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[Neyvn]

Of late i have been testing multiple Mega Projects,
A Human City, Goblin Tower and a couple of Dwarven ones like the Volcano Fortress and a Bottomless Pit (Hanging Style).

But All of a sudden I forgo all those different Projects to work on something that stuck my mind a few weeks ago, the Plan was that it combined that of a Magma Fortress and a Outdoor construct, the problem was finding the perfect site, and to make matters worse, it needed to be a certain kind.

What I searched for was that of a Bottomless Pit beside that of a Magma Vent. Not nearby, not close, but next to on the Embarkmap. To make matters worse I also wanted the River/Brook positioned so that between it and the Magma Pipe was that of the Bottomless pit. Already this took me a long time to gen and I had nearly given up hope after discarding nearly 100 different worlds (So many Artificial Lives lost, Worlds lots to that of the Black Hole known as the Recycle Bin). I was about to enter a melancholy mood when I remember the much revered Dwarven Heaven, looking the page up took some time but there it was, my ideal image, a Brook, Pit and Pipe all next to each other in the right order...

Having never gened a world from a seed it took me some time but I did it in the end, even loading the map made me chuckle with glee (and I have been told that my laugh sounds very evil, perhaps not a good sign). Not only were both the pit and Pipe open to the air but it was the ideal distance apart...

You are proberly wondering what it is that I plan to build. And I will no longer keep you waiting.

Surrounding the Pipe will be a large wall, circling the opening before widening nearly 270' around, opening wider it thickens into a large body of stone before slimming down again to another yet thicker wall that slides towards the pit, and entrance to within this body hanging over that of the pit so that those who wish to enter the fortress will need to cross the pit then travel through the Stomach of the construct...

Truth be told that is what they are doing, for the entrance will be formed into what will (attempt to) look like a gigantic mouth belonging to an enormous head, whose nostrils will smoke and bubble with lava as it flows out of them into the pit below, on passing under the Sharp teeth they move down the neck into the stomach where the Trade Depot shall be located, now those that are not part of the Fortress normally stay here, waiting for their deeds to be done, but others they continue further...

Leaving the body they enter the Fortress as it rises and descends in the Magma, falling down a good distance (10z levels if I remember rightly) and Rising above half that. The wall that surrounds the Fortress is that of the Tail of a once Mighty Dragon, its size colossal then many others that it nearly consumed the world, and lay forgotten as the planet attempted to bury it under the soils and eroding winds...

That's right.

It will be a Dragon Shaped Guardian that protects this fortress...

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

.............
.............

Now how the @*#& am I spos to design him...

[Neyvn]

Plans for the Fortress

#1 Build a Magma Fortress that rises above and below the Highest Level,
Process
- Undecided between Obsidian Cast or Pipe Draining...
- Double Layer Walls - Obsidian
- Flooring one Stone Type, Not needed to be Obsidian.
- Royal Chambers Above, Work Shops and Living Quarters below.

#2 Design the Exoskeleton of the Dragon
Process
- Any single Kind of stone, not mixed or anything, this is a dead Dragon gone Stone after Death...
-Tail must surround Magma Pipe nearly 100% and body must be located between the actual Pit and Pipe...
- Mouth must be able to spew Magma when needed else it will fall from its Nostrils...
- Digestive System Trap for Invasions, Magma being the Fluid...
- Wings are not a Necessary component, Megabeasts don't have Wings if I remember right unless you mod them so, no real need...

So far I have create a Grid Map of that of the Pit and Pipe using MSPaint but the problem is that I fail at designing everything all the way. I have planned to work it out myself, using a 3D program to see it as it would be finished but...
Work and Girlfriend are distracting me too much to pay much attention but I am compelled to see this finished else I will go Berserk instead. I ask of ANYONE that wishes to aid me in designing my Dragon and you will be thanked whole heatedly and be Immortalized in my fortress Via A Naming and a Mosaic located on the Map (somewhere, Gonna Sign it for ya people...)

I Thank anyone now and later for any support that they wish to give me and please help me through this, don't station guards or have me under a Drowning Trap yet please...


The Grid Map...


Edit: Changed grid to a different Image Host - Photobucket was Shrinking it for some reason. Shouldn't be a prob now...
Edit: More info on the Exoskel...

[Byakugan01]

Have you considered digging out the dragon and using the pits as his nostrils? If you can connect the two, that might be the easiest way to go about it. A good idea might be to take some graphing paper and designate a number of squares belonging to the two pits. Then, draw your design around them using straight lines, either along the gridline or cutting diagonally across the squares. Once that is complete, all you need to do is scale it up to match what you need.

[Silfurdreki]

Don't compress the grid map as .jpg, you get loads of compression artifacts. As it is now, it's almost unreabable, try .png instead.

To build a moderately good-looking dragon, you'd have to make it HUGE, otherwise it'll look strange. I sketched a quick dragon in MS paint, and checked how big it was. I got to 15 z-levels high MINIMUM. For scale reference, I used one tile as a tooth (two for the front fangs) and the mouth was just barely open.

If you want me to I could try to make something for you on that gridmap, but you'll have to upload a non-.jpg version first.


