So, this is how I spent last evening. I was originally going to post this in the "What's going on in your fort?" thread, then thought it might perhaps fit better in "Face Palm moments you had". Eventually it turned out long enough that I decided to just make a new thread for it. So, here goes:
I finally genned a world with a glacier, so of course I had to try it. Found a location with flux and magma, but no liquid water nor soil.
My first mistake was accidentally pressing "e" on the skill selection screen and embarking with almost a thousand unspent points left. Which wouldn't been so bad on a normal map (I've done the "no skills, no animals, no equipment" embark before) but gave the lifeless, waterless glacier just that little bit of extra challenge.
My second mistake was spending all spring digging a dense and extensive search pattern for the magma pipe in the bottom right before remembering that the pipe was supposed to be in the
top right corner. By the time I did locate it, my dwarves were all out of booze and had absolutely nothing to brew more from.
My third mistake, after finding the pipe and setting up a melting system (which I also had to hastily redesign after realizing that the actual magma only started one Z-level lower than I'd thought, necessitating an extra pump), was wondering why the precious meltwater wasn't draining into my underground cistern as I'd planned. Turns out that, no, water does
not flow too well through channels dug in ice. For that matter, trying to channel through the ice ceiling of the water pocket doesn't work much better, either.
I should note that at this point, while I'm desperately trying to figure out a way to somehow access the water, my Farmer, whom I'd drafted to operate the (wooden!) magma pump, keels over and dies of thirst.
Almost immediately followed by two of my three Miners and my Expedition Leader / Mechanic.
(Also, at about this point the Dwarven caravan shows up and complains about the lack of a depot. I tell them to stuff it. Ironically, if I'd remembered to build a depot, I probably could've bought or stolen some booze off them.)
The third Miner dies while digging a tunnel to the only point where the water pocket touches rock; I draft my Engraver to finish it, since it's the only chance I've left. (I seriously considered abandoning at this point, but decided to see how long the Fun would last.) She finally manages to channel a water hole just as her only remaining companion, the Mason, goes on a brief tantrum back at the meeting hall and dies shortly afterwards.
So my Engraver drinks deeply and, relieved, runs back to the meeting hall, where the sight of her dead companions sends her too briefly over the edge. After relieving her frustration by smashing some workshops and puppies (luckily she missed the merchants and their guards, or they'd probably have finished her), she drags the corpses of her friends out onto the ice and I set her to make coffins for them. (I'd planned ahead and made two, just in case; I hadn't expected to need six.) Every once in a while she takes a break to smash something (fortunately, I brought a lot of dogs), but eventually she does manage to finish them and bury her friends. At least I was able to reward her with a huge private bedroom decorated with some fine coffins.
So, at the end of the first year, I now have one solitary survivor dwarf whose mood keeps fluctuating between "unhappy" and "mostly content". At least she's "getting used to tragedy". I have a one square drinking hole (kept thawed by some magma held back by a wooden pump...) and several remaining dogs and cats to slaughter. With some digging and more pumping, I should hopefully be able to get a small plump helmet farm going. Also, I have a quite a pile of gems and precious ores (mostly gold, but also some silver and platinum) lying about, dug out during my futile magma search. With a bit of work, I should be able to create enough wealth to draw some more
victims migrants into this
train wreck fortress.
I think I can work with this...
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Topic: How (not) to start a fortress on a glacier: an interim report (Read 3117 times)