Craftbridge, my other thread currently on the front page of this forum, has helped me refine my Overseer-fu from "I'm just poking around and playing with what I know how to do" to "Okay, I KNOW how to do this, and there aren't enough challenges for me in this Fortress, even though I'm doing better than I ever have before."
I tend to write up as I play, so if I haven't posted for a while check for new edits. Give a shout out if you want to be Dorfed.
So, I decided to gen up a new world. For FPS reasons, I'm going with a Pocket world, and here are some of the specs I'm changing:
End Year: 2
Minimum Volcano: 25
Mineral Scarcity: 500 (my standard number)
Minimum Savagery: 50
Max Megabeast Caves: 50
Max Semi-Megabeast Caves: 75
Titan Number: 30
Titan Attack Population Number: 35
Titan Exported Wealth Requirement: 100,000
Secrets: 40
Cavern Openness: 50 (I don't like claustrophobic caverns)
Z Levels below Caverns 1-3: 20 (each. I like deep embarks)
Number of Mountain Caves: 10
Number of non-Mountain Caves: 15
Number of Civilizations: 5
Playable Civilization required: No
My one regret is not being able to raise the number of Forgotten Beasts before world creation.
Welcome to the Planet of Souls. A world where there are currently 187 Goblins, 193 Dwarves, 107 Humans, no elves, and exactly 4 Kobolds left.
Already the civilizations of The Hollow Torment (Goblin, founded by the armadillo devil Rakust the Labyrinthine Wind in -1) and Praklungis (Kobold) have been annhilated.
The Bronze Colossus Siniti Sculpturepride the Flag of Taking attacked and all but annhilated the Kobold race from the face of this world in the Summer of Year 1.
In Autumn of Year 1, Rakust the Labyrinthine Wind and the whole of The Hollow Torment were annhilated by the dragon Limul Warmflicker the Wealths of Fortune....which is enough to give me pause. Because it wasn't even 200 years old yet.
The three surviving civilizations are:
The Sins of Alchemy (Goblin)
*Year 1: Launched the War of Outrage against the Dwarves in the Rag of Right (see Rag of Right section below)
*Year 1: Attacked by 4 separate Giants
*Year 1: Attacked by 3 separate Rocs
*Year 1: Attacked by a Bronze Colossus
The Confederations of Moistness (Human. literally the only civilization that has not yet suffered a fatal casualty, despite a minotaur attack)
The Rag of Right (Dwarves)
*Catten Rockstir, Queen from Granite 1, Year 1, to Granite 22nd, Year 1. In that time, she fought off the Cyclops Affithi Rocksprides, before falling victim to the Cyclops Agoth Diamondleaped.
*Midsummer, Year 1: The Sins of Alchemy attacked The Rag of Right, led by their leader, the mammoth brute Snelo Crosswaddled the Evil Wickedness. The demon led 17 goblins and 4 trolls against 18 Dwarves.
3 Dwarves were struck down. Only 1 Goblin, 1 Troll, and their fell leader survived.
*Midautumn, Year 1: an Ettin and a pair of Giants attacked The Rag of Right. The only casualties were some wolf meat muscle and a blue peafowl bone earring.
Now for the fun part. Listing of the existing (semi-)Megabeasts:
Minotaurs: 14
Giants: 14
Ettins: 13
Cyclops: 12
Mountain Titans: 10
Dragons: 8
Rocs: 7
Hydras: 6
Marsh Titans: 5
Hill Titans: 3
Plains Titans: 3
Cyclopes: 2
Dead (Semi-)Megabeasts:
Hydra: 2
Death by Megabeast Rampage: 23
My goal in this world is A) to survive.
B) Capture and breed the following:
Cave Dragons
Hydras
Dragons
Rocs
Giant Elephants
And then pull an ArchedCrystal, sacrificing as many of these as are necessary to spoilers WIN the game.
The only questions is how many fortresses will fall before I do.
