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Author Topic: Recent changes to the nature of fire? (And some tragedy)  (Read 996 times)

Bryan Baywood

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Recent changes to the nature of fire? (And some tragedy)
« on: August 30, 2008, 02:58:50 am »

It had been a little while since the last time I played, so I decided to give 40c a shot and started a new fortress with my hopes high...

I'm thinking "Oooooh, fire imps. Good thing I took 15 war dogs with me."

Maybe I was mistaken. It didn't help much... I get a message that my mechanic was burnt to a crisp, and okay so there was no dog around to protect him while he was hanging out by the magma (which was right next to the embarking spot). I don't mind. Just one dwarf.

And then I go take a look and there's a huge fire spreading at a wild pace, with nothing stopping it. Looks like it'll overtake the whole map, which is covered in grass (and oddly the trees go undamaged).

At this point, I gave up hope and said "Ah to hell with it!" and unpaused the game to observe the tragic end and see how the contents of my former wagon would hold up under a grass fire. The trees did fine, so...

!!(turtle)!!

Everyone's dead except my two miners, three of my fifteen war dogs and a lucky horse, and most of my food is ruined or on fire. I still have some plump helmets... I could eat those and start an emergency farming operation, and split various job tasks between my two remaining dwarves. I wasn't looking for a serious challenge game though...

But look on the bright side, the map is covered in ash. Can that ash be collected and used for glass?

I just noticed that the fire is NOT going uphill. There were a couple places untouched because they were a little uphill from the otherwise flat map.

You have struck Native aluminum! Yippee....

And the miners don't seem to be upset at all, since they went straight into the ground first thing and isolated themselves from the rest of the crew.

Okay, forget that, my plump helmets have withered and one of my miners has become a running ball of flames. I'm doomed.

Kitchen: "You have no appropriate ingredients."

That was a short-lived fortress! Almost entirely annihilated by a single fire imp (and my negligence). Midspring on the first year.

Could that single dwarf survive though? I've got satyrs and unicorns on the map... A horse to eat... No booze... Mining skill... An axe for chopping trees (or satyrs) with. It's just so bleak.

He's hungry... Time for a (final?) hunting expedition! (forget the horse)

Didn't I say a while ago, "Just one dwarf"?

And he tries to hunt a fire imp with an axe. In an ironic twist, he's taken down (unconscious) in melee instead of being scorched to oblivion.

The end.

Any ideas on how to approach fire hazards in the early game? Or other useful insight?
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thepuska

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Re: Recent changes to the nature of fire? (And some tragedy)
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2008, 03:39:23 am »

Dig a channel around your wagon.
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Yanlin

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Re: Recent changes to the nature of fire? (And some tragedy)
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2008, 08:30:51 am »

1: ESC
2: Abandon fortress
3: ???
4: PROFIT!
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Captain Xenon

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Re: Recent changes to the nature of fire? (And some tragedy)
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2008, 09:03:00 am »

i have fire imps at my magma pit as well... well, theres one left. the NR corner of my map is covered by fires and ash, ranging from the map edge to the brook, to the rocky land about. ive had one peasant strangle a fire imp to death with his bare hands, another imp and the fireman were slain by human merchants. the magma man is still just relaxin in the magma pools... and the last imp is up to no good. i have no clue why those idiots keep running over there to taunt the imps, unless its to do with the ash?

the right thing to do depends on how aggressive your imps are, and how many. you may want to just restrict the area and wall it off- the wall is to keep the MERCHANTS from going 'oh look, a magma vent! lets have all the wagons go really close!'. the walls can also be a fire-break.

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ChocoHearts

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Re: Recent changes to the nature of fire? (And some tragedy)
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2008, 10:39:49 am »

Yeah, I embarked on a location with a pipe, and was doing all right - my hunter even went and bagged an imp with no injuries.

However, another imp decided that a goat got a little too close, and chased it halfway across the map, lighting my grass on fire. It was awesome, in a dwarfish kind of way....
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Feeling dumb is just nature's way of telling you you're still learning.
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Fossaman

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Re: Recent changes to the nature of fire? (And some tragedy)
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2008, 12:18:57 pm »

I didn't have too many problems with my first forest fire...it didn't come until I had underground stuff underway, so I could just set the no-dwarves-outside order, and everyone was safe. It was kinda fun to watch the carnage up top, though.
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Lord Dullard

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Re: Recent changes to the nature of fire? (And some tragedy)
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2008, 10:56:20 pm »

This is why when I embark anywhere with a surface magma pipe I just immediately draft all my dwarves and have them sit around the magma pipe. Nine times out of ten they kill all the imps as soon as they pop out of the pit.
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