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Author Topic: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05 Be glad its not evil.  (Read 34345 times)

LordBucket

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #15 on: April 10, 2012, 06:19:33 am »

The reign of LordBucket, part 4

8 Limestone

Ashmon was carried to the hospital, but got bored waiting around for diagnoses and is back in the barracks training with her upper body still torn open. I took our doctor off mining duty so he could give her a proper diagnosis, but I think he's too scared of her to get close. The bloody gashes on her legs have healed to just dents and bruises. Hopefully the upper boy wounds will heal as well. I've ordered that she train without the spikes at Fenrir's suggestion. It sounded like she grumbled something about "pathetic, wimpy mothers of elves interfering with her training" but it's possible I might have misheard. I've decided not to press her on the matter.

15 Limestone

Fishybang informed me that he was unable to continue brewing our last 2 out of 5 plump helmets from the harvest. This vexes me somewhat, as we have less than half the food and alcohol we arrived with. It seems we have a number of only partially full barrels, as well as one completely empty barrel that he simply refuses to use.

Fishybang: "It doesn't smell right."

LordBucket: "What do you mean?"

Fishybang: "I'm making quality wine, here. You can't expect me to make wine in a barrel that was used for beer. It would come out all funny."

I attempt to juggle with stockpiles and reissue brewing orders, but Fishybang refuses to make more wine. Eventually I simply allocate a few more of our dwindling logs to make barrels. Caravans are usually good about bringing wood in reasonable quantities. If we ever get one, I'm going to request a whole forest worth.   

The lack of wood is very much a nuisance. I've never understood why some like wood scarcity. Sieges, demons, glaciers, magma...sure. But having to micromanage individual barrels for things like this isn't either kind of fun.

22 Limestone
I've come to a startling conclusion. Remember when I mentioned that Ashmon was training naked? It seems that every dwarf in the entire fortress is naked. Including myself. It's slightly disturbing that this has gone unnoticed for so long.

Fishybang: "What's the big deal? We've all got beards."

LordBucket: "I suppose, but how did we not notice this while trudging through the snow for two weeks?"

Fishybang: *shrugs* " Beards are warm."

23 Limestone



 * Besmar Glideinky, adequate shield and armor user, competant thrower and striker
 * Vabok Ducimluk, skilled axedwarf, adequate shield/armor/dodge
 * Zad Ketosid, Competant mechanic, competent thrower, adequate shield and armor user
 * Ervad Razorlove, highmaster tracker, skilled axedwarf, adequate shield/armor/dodge
 * Ustuth Copperhsades, competant furnace operator, competant axedwarf
 * Thebum Hallforested, competant swordsdwarf

Sure enough, the immigrants bring no clothing with them. Curiously, those skilled with weapons and armor also bring no weapons and armor. Simply a few pieces of wool jewelry.

Fenrir: "I notice that one of the newcomers is a mechanic. Shall I hand over that work to him?"

LordBucket: "No, your skills are roughly equal, but he has fighting experience. I think I'll draft him into the military."

Actually, I induct all the newcomers into our militia and set them to training. They all have military skills and nothing else that's useful. Besides which, we don't have much else for them to do. No trees to cut, no wood or metal to craft, no ore to smelt, no fuel to smelt with if we did, no spare picks for mining, and not enough food and seeds to keep our existing food industry workers occupied. We could use another mason. But only to mass produce stone blocks for a more aesthetically pleasing perimeter wall. And as is we don't even have spaced cleared to use the blocks we have.

That brings our total population to 19 dwarves, with 7 out of 15 adults in the military. I've also ordered the expansion of our barracks to give them more room to train, as well as an official dining room. No more eating in the hallway.



28 Limestone
Fenrir begins filling our rampways with traps. It's inefficient because of the 4-way design but the surface is unlikely to be sufficiently cleared to create any kind of unified chokepoint within the year of my reign.

Also, with so little farmwork to do, Eshtan has expressed interest in making stonecrafts to clear our hallways. I allow it.


17 Sandstone
At last the top level of surface leveling has been completed, and I order the next level to be similarly cleared.





Note that this is obviously not the entire level. But rather, simply an area large enough to allow a reasonably sized keep to sit on top of the fortress proper. I imagine this keep as housing barracks full of soldiers, watch towers, ballistae and trap tunnels. Perhaps repeating spike traps and magma or water chambers.

However, this will also not happen during my current reign. I know not what future Overseers will choose to do. I can only prepare the land for them as best as I'm able.

14 Timber

Prepared food supplies have dropped into the single digits, so I've ordered the slaughter of a lamb that one of our recent immigrants brought. The farm has been running for months now, but no one amongst us knew anything about farming. So for the first few harvests each seed produced only a single mushroom, which could in turn produce only a single seed.

