Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Syanas]

So I've been playing around with Dwarf Fortress for a week or two, and I always seem to restart after I get my 6th or 7th migrant wave with nothing better to do and no real need for a military or a hospital. So this time around, I want to embark on a site where danger is actually a real possibility.

I don't mean haunted/terrifying regions, I just mean places where attacks and raids may occur often enough that I'd need to keep a closer eye on my fortress than I do right now. Thing is, I don't know what I should look for in an embark site that gives me that.

Also, I find it incredibly hard to create a world where flux stones actually show up as a resource. The one place I did find flux stones was full of chalk, and not really anything useful for producing metals with. Any tips with that?

[FuzzyZergling]

You might want to try embarking near a tower to get zombie seiges.

[nenjin]

Also, I find it incredibly hard to create a world where flux stones actually show up as a resource. The one place I did find flux stones was full of chalk, and not really anything useful for producing metals with. Any tips with that?

Might want to check advanced world gen parameters. Someone who messes with that stuff more can probably tell you how to fool with layers so you can get a better chance at it.

Also, since you're new, have you used the site finder when you choose your embark site? You can specify some properties you want it to look for (like the presence of flux stone) and it will show you tiles that have it. Can take a while on a larger world with a ton of parameters set.

I get my 6th or 7th migrant wave with nothing better to do and no real need for a military or a hospital. So this time around, I want to embark on a site where danger is actually a real possibility.

You're simply not waiting long enough or doing enough dwarfy stuff (making things, digging.) Trouble comes when your fortress wealth increases to the point where it gets the attention of baby snatchers, goblin raiding parties and goblin sieges. Your time should be spent training a military and equipping them for the day they begin arriving. If you've genned multiple worlds, there's little possibility that goblins got wiped out. And in my experience, goblin will cross the whole freaking world to attack your fortress. You can check on the embark selection screen to see who your neighbors are at that site. If you see goblins and a red line...they'll be attacking you, at some point. Quicker if you're mass producing crafts or smoothing and engraving your walls.

Might want to also double check your d_init to make sure INVADERS: YES. I don't see to go longer than 2 years before I get some form of trouble. And that usually heralds the worse stuff.

Plus, it sounds like you haven't been down to the caverns? Dig down ~30-Z levels in an average world, and you hit the cavern layers. Those have animal-men and often forgotten beasts (that will pretty much ruin your fortress with deadly extracts and stuff. But hey, you wanted action.)

Also you can jack the savagery up when you generate a world to get far more wild beasts. Which can be plenty challenging if they're the right breed.

But in general, I think you're just getting a little impatient. Unless you're embarking on "Happy" regions, DF is pretty much set up to deliver a base level of fun and invasions and stuff. But at a lot of won't start happening until you've really developed your fortress wealth.

[Syanas]

Sounds reasonable enough. I never really went farther down than 20 z levels, because by then I had nothing left to build other than massive dorms.

[nenjin]

You can change the general # of z-levels in advanced world gen parameters, to have the cavern layers show up sooner. (Or have fewer cavern layers, yadda.)

Also embarking on a high elevation usually adds an extra 3 to 10 z-levels of stuff to dig through.

But yes. Making the caverns part of your fortress usually involves a long vertical staircase through tons and tons of rock.

[Garath]

if you use adv world gen you can set minerals a bit better. Chalk is actually pretty nice: it has bauxite, which I think is magma safe and has deposits of hematite. In short, it's an iron ore and magma safe stone containing layer of flux stone.

iron and flux is most common in sedimentary layers. Sedimentary layers are most common in areas with low volcanism. Fiddling with the volcanism settings (weight) so they're a bit lower will greatly increase the number of flux and iron embarks. I've had no flux occasionally, but Iron every time now. Going for areas with deep or very deep soil will increase chances, but also increases chances of finding aquifers.

I'm agreeing with nenjin on not being patient enough. I usually have so much going on still, preparing for the first siege, while I have a quarter of my fort at non stop training.... Well, I know I'll win, but it's definately not the cakewalk it is by year 8. I usually lose a dwarf or three due to ambushes anyway, but when the sieges start picking up pace, it can get messy. All the cages sprung, all the traps jammed and a rutherer standing on the bridge so I can't clean up.

And this is also one of the things you have to decide. How dificult will you make it for yourself? I can make as many as 4 pathways into the fort. One allows wagons but kills ambushes, one allows elf caravans but kills everything not trapavoid, one that kills everything that can't fly, one that kills everything that isn't magma safe. Though add some water and it kills everything. Setting it up is fun, no doubt about that, and it usually takes a very long time to make, but after that? So I limit my options myself. I have the caravan road always. The question is a dodge trap with spikes or weapon traps. One is a hassle to set up and has to manually operated, the other doesn't work against trapavoid creatures, neither works that well against flyers. I'm still almost guaranteed to win, but it might cost me a few dwarves when someone does break through.

You can do more, sure, that's why it's called a "challenge". There are dozens of challenges that ask you to limit yourself in one way or another. No danger room or other exploit, no building underground except dungeons, storage amd mining and make the living quarters and such above ground. Make an actual usefull siege battery. You name it, you find it.

[Syanas]

Did I mention I absolutely hate rivers and streams that aren't on the surface? I have no idea how to get water or fish from them without drowning my fort.

[Syanas]

Alright. I've had it up to here with rivers and brooks that aren't on the surface, and repeatedly trying to gain access to them only to have my fortress get flooded. Is there a way to view these rivers and brooks on pre embark and make sure they're on the surface? Relative elevation tab doesn't seem to do much at all, because when I actually do embark on what appears to be an entirely flat land, it ends up being a couple layers of cliff followed by a canyon and a river.

[nenjin]

As a perfectionist when it comes to my embark site, my first embark is always a test embark to see what the site finder can't really show you that well. It's an unfortunate part of DF's pre-game setup that it's not easier to do so....but losing is FUN, and all that.

Cntrl+Alt+Delete to shut the game down so you don't have to abandon at the site.

[Garath]

I embarked near a dark fortress, first siege in year 3, only 1 (huge) squad though.

[NTJedi]

So I've been playing around with Dwarf Fortress for a week or two, and I always seem to restart after I get my 6th or 7th migrant wave with nothing better to do and no real need for a military or a hospital. So this time around, I want to embark on a site where danger is actually a real possibility.

Try playing with a larger embarking site... if you're computer is strong enough.  I'm playing a 5X5 and my last siege was 75 goblins.

[slothen]

I had nothing left to build other than massive dorms.

impossible