My most unique happy time was the 40d fortress where I finally had two marksdwarves become elite from properly guarding my fortress's naturally formed courtyard against goblins and orcs (modded in). My happy horde of semi-naked Dwarves spent their idle times in outdoor roofed-in statue gardens flanking the courtyard. Their only clothing was silk socks and leather shoes, although admittedly they usually wore both socks on one foot. The forges were fully a part of the rest of the fortress, because the fortress was next to a volcano. Unlike our present volcanos, volcanos in 40d had irregularities in their tubes, allowing taps to be taken off at levels other than at the top. There was a drainable water-filled moat fed by a stream which passed before the courtyard, and a roofed, enclosed fishing area over the stream accessible from underground. The residences were arranged as a tower carved from the spire whose lower face curved around to form the courtyard. It was a fortress that pleased me immensely overall, but the elite marksdwarves were the most unique feature of it for me. I seldom used a military defense in 40d, and never do so now that archers have gone through so many uncertain changes.
Good news, Slink! Markdwarves had improved considerably since DF 2010. (Trust me, I know - I started with 2010, and they were a FREAKING PAIN to deal with. Where should I start? How you had to make sure that you specified material for crossbows before they trained at the ranges? Where the material selection for their bolts didn't matter? Where they often failed to pick up bolts, and just ended up charging the enemy?)
The changes in 2012 (up to now, anyways), that I've oberved:
- They're much smarter about using training bolts and combat bolts. Downside is that, when you issue an order for stationing or a kill order, they sometimes take a while swapping out their ammo, but that's life.
- They train up quite easily now - nowhere near the headache with archery ranges from before. Though that's still not the optimal way to do it - I've done tests with marksdwarf training, comparing experience gain per bolt fired. Results showed that they gain experience at least five times faster shooting at live targets than at constructed ones, as well as a correspondingly different rate in physical and soul stat gain. The best way to get them to train, is to make a room with a one-wide corridor your trainees can move through, a fortification forming one wall of the hallway, and a large, open area beyond the fortification, above which is a mass-pitting area for your target voulenteers. Just make sure that you keep anyone inside from getting close to the fortification, or make sure to take away their bows. Not their armor though! You want them to live for a little while. Then build a bridge that spans the whole target room so that you can atom smash everything left behind (after picking through it for meltable shmutz), send in your targets, and tell your trainees to patrol back and forth in that one-wide hallway.
- Which brings me to the last bit - marksdwarves will run from combat and reload if they run out of ammo, and will even do so on occasion when there's a valid path from them to whatever they're shooting at; they seem to do this more often when they're attacking with a station command, not a kill command. They won't sit on their ass, or go charging out suicidally. All the time, anyways.
- Oh - and it seems every .34 fort that I've made ends up getting a grand/talented/etc archer in their 4-6th wave, usually with Hunter or Ranger as their job title. It takes little work to polish these gems into elite marksdwarves.
Anyways, my two most favorite moments are kind of tied... the first is simple: the first fort that I successfully made a magma pump stack in. The second is a little more complex, and takes a little bit of explaining...
So I got a siege in my tenth year that was increadibly potent. 10 squads of baddies, including four troll squads, goblin axemen, rutherers, gobo master archers... and the leader of their civilization, a great, demon lord made of living obsidian that breathed fire (I think in the form of some kind of insect), whose first name was "Master." Naturally enough, I panicked - but I didn't panic too much, since I had a specially made cave-in trap for this kind of thing. I double checked everything, got my crossbowmen into position... then I noticed something really, really bad...
I had forgotten to deconstruct the up-stair next to the support.
I didn't have time to tear it down, so I instead hastily channeled out a moat before my doors and locked myself in. Meanwhile, they happily milled outside the front gates as the trolls were tearing it down.
Around this time, one of my masons became possessed, and ran gibbering off in the direction of my workshop floor. I put it out of my mind and started working on plan B.
Plan B was multi-part. My fort design had a central hallway with sealable entry-ways branching off of it. Each had two sets of doors, in between which was a lever-controlled bridge that spanned a channeled out 8-z drop. I sealed every one of these, then started mining out a new 'room,' consiting of a 20x30x2 block of solid rock, suspended on little more than four little support pillars. I carved out an entry way into the room, carved a long hallway at the other end that let out into my fort, and sent my 'butler' to let in my 'guests.'
My 'guests' were very anxious to be entertained; the demon and his giant 60+ entourage steamed into my hallway, 'thanked' my 'butler' at length, then began a leisurly walk into my base, through my new 'room.' In the meantime, my dwarves were clustered around a single lever (using burrows and alarms), though my one possessed mason remained back in the workshops. (More about him in a moment). I waited until the Master and the bulk of his army was under the 'roof' of my brand new 'room,' then dropped the giant slab of granite on top of them.
It had the usual results.
As my military was mopping up the stragglers left behind, I was pleased to see that my mason had completed his project without going insane! Eager to see my new treasure, I punched up its description; below is to the best of my memory, the description of the artifact.
This is an obsidian armor stand. All craftsmanship is of the highest quality. The armor stand is adorned with hanging strips of red pig-tail fiber. The armor stand menaces with spikes of red spinel. On the armor stand is an image of Litast (something something), god of Storms and Smiting, represented by a male dwarf, and dwarves in obsidian. Litast is surrounded by the dwarves. The dwarves are kneeling. Litast is smiling. On the armor stand is an image of the Master and dwarves in obsidian. The Master is in the fetal position. The dwarves are laughing. This image relates to the slaying of the Master in 285.
I spent the next five years creating a giant cathedral to Litast, who had obviously sent me a vision of his power and favor, out of red-gem windows and obsidian blocks.[/list]
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Topic: What is the biggest "win" you have ever experienced in dwarf fortress? (Read 10442 times)