I've been micromanaging the process. Brewing individual plump helmets as soon as they're harvested to reclaim the precious seed to be replanted. It's important that we brew them, as when they're made into food the seeds are only reclaimed after the meal is eaten. That could take too long.

It's a bit of a hassle, but our seed stock is growing. From 5 up to 8, now. Unfortunately the lack of barrels can hinder the process too. It's all a terrible nuisance, but it is survivable provided we're careful.

15 Timber

Ahh, most excellent timing.

The month following the arrival of the caravan was a mad rush to get as much trading done as possible. While we didn't get even half the things I wanted, we did manage to trade a sizable pile of stone mechanisms and crafts for:

 * Roughly 150 assorted food items
 * A couple barrels of booze
 * A couple empty barrels
 * A copper halbard
 * One bar of iron
 * Four metal cages
 * Some plaster for the hospital
 * About 15 pieces of wood
 * A couple assorted cape and cloaks
 * About 15 pieces of leather

We'd have come away with a lot more except that most of the mechanisms made by Fenrir over the past year were used in the stonefall traps ordered just over a month ago. Despite resuming manufacture as soon as the caravan arrived, we only managed to trade away only 14 of them. We did also have two craft workshops contributing crafts to export, but they don't sell for much.

In any case, I feel our trades have been adequate. Would have liked more wood and leather. Would have liked more weapons. But there will be another year, and to that end I've requested lots of wood and leather, as well as some food, barrels, and other assorted items.

20 Opal
Following the mad frenzy of trading was a mad frenzy of everyone on hauling duty rushing to get food into stockpiles to prevent it from rotting. I am pleased to say that not a single piece of food rotted. Though I'm unsure whether that's due to our efforts or the chilly environment.

Strip mining efforts resume. Both from the top as well as some clearing closer to our entrance in hopes of putting up a fully enclosed perimeter wall. Additionally, some minor redesigns and rearrangements have taken place. Most notably, the barracks has been moved above ground to delay the onset of cave adaptation in our military by compelling them to trudge through the sun and snow every time they want a drink.



My time as Overseer is soon coming to a close, and my mind has shifted gears somewhat to prevent any overambitious projects that will unduly drain the time and attentions of my successor.

22 Opal

At last we have found metal bearing ores. Tin and gold. Neither of which can be used for armor crafting. I'm not one who demands iron or steel, but without even copper, the future of our military will be greatly compromised. We may yet find more ores as we dig deeper, but I suspect that our descent is still quite some time away. The future of this fortress is likely to depend entirely on the construction skills of my successors.

Also, Fenrir has taken a break from his trap laying efforts to craft some basic leather armor for our militia. It's good that they are now somewhat protected. But it does seem strange that our military are the only dwarves amongst us wearing any clothes. We went months without noticing our nakedness. Now that some few of us wear clothes, it stands out.

1 granite



These part few months have rushed by, but it is time for me to hand off rule of this fortress to our next Overseer, Vanaheimer. Much was accomplished during my reign, but much remains to be done.

Let us review our current situation.


The main entrance to our fortress of Hellfire lays sandwiched between our former basecamp above, and the fortress proper below.



The area surrounding that entrance, and the glacial mountain of ice surrounding it have been greatly dug out, but years of digging remain before the area is completely leveled. In this next year we should expect a dark strangler siege. Nothing dangerous. Our current militia should be sufficiently trained to handle it. I think it would not be a mistake to continue strip mining the entire area down to the level of our entrance, but doing so will take considerable time and dwarfpower. Perhaps between one and two more years. The difficulty this presents is that while it will be of great benefit in the long run, and we're in no particular danger right now...in the reign of the overseer following Vanaheimer, there may be tigermen bearing copper weapons and armor. These tigermen will have the strength to inflict terrible casualties upon our present army. If no solution for our lack of fuel and armor resources is found, then we cannot depend on our military to stop them.

While the continuation of massive and indiscriminate strip mining will be very helpful, I strongly advise the next Overseer to complete a fully enclosable perimeter wall with a defensible chokepoint, even if doing so involves a completely temporary construction that will simply be dismantled in another year after the strip mining is complete. If tigermen come bearing copper, such a construction would greatly facilitate our survival. I have laid out a number of traps on the rampways. It's possible they, along with our military might be sufficient to repel the next few sieges. It's possible they might not. I advise against taking the chance.





Our original basecamp is nearly abandoned. All that remains is a few stockpiles, the trading depot and our barracks, which benefits from the location. As described above, I envision this entire area to be strip mined out of existence eventually.





And finally, the fortress proper. As you see, it is very scarce. I have focused on the essentials: food, alcohol, and defense. There remains gems and ore in those walls, and my design intentions have been to completely mine out the level, smooth and engrave it over, and build a city grid out of constructed walls. The basics of the grid are visible, though at present there is a mix of natural and constructed walls.




