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Author Topic: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves  (Read 1119 times)

Deathworks

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Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« on: April 13, 2010, 09:52:54 pm »

Hi!

I have noticed something that has made me believe that that initial stream of migrants in the first year is even more than deliberate:

In my first 31.0x fortresses, I did just a little excavation in the first year into the soil layer and maybe a little bit stone layer to get, you know, stone, but nothing fancy. That is my usual strategy. Result: 11 migrants in the first year.

Having heard rumors that your fortress value can influence those migrant waves, I tried a fortress that did nothing (except digging food stockpiles in the soil layer) until late summer when I had to collect plants and brew drinks to avoid trouble. And I started making wooden crafts only then. Result: 11 migrants.

Now, I have given up on reducing the migrants, so I started out digging good portions of the fortress, making gold (!) crafts along the way and double-engraving all rooms right away. Result: 12 migrants, one of them being a child that tagged along with his mother.

My pop cap in all those fortresses ranged from 0 to 7.

Now, if we say that the child was just a bonus and doesn't count, we get 11 migrants regardless of what I do.

When someone pointed me to the tv tropes site upon the release of the new version, I noticed the trope "taking things to 11" - and I get the creepy feeling that the migrants may be a greeting in direction of that trope.

Anyone of the low pop cap people (less than eight) who can confirm?

Deathworks
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Moontayle

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2010, 09:58:43 pm »

You know... I seem to recall my DFM3 fort having exactly 18 dwarves going into the second year.

Had to restart and my first wave in the summer netted 7. If I get 4 in the second wave in the Autumn I think "taking things to 11" is a new Dwarfism.
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Tolkien had a great secret: The dwarves of Moria didn't dig too deep. A prominent dwarf with lots of friends started tantruming and, well, you figure out what happened next.

Radivnal

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2010, 10:03:16 pm »

In my first 31.01 Fort my first migrant wave contained 7 dwarves...in fact...the second one did too. I remember it because I was wondering if I was going to have to reach 200 dwarves 7 at a time. The oddity here is that I had dug out a massive amount of stone (the miners had been working non-stop from embark) and whichever dwarves weren't mining, they were pumping out stone mugs and beds. I don't remember my Fort Value though. =/
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Speaking of which, how is fire in the new version?
out of personal experience, where a dwarf was set alight by a magmaman, ran up 150 flights of stairs, and divebombed into the booze stockpile, I'd have to say fire is the same as always.

Rastaan

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2010, 10:14:19 pm »

I had a population of 7, and my first 3 or 4 migrant waves were only 2 or 3 strong in each case.
I've also been going a couple of years now, and the only goblin I've seen was a snatcher...

So maybe the amount of migrants you get is dependant on the isolation of your fort? I think that's what it's like for goblins now, anyway.
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Squirrelloid

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2010, 10:20:54 pm »

I had 14 dwarves at the start of year 2 in the one fort i remember, which is only 7 migrants in year 1.  (That fort then proceeded to have absolutely no migrants ever again).

I'm pretty sure popcap below ~30 has never worked right.  I know i tried setting popcap to 2 in .40d (to try a 'repopulate from 2 dwarves' game), and i still got migrant waves every year which i found elaborate ways to kill off.
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Shiv

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2010, 10:37:34 pm »

I had a whole 3 migrants in my first migrant wave, then a dry spell for 4 immigrant cycles, and then got a huge wave of 24, then several more dry spells and then another huge one of 22 or so.  Wish I got the trickle effect like y'all.
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AncientEnemy

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2010, 10:43:19 pm »

my current fort had a nice trickle going on, four waves of 3-4 apeice, eventually had 20 dwarves.

then suddenly 20 more show up
then 20 more

AHHHH fort population triples in 1 season. CANT DIG BEDROOMS FAST ENOUGH

bombcar

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2010, 10:50:05 pm »

The old version had a bug where the value of the
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

counted towards your fortress wealth.

Since they now all have that, maybe the calculation is always basically the same.
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Biag

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2010, 11:44:54 pm »

my current fort had a nice trickle going on, four waves of 3-4 apeice, eventually had 20 dwarves.

then suddenly 20 more show up
then 20 more

AHHHH fort population triples in 1 season. CANT DIG BEDROOMS FAST ENOUGH

You think that's bad? My first migrant wave ever, on my first successful fort, immediately tripled the population. I didn't even know how Z-levels worked then, I thought my dwarves were doing some weird triangle-teleportation magic or something.
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Deathworks

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2010, 12:37:41 am »

Hi!

Well, the two times 7 could have been spouses/children, but the report of 14 dwarves in year 2 seems clear evidence that my theory was incorrect.

Boy, am I relieved - if it had been correct, it would never get fixed, but if it is not intentional, there is still hope we will eventually see it cured.

Deathworks
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Lytha

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Re: Unpleasant theory on low pop cap ignoring migrant waves
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2010, 02:26:37 am »

The last-to-one had 1 single mother with 2 kids (1+2) in the first wave.

4 dwarves in the second wave.

These 5+2 immigrants happened at population cap = 1, the dwarven civilization was dead, and it was a remote island. I don't know the value of this fortress at that point. Might have been quite valuable, if the loot of the giant's hoard counted as "my wealth".



The new one had a first immigration wave of 4 dwarves, and hasn't seen the second wave yet.

This one is with a population cap = 0, the dwarven civilization is strong and the only one alive on the pocket island, and the fortress is located right on top of their second outpost, the former goblin's headquarter. About 22 dwarves, including the queen and 9 children were living there already when I founded this fortress. The worth of this fortress was 140,000 on day 1.



It doesn't look like some sort of magical 11 to me.
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Lytha likes fire clay, rose gold, green glass, bags, the colour midnight blue, and cats for their aloofness. When possible, she prefers to consume tea and cow cheese.