The Diary of dhokarena56, Overseer, 12th Slate, 111Ahh, dwarven wine. Just hits the spot.
As it stands, we only have one priority. We need to design and build a real fortress- one that is well-defended, spacious, elegant, and dug squarely in stone. I will also put thought towards creating some exports- I will probably have Sarvesh cook some meals- but other than that most effort will be put into constructing and moving into this compound.
Two major obstacles will have to be overcome, both stemming from the climate. As the brook will be frozen for much of the year, we cannot simply rely on easy water or power; we must engineer it.
Therefore, in addition to the normal underground hallmarks of a dwarven fortress- bedrooms, workshops, stockpiles- we will have to build a reservoir for well water, to be refilled every summer automatically, as well as a power reactor. The reservoir, I think, will be the easy part, though, as always when engineering water-based projects, one must be careful not to cause a flood. Much more difficult will be the underground power generator. We're definitely going to need massive amounts of power; pumps ain't cheap, and minecart rollers aren't much less power-hungry. However, I do not think we shall be able to get them up this summer, though we can design them.
In the first stone layer we will hit- I believe five Urists below ground, if my copy of
Fortress Design for the Overseer is to be believed- I have decided to place the main food production capabilities of the fortress, including a dining room and new farms. (The farms, of course, will require me to set up a bucket brigade from among the dwarves. For the time being, they shall reside one Urist above this level; later on, that level will be turned into a tree farm.)
One Urist below that, we begin the quarry. A mason's workshop which I shall man will churn out some rock blocks, allowing us to build a wall around the compound as well as clear the area. For now I am content to have the miners dig out a square 19 Urists by 19 Urists, with the staircase in the centre.
The Diary of dhokarena56, Overseer, 1st FelsiteOn the 15th of Slate, the brook and ponds melted. If this is in fact a cold climate, it's a very strange one. This means, likely, that we can have the reservoir this year.
The food stockpile- the new one, that is- is being dug out. The stone directly under us is rock salt, and this layer is extremely rich- there is not only rock salt, but also, I am informed, hematite, tetrahedrite, limonite, and petrified wood. However, until we start digging out the quarry, we cannot clear this layer out. It will take a while, but I have told Inod that we're going to need three wooden wheelbarrows to help with the task, and two to clear the food stockpile.
The Diary of dhokarena56, overseer, 23rd Felsite, 111My tenure here is almost 10% over, as summer approaches, but it has been an incredibly productive season. Today the miners finished the food stockpile, and will begin on the quarry below. I am starting to turn my mind towards real living quarters. I have told the Mountainhomes that we wish to have a strict population cap of 15. Births, of course, will swell that number, but even so I do not think there is any reason to plan at this time for more than about 50 dwarves. Turning to page 389 of my copy of
Fortress Design for the Overseer, I find the following pattern for bedrooms:
Capital. It houses 28 dwarves in comfort and, more than that, is compact; I see no need to order the miners to dig out more than two of them. They shall go under the quarry, but first we must dig the quarry out!
The Diary of dhokarena56, Overseer, 28th Hematite, 111Over a month since my last entry and the quarry has
finally finished being mined out:
I have shown myself making rock blocks, as this is, in fact, what I am doing.
Here's a quick picture of the food level, one Urist above:
Neither have been really developed, but work continues.
The Diary of dhokarena56, Overseer 12th Galena, 111It's been a while, but I lost my entry for last month. Oh well, diary.
To recap: we've received two migrants. One was an armorer; the other was her husband, who had no useful skills and has been assigned to becoming a mechanic and butchery. We are setting up a reservoir, with the hope of filling it ere winter comes, and in the process of so doing discovered (but sealed up) a cavern. It's mostly water, so it is likely to impede further downward progress.
The Diary of dhokarena56, Overseer 3rd Sandstone, 111I
knew I'd find some way to fuck this up.
I had a perfectly foolproof system, and everything was working fine, but for one thing: there was a boulder of orthoclase that had been pushed into the resevoir. No problem; I'll just ask Fath to shut the damn thing off so we can fetch it.
Well, turns out it had already been turned off.
We now have a minor flooding problem on our hands. Nothing we can't deal with, I don't think, but we might not get the resevoir filled in time...less than a month.
However, we have other reasons to rejoice. Today, a batch of migrants came...but, again, only numbering two: Lorbam, a fish dissector (can you say
masonry duty?) and his wife, a bowyer named Rakust.
The Diary of dhokarena56, Overseer, 15th Sandstone, 111We were not quick enough. I woke up this morning to a frozen brook. I have ordered the miners to work on the reservoir anyway- but they can take their sweet time now.
On the bright side, the traders will come in about a month, and thanks to Sarvesh, we'll be ready to receive them- we just need to build a depot.
The Diary of dhokarena56, Overseer, 1st Obsidian, 111Winter! My favorite season back home, but there's never any snow at home...but we got some here. It's beautiful.
The traders came, but unfortunately we hadn't gotten the trade depot up, so the wagons didn't come. Oh, well, they will next fall. In any case, we traded our prepared meals- 2350 dwarfbucks' worth- for some metal bars (can always use more!), leather, booze and food.
The fortress is progressing slowly but surely into maturity. This winter's main project will be setting bedrooms up.
(Players's note: This contained far fewer screenies, especially of the disaster- at the end of the year I can post a full cap of what the fort looks like. But now is sleepy time.)
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Topic: The Fortress of Centuries (Read 7493 times)