Final stats:


And so ends the reign of LordBucket in year one of Hellfire. I believe I have given a worthy start to this fortress in the snow. But now, it is in your hands.

Year 1 complete file download location: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=6144

Vanaheimer

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #16 on: April 10, 2012, 11:17:49 am »

Downloading the save now.

edit:

Is there the slightest rhyme or reason to the stockpiles in the middle of corridors? Or workshops in the middle of corridors? O_o
« Last Edit: April 10, 2012, 01:59:14 pm by Vanaheimer »
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Vanaheimer

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #17 on: April 10, 2012, 04:10:28 pm »

Spring, Year 162, Reign of Fenrir The Mechanic, Part 1.

What is this? "Lord" Bucket came to me at work and, without preamble, handed over command of the fort to me! Me!
Overseer! Mark my words, this will *not* end well. However, I shall do my best for as long as I am able.

My first act was to begin exploratory mining on the first several levels beneath the main fortress. All we have and gold and
cassiterite. Gold is wonderful stuff, but you can't eat it and it's too soft for making proper weapons or armour. All the
miners have found so far is *more* gold and cassiterite, marble, and olivine. The marble will be useful if we ever happen
to find some iron, but as of yet there is no sign.

One the 16'th of Slate I recieved quite a shock.... migrants! I wonder why they would come to this place? We have little food
or drink and our defences are realtively weak. Ah well, many hands make light work.

Wait... how many?!? Our population now totals 50. FIFTY.
And the new guys are puking EVERYWHERE. You'd think walking all this way would cure them of their cave adaptation,
but no. That might just make sense. (OOC:If anyone wants a dwarf, have at it. We've got plenty.)


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gonna take a break whilst I try and figure out how to deal with the doubling of my population...
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ccoolleeiiss

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #18 on: April 10, 2012, 07:10:25 pm »

hey, could someone dorf me? I would help, but i have never made a fort that lasted more than 2 years and wasn't subsequently destroyed by the simplest of goblin seiges.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2012, 07:17:33 pm by ccoolleeiiss »
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And then did ARMOK say, the east is the holiest of directions, and thou shouldst not stand there lest thou be strucketh down by my holiest of beards. And then did the dorfs did say, we shall build from the west, for more do we fear the beard of ARMOK than the strike of the elephant.

Corai

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #19 on: April 10, 2012, 07:26:17 pm »

Dark Stranglers, the demons of today.

Dark stranglers have plauged the dwarves since the era of time, from stealing children to eating our corpses. Our
war is never-ending, peace has never dawned. This new fortress, HellFire, is our sucide-hole, its genius. Send those that dont support the war! They will die at the hands of the stranglers! When there dead, the stranglers will do there move, send in butchers to mass-produce, then we strike! Heheheheh......fools......Be wary of them, liason, should they learn they will hold you captive, make use of your intelligence, make a profit, and keep them alive until the dark-stranglers arrive.


This was found, dropped by the trade liason, it is ripped and tattered and words are unlegiable, few can be read. CoraiUnki gave this to Lordbucket on the arrival of the liason.


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Jacob/Lee: you have a heart made of fluffy
Jeykab/Bee: how the fuck do you live your daily life corai
Jeykab/Bee: you seem like the person who constantly has mini heart attacks because cuuuute

Vanaheimer

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #20 on: April 10, 2012, 07:42:19 pm »

hey, could someone dorf me? I would help, but i have never made a fort that lasted more than 2 years and wasn't subsequently destroyed by the simplest of goblin seiges.

Miner, Jeweller, Clothier, Child, Metalworker, Surgeon, Farmer, or Soldier?
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ccoolleeiiss

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #21 on: April 10, 2012, 08:09:01 pm »

i think my physical prowess would best serve me as a soldier, protector of the mountainhomes!
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And then did ARMOK say, the east is the holiest of directions, and thou shouldst not stand there lest thou be strucketh down by my holiest of beards. And then did the dorfs did say, we shall build from the west, for more do we fear the beard of ARMOK than the strike of the elephant.

Vanaheimer

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #22 on: April 10, 2012, 08:12:26 pm »

i think my physical prowess would best serve me as a soldier, protector of the mountainhomes!

Done.
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LordBucket

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #23 on: April 10, 2012, 11:13:34 pm »

Is there the slightest rhyme or reason to the stockpiles in the
middle of corridors? Or workshops in the middle of corridors?

Short answer:
Standard practice in the early years of grid based fortress layouts. It's generally faster and more efficient to use corridors as staging areas.

