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[Juason]

I have currently mastered the easy maps (calm, thick forests, lotsa plants), and was thinking of trying something harder.  One question I had was regarding maps with little to no trees - how do you manage to make adequate barrels to support immigrants?

Barrels can't be made of stone or metal I don't think, leaving only prescious wood.  Even if you use all the starting wood on these things you are still left lacking.  I often find it hard to keep up barrel-wise even on heavily forested maps.  

I was just curious what strategies folks employ.  Tower caps seem to grow abysmally slow.. so you really can't count on them.  By the time they are available in my easy games I usually have 120+ dwarves to feed.  Thanks for the help!

[Necro]

Barrels can be made of metall. Brass is the best choice.

[Juason]

Dang, I must have missed it  :ponder:  So folks just rush for coal and crank out the barrels then?  Is immigration less in freezing/scorching maps?

[Lokum]

Personally dont do anything but the first 2 steel bars for metal. Its always a waste to use charcoal once you have the ability to make a magma forge.

You dont need coal for anything but steel production after magma wshops. Once you reach the magma just remove your first metal workshop and then just make the magma version using the same anvil. Then just make copper/brass barrels.

Try to have like 5-10 dedicated metalsmiths. That means 5-10 magma wshops so only 3-5 steel bar making.

Edit: Tower caps take 4 years to grow. So to take full advantange of this is starting on the second year make 1 HUGE flood CONTROLLED room a year. The next year make a new one on spring, and continue until you have 4 rooms. By the the 4th room is done, the first room should have grown. Then the next year the second, the next year the third, next year the fourth, the next year the 1st, ect ect ect.

At the same time have 3 dedicated carpenters and put all the other carpenters on woodcutting so you have a steady supply of wood thats always being manufactured.

[ July 16, 2007: Message edited by: Lokum ]

[puke]

immigration does not change directly based on map conditions, but rather based on fort prosperity.

for an even greater challenge, try playing on a map with no outdoor river!  you dont get to drink or fish until you reach the cave river, and once the cave river is out of fish, thats it for the year/season!  no falling back to the outdoor river or swamps!

[Arcanum]

Is the lack of an outdoor river that much of a larger challenge?  I can reach the cave river pretty quickly.

[Eagle of Fire]

Same here. Reaching the cave river is always the first thing I do whatever map I choose, so having a map without an outside river would not really be a challenge at all... All it would do is that I can't build a Mill, a building that I never ever used yet...

[Deathworks]

Hi!

I am still a newbie whose playing style will probably keep me from ever becoming a grand master at the game, but I am still having fun.

Anyhow, if you want a really different challenge, my suggestion would be changing the population cap. I am currently playing with population lock 6 and it is really very different from your normal game play, even on the easy maps.

Of course you are unlikely to have trouble getting all the food you need, so the early game may be easier, but dealing with outside menaces and actually getting anything done can become quite difficult. (I am currently worried about one fortress that has just got their trade minister ... ) Picking which dwarf does what and when is much more of a problem then when you have dozens of dwarves to pick for each job.

As challenge targets, you can aim to get as many nobles into your fortress as possible. Judging from the wiki, you should be able to get a manager (requires 20 dwarves and there are more than 12 nobles you can get without a big population according to the wiki). Having a captain of the guard would probably require you to be very lucky. Of course, managing a fortress with more nobles than commoners may really be nasty ......

With marriage currently not existant (T_T) , this setup makes expansion quite difficult.

Deathworks

[Hellzon]

You can connect a Mill to the cave river just fine.

[Darkchampion]

Farm tower caps as mentioned above, save a piece of wood for charcoal in order to start your magma forge, reserve *all* barrels for booze until you have a sizable number. And for the starting lumber i usually just build 2 buckets and a bed, saving the rest of the wood for later beds for whiny nobles. That can usually hold you over till tower caps come in. Just make the barracks/dining room/meeting halls really really nice.