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[jimboo]

1st Moonstone, early Winter.
Wow.  An animated iron sword took out the last stampeding cow in the courtyard and workers now are replacing cages in the southern traps.  Masons are all on coffin detail.  52 invaders remain and our gemsetter, Theater, is a ghost.  We may have to switch to simple burial for awhile. 

23rd Moonstone.
All fallen are now resting in tombs.  Metallurgist is up and making mithril, soon we’ll have lightweight armor and sharper edged weapons. 

13th Obsidian, late Winter.
Unbelievable, we broke the siege.  Cycling cages in the north and south traps, we have
51 caged elephants and great bulls and cows, two giant coati and one goblin.  A Drow caravan has just arrived and only just in time – we’re down to only plump helmet wine and cave cheese, were about to start eating the animals.  Those cages just caught another thief.  First thing, coins were taken to the Embassy to call the Dwarven caravan.  Weps was gone, another metalsmith would need to be sworn to secrecy but there was a stash of those finely crafted, golden swords.  And a debt to the cartel back home. 

Just checking for curiosity with the traders at the Depot – a caged War Elephant is worth 510p and weighs between 5 and 7K urist.  A caged Great Bull is worth 30,000 and weighs 8,800!  But even if we bought out the entire caravan, they couldn’t take the Bull at that weight.  Shame.  A couple of ghosts have been laid to rest.  Digging continues, looking for more iron/steel/mithril.  Making golden coins for the embassy.  Making excuses for the missed payment.  But if ever there was an acceptable excuse for being late with a payment, 80 War Elephants has to be it. 

[jimboo]

My gift to the next Overseer:



If we had even one idle dwarf, I’d bring those slabs inside …

1st Granite 76, early Spring.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ending stats, population 41.  After two years.

The place is still a bit of a mess but at least it’s no longer embarrassing.  Two sieges and all those War Elephants kept us busy.  Some of the key dwarves didn’t make it through.  Some of the dwarves skilled up for moods didn’t, either.  But there’s plenty of gold and silver and if nothing else, the dwarves can be called every season or so for trade.  All our efforts the past couple of seasons were focused on ‘not dying’ and research was a back-burner, especially since our good researchers all perished.  The mood is mostly OK, best that can be hoped for with all these funerals.  Funnel traps work but it’s an inelegant solution; I’m looking forward to seeing how the next Overseer deals with the biome and all those caged animals.   

[jimboo]

Notes at the end:
We have a seordmaor; it’s trainable.  There are a lot of caged elephants and bulls to deal with.  Rough “Wolf” Sackmaggot and a few others are still missing, unable to memorialize them in tomb or slab.  One slab being carved now for the ghost.  We lost a lot of seeds during the surface fire (dumb on my part).  There’s a craigstooth boar that deserves a memorial slab (ref: 12 Timber).  There are carved spaces in the mountain above the Meeting Hall level meant for monasteries and such.   

Still undone:
- research, altars, Tavern, decent military (again).  Two slab secrets?
Leaving so much undone wasn’t the plan but then, neither were 80+ War Elephants.  There are notes scattered about and upload has Invader skills set back to two.  And even that might be too much unless someone likes all the action.  This world was gen’ed at default except the first cavern is a bit deeper.  We’ve seen the Elephants; Pandashi and Evil Elves yet to come.   

The storyline is open ended.  Except for Wolf … Weps is gone, somebody else will have to join the conspiracy.   The ‘payment’ is unrevealed – was it just gold or something else?  Did the light fingered liaison return from last year only to turn tail at the sight of elephants?  Will he be the one called at the Embassy (in progress)?  Torch is still “away for awhile” from her home for reasons also unknown.  Only six of the original colonists remain – will the reason for the fortress change?  If the fall caravan had made it in – one week! – then Dye Sackplate would have been our baroness and jimboo would have been set for life.  Gold + Masterwork = many options.

The save:
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=8513

[Grimmash]

I skimmed, and I'll give the whole thing a full read over the next day or two.  It's been a long week and weekend.  Do we have any semblance of a turn order yet?  All things considered, I probably should not take my turn until after my move, so probably not until May.  We have a lot to do in the real world, and my turn will likely be rather half-assed if I take it right now.

So many elephants!

[Timeless Bob]

Incidentally, toting 49 blocks of cheap stone to make a 7 x 7 wall around the wagon usually keeps everyone safe-ish until the miners and stone-masons can roof that over as the "Fortress' Heart".  Such a place usually becomes a room of commemorative statues or the foundation for a "tower of improbable use", once the wagon itself has been destroyed via tantrum, fire or FB.  (Once the situation calms down, a commemorative slab marking the place where the wagon stood is then often added as well, a testament to steadfast tradition.)

[jimboo]

Do we have any semblance of a turn order yet? 

Not in the least.  Somebody just grab the save and go for it.  Somebody meaning, anybody -- the front page post is just from some earlier PMs.

