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Author Topic: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...  (Read 1799 times)

Eater of Vermin

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I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« on: September 28, 2008, 03:05:08 pm »

So I created a new world and used the finder to locate somewhere with magma, flux, yada, yada, yada.  We all know the drill.  As a bonus, the finder also popped up a chasm.

Cool, that'll be handy.  It's in a cold, heavily forested region... "Joyous Wilds."  Well, that's new to me.  I've played Savage, Haunted & Wilderness but in the past I haven't played any "good" biomes.  Ooer!  It's got sand, too!  This should be interesting.  :D

So, I embark.  "A new chapter of dwarven history begins at this place, Nirmekdishmab, Defenseramparts.  Strike the Earth!"  Hmmm... I like the sound of that.  It's properly dwarven, having good meaning while sounding like someone spitting crunchy bits of beard out of their mouth.

Hit <space> to start and... uhoh.  I'm on the side of almost sheer cliffs in the only spot a wagon will fit.  I thought that sheer cliffs had become a thing of the past?   ???  Still, it means the wagon is safe from anything except Giant Flying Foe and it has potential.  No good for the above-ground challenge I had planned, but it's still early days yet.

Just out of curiosity, what do my dwarves call themselves?   A quick look at my expedition leader's thoughts and...  "He is a citizen of The Metal of Night."  Hey, I really like the way that this world has shaped up, the RNG has come up with some perfect names!   ;D  "He is a member of The Sacrificial Post."


WAAAAH!   :'(

edit: made the title clearer...
« Last Edit: September 28, 2008, 03:12:27 pm by Eater of Vermin »
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Dances with Kobolds

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Minstrel

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2008, 03:17:48 pm »

It's good to see a healthy dose of dwarwish superstition in a player. Maybe you can tunnel all the way down to the ground and start there? Make your miners legendary quicker.

Haven

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2008, 03:29:05 pm »

Maybe you can wall off the side and go for the polar opposite... The Belowground Challenge! If it doesn't work, who cares? They're the Sacrificial Post, let the reclaim team do it right.
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Jude

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2008, 03:31:53 pm »

Hm...never tried a good biome. I always look for evil ones reflexively, assuming they'll be harder. Does good/savage has a nice serving of mean animals?
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inaluct

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2008, 03:54:32 pm »

NO!! Don't go to the ground!! Build your fort into the side of the cliff!
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Eater of Vermin

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2008, 04:49:02 pm »

Maybe you can wall off the side and go for the polar opposite... The Belowground Challenge! If it doesn't work, who cares? They're the Sacrificial Post, let the reclaim team do it right.

That's too easy, timbers the main problem there and if I slap in a Legendary Dining Hall early who needs beds?   ;D  Also, I already know there's an underground river which I need to head to straight away as it's the only water source that ain't frozen at embark time... and that also means towercaps soonish.

Surveying my domain, I see that the cliffs I somehow landed on are only 9 z-levels high.  Above them is a plateau of barren rocky wilderness, complete with 3 mountain goats and a hoary marmot.

Below is the Joyous Wilds... a snow covered plain that's only lightly forested.  Damn the initial scouting party that gave me pre-embark info!  It was supposed to be heavily forested!   >:(  And there's precisely... let's see...  one... two... three...  precisely zero animals down there.  Zip. Nada.  So much for my leather industry.

Decisions, decisions.  I think I'll compromise and go for an engineering challenge instead, turning the cliff wall into my version of the Great Wall of China, with heavily fortified towers and the bulk of my dwarves living in the wall, ready to defend the unprotected upper barren wastes from the evils of the uninhabited lower frozen Joyous [snigger] Wilds.

Make it into DefenseRamparts in more than just the name.   

 


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Foa

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come...
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2008, 05:08:44 pm »

If you're going to use those cliffs, make a sacrificial arena, complete with a drop system to unleash many foe down 5 floors into an arena filled with 4/7 Floors of water, filled with many carps, and deadly fish!
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Overdose

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2008, 05:21:20 pm »

Good biomes have 2 things going for them, sweet sweet sunshine brew, and the Unicorns of doom attacking you
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Untelligent

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #8 on: September 28, 2008, 07:55:01 pm »

O_o Holy crap, you actually found sheer cliffs? I've been trying to get those since Toady introduced cliff smoothing, but the best I've been able to find was really steep slopes with about 1-3 horizontal tiles between ramps.
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Romantic Warrior

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #9 on: September 28, 2008, 07:58:30 pm »

IIRC, the unicorns aren't much trouble in fortress mode, 'long as they aren't provoked. In adventure mode...  :-\
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Axe27

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #10 on: September 28, 2008, 08:07:49 pm »

Actually, there's a story on the Story page on the Wiki called the War of the Hammer and Hoof. A guy had a bunch of unicorns attack his fortress, and he ended up trapping them in old barracks, and then drowning them.

So, if you do get Unicorns, I suggest you at least arm a few pikemen.
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And thus did the dream of dwarven antigravity fade away, not with a massive explosion or a flood of magma, but with a whimper.

I'm going to be depressed all day now.

Cheeetar

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #11 on: September 29, 2008, 07:36:47 am »

Actually, there's a story on the Story page on the Wiki called the War of the Hammer and Hoof. A guy had a bunch of unicorns attack his fortress, and he ended up trapping them in old barracks, and then drowning them.

So, if you do get Unicorns, I suggest you at least arm a few pikemen.
Actually the war of Hoof and Horn, incase anyone is interested in looking it up.
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Eater of Vermin

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Re: I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for my fort...
« Reply #12 on: September 29, 2008, 08:10:05 am »

My Hunter has hauled a couple of Unicorn carcasses in, but whenever I check the unit list there aren't any live ones listed.  He may've been lucky so far and they've only entered my map singly.   

I hadn't actually meant him to go hunting but I forgot to disable the job...  I'd better do that before he runs across a herd and pisses 'em off.   I'll switch it back on later, after I get a defensive position set up!

I was looking forward to brewing sunshine but so far it's not an option.  I've set up the farm in what should be the good biome and have been harvesting plants but the seeds just aren't happening for me.  Maybe some will come in with a caravan, but I'm not holding my breathe over it.

So far it's been pretty boring.  I have all the basics up and running,  there's no water, but I've had no injuries either.   That'll be even less of a problem once I tap the underground river anyway.

I hope the sieges start soon to add a bit of interest beyond what will otherwise most likely be just another engineering exercise.
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Dances with Kobolds

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