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Should I do another Fortress?

No, this topic is lame, and you are lame.
Heck yes, another merchant fortress, but no diseases this time.
Sounds fun, but do a different themed dwarf fortress.
Sure, but do a Kobold Camp.
Sure, but do an Orc Fortres.

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Author Topic: Cursecoppers: A MWDF .4d Merchant Fortress  (Read 9284 times)

moseythepirate

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Cursecoppers: A MWDF .4d Merchant Fortress
« on: November 21, 2013, 05:48:44 pm »

Excerpt from Histories of Perseverance and Labor by Kudust Weaknees

Fig.1
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Trades of Oiling founded Cursecoppers in the year 109. The expedition leader, Lor Pickfluke of the Merchant's Guild, intended the distant arctic trading post to export timber and other raw materials (Fig.1). More than that, it was hoped that it would give the Practiced Hex a foothold in the dangerous northlands. Cursecoppers was named for it's the civilizations surrounding it: a necromancer's tower wasn't far to the south of Cursecoppers, and to the west and north lived extensive civilizations of Deep Drow and Warlocks. These sites can be seen in Fig.2. The Green sites are Deep Drow known as The Blue Scourge, the Indigo Sites are the Warlocks of the famously depraved Horrible Temptation. Farther away can be seen the automatons of the Depressed Seductions in red.

Fig.2
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Cursecopper's foundation was a brazen act of aggression against these powerful foes of Dwarvenkind.

Ahoy there, and welcome to Cursecoppers, my modest Let's Play of Meph's Masterwork Dwarf Fortress, version .4d. I was curious to see if one could survive by relying on the trading workshops, and so I started this endeavor. Instead of farming for sustenance, we will raise cash-crops which we will sell for food at Olon's Culinary Delights. Instead of smelting steel, we will either import it, or buy our weapons and armor directly at Urist's Steel Emporium. Specialized products will be purchased at Teduk's Fine Goods, and funds will be raised for these by selling raw materials. Will capitalism reign supreme, or will Cursecoppers live up to it's name?

Statistics for the fortress thus far.

Citizens: 57
Deaths: 43
Artifacts: 4
Legends: 1
Kills: 39
Current Money: 3500 Copper, 1000 Silver, 1500 Gold

Deities of The Practiced Hex:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Forum Dwarves:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If you enjoy what you read here, please contribute to Meph's Fundraiser for Masterwork Dwarf Fortress so he can continue supplying us with a mod of Craftsmanship of the Highest Quality. Information can be found here. http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=131977.0

Here's the original post
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« Last Edit: December 03, 2013, 10:13:23 pm by moseythepirate »
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Vabalokis

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2013, 06:10:30 pm »

Quote
survival relying entirely on the trading workshops

is that even possible?
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moseythepirate

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2013, 06:58:18 pm »

Quote
survival relying entirely on the trading workshops

is that even possible?

I'll start with a trade license, and I modded in the ability to buy more licenses at the Embassy. I could sell raw materials like logs over at Bomrek's Bargains, use the proceeds buy food and booze over at Olon's. If I can get my hands on seeds of valuable cash crops like Shadowleaf (for poison), Silkworms, and Steeloak, I can start to generate enough income to get any number of valuable items over at Teduk's Fine Goods. Hell, I can even get all the animals I'll ever need over at Ineri's. When the time comes to get dangerous, I can either import steel for my furnaces (which will be magma powered since I can buy Blood of Armok) or simply buy the armor and weapons over at Urist's Steel Emporium.

It won't be particularly difficult, but it will be different.
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Meph

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2013, 11:15:26 am »

I think it will be horribly unbalanced and a good test for the merchant system. Should be very easy to survive by buying raw materials, refining them, then selling them again. Especially the pet merchant. Buy pet, butcher, get all kinds of stuff to refine and sell. and eat. ;)
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Vabalokis

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2013, 11:54:43 am »

For the first and last time i used merchant workshops it was very non efficient. I could buy everything like 10 times cheaper from real traders. Maybe it got changed but if it is the same i dont see you surviving first year.
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moseythepirate

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2013, 12:53:54 pm »

I did a test run with minimal food and booze and 1 trade license in a freezing embark.