This was NOT how I wanted to start the fortress – the battery on my laptop died (finally, completely) this week.  OK, just plug it in.  But then there is no buffer for any voltage surges and the apartment where I’m staying evidently has them rather often.  I had to scum-save restart at least 20 times and that’s very annoying, mostly because it’s a ‘new game’ every time and kept messing with the story line and population.  It didn’t occur to me to save immediately after every migrant wave until Wolf had already died three times and then he finally met his end at the point of a tusk and I took it as a sign from Armok. 

... once the wagon itself has been destroyed via tantrum, fire or FB. 

 “… or until fire destroys the wagon.”  Does destroying a wagon au natural always yield a slab?  I’d always deconstructed them on Day One as per Wiki beginner instructions.  There are two slabs with secrets, both located within the surface fires area.  How best to use them?  I’ve never adventure’d and never managed to successfully storm a Tower, either.

Three days into the new year, the Dwarven caravan arrives and it’s just loaded.  The dwarves live in a fantasy world so why not a fantasy universe?  A multi-verse of sorts.  I handed off what I hope will be a great 20-year fortress but will keep playing it as a personal game as well, maybe screen shot a “time warped” GLB every five years or so for comparison. 

Because I’ve just discovered an exploit in Masterwork, can’t pass it up.   

Grimmash, when you jump in maybe you can make one of those nifty minecart grinders to deal with the amazing number of War Elephants?  A ☼Cathedral☼-like surface contraption.  A merry-go-round of some kind, certainly good for a laugh.  A courtyard of cage traps works but it’s an inelegant solution.  I want to see Grimm’s Elephant Carousel.    

[Meph]

I hear the word exploit?

(Also good story, read it all... its pretty suicidal to ramp up fortress wealth so quickly. )

[Timeless Bob]

When the wagon isn't deconstructed on purpose, I've always been able to make a slab for "wagon", (sometimes those things are centuries or even millennia old - artifacts from the beginning of time.)  However, I did have some times when the wagon was destroyed by fire elementals hitting it with fire balls and blowing up the drinks inside (starting a raging grass fire that pretty much killed everything on the surface).  On that one occasion, it didn't generate the ability to commemorate it with a slab for some reason.  I remember thinking "wth?"
OK, so I'm downloading the save and posting a story as I go.

Here's an idea for parallel game saves:  Since the aim of this fortress is to survive and prosper while also exploring the various aspects of Masterwork 4i, why don't we all play a week's worth of game on each save, with the most successful (as arbitrarily judged by jimboo) becoming the point at which the next section of fortress history begins?  (Pretty much, I'm abusing the "many worlds" theory of quantum mechanics as a way to meta-game probability alteration via multiple game saves.  The save that jimboo chooses becomes "real" history, while all the others for that section become "tangents" (designated as the beginning and ending year followed by "a, b, c..." or something.)

Each "tangent" is a branch of history that "could have been", but for some reason or another whose probability never collapsed fully into real existence.  So, yes, that means each save we submit has more or less of a probable chance at becoming "real", that still leaves us with the ability to add "tangents" to each section of history at will and possibly to "loop" back from "real" history into a previous point that then validates a former "tangent" as suddenly "real" instead, basically changing the stream of time to an entirely new channel.

This is all meta-game stuff, but it also means we won't ever be "held hostage" by someone grabbing the save file then disappearing due to "Real Life Unexpected Time Evaporation" (RLUTE) event or something.  With the proper naming conventions, like "203a" as the first tangent uploaded after the last "real" history save file was uploaded, (which ends on the year 203), can be then linked to on the first page, and set up in a chronological time-line list something like:

100 (game begins)
some link here 100-105a
some link here 100-103a
some link here 100-105b
some link here 100-115a

Four submissions, and assuming jimboo chooses "115a" as the point at which we continue, that's changed to:

100 (game begins)
some link here 100-105a
some link here 100-103a
some link here 100-105b
some link here 100-115

100-105a, 100-103a, and 100-105b become "tangents", while 100-115 becomes "real.

Suppose for some reason that all the forts that are played from 100-115 fail spectacularly for one reason or another?  Well, jimboo can then choose to ask others to explore fortress saves from one of the tangents until that particular roadblock can be gotten past, so 100-115 becomes a time-line "dead end" and is renamed 100-115 while whichever previous tangent suddenly becomes "real" gets their end letter removed.  Tangents off of tangents can also be explored this way, becoming "103a-110a" for instance.  (save ending in year 110, beginning with tangent 100-103a.)

100 (game begins)
some link here 100-105
some link here 100-103a
some link here 100-105b
some link here 100-115
some link here 103a-110a
some link here 105-128 (new "real" timeline - see the lack of letters in front?)

Eventually, by exploring a wealth of branching timelines, we can create a robust multiverse that can overcome any obstacle, as well as generate many variations of the same embark for cross-timeline dreams, prophecies of disaster (what are prophecies but a rough sort of "road map" for time-traveler's after all?) and "uncanny luck"?

[Meph]

I should really mod in that wagonmancer that has been floating around the forum.

Oh, and jimboo: The slabs (wow, where did you even get them from? The werekangoroo?) are useless in fort mode, only adventurers can use them.