So it was important for me that I wind up in a Tropical biome with high savagery. Because I wanted gaint animals. Specifically, Giant Lions, Tigers, Elephants, Rhinos, and more war-trainable creatures. Unfortunately, there is just a narrow strip of Tropical biome along the bottom of the world, so choices for embarkation were limited. To make things worse metal selection and flux availability (I'm not confident enough in my playstyle to embark without these. yet.) narrowed the selection down yet further. So I ended up settling on an area along a river that straddles a Temperate Savannah and a Tropical Shrubland.
The Tropical Shrublands nets me Sand, Shallow Clay, Deep Soil, an Aquifer, Deep Metals, and a Flux Stone Layer. Plus all kinds of war trainable creatures. The Temperate Savannah has Sand, Deep Clay, Deep Soil, Shallow Metals, and Deep Metals.
....should be interesting.
Embark is going to be slightly refined more than my standard.
As usual, no picks or axes, but I WILL be bringing along 5 Granite, 7 Hematite, 20 Bituminous Coal, and some Tower-Cap Logs.
Enough for: 7 beds, 4 tables, and 7 chairs (will keep the Woodcutter/Carpenter busy while the smeltery goes up), so let's call it 21 logs to be safe, allowing for 1 log to be thrown into a wood furnace to prevent wasting a Coal.
We are also bringing 3 male and 3 female Turkeys, Dogs, and Cats. Additionally, we are hauling along 2 of each gender of sheep, 3 sows, and 2 boars. Several barrels containing a small amount of milk, 15 Cave Spider Silk thread, and 34 sand bags will round out our expedition's supplies, after making sure everyone is trained in Discipline to a Novice level.
I may be min-maxing to bring as many supplies as possible on our trip, but in my view I don't spend any points on skills, so it all evens out.
And with that, we are off to Stabbedlancers, founded by the group The Labyrinthine Lancers.
Huh. How about that? A breeding pair of horses. Except they're both asexual. Because of course they are. And 2 Ace female cats, but of course. At least I can get everything I deliberately brought with me to breed.
One of my reasons I got kinda bored by Craftbridges, I think, weas I didn't have enough goals. So I'm setting up some short-term goals for me:
Get Deduk Wetdaggers married to
Bomrek Vaultlizards Rith Glazedyelled Why is he 16 years older I want their babies Zon Minedfancied, Weaponsmith (set up honeymoon suite).
Get Uzol Boredguilds (Bowyer/Butcher/Tanner) married to Lokum Basementsearched, Not-a-Fisherdorf
Get Rith Glazeyelled, Amazing-martial-stats (Strength 95, Agility 19, Toughness 74, Endurance 62, Recupetion 82, Disease Resistance 35) married to Lorbam Kindlances, Potter and fellow Militia-Dorf.
That takes care of my 3 "Wants Family" Dorfs.
Get Kogan Crazedarrows fully equipped with armor and some kind of weapon, and training with a migrant from the first wave. She's asexual, so therefore she will not be thrown into the baby-making suites ever, and is exiled to the military.
Get everything inside/Underground.
Build Trade DepotAfter the Dwarven Caravan leaves, the raws will be edited to allow goblin sieges.
Mid-term Goals (End of Year 3):
Have at least 4 decently-trained members in the Militia.
Magma-powered Metal/Ceramic/Glassworks
Functional Minecart system
Begin working on a
Megapile cube.
Get at least 1 other couple married in the next 5 years
Overseer's Journal,
Granite 1, Year 2
Stabbedlancers
I never asked for this. I didn't ask to be born into this horrific world. I didn't ask to be sent off to make sure dwarfkind didn't die out in case the goblins attacked the Mountainhome again, in greater numbers, and gets wiped out. It was only by Risen Diamondcolor's own grace that the demon didn't kill us all.
All I wanted was to settle down and have a family. And, by Armok, I will! This fort will survive in this savage world if it's the last thing I do. Even if the Mountainhome is wracked by dragons, rocs, and Hydras, Goblins, and the Goblins' horrible demon master, we will survive, and thrive. We will take everything the world has to throw at us, capture what we can, and then throw all of it right back into its face!
In the parlance of my people:
Strike the Earth!
Bomrek Vaultlizards, Cook.
Preferred Metal: Silver
Deduk Wetdaggers, Husbandry jill of all trades, Expedition Leader, Matriarch of the Survivors.
