progress continues, though it has been more laborious than previously, it probably doesn't help that the bottom of my fort is hundreds of tiles away from the top, and i'm getting 10-20 fps so it feels like everything takes forever.
the tree farm flooding project is complete, all levels watered then evaporated. I've now got access to way more wood than i'll ever need, even if i decide to build a load of waterwheels or something, but i guess it means i can start using wood instead of copper for wheelbarrows, barrels, bins, cages, etc
the 6 ballistas have been replaced with all-masterwork parts. 2 test firings still both went straight into the side-wall though. sigh
my defences (archer bunker, and ballista path) still haven't been used properly yet because i keep getting civilians roaming them so then i have to send in the melee troops and go toe-to-toe.
i've been leaving a path open to attackers so they can follow the route into my fort in order to send them past the defences, but i think the answer instead would be to put a bait-animal at the end of the route and shut off actual access into my fort. that'd stop my dwarves being retarded and ruining my schemes.
my other choice would be to just spam a hundred cage traps but that seems too cheap, and it wouldn't be good to rely on them against titans or similar.
the vampires clothes are rotting off their bodies, and i'm not inclined to replace them, so they're tantruming and melancholy. they don't seem to die from going insane though, so i'll just ignore it. i've stopped using them if i want levers pulled, due to being so unmotivated they are less reliable than using a random idler
I dug down and found the effective bottom of the map, semi molten rock at level -170ish. then dug upwards a bit and found cavern level 3, adamantium, the magma sea, and a magma pipe, all within 5-10 levels of the bottom of the map.
i've not done anything with the adamantium or the magma yet.
the magma pipe rises into a corner of cavern 3, and i'm walling off that section. the wall is complete now to block non-flyers, and its only 1-4 levels deep there so i'm walling it off completely even against flyers, a landgrab to make the magma pipe become a permanent and safe part of my fortress.
i guess i should floor over the top of the pipe actually in case of flying magma creatures, unlikely perhaps though (the bottom of cavern 3 has water, i could maybe seal the top of the pipe with obsidian, seems dwarfy)
once its secure, I will start pondering if its worth the hassle of pumping magma up, pistoning magma up, or moving all my metal industry down. either way its a move of 160 zlevels, not sure if i have enough interest. i've currently got enough coal/wood to keep my metalwork at the top of the fort
I've got ~2600 iron bars, it'd use half of that if i made a pump stack out of iron (5 bars per pump plus 2 doors, per level)
if i try and bring magma up, i don't think there's anywhere i can do it in a single stack, there's too much cavern all over the map. so it'd be in stages which i guess is easier
the forgotten beast that spits web, is fortunately in the silk farm now and produces silk without needing a path to the target animal. the farm was badly designed though, i was having problems with the area he's in was too big, so sometimes he'd not be close enough to the targets so that he wouldn't spray.
i've lured him out of the farm temporarily, so that i can redesign it. i can't do it like the cavespider design though as i can't pit him if i can't catch him in traps. still need to decide how i want it to work
a new forgotten beast has turned up, in cavern level 1. fortunately it can't fly so it is just stuck behind a wall like a lemon. i don't feel like engaging it as it has deadly spittle, so it can stay there.
the dwarves are all still eagerly running around cavern 1 and 2, collecting webs. i'm gonna get them back inside the fort and shut off access to 1 and 2 as i don't need to go in there now that they're explored and i don't want the risk of flyers getting in.