Making properly sized wings will be a large mega-project in itself...

Edit: Spelling...

[Neyvn]

@ Byakugan -
Well by that I assume you mean like from above so it was looking upwards, then no. I am after that Sleeping Dragon that protects the World feel, y'know.

I have been thinking bout the Graph paper, but every time I do it, I end up having a mess rather then an image on the paper and throw it out in fury, starting to cost me a pretty penny for that paper now days...

@ Silfurdreki -
Image Fixed, like it says, Photobucket was shrinking it to a 1/3 of its size for some reason, and it was nearly midnight so I didn't pick up on that to tell the truth, thanks for pointing it out.

Wing are not necessary as they would make it harder (and larger by default) unless perhaps they were at rest across his back. Folded like y'know...

Oh and thanks for helping me - Face -> Desk - for a moment there. Been working backwards for a bit by the looks of things, knew something wasn't right when I came to working on its head having come from its body. I started out too Small. Ugh....

[Silfurdreki]

Something just hit me regarding the wings; you could have them lying on the ground, it would make it infinately much easier to build, and would evade the awkward situation of having them folded against the body, as that would basically just be a second layer of stone in the game.

I'll try to slap up an outline of a dragon on that gridmap in photoshop, if you don't mind.

Also; I think it's an awesome project, one that i would most definately want to see to fruition. It's a great step up from my own dragon mural 

[lordnincompoop]

If it has a digestive system of magma, will it crap obsidian?

[Silfurdreki]

So I sketched up a simple dragon outline on your gridmap:



The blue squares are the main body of the dragon, they would be the sillhouette if viewed from above, i.e. they would basically be in the middle of the body, seen from the side. The light green squares are extras that are below the other squares (the feet, hands and edge of the wing membranes) or extras (like the tail spade). The red squares are just parts of the horns that I think sshould be a bit above the other ones, as I evnision the horns being angled slightly upwards.

It might be a bit small to build extensive traps and such in, but it'd be hard making it bigger and still having it fit with the magma pipe and pit.

Let me know what you think of it.

[Neyvn]

It looks fantastic Mate, defintly something I can work with, the neck and head are more forward then I would have liked (I take it you have never used Dwarf Heaven Map before,) as the Head itself is inside that of the mountain that flanks the Pit, I didn't put in the higher leaves cause I was just gonna work out if I wanted to flatten that part of the mounatin or not. From this I think I can work forward instead of backwards, so I thank you my friend...

Using the Grid, create what ever Mosaic or Signiture even and it shall be located on the Map when I release it...


~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The Digestive Trap is a long curvy corridor much like the small intestines in winding and annoying length, the Trade Depot will be sealed in the stomach while Invaders take the longer path through the Intestines, before tripping a pressure plate near the end which seals both their entrance and exit to the Fortress, then also on activation of the pressure plate, the slow moving lava will flow through the intestines as it gobbles down and disolves the flesh and bone of those that have been consumed... Ke Ke Kek Ke...

I was thinking that later perhaps make it so that I can turn that into the Obsidian farm so that, yeah, in the end he does Poop Obsidian as I clean his bowels...

The way I was thinking of making this work is, that unlike Water Magma does not rise as it is pumped in from below, no pressure, but it will rise to the same level of the pump that pumps it right. Pump in from above and even if the intestines rise and fall a couple of levels it will still fill it compleatly leaving no place to run...

If that is true, it will be fun to watch...

[Lummox JR]

I think this sculpted fort business is a brilliant idea. You'll have to show us some pictures in 3Dwarf when it's finished.

[AtomicPaperclip]

For as much construction as you're doing I don't think digging out the mountain left of that pit is a problem

[Neyvn]

I decided that there will be some work in the game to make sure it looks good enough, so far this is what I have for the head, mind you this is not all of it completed enough nor is it the final shape...

Only taking two angles cause if you can move 3D images in you head, it looks the same from the other side due to my Symmetry complex...
From the side.
http://tinypic.com/r/2iw60sx/5

From in front.
http://tinypic.com/r/2d8hz4x/5

Suggestions???

[Silfurdreki]

I think that looks rather good, it's not easy to sculpt in DF

That's not to say that i'd have done some things a bit different, I'd have made the lower jaw inside the ground, so that you could have teeth sticking out of the ground besides the entrance to, you know, look menacing. 

Also, I'd make the mouth opening a bit bigger, seeing as dragons usually have large mouths without cheeks, like a dog. The current version makes it look a little too much like a horse head, I think.


And, no, I haven't used the dwarf heaven map, only seen a screenshot of it once or twice.

[Neyvn]

Yeah I was thinking of making the mouth open wider, so that is what i am working on, gotta love test fortresses, who cares if they spiral or are attacked by a siege, just as long as I can work out if this works...

Ke Ke Kek ke....

The reason for the lower jaw being like that is cause I orignally thought to have the Jaw hanging over the pit as if the Dragon Died/Slept with his head over the edge before time escaped him...

[Silfurdreki]

You should upload the map on Dwarf Fortress Map Archive, once you start building the real fortress. It's always interesting to watch the whole process of construction.