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[ptb_ptb]

* Actual names may vary.

Being the play records of a not-very-good Dwarf Fortress player.

I admit to falling back on dubious habits like turning invasions off or making dwarves walk at 600 km/h, but I wanted to do things properly this time. That said, I intend to play very conservatively indeed and I have still capped the population at 14. I'm playing a reclaim of a world-gen fortress that has a creek going through it in a warm area. So, not exactly hardcore difficulty.

Embark skills:
1 (one) x Proficient Grower

Embark items:
1 (one) x copper battle axe
1 (one) x copper pick
40 (forty) x pig tail fibre thread
337 (three hundred and thirty seven) x blackberries

Embark animals:
1 (one) x cat (male)
1 (one) x cat (female)

My new home:


Season 1
The trade depot and wagon gets me 6 logs by the 8th of Slate I have cut myself off from the world and made a small farm plot. My dwarves are thiirsty, time to make a still.



PANIC as brewing blackberries seems to be impossible. Then I remember bug 7423 - embark fruit must be dumped out of bags before it can be brewed.  PANIC again as I can't dump items from the bag. Then I remember bug 1140. Refuse dumping looks for 'above ground' instead of 'outside' when deciding whether to work or not. You have to order dwarves to collect refuse from outside. Finally make first barrel of blackberry wine. Planting of farm plot starts.

I start thinking about getting my hands on water ...



... I haven't quite worked out where it is going to go though.

My miner is a houdini, or possibly a natural climber. He somehow left the channel he was digging (right). I still don't see how he did it, I can't get him back in now without wasting time digging a wall out and rebuilding it.



Migrants arrive. I am tempted to say 'screw them' but knock a hole in the wall instead. Getting everybody on the inside before blocking it up again is a pain.

[Snaake]

Creatures can climb now (dwarves in trees have been mentioned in the dev posts), so my guess is he climbed out.

[ptb_ptb]

Creatures can climb now (dwarves in trees have been mentioned in the dev posts), so my guess is he climbed out.

Yeah, I didn't plan on that.

SPRING (Season 1) continued.

My horses are getting hungry, darn grazers.



I decide to let them up onto the roof, hopefully no fliers will arrive in the next short while. Ramp access mechanics are confusing.

I cut down one tree from a cavern, then wall the cavern off. I also put a floor over the downstairs a couple of z layers further down.



SUMMER (Season 2)
I have decided to move the water coming in one level lower, giving the dwarves a nice river to fish from / look at / fall in. Prior experience with water overflowing everywhere has left me more wary of water pressure mechanics. Hopefully I will get it right this time.

[Hans Lemurson]

With water projects, you always want to work backwards from the drain to the source.  Before cracking into an infinite water source (aquifer or river) I always make sure that I have a drain installed and an emergency shutoff lever located somewhere that is still accessible in the event of a flood.

I almost lost a fort due to forgetting that last part.  Dang dwarves wouldn't path through the raging torrent to pull the lever to make it stop.  Fortunately one drowning dwarf used the right stairwell to escape and the fortress was saved.

[ptb_ptb]

I have a cunning plan that I'm going to test regarding the water system, but that's for later. If I survive.

SUMMER (Season 2) continued

Dwarves are thirsty again. But there's a problem.



I have tons of blackberry bushes, but no blackberries? Dwarves are risking dehydration while I trial-and-error what is going wrong. Maybe I need to 'extract to bag' at a farmer's workshop? I quickly make a loom and clothiers. I'm using the Plant Fixes mod, so the stuff in the wiki may not apply exactly.



One of my dwarves climbs down two z levels from the fortress roof! At this point I decide I might as well open up the wall again. Stupid climbing dwarves and stupid insecure fortress (stupid me putting a hole in the roof and ramp up there).

Everybody runs to the creek.



I'm never going to get everyone back into the fortress at this rate. Cue the 'evil forces' invasion.

... Ookaaay, it turns out I messed up the Plant Fixes mod installation. Basically I tried to get clever and have plant fixes and all the Pheobe tile graphics, but accidentally overwrote some files in the process. I got it fixed in the end, but ...



a bunch of plant tiles are less pretty now.

If I'm going to keep the horses up on the roof, I need to stop dwarves from climbing down the side of the fortress.  First step, add a wall around the pasture.

[ptb_ptb]

AUTUMN (Season 3)

Next step, ramp and wall up to next Z level



followed by floors either side of the wall all the way around.



The overhang should keep everything out (or in) except actual fliers.

Dorfs are not happy about their accommodations, so I need to get a move on. I decide that giving them a nice waterfall might be a start, floodgates first.

[ptb_ptb]

WINTER (Season 4)

Growing grumblings of discontent.

Apparently two of my dwarves managed to get stuck on the cavern side when I blocked it off last.

SPRING (Season 5)

The water flows, and I retrieve my errant dwarves.

Decide to make a meeting room / well next.



Water, top level.



Water, second level. The red X marks open flood gates. The diagonal bit should (I think) switch the water course between 'slow' and 'fast'. With 'fast' including water pressure from where it drops a level.

It then flows down a large drop to a big cavern and lake. I intend to place floor grates along the way so the dwarves can safely view the majestic mist and water falling down.

There was considerable panic along the way, but I think I am in a stable-ish position now.