I survived by selling logs at Bomreks, deconstructing it, then constructing Olon's to buy Meat and Booze, then switching back to continue. Our fortress died when we got invaded by gargoyles, who killed the bodyguard I embarked with before scaring my dwarves away from our shops, causing everyone to die of thirst.

I'll give it another shot, while armed with New Knowledge and 2 Trade Licenses. Stay tuned...
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Meph

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2013, 01:19:08 pm »

one thing to remember: Stacks are getting used up in one reaction. So if you have a 2500 coin stack, and the prize is 1000, it will use up the entire stack of 2500coins... I thought about changing all nominations into 500 stacks... which of course would make the coin mint less usefull, but at least people dont accidently waste their gold anymore.
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moseythepirate

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2013, 02:14:54 pm »

one thing to remember: Stacks are getting used up in one reaction. So if you have a 2500 coin stack, and the prize is 1000, it will use up the entire stack of 2500coins... I thought about changing all nominations into 500 stacks... which of course would make the coin mint less usefull, but at least people dont accidently waste their gold anymore.

Maybe you could have the coin mint produce crates of coins with 500 each? It would be awkward, but it would work...

Anyway, I'll get this show started.

I'm playing with all the normal features turned on, except for simple gem shapes, because I like shiny things. Evil Twins are on, Taiga Orcs and Cutebolds are on but non-playable. Diseases are on.

We embark in the Taiga, with abundant natural resources but harsh conditions.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ah, the brave, beautiful dwarves of the Trades of Oiling!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here we have (in order)
RovodZlurker the Miner/Mason
DamidPascale the Lumberjack/Carpenter
Lor the Merchant-Guild Persuader/Negotiator, Expedition Leader
OdMeph the Appraiser/Record Keeper
BembulSharpKris the Organizer/Scribe
GeshudVabolokis the Smith's Guild Jeweller/Metalcrafter
RithOldark the Bodyguard
Also in the party are Bomrek and Olon, shopkeepers. Truly, never before has a dwarfen party been so well prepared for the harsh wilderness.

Our supplies.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Enough food and drink to get started, some raw materials, a lump of anthracite for fuel, gear for the bodyguard, and some stuff to help in the event of an unfortunate mood. Aside from our pack animals, there is no livestock.

And with that, the expedition is ready!
Onward! To...what was the name of our fortress again?

Perhaps we should have thought this through.

« Last Edit: November 25, 2013, 12:47:30 pm by moseythepirate »
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kamikazi1231

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2013, 04:19:49 am »

This will be fun to watch.  I've considered doing a purely trading or purely praying fort before.

If you die and have to embark again you should try the old trick of bringing along one of each type of drink to get a lot of barrels from it.  I'm not sure if you can sell barrels, but it may be invaluable at saving buying wood from the merchants somewhere down the road.
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Gamerlord

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2013, 04:22:05 am »

Watching.

Urist McTeellox

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #10 on: November 23, 2013, 07:22:01 am »

one thing to remember: Stacks are getting used up in one reaction. So if you have a 2500 coin stack, and the prize is 1000, it will use up the entire stack of 2500coins... I thought about changing all nominations into 500 stacks... which of course would make the coin mint less usefull, but at least people dont accidently waste their gold anymore.

Oh my, is this is a bug with vanilla, in which case it would also impact orcs? (Need 1000 coins for a trade, but will use a whole stack of 1500 if that's all that's available?)

