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[GrimmSweeper]

The thread title is better.

After a few runs of catastrophic failure with floodgates, I have a fortress slowly getting into the lava forging stage. It's nice and all, but it's really something I can only play for so long before setting it aside and wanting to try something more difficult with the Fortress building mode. Something that could quite possibly DIE HORRIBLY no matter what you do, excluding the usual "oops, my dwarf opened a door to a flooded room and everything is under 10 feet of water."

The limit was this, at first: all 7 dwarves would have no skills, only 2 picks and 1 axe, 7 mushrooms and a pair of cats and dogs. I even came up with a silly story justifying why they were there: college dwarves that failed to graduate in the winter months, so their parents collectively got together, kicked them out of the mountain in hopes that they will learn valuable life lessons in fortress making. I had merely one goal, to make a keg of alcohol.

It went somewhat well. The map was full of elephants, so no hunting went on. Instead, it was fishing to start (incredibly, even though the Temperature was HOT the outside river was iced over) while the two miners carved out a tunnel, then a small row farm was added after the cave river initially flooded in the Summer period. Two wells were set up, with light and dark statues; separate 3x3 rooms for each of the college brats; a communal dining room and a few workshops were also part of their home.

Unfortunately, the mountain was also home to an irritating bunch of lizardmen, who apparently decided they were invaders (nobody had gone to the river to drink or fish) and attacked with enthusiasm through the well system and the second time via the small farm. The two dogs quickly died uselessly in the first attack and the roving metalsmith had his leg broken; the farmer, on the other hand, was still living after his right arm was completely sheared off, his other arm and one of his legs shredded (yellow or red, can't remember) and some nasty head trauma. The second attack met the picks of the miners  were quickly slaughtered.

The metalsmith, even though he managed to heal up rather quickly, decided to go on a rampage and attacked the mason while he was having lunch. Before going down, the mason apparently choked him  (I suspect a thrown meal!   :p) and he suffocated not long after.

The farmer had a nice, heavy door put in place and locked so that wouldn't happen either...not that he could do much, what with the sporadic coma.

So, beer was made not long after the second attack, I played on to the immigration wave (the usualy autumn one didn't show due to the deaths) and realized that they were going to be successful. End of attempt 1.

Now I thought, what would happen if I gave them only a pick and absolutely nothing else? I couldn't just let that idea sit for long, so a day after I founded a fortress in some Temperate location (groundhogs galore) with one goal in mind, make it to the second immigration wave. The first puts a strain on the food coming just before winter, so it would be a test of how well prepared the original 7 were.

Initially, I didn't know what wildlife was there, so I had four set for fishing, 1 for mining, 1 carpenter to dismantle the wagon and make the three pieces of wood furniture (bucket, 2 beds) and 1 mason. Once I realized that the only danger I would be facing is cougars, two were quickly changed to hunters and the carpenter, then done with his wood, to a butcher.

Again, things went well. The only hiccup was when one of the peasants, not quite a hunter yet, got torn up pretty badly by a cougar. Even though his head was fine, he was blinking in and out of consciousness. :/ Someone rescued him and put him in the communal barracks (smoothed down floors for easy resting for those without beds) where I realized I probably should have built a second bucket instead of a second bed. I had a door installed in case of berserk insanity, but he went stark raving mad instead. Four steps from the bed and he fell over dead.

In the fall I had just managed to get a depot up and a craftshop before the caravan arrived. When I was looking through the short list of things to move, I noticed an iron battle axe 336 units away. Odd, I thought, that's not supposed to be there. I designated a tree to be cut and waited for the job to fill, then followed the dwarf to where the axe was lying. It was in the top left corner of the map and I wonder now if it's a safe guard Toady One left just in case somebody forgot to pack one. I wonder if this would hold true for a pick...

The caravan was needed for the plump helmets it brought with; the other foods were mere icing on the cake of survival. Now I could start a farm in the Spring. Also, no immigration in the late fall. I was prepared for it, but nothing came. :/ It was early spring before three new dwarves came: a miner, a metalsmith and a craftsdwarf. They were enough to start some nonessential things like a loom (arbitrarily decided).