[Grimmash]

I could do that.  If I take the turn now, i could just build that out ASAP, leave some other poor sod to finish the entrance post siege, and take a proper turn later on.  I'll just dorf and play it off as a temporary posting as overseer to get our fortress secured.  Hopefully it would only take a few days to get the contraption built with some wooden minecarts as a stop-gap for something heavy and bladed.

Sound good?

[Timeless Bob]

One way I've found to get some use out of slabs like that is to "retire" the fortress rather than "abandon" it (thank Putnam for this little trick):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As a new adventurer, I just go over and read those slabs, or at least tote them back to the fortress then "retire" in a fortress next door.  Reclaim the fortress, (I usually use the same group and Fortress name as the previous one to preserve continuity in Legends mode), use DFHack to "tweak makeown" each and every inhabitant there, then wait for my adventurer dwarf to migrate in - suddenly those slabs have a magic-user that has read them as part of your fortress population...

OK, so this is sorta a roundabout way to do stuff, but the results are pretty cool because you can re-retire the fortress later and take some of its inhabitants on adventure-mode quests (like over to the Tower next door to seige THEM for change!) or go on the quest for other slabs/trinkets mentioned in Legends mode to increase the glory of the Mountainhome or what have you...

[jimboo]

Here's an idea for parallel game saves:  (clip)
This is all meta-game stuff, but it also means we won't ever be "held hostage" by someone grabbing the save file then disappearing due to "Real Life Unexpected Time Evaporation" (RLUTE) event or something.  With the proper naming conventions, like "203a" as the first tangent uploaded after the last "real" history save file was uploaded, (which ends on the year 203), can be then linked to on the first page, and set up in a chronological time-line list
Eventually, by exploring a wealth of branching timelines, we can create a robust multiverse that can overcome any obstacle, as well as generate many variations of the same embark for cross-timeline dreams, prophecies of disaster (what are prophecies but a rough sort of "road map" for time-travelers after all?) and "uncanny luck." [emphasis mine]

Hey, that’s a very good idea.  I’d suggest changing “jimboo chooses the best save” to group consensus or “Survey SAYS …" because really, are there ever more than a half-dozen or so paying attention to a community fort in any 3-4 day timeframe?  Also, you really tossed a curveball with that recommendation about naming to give some familial crest thing; when one edits a post, it doesn’t show up as new and I missed it until fairly far along.  When I tried to implement it, I really messed up – or the babies ignored what I was trying to do.  Perhaps you could make a demo in your posts?   

I should really mod in that wagonmancer that has been floating around the forum.
Oh, and jimboo: The slabs (wow, where did you even get them from? The werekangoroo?) are useless in fort mode, only adventurers can use them.

The slabs could have come from the werekangaroo that immolated himself; they’re in that burned out area.  Useless in fortress mode?  Bummer. 

I could do that. (clip)
Sound good?

Good.  I just want to see Grimm's Carousel -- you and TBob can work out whichever for the timing.   

[TalonisWolf]

 I laughed when I heard you watched me die three times in a row. Part of me feels that watching a git like me die over and over must have been a great way to relieve stress...

  But am I dead in the current save? I'm confused now, and greatly distracted by people yelling at me.

 *glares at jerkwad throwing paper airplanes at my head*

  I haven't posted another journal yet due to stuff, and don't want to until I know if I'm dead or not. Thanks!

[Grimmash]

I'll chill out until such time as my servives are needed (TimelessBob says here, build shit!), as he seems to have the turn in hand.  No need to mess that up.

I think, given massive elephants likely gumming it up, a parallel series of multiple in-line grinders (2x3) might be optimal for this fortress.  Once I sort out my other stuff I might cook one of those up anyway...

Even better if i can do it in concentric circles.  Say... Nine of them?  The Carousel of Hell awaits those who would walk the halls of the fortress without my permission!

[jimboo]

I laughed when I heard you watched me die three times in a row. Part of me feels that watching a git like me die over and over must have been a great way to relieve stress...

But am I dead in the current save?  I'm confused now, and greatly distracted by people yelling at me.

Definitely dead.  And that third time, it took quite a while to find your body for the tombs – perhaps elephantized into jelly while tending the hives?  There are no lifemancers in Masterwork anymore but if this is a multiverse of possibilities, there’s no reason you can’t show up again with your consciousness transferred into a new migrant.  Maybe a storyline about Armok refusing to let your worthless ass into Dwarfhalla after such an ignominious death.  You had another child, btw – sorry we couldn’t supply that requested sterility draught.  Or rather, your wife had another child, who’s to say it’s yours?     You might want to think about that before moving back in with her.  Would save a lengthy explanation and Life is all about second chances.  Or infinite chances, in a multiverse … 

edit: my bad, we do have a Lifemancer, a white mage (sorcerer 5, druid 3).  It's only worked to resurrect one dwarf so far, even though Tattoo ChannelHumor is warrened to the hospital with no other labors.  He's been present at more than 20 deaths, only one resurrection.