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Author Topic: Bustballs the Savage Abbey of Justice (or What I Did Over Winter Break)  (Read 1435 times)

Urist McBeard

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Sup guys, long time lurker, first time poster, I got several ideas for the fort from here and thought I would share my experience.

I wanted to do the drunken masters thing, with all the unarmed combat skills, but read that archers would be a problem, so I with went misc. object user instead of wrestling. Embarked with 6 prof. teacher/prof. fighting skill, and a leatherworker/trader. Sold my anvil and bought tons of leather to armor them. I gave my masters names to reflect their starting skills (ex: Master, Way of the Badger for biting) and set them for year-round training. I set my migrants to mining, found tetrahedrite and had an anvil that fall. Things played out pretty well after that, I decided to go with a ~15z drop bridge for sieges (and elf traders), but mostly left the front gate open to train my military on scattered ambushes and snatchers.

The first strange thing I noticed about Bustballs was that the humans didn't show up my second year. I checked the civ screen, they weren't there, and I had a goblin drunk queen. I checked legends and saw that they consistently had goblin nobility for the past ~800 years and most of the art they produced was about dwarves getting maimed and killed by goblins. I vowed then that I would become the Mountain Home and arrange an "unfortunate accident" in the hopes a proper dwarf could take up the mantle. I fought through sieges, forgotten beasts (got lucky on these, only 1 that wasn't made of mud or something stupid), trog rushes, a duke with unreasonable demands (which I refuse to kill, him being the only living dwarven noble) and finally, six years after first striking the earth, the day came when I had only to make an offering to be graced with our Green Highness' presence. I decided to send the best gift I could think of, ~10k urists of the finest goblin bone crafts, harvested from my pit trap, including several figurines of my dwarves killing goblins, goblins slamming objects, and a historical dwarf killing a goblin, the first time I had seen any historical depiction of a dwarf having the upper hand. I knew I was ready.
That Winter was the largest siege yet, and I claimed the life of the goblin Law-Giver. When spring came around I fed more elves to the pit. As Summer began, the Queen appeared. I showed her to her quarters at the top of the 25z tower. I'm sure she was disappointed that it was just a 1x1 room, even though the grate on the floor provided a wonderful view of the open side of my pump stack. My duke then pulled the lever that was installed in his statue garden, sending her from the top of the world, to the magma sea. No matter what kind of !!FUN!! comes (or is unearthed), Bustballs the Savage Abbey of Justice has been a success.



In retrospect I should have brought some copper ore and an anvil, I was forced to use leather shields which suck, like, beating on an incapacitated yak for several months solid before giving up in disgust, suck. But the shield-fu worked pretty well, and it was neat to watch my dwarves charge a line of bow goblins, the first line of dwarves dodging and blocking arrows, and the next leaping ahead to continue the charge. But, I think next time I'd skip misc. object user, they hardly ever demonstrate it and it raises well enough from combat, and probably go with armor user. And anything bigger than a goblin will require metal shields, mighty dwarves, and a LOT of patience or luck.
Also, I still have no idea what happened to the humans, I double checked and they do have a civ there which is friendly, but I haven't seen them. My first two sieges came in the Summer, so maybe they absorbed the human civ? I don't know. But this was the first fort I used a real military for the most part instead of walls of traps. One siege slipped through a hole I forgot to close when I was digging a well, and I lost some recruits and scarred up my masters, I finally feel like I'm no longer a newb hiding behind an unbeatable defense.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Bustballs the Savage Abbey of Justice (or What I Did Over Winter Break)
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2012, 03:51:20 am »

I finally feel like I'm no longer a newb hiding behind an unbeatable defense.

You are now worthy of your title: Urist McBeard.

*Doves start exploding in a shower of blood*

Chilton

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Re: Bustballs the Savage Abbey of Justice (or What I Did Over Winter Break)
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2012, 03:55:32 am »

Aye. When You can build a Military, Youre Progressing.
But it isnt a Military until its a Military thats forced to be how YOU want it to be. My Military is always a scarred heap of vicious Wrestlers. Because I bloody well make them that. Youre still scrounging up what You can - Which, while it differentiates Ye from an Initiate, the next step is to Personalize!

