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[cdrcjsn]

Just for fun, I thought I'd try out a group of dwarves that don't dig, other than perhaps making a surface channel to redirect water or something.

Is there anything in particular I should watch out for?

I'm going to have to trade for all metal/stone that I would need which sucks, but I think I could get by with wood and glass as my main building materials.  That means that trade will be even more important and I'll need to check that I have traders coming as often as possible.

I'll need to make sure I find an embark point with sand and plenty of trees, but at least I don't have to worry about aquifiers.  Magma forges also seem to be out (unless I find a surface vent/volcano).

I know it sounds almost elf-like not to dig underground, but actually, elves would be horrified at the sheer amount of wood I'm gonna have to go through, so that at least satisfies my dwarfish sensibilities.

Hmm...that reminds me.  How fast do trees grow back?  Gonna have to do more research...

[Nonsapient]

You'll be going through a LOT of trees.  Might want to embark on a volcano for the glas, thatd make it easier.  Good luck!


You could also try kobold camp, I guess.

[Some Internet Guy]

If you embark on a human town you get a lot of free constructions - and a billion logs from the structures you don't use.

Otherwise, this is going to be very, very slow going, slower even than you think, and you're gonna have to design pretty carefully to have a functional, secure fort in time for the first goblin/Titan attacks.

Aboveground forts are fun but the second and third years can be really seriously difficult.

[Dave Mongoose]

It's a fun challenge! Here are some things I've discovered from doing this kind of embark myself:

- Any stone that you trade for should be saved for mechanisms, buildings that need to be fire-safe, and smelting (if it's ore or flux). Mechanisms are the only thing that can be made of stone which can't be made from wood, and furnaces can't be built out of wood (for obvious reasons!).

- You won't be able to get much metal, even if you melt down everything the traders bring and request as much as you can; so be prepared to defend with traps and maybe ballistas. Don't wait long to build a town wall - you can always expand it later, but if you're not finished by the first siege then you're in trouble. A moat works well, but if water freezes in winter* in your biome then it's not enough on it's own.

*If water does freeze on your map, you will need to dig an underground cistern so you have water for the wounded. An above-ground cistern will still freeze, even if you put a roof over it.

- You'll need to do overground farming, so bring a herbalist or two (for collecting seeds), or enough food to last you until the elven caravan (although there is no guarantee they will bring seeds!). Fishing and hunting might also be useful to suppliment your food, and I wouldn't go with fewer than two woodcutters -having three or even four wouldn't hurt.

- You won't be exporting stone crafts, but cloth and glass (if you have sand) make good trade products. If you go with hunting and fishing or you bring livestock it will give you some leather and bone (which will be your only sources of armour unless you're importing a lot of metal), and if you're lucky enough to get hold of some Sunberry seeds you can sell Sunshine for quite good profit.

- Improving rooms is harder since you can't smooth or engrave - this can be helped a little by using blocks instead of logs for the walls (with the bonus of training up your carpenters), and if you sew images onto ropes dwarves can admire them in the same way as engravings.

- Embarking on a volcano would be very helpful (no need to burn so much wood for fuel, especially with all the melting you'll need to do), but you might also decide that it takes off too much of the challenge. Even having magma doesn't mean you can use it, though, since fire- and magma-safe materials will be hard to get.

It can get a bit repetitive (since you spend a lot of time laying out walls, etc.) so plan something interesting to work towards. Giving your fortress a real 'fort'- or 'town'-style layout can be fun, with streets and houses or dormitories.

Overall - good luck!

[monk12]

You may want to consider genning a world with caverns near the surface and embarking on a cave, since the cave may grant access to the caverns and all the Fun down there.

I personally tried this challenge on a map with a large waterfall, but unfortunately I lacked sand. I recommend throwing up wooden walls quickly after sketching out a "core" area, then building outward from there. Bear in mind that things rot quickly outside, so a wooden storeroom should be your first priority. For style points, embark with sand and try to make every construction out of glass blocks. I allowed miners to build ramps into murky pools, as I was in a rainforest, for the sole purpose of filling them with walls so I could build on top of them. I embarked in the rainforest because it was near a savanna, and thus had access to tasty elephants and all those fancy jungle war animals

If you go with the volcano route, remember that fire is very, very bad for aboveground forts, but once the walls are up magma traps are a great way to defend yourself without digging, and also allows for some interesting planning to operate without digging.

And as far as food goes, I ditched the anvil, medical supplies, plump helmets and underground crop seeds in exchange for the seeds of a dairy farm and a lot of milk to cheesify. Just remember not to cheese the milk until you have a place to keep the cheese from rotting. Cats are great for killing vermin and are a delicious source of food, leather, bones, and what have you, dogs are great for defense (and the rest). And of course, having your farmers on herbalist duty until you get enough seeds for some crops will get you through to that first caravan.