Things seem well on their way to success, so I have plans for an even greater struggle. The ultimate would be one dwarf doing all the work and the rest just lazing around (or killed off, whatever you prefer), but I don't know how viable that is. If I went with full selection in the beginning, I would just stock up on food and wait till the first immigration wave. It just sets most things back to the winter, really. But if I went with just one pick, it would be a constant struggle to get enough food to last till the next meal. What to do?

PS. It's hilarious to watch a Novice miner cut through stone faster than a Competent one.

[ August 26, 2006: Message edited by: GrimmSweeper ]

[PNB]

I have done one better.

1 guy, his only goal, to make it to year three WITHOUT DIGGING INTO THE MOUNTAIN! Everyone else would be killed off. The Extra layer of stone right in front of the mountain was the only stone I would use, no skills. 6 were stomped to death by freaking zombo elephants on day 1. He quickly set up a fishery. and fished. He surprisingly made it. leading to this question. Why is it, that one guy, no matter what will never go insane. Also the more skills a dwarf has, the less likely he will go nuts? Is that because of higher self esteem?

[RPB]

I think my ultimate goal is the successful establishment of PANTS FORTRESS. Seven dwarves with no equipment, no animals, and no food--just dozens and dozens of pants. The goal of Pants Fortress would be to produce enough pants to completely fill up the carrying capacity of every caravan that rolls in, and actually survive while doing it and all.

[Mechanoid]

We really have to get a list of game challenges together, like the ones ADOM has (Lithium man, Eternium man, etc)

[In fact, i think i'll do this now.]

[ August 25, 2006: Message edited by: Mechanoid ]

[Zaratustra]

Treeless - choose an area with no trees.
Trapless - no traps allowed.
100% artifact craft success.

[Mechanoid]

http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000559

Unofficial, but FORMAL listing. Post the idea there, talk about it here, maybe?  

[GrimmSweeper]

quote:1 guy, his only goal, to make it to year three WITHOUT DIGGING INTO THE MOUNTAIN! Everyone else would be killed off. The Extra layer of stone right in front of the mountain was the only stone I would use, no skills.  

I had a similar idea that I was going to attempt later on, but yours completely topped it.

Looking back at it, it made no sense either.

I think it's much easier to keep one dwarf alive than 7. Considering that you need about 2-3 food for each season, either farming or fishing full-time (as you found out.   would keep him satisfied. If it were possible to have him clean a fish after catching one, or having a farm plot set automatically after a cave river flood, then you could easily let it run for several years. I take it you didn't have a map with monkeys or racoons sporadically raiding your food supply?  

I'd like to see 1 dwarf and 6 idiots surviving until the first or second immigration wave, however... *shrugs* I'll stick with what I said in my first post: I don't think it could be done without losing a few idiots or the worker.

[Mechanoid]

quote:Originally posted by GrimmSweeper:
I think it's much easier to keep one dwarf alive than 7.

Outside of combat, yes. Defintely. In combat, you need as many dwarves as possible.

However, with less points spent on skills, you could technically make your initial dwarf a Hunter/Trapper to get a crossbow /iron ammo, CHAIN armor, and associated skills, letting you have a better chance at winning a battle. Barrels of booze would come in very handy as well; with just one dwarf 10-20 barrels of ale can last a long time. The initial 6 logs can go a long way, too; ONE bed, a bucket, and then 4 other wooden things. Probably an obsidian sword, a second bucket (in case the first well + bucket gets busted) and 2 bins. In fact, you could probably even sacrifice both initial iron axes for 200 points, and mine coal for fuel instead of burning chopped wood.

But then we get to combat, and everything goes down the crapper.
1) He can't spar with anything, so that means he'll have to wrestle and fight in melee with actual enemies. Though he can still use the target for xbow practice, so he'll probably become an elite marksdwarf first.
2) All the equipment is hand-made. If he can't make ultra-armor and you start poking around the magma vent, he's screwed if a fire/magma man pops into existence next to him.

... In fact, if the magma vent explodes when you first hit it, it's game-over.  
[Does the vent always explode? If so, that technically makes going past it with a single dwarf impossible.]

[ August 26, 2006: Message edited by: Mechanoid ]