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[joeclark77]

In other news, the black-diamond FB has disappeared from the unit list.  I wonder if it left the map or perhaps it wandered to a part of the caverns I have no view of...

[Cheedows]

We'll have to tell UristTheGrey when it's his turn to pick someone else...
Bury Chaosgear as requested, I guess.  You can wait FB's out?

[chaosgear]

Wat.
Glad to see my plans and traps are being put to good use...
BUT ARMOK HELP YOU IF I DON'T GET PUT TO REST IN MY UNDERWATER TOMB

[Cheedows]

Just checked, it's listed as wilderness apparently.  Probably a nearby necrotower

[chaosgear]

Just checked, it's listed as wilderness apparently.  Probably a nearby necrotower

The necrotower is pretty freaking close. It's the only reason necromancers would show up in year two.
It's like we're getting the full haunted biome treatment, though.

[joeclark77]

22 limestone:  Out of nowhere, the forgotten beast appeared within the walls of lower whimcrafted.  Zubb died first.  He fired two bolts, two hits, chipping the monster, before he was killed.  As the beast is ravaging our livestock, I have ordered every able-bodied male dwarf to attack with whatever weapons they can get their hands on.

27th limestone:  Many are dead.  Now there are zombies within the upper fort.  (I'm guessing the FB got into the upper fort and destroyed one of the locked doors that were keeping the zombies out, then came down the stairs.)

11th sandstone:  The forgotten beast was finally slain by Melbil D, our brewer, who got a lucky bite on the monster's right front foot and then pummelled it into pieces with a *naked mole dog bone crossbow* until the myriad chips and fractures became too much and the beast was shattered.  I'm proud to say that I, the doctor, managed to fracture one of the creature's toes before dying.  All named dwarves are dead (although Mooglit's ghost is still awake).  All male adults are dead.  Six female adults, four children, and three babies are still alive, for now.  All zombies have evaporated save for two (I don't know why or how) and they appear to be leaving.  I am dead.  Thus ends my turn.

[joeclark77]

So, UTG, the good news is... you get a turn and a half.  And apparently the plump helmet crop is ripe for harvest.
You know the bad news!

I leave it up to UTG whether you want to continue this fort, or re-wind to the end of Chaosgear's turn and start over.  Basically we were over confident about our abilities to colonize the caverns at this stage (with no weapons, armor, or ore to speak of).  If you continue from my save, the advantage is I've found the malachite ore and have designated stairs down to the magma so you will be able to get forges going pretty quick (once you assign the survivors to mining LOL!).  The fort is still insecure, so you're going to want to re-architect the upper fort.  I was about to add more z-levels to the walls sealing off the lower fort in case of fliers, but didn't get around to it (notice the up-stair near the south wall in the screenshot -- that was going to be the start of a scaffold).

If you re-start from chaosgear's save, I would just wall off the rampway to the caverns entirely (yes, sacrificing access to the wonderful reservoir for now) and play a more conservative game.  Cage traps everywhere for zombies.  And given the frequency of re-animations, I'd build a bigger refuse pile underground rather then let anything sit on the surface.

My save will be up soon in case anybody wants to read those combat logs and despair.

[joeclark77]

Savefile here:  http://sdrv.ms/12wcdLi

[zubb2]

Awww balls I died.

I've never had to realy fight FBs before, I usualy play turtle.

Other than that webber that made me abandon.

Waiting to see how this one ends.

[Randy Gnoman]

Woah.  That got ugly.

EDIT:  Okay, I've been looking at the save file, and I really think we should move back up to upper whimcrafted, and seal the 2*2 staircase. 

There's actually no defensive advantage to being lower down at this stage.  For one thing, we built a staircase from upper whimcrafted directly into the heart of lower whimcrafted- so invaders have a slightly longer trip, but face no traps (they'll bypass the road since they have access to a shorter route.

It's also a risky place to live:  fortunately, a giant frog and a giant olm are currently all the cave monsters down there- besides forgotten beasts.  But as soon as they leave the map, we're exposed to troglodytes, cave crocodiles, or whatever else happens along.

I've also figured out where this problem started:  SOMEONE cleared out the shrine to Katthir.  Did you think I was accidentally filling that chamber with forbidden loot?  This is obviously an act of divine retribution.  We need to provide some more offerings (I think a few of the artifacts will do) and reseal the shrine for good.

[Cheedows]

CHEEDOWS! YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY FIRST AND BEST FEMALE AVATAR. 
That was pretty gruesome... I think the lack of trees really cripple us.  How did the FB even get in?

[joeclark77]

Woah.  That got ugly.

EDIT:  Okay, I've been looking at the save file, and I really think we should move back up to upper whimcrafted, and seal the 2*2 staircase. 

TBH, I think either one is as good as the other.  The main problem is that there's no good place to put traps or marksdwarves or animals, because there's no entrance hallway.  The drawbridge opens immediately into the round chamber below the surface, with way too many doors and hatches into the other parts of the fort.  If I were to play again, I'd totally re-architect those upper levels as well as walling off the lower ones.  As for traps, chaosgear's atom-smasher plan was a good creative idea, but a plain old fashioned hallway full of cage traps is a tried and proven method. 

If you choose to stay in the lower fort, I think it could also be managed.  Instead of trying to wall off the uncivilized parts of the caverns with multi-z walls as I had previously suggested, I now think it would be easier to simply build a ceiling over those parts of the lower fort that are exposed to the sky.  Then wall off the top of the 2x2 stair shaft.  Then, with everyone safe in the lower fort, you can use the one drawbridge (visible in the screenshot) to control access, and build your cage traps around it.  How to get immigrants and traders in safely is an exercise left to the reader.

[joeclark77]

How did the FB even get in?

I believe it came up the "rampway" to upper whimcrafted and broke through a locked door on the first subterranean level.  The locked doors had been keeping the zombies out, and I noticed zombies in the fort at the time of the attack.  From there it would have come right down the stair-shaft to lower whimcrafted.  This is only a guess.

[Randy Gnoman]

The doors are still in place, so it seems more likely that a thief came and picked the lock.

Such a circuitous route would not be necessary to gain access to lower Whimcrafted:  the drawbridge protecting the fort from the south appears to have been left open, and the walls protecting it from the west were not complete, so any creature capable of swimming could get in from the south or west.  And given that the lake is full of forgotten beast extract, I would say that's probably where it came from.

On the "good news" front:  I've been tinkering with the save, and it does look like the fortress is totally salvageable. 

[Cheedows]

So now we wait for Urist the Grey...