Preferred Metal: Aluminum
Kogan Crazedarrows, Miner, Fortress Commander.
Preferred Metal: Fine Pewter
Libash Cloisterchurches, Armorer.
Preferred Metal: Nickel
Medtob Channelpaged, Manger, Broker, Bookkeeper and part-time Brewer.
Preferred Metal: Fine Pewter
Morul Phantomgilt, Glassmaker.
Preferred Metal: Electrum
Muthkat Pagesounded, Woodworker.
Preferred Metal: Rose Gold
Malachite 12th, Year 2
Stabbedlancers
By the mountainhome everything here is enormous. Giant Beetles, Giant Ticks, Giant Barn Owls....we dare not go hunting without a fully armed and armored hunter. Kogan Crazedarrows has volunteered to be our defense and our miner.
We have moved the Turkeys and the seeds inside, but mining goes slowly. There was but a thin layer of soil before we ran straight into basalt. Our excavations go slowly, but steadily. We have already exhausted the supply of sand that we brought with us, but we discovered Fire Clay as we did our digging. A steady supply of the stuff will let us create large ceramic pots without having to glaze anything.
Lokum Basementsearched, NOT A FISHERDORF; Absolutely drafted to become our Mechanic
Preferred Metal: Rose Gold
Lorbam Kindlances, Potter.
Preferred Metal: Billon
Morul Tomechampions, Chief Medical Dwarf; Farmer.
Preferred Metal: Rose Gold
Zon Minefancied, Accomplished Weaponsmith
Preferred Metal: Nickel
Limestone 21st, Year 2
Stabbedlancers
Giant Elephant balls I had forgotten how quickly clay piled up if you tell people to collect clay indefinitely. The good news is that I have plenty of building material and potting material for easily the next three years.
The bad news is that if I ever forget to exclude Fire Clay from any stockpile, I'm worried that only fire clay will ever be deposited into the stockpile.
On the other hand, we don't have much for trade, and I'm going to see just how much I can get for each unit of fire clay. If I run low on funds, I'll be selling off the raw clay.
The third migrant wave has arrived, and, with it, the news that the Goblins will be marching on us very, very soon.
Our Metwalworking shop is going to be working night and day to get our now three militia members fully kitted out. A wave of poults has hatched, and have been caged, as has litters of kittens, puppies, and piglets. Our new butcher is sharpening his knives as we begin selectively breeding our animals. We have also begun work on a Siege entrance, that is long and windy, designed to give our militia plenty of time to get fully equipped, show up, and kill whatever makes it past our trap gauntlet.
Except for the dogs. they're all gonna be trained as war dogs and given to the militia members. their selective breeding begins with the next generation that is currently growing up in the cage. Our mechanic has been doing nothing but making mechanisms, and it is time to begin work on our traps.
It has been further decided that each soldier will be assigned a breeding pair of War Dogs once they are trained by Obok. Any resulting puppies will be thrown into a cage until grown, at which time they will be trained for war, then given a Doberbomb assignment in case of emergency.
The exception, of course, will be our breeding bitch and dam. They will be kept safe deep inside the Fortress, pumping out puppies.
Personal log. Keep out. THIS MEANS YOU, MOM!
I really need to get a new diary. I'm an Overseer now, and my mom is a long ways away. And I'm 69 years old. And I lead an Expedition.
I've changed my mind about who I want babies with. I WANT Rith, but he doesn't want anything to do with me
I feel the need to play sad music on something my mind is trying to call a "guitar" and get "sad violins" playing. I have no idea what either of those things are, but they sound stupid. As Overseer and Expedition Leader, I am ordering Zon Minedfancied to love me and put babies into me. It may take a while to convince him.
