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[Grimmash]

Those designs look interesting.  I'm still reading up on minecart grinders, as I have never tried to build one before.  I should get an update out tomorrow, once I actually unpause and start playing, instead of reading about designs for things.  Things to do before unpausing:

Finish figuring out a minecart grinder.
Sort through this whole "Minister" system and figure out how to get dwarves doing what they need to do.
Set up clothing industry.

I might just leave the gates closed for my turn, as we are self-sufficient enough for now, and trying to kill invaders seems like a great way to cause more fun than needed at this point.

[CaptainMcClellan]

Double dorfing please.

Ringo the Traveller- ( Or just Ringo. ) A travelling dwarf who is easy enough to befriend. He tells tales of many fortresses as if he had been there himself, though surely such places don't exist. He acted as a guide to the migrant caravan he entered with.

Ayeth the Apostate -  A mysterious dwarf who arrived at the Cathedral with Ringo the Traveller. Ayeth is accursed by Armok and believes in a god known as "Tarn", called also "the Toad", and "the Toady Progenitor of Dwarfkind". However Ayeth keeps this a deep secret because of the fanaticism of the Cathedral-dwellers.

[Timeless Bob]

All hail the Toad of All Worlds!

[Timeless Bob]

Also:
The End is Near!  Invest in Toilet Paper!

[Grimmash]

Work is running apace.  I might not update tonight - I am a bit too engrossed in trying to solve a track problem.  I've never used tracks and minecarts before, so it's a learning process, along with lots of resets and bridge manipulation to avoid accidental dwarf homicide via minecart.

Good news, though:  the FPS is staying solid at 47-50 FPS.

[jimboo]

But, I thought the whole point of a community game was to put one’s fumbledefforts out there in real time for comments and suggestions, along with pretty screenshots.  Not?

[Grimmash]

Oh there will be screenshots and descriptions.  I just had to go to sleep last night and was too tired to write it up, but wanted to let folks know that I was actually playing the turn.  We've had a lot of aborted attempts on this map, myself included, so I was just keep the fire warm, so to speak.

Rest assured all, the continued accidental mismanagement shall continue to be posted.  At this point, I think this fortress is actually causing lapses in judgement of players and dwarves alike.  I think it may be a new minor SCP-like entity.

[Grimmash]

1st Opal, 36

We stand with 21 dwarves, plenty of food and drink, a hell hole full of wraiths, zombies, 5 forgotten monstrosities, a plain encamped by a squad of imperial bladeguards, and three ghosts.  At least we have walls, food and drink.  One of our number is mad.

We have the start of a “minecart grinder”, whatever that is, that the previous overseer wants me to finish.  Some of the others have wondered if maybe we should direct this effort towards the beasts below.  I am tempted to agree.  I have ordered some preliminary tunnels to be dug near the ruins of the Hammer.

Additionally, I have ordered most of our dwarves to help in creating new clothing.  We have little, and more will be very useful.

16th Opal, 36

Niku starved today, poor bastard.  He was already mad, so it was an inevitable end.

5th Obsidian, 36

Big D the 145 was found dead today, contorted in fear.  I looked into the death records, and it seems although there are engraved slabs for many of the dead here, many have not been placed.  This clerical error has been rectified.

14th Obsidian, 36

A new beast has entered the caverns.  More for the menagerie, I suppose.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1st Granite, 37

Spring has come.  We have clothing, and more is being ordered.  Hopefully we shall be done wearing threads soon.  All the dead have been buried or memorialized.  Work on the new minecart grinder continues apace, and testing shall begin soon.

14th Granite, 37

It seems we just finished selling a lot of 30 platinum bars.  That’s a fair bit of gold.  I’ll have to check in at the embassy and portal to see what we can find to do with all this money.

15th Granite, 37

Talonis Wolf became a priest today.  I’m not sure why we need a second priest, but his training is complete.

22nd Granite, 37

Avdpos withrew from society today, and claimed a mason’s shop.  After searching through his scribbled list of demands and allowing access to the piles of leather in the courtyard, he gathered some gypsum, studded leather, rough rock crystals, copper bars and some silk cloth, and began working.

24th Granite, 37

Avdpos made a gypsum coffer.  It appears that a portion of it depicts the suffering of society.  How wonderful. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I also tested our new minecarft contraption today.  It seems to have a few snags to work out, so I’ve order a few ramps rebuilt.

14th Slate, 37

We are making progress on creating some new underground storage space.  We have so many items all over the place, it is impossible to make sense of things.  So I am turning to the brute force solution of just piling all of our things near the heart of the fortress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

25th Slate, 37

After months of work, the grinder had an unfortunate test run.  The system worked all too well before failing.  We had blocked off the entrances, and Mc Mahrgell moved the cart into place above the drop chute.  But as he pushed the cart over the open hatch, he fell along with the cart onto the tracks.  There was nothing to do, save hope for a malfunction.  There was a malfunction, but unlike previous runs where the cart dislodged before completing a circuit, Mc Mahrgell was battered by three runs.  The accelerating cart ground him to paste through the three successful circuits it completed before stopping.  We have found his torso, hand, and the rest of his body all over the short loop of track.  I can only hope his blood serves to lure in the undead once we improve the infernal machine.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Arcvasti]

uMMMMMMMMMMM. Thats a lot of violence for the first month. May I suggest using our funds for more immigrants from the town portal? As for why Talonis_Wolf was becoming a priest, I wanted a second priest because this is a religion-themed fort and the "Pray for soft metals" reaction gives tons of valuable metals for more immigrants when run on repeat by a high priest. I would suggest you make him a high priest, unless you desperately need the manpower for hauling. It seems to look like yet more people are surpassing me in grinder design. My original plan was to have a minecart just sort of go back and forth really fast with windmill power. It looks like the main culprit in the wood industry debacle was finally punished: Our legendary wood-cutter, Big D the 145. Not that we're going to need a woodcutter anytime soon with the humans camping outside.

