Let's see... Ice (at least in .31 times, not sure about .34.x) has a tendency to not properly create up/down-stair connections, and you may have to (b)uild/(c)onstruct the tile accordingly. (Which you can do so out of ice. Making everything on the surface out of raw ice that you've mined out blow is satisfying, anyway.)
In my experience, surface farming is impossible and that's probably due to the temperature of the area. You can often find soil immediately below the glacial blocks (or I do, anyway, it'll depend on your general embark area qualities, aside from the glacier, I suspect) but opening them up to the sky never gives any valid planting orders, even with surface-plant seeds. Stick with the subterranean crops (by not opening them up to the sky). If you don't find soil, then normal underground irrigation methods apply. (See also water source, next item down.)
For water, dig wells into the first cavern lake you find. Or use whatever water-gathering methods you might already use, but following is my general well-sinking plan:
- Find your lake. Exploration shafts (up/down stairwells) should hit caverns. With any luck, on the roof (then dig open at least one tile N, S, E or W of that and then construct an up-stairwell on the final up-down), but if into the side of a cavern work otu whether you want to walk in there, yet, or not and extend/close the shaft accordingly.
- When you know of a lake tile you want to build your well over, and where above that you want your well (assuming it's not directly in the cavern ceiling) set mining towards the shaft zone in the last rock layer as well as at the top end. Do not puncture the ceiling of the cavern at this stage!
- Set a vertical column of channel-digging designations from the top end until just above that lower access. Let a dwarf take the channelling job. He'll dig out each in turn and fall 1Z (never seen any injuries from that, although is stunned each time) and then proceed with the next channel-designation down. If it's a long shaft (30+Z?) make sure the miner isn't already hungry/thirsty, but shouldn't matter too much. Once the dwarf is at least a level down, you can get the well-head designated for construction.
- When they break into the last (non-cavern) level, they can escape via that lower access route. If you like to keep things tidy (or reclaim the minerals that are there), set to be dumped the accumulated remains of the well-shaft digging. Or selected items from that, if you're not too bothered with the rest.
- When happy, set to channel that final floor to open into the cavern roof. This task will be safely accomplished from the side of the opening-to-be and will drop no (additional, undumped/claimed) rocks into the water below. The well (if already built) is now active. Assuming that there's not a tree growing (submerged) at that particular point in the 1Z-deep lake.
- You can close the lower side-tunnel up with a wall. But you might like (just before you do) to put a 1x1 retracting bridge across the final channel opening, and link it to a lever. That way you can shut it off if it looks like flying wildlife or other threats of a flying nature might want to randomly path into your wellshaft. Otherwise, congratulations, you have a water source!
Later on, I set up wells into artificially-dug cisterns that I can fill by tapping the sides of underground lakes, with systems of floodgates and the like to allow safer water abstraction still. But this is also not specific to glacial embarks, either.
I often find the biggest wildlife dangers (aside from zombie versions of your typical tundra-grazers) are Yeti. Rarely will they deliberately track towards a victim with much sense of purpose, but they may come close and then 'go wild'. As your surface is going to be even less useful (maybe a spot on the edge with trees, at the most) then a semi-isolationist policy is probably going to be preferable, anyway, with trader/migrant entrances barred by your usual methods whenever not needed. Doubles up as invader-protection, not that I've had that many invaders in such embarks.
Really, apart from the overground farming impossibility and the water issues, then I've never really considered glacial embarks to be much worse than normal. Perhaps a tree-deficit (also solved by finding the caverns, and harvesting them directly or let the resulting tree-growth in your own fortress areas sustain your need), and as well as being low on invasion civilisations, nearby, it might impact some of the traders (who would be another source of wood, but maybe can't be relied upon).
And I haven't tried
any of this under .34.x, so such knowledge as it was might be a tad out of date.
I'd generally advise against totally new players starting on glaciers, but that's because there are enough problems without adding the few additional glacial embarkation issues to one of the first games they're playing. Anyone who has had a few forts under their belt will probably find neutrally-aligned glaciers less challenging than (even in pre-.34 times) embarking in an evil, but temperate, area. Except that if you rely a lot on harvesting ground plants, in the early embarkation stages, then be prepared to lose that advantage. (OTOH, you're absolutely guaranteed a way through an aquifers, if you are Ok opening a Mohole from the surface down to that layer, freezing the edges up.)
But the only real way to find out is to give it a go.
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Topic: Glacier Survival Guide (Read 6164 times)