Main problems: Wood access. The cavern isn't safe to visit, nor is the outside. Eventually wood will grow in safe areas, but until then I will have to rely on running out and back with a tree.

By the end of spring I have a few more beds, but things are starting to look messy.

[ptb_ptb]

SUMMER (Season 6)

Confession time.

I sort of drowned my down ramp



It should be fairly easy to fix, I've just been too busy to get around to it.

I still haven't made a bucket for that well, either.

Disaster! Giant bat attack while I was working on the water outlet. One dead, many horrified. On the other hand, I finally got that well made so it's party time.

AUTUMN (Season 7)

It looks like I escaped the tantrum spiral this time. However I am still not safely blocked off from the cavern.

A 'Vile force of darkness' has arrived. On the surface, so I should be fairly safe.

[Button]

... Ookaaay, it turns out I messed up the Plant Fixes mod installation. Basically I tried to get clever and have plant fixes and all the Pheobe tile graphics, but accidentally overwrote some files in the process. I got it fixed in the end, but ...



a bunch of plant tiles are less pretty now.

I've now uploaded plantfix with newb-friendly, pre-Phoebus'd raws.

Just for you.

[Aslandus]

I can't be sure without actually downloading your fortress, but I think I noticed a small gap in your otherwise impenetrable defenses that'll probably ruin your day when it comes up (besides the real possibility of being starved out if you can't collect plants or get merchants), I won't say exactly what it is, but it has to do with Trolls and water...

Mostly just leaving this comment so I can follow the thread more easily, good luck

[Nyxalinth]

I can't be sure without actually downloading your fortress, but I think I noticed a small gap in your otherwise impenetrable defenses that'll probably ruin your day when it comes up (besides the real possibility of being starved out if you can't collect plants or get merchants), I won't say exactly what it is, but it has to do with Trolls and water...

Mostly just leaving this comment so I can follow the thread more easily, good luck

OOh, ooh!  I know!  But I won't say either. 

You're more ahead of me on playing.  I still mostly don't fool with roofs and stuff but I think what you did with the river might help with my own.  But why not put the levers in a safer area?  Or am I missing something?

[ptb_ptb]

I've now uploaded plantfix with newb-friendly, pre-Phoebus'd raws.

Just for you.

Aw, thanks. I'll go check them out right now.

[ptb_ptb]

Captain's Log Stardate 7412.6

A strange phenomenon has overtaken us and everything is bewilderingly confusing.



Seriously ...

AUTUMN (Season 7)

I really really hate how messy everything is. But I'm busy trying to keep my dorfs alive.

... well, most of them ...



Rest well Asen Adagasmel and Tirist Nosingmonon you will be remembered by a slab in a boring room that nobody ever goes to.

Also remembering Degel Erithsarek, Goblin Drunk, whose body we found lying around somewhere.

And not to forget Astelcatten. Who the fuck were you? Did somebody name the wagon?

Asen and Tirist were both lost in the cavern, venturing forth into the underground wilderness. The sooner I'm shot of that place the better.

Meanwhile ...



Operation big-fat underground tree farm is underway. It's a two z level area so I should get a few logs from fungiwood etc. when enough time has passed.

One of the nice things about a world-gen fortress reclaim is free steel.



I'm grabbing lots of steel anvils before walling off the underground again. You also get a random stone from each building deconstructed, sometimes useful ores and stuff.

Not everything is roses underground, though.



There's a giant olm lurking below. My unarmed, unarmoured and untrained dwarves are unlikely to fare well so I'm hoping they are bright enough to run away.

[ptb_ptb]

WINTER (Season 8 )

Code: [Select]

A gigantic three-eyed fruit bat. It has a broad shell and it belches and croaks. Its eyes glow scarlet. Its slate gray hair is long and wavy. Beware its poisonous sting!
Whoops! Yeah, so no more steel anvils for me. I wall off the underground ruins and pretend the dwarves lower than that point don't exist. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten. That leaves me with no pick, though, so I decide it is worth the risk to grab some wood from outside the fort.



The last seige is over. Hopefully I will get everyone back inside the fortress before the next one.

... And I get away with it.  Hole blocked off, lots of wood and a shiny new steel pick for my mining dwarf.

SPRING (Season 9)

I realize that my pair of horses has had only one foal in 8 seasons. Seems a little low to me, and I could do with some leather...
On investigation it seems that bug 7651 may be related. My stallion is a 'stallion's stallion' or my mare is looking elsewhere.

In the battle of everybody vs one kea the dwarves won!

[ptb_ptb]

SUMMER (Season 10)

The next crisis will be clothing. Lacking safe access to cave spider caverns, I'm going to make an underground farm and hope I have enough pig tail seeds to make a go of it. It turns out I have no seeds at all. A moments reflection allows me to realize that I have nobody collecting plants. I change that, and get to collecting on the underground tree farm site.

AUTUMN (Season 11)

Autumn arrives the moment I plant my first pig tail seed.  So far I have made exactly zero clothes from my new enterprise.

WINTER (Season 12)

Winter arrives, and I've made about 4 pairs of trousers. Nobody is showing important bits yet ... I decide that I need to make a 'forgotten beast squasher' or something.  I've wasted my dwarves times tidying up the ground level of the fort. Now you can actually see the grass in most places.