EDIT:Yay update!!!!!!!!

[Grimmash]

Regarding deaths:

Niku was already dead when I started.  He was mad.

Big D died due to ghosts, which was my fault as I noticed them at unpause.   But I accept only half blame, as someone else let those ghosts appear in the first place, dammit!

For Mc Mahrgell, well, that was annoying as hell.  He fell through the damn hatch that was on the opposite side of the track stop from the loading side.  I heavily considered scumming, but decided that it was rather fitting, and that this would lead to some changes in the design.  It was also annoying precise timing, as that was the first during which the minecart successfully made multiple circuits around the impulse ramp route.  Unfortunately the cart ended up going too fast and derailed at a dorner, so I am altering the design again.

The end result of my turn may simply be clothing our dwarves.  If that is all I accomplish, it may yet be a decent turn by the standards of this fort.

That said, any advice on using ramps to create minecart grinders, or safe loading systems, would be greatly appreciated.  I read the thread Meph linked, and the relevant wiki page, but I'm still doing a lot of trial and error.  At this point I am hesitant to test again.  My problem lies in that I cannot find a reliable loading mechanism.  My current loader requires a dwarf to place and push a minecart onto a hatch controlled by a lever.  In theory, this should work, but the stupid sods haul the cart back and push again if the hatch is closed.  I believe this is what led to the death:  The cart was being retrieved when the hatch was opened, and the grinder finally worked, if only for a few runs.

[Arcvasti]

Regarding deaths:

Niku was already dead when I started.  He was mad.

Big D died due to ghosts, which was my fault as I noticed them at unpause.   But I accept only half blame, as someone else let those ghosts appear in the first place, dammit!

For Mc Mahrgell, well, that was annoying as hell.  He fell through the damn hatch that was on the opposite side of the track stop from the loading side.  I heavily considered scumming, but decided that it was rather fitting, and that this would lead to some changes in the design. 

I'm not blaming you for any deaths here. I butchered more then my fair share during my small management window. Besides, it sounds like we've got plenty of money for new dorfs.

It was also annoying precise timing, as that was the first during which the minecart successfully made multiple circuits around the impulse ramp route.  Unfortunately the cart ended up going too fast and derailed at a corner, so I am altering the design again.

The wiki page seems to say that as long as you put a wall directly in front of the speeding minecart, it should just sort of turn.

Spoiler: Derail Diagram Thingy (click to show/hide)

in  ═╗O Safe Minecart route
     |
     v
    out

I'm not good with minecarts, so take my advice with a few cups of salt. My grinder(If completed) would just sort of go back and forth with simple rollers. I'm not sure how impulse ramps would affect this, those are mind-bending to think about. My 2 cents on making rolling death hapen.

That said, any advice on using ramps to create minecart grinders, or safe loading systems, would be greatly appreciated.  I read the thread Meph linked, and the relevant wiki page, but I'm still doing a lot of trial and error.  At this point I am hesitant to test again.  My problem lies in that I cannot find a reliable loading mechanism.  My current loader requires a dwarf to place and push a minecart onto a hatch controlled by a lever.  In theory, this should work, but the stupid sods haul the cart back and push again if the hatch is closed.  I believe this is what led to the death:  The cart was being retrieved when the hatch was opened, and the grinder finally worked, if only for a few runs.

As far as safe loading goes, try having a dump zone on the hatch and dump the minecart on it instead of using the minecart routes? That way they won't go after it while its running to put it back on the hatch. A bit more micromanagement, but I think it should work.

[BigD145]

Of all the things to get me, it had to be that which my axe could not hew. Someone drink some tea in my memory.

[kamikazi1231]

Glad to see the fort is continuing it's legacy of death.  It's too bad we can't get it to the 4i update fixing the problem with townportaled dwarves being able to join the military or nobles right away.  Then again the 4i update got rid of the ability to summon priests which was my backstory.

You might want to PM mahgrell and see if you can have a copy of his current Mastermind fort save.  You could see how he set up the heartgrinder or other minecart death traps and maybe create a few loops of one with our limited dwarfpower.

[Meph]

It's too bad we can't get it to the 4i update fixing the problem with townportaled dwarves being able to join the military or nobles right away.

YOU CAN! dun-dun-dun.

(just take the new spawn.lua from dwarfortress/hack/scripts of 4i and copy it into your old version. All new dwarves that will be spawned will have the update. The already existing dwarves will not)

This will also be my last post here, so... good luck. I hope you guys find more overseers. Just continue without me for a while.

[danmanthedog]

It's too bad we can't get it to the 4i update fixing the problem with townportaled dwarves being able to join the military or nobles right away.

YOU CAN! dun-dun-dun.

(just take the new spawn.lua from dwarfortress/hack/scripts of 4i and copy it into your old version. All new dwarves that will be spawned will have the update. The already existing dwarves will not)

This will also be my last post here, so... good luck. I hope you guys find more overseers. Just continue without me for a while.

Bye I hope you stay safe, and thanks for starting ths fort is a really good idea