In any case, it sounds like Youre running a decent Fort.

Ill also input, that despite My Military Strength, I tend to favor Traps. Because I... Like... Captives... Hehehehe.
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Lordraymond

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Re: Bustballs the Savage Abbey of Justice (or What I Did Over Winter Break)
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2012, 09:16:49 am »

On Crimsonhold, the first fort in a long time which has had iron, I'm trying a different approach than my normal "Battle-hardened squad of legendaries" approach.

All dwarves are drafted into squads of ten with a single weapon type per squad. Whichever dwarf has the most prior experience becomes squad leader, and preferred weapon styles are ignored. All squads are given full iron basics - hauberk, greaves, gauntlets, high boots, helms, and shields. I operate off of a ranking system, going from Conscript to Hero (and many ranks in between) based on kill count. Dwarves in the military get no time off and train 24/7. Trap use is mostly minimal, a short hall with alternating rows of cage and weapon traps, each with only one or two serrated discs.

I use this style because I like the feel of having a massive army of only so-so fighters, and with Fortress Defense I cycle through dwarves rather quickly. The idea of having fifty or so fresh-faced 'fighters' evolve into a small group of fifteen, ten, or sometimes even less battle-hardened warriors is more appealing than just having fifteen guys that train in small pairs and gain most of their skill out of actual combat.
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Urist McBeard

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Re: Bustballs the Savage Abbey of Justice (or What I Did Over Winter Break)
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2012, 12:56:32 pm »

You are now worthy of your title: Urist McBeard.

Thank you, sir. To show my appreciation of this title, I shall use it as my name as well.  ;D

[ . . . ] Youre still scrounging up what You can - Which, while it differentiates Ye from an Initiate, the next step is to Personalize!

In any case, it sounds like Youre running a decent Fort.

Ill also input, that despite My Military Strength, I tend to favor Traps. Because I... Like... Captives... Hehehehe.

Way ahead of ya there, I started with 6 teacher/fighters that were well seasoned training together and clearing the first cavern until I made each a "master" of their own "school", using squads and custom titles, so I would know which starting 6 to credit with the best fighters. They train all recruits in the ancient dwarven art of shield-fu, a brutal style that involves breaking all your opponents bones with shield bashes and then chewing their limbs until they give in to pain.
I like captives too, I use them for training my fortress crossbow guard.  :P

All dwarves are drafted into squads of ten with a single weapon type per squad. Whichever dwarf has the most prior experience becomes squad leader, and preferred weapon styles are ignored. All squads are given full iron basics - hauberk, greaves, gauntlets, high boots, helms, and shields. I operate off of a ranking system, going from Conscript to Hero (and many ranks in between) based on kill count. Dwarves in the military get no time off and train 24/7. Trap use is mostly minimal, a short hall with alternating rows of cage and weapon traps, each with only one or two serrated discs.

I use this style because I like the feel of having a massive army of only so-so fighters, and with Fortress Defense I cycle through dwarves rather quickly. The idea of having fifty or so fresh-faced 'fighters' evolve into a small group of fifteen, ten, or sometimes even less battle-hardened warriors is more appealing than just having fifteen guys that train in small pairs and gain most of their skill out of actual combat.

Congrats on finding the most elusive of metals! I still consider myself lucky if the goblins bring it. lol
How do you determine what weapon a squad gets? Just luck of the draw? (A high master mace fighter? Well, let's hope you pull mace squad out of the hat!)
I like your idea of a ranking system, I may use that in a future fort.
Skills train MUCH faster through actual combat. For a while I had those perfect 3 man spar-squads, but still ended with better gains fighting trogs. Another thing I noticed, sparring doesn't increase biting, only demonstrations and combat. I agree, it feels pretty awesome to see your scarred veterans becoming expert teachers passing on what they learned the hard way.
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