, and they can send armies at you from there.

In the case of the humans, if your lucky they will eventually send a peace delegation. Accepting peace will end the war and they should start sending caravans to trade.

I wish I could do that, but I REALLY isolated myself at embark. I'm all alone on essentially a large island, the nearest civ is across the ocean and inaccessible.

[Steedat]

Update:

My Militia Commander's per war dog chased a giant chameleon into my fort, down several z-levels and across at least one bridge into my main dining hall. The diners/revelers beat it senseless before my militia finally arrived to kill it, but the poor doggo didn't survive. Apparently they must've spilled the Necro's beer during the brawl, because now I'm getting job cancellation alerts due to 'Kol Kolubbul's skeleton'.

I never should've said this fort was boring...

[delphonso]

Update:

My Militia Commander's per war dog chased a giant chameleon into my fort, down several z-levels and across at least one bridge into my main dining hall. The diners/revelers beat it senseless before my militia finally arrived to kill it, but the poor doggo didn't survive. Apparently they must've spilled the Necro's beer during the brawl, because now I'm getting job cancellation alerts due to 'Kol Kolubbul's skeleton'.

I never should've said this fort was boring...

Gotta be careful what you wish for

[Steedat]

Update:

My Militia Commander's per war dog chased a giant chameleon into my fort, down several z-levels and across at least one bridge into my main dining hall. The diners/revelers beat it senseless before my militia finally arrived to kill it, but the poor doggo didn't survive. Apparently they must've spilled the Necro's beer during the brawl, because now I'm getting job cancellation alerts due to 'Kol Kolubbul's skeleton'.

I never should've said this fort was boring...

Gotta be careful what you wish for

...And then a hydra shows up!

Thank you all for the advice. I'm gonna move this story to the 'What's going on in your fort?" thread, seems more appropriate