~ T
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Meph

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #11 on: November 23, 2013, 08:33:47 am »

one thing to remember: Stacks are getting used up in one reaction. So if you have a 2500 coin stack, and the prize is 1000, it will use up the entire stack of 2500coins... I thought about changing all nominations into 500 stacks... which of course would make the coin mint less usefull, but at least people dont accidently waste their gold anymore.

Oh my, is this is a bug with vanilla, in which case it would also impact orcs? (Need 1000 coins for a trade, but will use a whole stack of 1500 if that's all that's available?)

~ T
Yes, thats a bug in vanilla as well. Applies to almost any stack... plants, bones, food, coins...
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TalonisWolf

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #12 on: November 23, 2013, 01:17:18 pm »

*Blinks*

 O.K, this is the last straw. I'M GETTING MASTERWORK.

 My original plan was to get a vanilla fortress to survive ten years before downloading this (best is 6),
but this sounds like !!FUN!!.
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moseythepirate

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #13 on: November 23, 2013, 07:45:28 pm »

From the Journal of Bomrek Clenchcoins, General Goods merchant.

1 Granite, 109

After a long journey from the mountainhomes far to the south, we have made it to our designated embarkation zone. I have no idea what the penpushers at the mountainhomes think we'll find here in this flat, featureless expanse of snow-covered trees. No food is here, and the only water is a river frozen under a thick layer of ice. How Lor plans to survive here, Armok only knows.


Here's out embark zone.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I opened by designating a whole mess of trees to be chopped down, both for raw materials and to sell for food and drink so's
my intrepid merchants don't starve to death. I also dug an exploratory mineshaft to learn exactly how deep the soil layers go before we hit stone.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The soil is only few layers deep, but before long, Huzzah!

With this they'll be able to mint our own coins, which should help speed up resource acquisition. Meanwhile, Oldark chases off an incursion of snow leopards. If he can catch one, we should have some meat to survive on for a little while, at least.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

With the stone scouted out, we can designate our our early fortress design. We dig out an early dorm, barracks, and dining hall. Eventually, this area will become the quarantine zone for incoming migrants. We'll stock it with food and medicine, and keep them out of the main fortress for at least a month.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I also designated space for the workshops and shopping center, down beneath the quarantine zone.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And the space for the quantum stockpile, morul's tavern, and the trade storehouse. But that stuff will have to wait until basic living quarters are arranged.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Oldark is still on the surface chasing around the snow leopards. No luck catching them, until he gets a little help.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Have I mentioned how much I love the Mountain Tuskoxen? Because I love the mountain tuskoxken.

Some wild drakes appear, and I step up completion of the living quarters; our bodyguard isn't a match for 6 drakes. I should set up some cage traps; drakes could make a valuable commodity. Or, we could just buy them after we get more trade licenses.

With the living quarters set up, not much more happened for the rest of the season. The shopping center was slowly brought into being, and as the end of spring rolls around, construction finally begins on the buildings that will be the fortress' beating heart: Bomrek's Bargains and Olon's Culinary Delights.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And a good thing too.



And Cursecopper's first season comes to an end! So far, so good. We've dug or are soon to dig the fortress' basic layout. While booze supplies are low, and water non-existent, we just got the shops online, so some dedicated buying and selling should get the fortress to sufficiency in no time. In the upcoming months, I plan to get a silk-moth farm online before winter, the quantum stockpile going, as well as digging new holes for apartments and the dining hall. If possible, I would also like to start digging mines to look for salable gemstones.

For you folks watching who want to try you're own merchant fortress, you'll need to either mod your starting embark points or mod the value of the trade license. I modded my trade license mat value from 500 to 50, bringing it's points value down to 250. Expensive, but affordable.

Any  feedback, questions, comments, or requests? This is my Very First LP Ever, so I am appreciate of any feedback, positive and negative.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2013, 01:41:21 pm by moseythepirate »
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LMeire

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Re: Considering merchant-based LP. Anyone interested?
« Reply #14 on: November 23, 2013, 08:16:16 pm »

Watching. OvO
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