Asob Boardtruths, Plant Processing, Milking and Cheese-making, Book Binding, Scholar, Hive Keeper--taking my place while I go get impregnated
Preferred Metal: Rose Gold
Morul Blockadecloistered: All the Clothiery shit
Preferred Metal: Platinum
Obok Basementclobbered: Animal Trainer
Preferred Metal: Steel
Rith Glazeyelled: My Babies Militia, part-time Brewer
Preferred Metal: Bismuth
Uzol Boredguilds: Boyer, Butcher, Candlestick Maker
Preferred Metal: Platinum
These restrictions are self-imposed, to prevent me from just hiding behind traps all the time, and encourage active militia use. Unless a (semi-)Megabeast arrives. Then the primary entrance gets locked up tight and the Megabeast invitational entrance (with live bait behind a curve in the wall.....with cages lining everything up to the curve) gets opened up. The Invitational Entrance has not yet been built. And the current entrance leads directly into the farms and living quaters. Note to self: GET A NEW PRIMARY ENTRANCE SET UP NOW!
Bridge/Wildlife Traps: Unlimited
(Semi-)Megabeast Invitational Entrance: Unlimited
Main Entrance Defensive trap limit: (Number of Siegers in the last Siege/10)+(Half the most skilled mechanic's skill level). Minimum/Base=2.
Number of Weapon Traps: Equal to the skill level of my most skilled Mechanic+1 (Dabbling=1, Novice=2, etc.)
Weapon Traps: Number of weapons on any given Weapon Trap is determined by Mechanism's quality.
Standard: 1
Well-Crafted: 2
Finely Crafted: 3
Superior Quality: 4
Exceptional: 6
Masterwork: 8
Artifact: 10
Stonefall Traps: Unlimited Use
Spike Traps:
Wooden weapon spike traps: Unlimited
Metal Weapon spike traps: Highest-skilled Mechanic's skill levelx2 (Dabbling=1)
Number of weapons per spike trap is limited by Mechanism's quality.
Standard: 1
Well-Crafted: 2
Finely Crafted: 3
Superior Quality: 4
Exceptional: 6
Masterwork: 8
Artifact: 10
Pressure Plate Restrictions: Must be 1-use Pressure Plates until highest-skilled Mechanic reaches Professional (9), then repeat-use pressure plates may be used.
Drowning Traps: May not be used until a water-based perpetual motion machine has been created. Even then, should be used sparingly, and instead used to redirect visitors into areas/keep visitors out of areas as desired.
Magma: May not be used until a magma-based perpetual motion machine has been created. Even then, should be used sparingly. Its use as a last-minute "Fuck the World" flood the surface with lava is encouraged is the fortress is about to fall. Even then, however, its use should only be used in conjunction with a collapsing support that will drop the entire area by 1+ Z dimensions, killing everything.
Granite, Year 3.
One year down, the rest of them to go. No Goblins have been sighted, though a pair of humans have come to investigate our tavern. All of the supplies (bar some bones and skulls) have been brought inside, the entrance we're using now has a gate that can be closed, and our labyrinth upstairs has been prepared for invaders. It is low on traps at the moment, but its primary purpose is to slow them down and weaken them so the militia can be fully geared up and ready to deal with them.
Of slightly more importance is the discovery that we are out of iron. We have one full set of armor, and a few scraps of other armor. Unfortunately, our only miner is our Swordsdorf. We're going to have to dig, and fast.
But that's not MY problem. I will be leaving the Overseer journal for a year or more, while I.....convince Zon that we're meant to be together, because I say so. Also get a baby thrown up inside me. I'm going to throw this into the Dining Room and whoever picks it up is the new Overseer until I get back.
Once I DO get a baby, that lucky bitch Udol is going to be thrown into the Honeymoon Suite with Rith. They may be let out prematurely if invaders show up, because they're both in the militia.
Granite 2nd.
The miner, Kogan, tells me we've hit Hematite. Excellent. Sounds like a fairly big vein, too. Zon is in the Dining Room, and I'm just getting there now.
OH LOVER BOY!!!!!
Deduk, upper left getting in the mood by listening to music. Zon is lower-center. Curiously, the Bard that is visiting also happens to be the Human Guild Rep, but the civ hasn't shown up in the list yet. we also have a human dancer. this is a marked improvement over the last fort, that never, EVER got visitors.
[Editor's Note]
Wait. There are NO ELVES in this world. that means.......WOODEN POTS ALL AROUND!