Long answer:
1) They have to go somewhere. Where else would you put them? Space is at a premium right now, and the miners have more important things to do than carve out dedicated workshop and stockpile space that would just end up full of stone from the mining anyway. Like I described in part 2, between this image and this was was a month of dedicated mining by three miners. That space was carved out to put the farm, and I knew the irrigation project was going to take several months. With limited food and booze, it really didn't make sense to spend another month carving out space for workshops when I could just dump them in the corridors. At one point we were down to the single digits in food. That extra month to make space to put workshops might have resulted in the entire fortress starving to death.

2) Mining out those hallways generated stone. You'll notice that most of those workshops use stone. If stone is going to be used for crafts, mechanisms, blocks, etc. you may as well put the workshops where the stones are rather than put them somewhere else and carry the stone to them.

3) Once workshops are in place in corridors, they start using up the stone nearby. Consequently, if there are no stone stockpiles, the more things are made, the further the craftsdwarves have to go each time to get their next stone. Putting stockpiles right next to the workshops means that it's haulers moving the stone rather than your valuable craftsdwarves.

4) The fortress isn't done. Odds are good none of these things you're complaining about will be there in another year or two, but the area they'll eventually be hasn't been carved out yet. I gave you screenshots. Take a look at the progression. For example. this image shows what that area  looked like when I first carved it out. The corridors were the most reasonable place to put these things. The space was available, and there was no reason to not use it. The only alternatives were to leave those workshops on the surface (bad for defense) and to carry stone to them (very time and labor intensive) or to simply not have them at all and wait another month or two to create dedicated space to put them. There was no reason to do either. 3-wide is enough room for a workshop, and  in fact, that's one of the benefits of having three wide corridors in a city grid. Sure, it eliminates traffic congestion, but it also gives you room to put things as you grow your fortress. You'll notice from the first image in part two showed that by our second week we had a basecamp with several workshops in it. Those workshops are all gone now, but it took time to make space to place them underground. It would be silly to look at the fortress during the first few months and complain that the workshops were in a temporary space aboveground. It's just as silly to complain about temporary workshops in hallways now.

3) Sometimes when placing buildings, the job will fail because stone is in the way. Filling hallways with stone stockpiles generally moves stone out of spaces that are going to be used. For example, you'll notice that between this image and this one, most of the stone in the farm area has been removed. Where did it go? Into the hallways where it doesn't cause problems. And over time as the current stockpiles are depleted, haulers will move loose stones out of the more recently dug bedrooms and dining room too.

4) In terms of aesthetics, I find stone in corridors preferable to having stone everywhere. Random stones in bedrooms, the constant blinking effect of everything on top of stone...it looks bad. Corridors are a good place for stone.

5) Quantum stockpiling is an option that solves some of the above issues, and if you look, you'll see that we do have one just north of the "future peasant housing" area. But manually marking each and every single stone out of hundreds for dumping takes a long time. Designating stone stockpiles takes a tiny fraction of the keypresses, and since there are hallways pretty much everywhere, it's usually a shorter trip for your haulers than if you designate a couple quantum stockpiles for the entire level.

Ahrimahn

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #24 on: April 11, 2012, 01:05:21 am »

Can I be Dorfed and get set up for a turn? This seems like it will be every kind of fun to play.

Azhtabak

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #25 on: April 11, 2012, 12:19:16 pm »

Could I request a turn in this please? It looks quite interesting.

Also, @LordBucket: Could you not just mass-designate all the stone for dumping?
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Aseaheru

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #26 on: April 11, 2012, 02:11:18 pm »

can i get dwarfed?
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Vanaheimer

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #27 on: April 11, 2012, 10:10:19 pm »

Sorry guys, I don't know why but the save file is bringing my computer to it's knees ???

I don't know what exactly is causing it but it's making my entire computer run slowly if I open it, not just DF. I won't be able to finish my turn  :-[
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Corai

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #28 on: April 11, 2012, 10:11:42 pm »

Sorry guys, I don't know why but the save file is bringing my computer to it's knees ???

I don't know what exactly is causing it but it's making my entire computer run slowly if I open it, not just DF. I won't be able to finish my turn  :-[


Quite alright, may be your computer's specs.
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Jacob/Lee: you have a heart made of fluffy
Jeykab/Bee: how the fuck do you live your daily life corai
Jeykab/Bee: you seem like the person who constantly has mini heart attacks because cuuuute

Vanaheimer

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Re: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05-Overseers needed!-
« Reply #29 on: April 11, 2012, 10:18:21 pm »

Sorry guys, I don't know why but the save file is bringing my computer to it's knees ???

I don't know what exactly is causing it but it's making my entire computer run slowly if I open it, not just DF. I won't be able to finish my turn  :-[


Quite alright, may be your computer's specs.

Probably, it's an old computer. Still annoying though, I enjoy writing.
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