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[Mimodo]

It is a time of worldwide chaos. The armies of the goblins are amassing an enormous army. Under the manipulative leadership of a foul demon who slipped through the gates of hell itself, they have forged an alliance, first with the elves; beautiful yet savage beings of the woods, and then the humans; industrious and ambitious. Driven by jealousy and hatred, they have turned their combined might against the entire dwarven race, intent on nothing but complete annihilation.

Their unstoppable armies sweep the land, growing in size and power as they went. Like a tidal wave, it destroyed all in it's path, crushing fortress after fortress. The target was obvious. The forces of evil were headed straight towards the Mountainhome, centre of all dwarven glory. The capital, and pride of it's peoples.

After a long and bloody siege, lasting almost two years, the Mountainhome crumbled under the combined powers of three races, and it's citizens scattered and slaughtered. Amidst the chaos, a small group of survivors banded together. Seven of them in total, huddled against the cruel cold of the outside world, seeking shelter from the rain, and hoping, praying, that they will not be found. Horrified at the destruction of the dwarven glory. Of the slaughter of their friends and family. Of the beautiful golden statues, craftsdwarfship of the highest quality, now covered with the blood of the bravest defenders of the city, and of the innocent civilians.

As they wander the earth, they stumble upon other survivors, aimlessly walking around, purely existing, stricken by melancholy. Yet over time the fear in the hearts of the survivors began to subside. Their horror turned to anger. To hatred.

They began to plot their revenge. The day every living Human, Elf, and Goblin would pay for their crimes.  Plans are drawn and redrawn in the dirt. They talk quickly in hushed tones around their campfires. One singular thought dominates the minds of these seven dwarves.

The plans were finalised. To create a powerful stronghold in the mountains. To find any wandering dwarves still alive, and bring them in. To train the fiercest, strongest, and deadliest warriors the world had ever seen. To equip them with the finest arms, and to launch an assault on the allied races. Crush them into the dirt. Paint the fields in their blood. Exact revenge for the destruction of their homes, and to restore the mighty dwarves to their former glory!

It's time to strike the earth!



Okay, so I got bored at work and figured I'd write a bit of a background story to go with this. My aim is to create a military fortress, with a 200 strong army of legendary masterwork-steel-clad dwarves wielding swords, axes, and hammers. (Ranged weapons are for the weak. For the elves who can't stand up to a melee battle.)

I'm going to have to have a couple of dwarves to dig out bedrooms and barracks, to brew booze, and to grow the crops. And of course, smith the weapons and armour.

To feed a fortress of over 200, how many do I need to be dedicated civilians (with some military training too, just very little)? I'll keep updated on how this goes

[They Got Leader]

Maybe 10 for feeding/brewing. Maybe another 5 for clothing/smithing. What you can do is make the military squads rotate and have secondary civilian skills (like farming. Or masonry) and have alternating crews on and off so that there is always a population hauling/etc. This will also help mood and thoughts.

[Borge]

Best pray you don't get a titan or forgotten beast with webs.

[StagnantSoul]

At first, I'd suggest leather leggings, gloves, cloak, boots, and hood, plus an iron chain mail, leather armor, and iron helm, plus a weapon. This setup gave my first ten dwarves good speed for early ambushes, while still making them effective and moderately defended. If your backstory is actually true, you won't be getting dwarven caravans, right? Then you have to prioritize your needs: silver only for bolts and hammers, no gold other than statues to make noble rooms better, gems basically ignored, only a couple weapon and armor makers, to make higher quality stuff to begin with, well laid out traps, and a good wall setup, probably with a roof. Good luck.

[Mimodo]

At first, I'd suggest leather leggings, gloves, cloak, boots, and hood, plus an iron chain mail, leather armor, and iron helm, plus a weapon. This setup gave my first ten dwarves good speed for early ambushes, while still making them effective and moderately defended. If your backstory is actually true, you won't be getting dwarven caravans, right? Then you have to prioritize your needs: silver only for bolts and hammers, no gold other than statues to make noble rooms better, gems basically ignored, only a couple weapon and armor makers, to make higher quality stuff to begin with, well laid out traps, and a good wall setup, probably with a roof. Good luck.

I'm not sure if I can make the rest of my civ extinct easily, but I'll just not allow any caravans (except elves and humans to "encourage" them to wage war on me.

Thinking a starting with 1 miner who will then switch to smelting later on
A smith, who'll start out as a carpenter to make the beds
A farmer/brewer
4 military dwarves

Also 2 dogs to breed (maybe)

First wave can go all to military, except a farmer
Second wave I'll add another smith, and get them training up.
I want nothing but masterwork armour and weapons equipped, which will be problematic with the little guys getting attached to weapons


Am I overlooking something important?

[StagnantSoul]

I generally embark with four-nine female dogs and one male, three turkey hens, and two cats, one male, one female.

[Mimodo]

I generally embark with four-nine female dogs and one male, three turkey hens, and two cats, one male, one female.

Just saying, survivors of the destruction of a city probably wouldn't have a petting zoo following them around. Having 2 dogs should provide enough breeding eventually...

Wait, is breeding still buggy?

[StagnantSoul]

Oh yeah, forgot the whole survivor thing. 

[Mimodo]

Let's just hope breeding works

[Mimodo]

No trees, no coal...

No caravans to be accepted, and not enough dwarf power to burn wood too... should I even bother continuing?

[Dolwin]

No trees, no coal...

No caravans to be accepted, and not enough dwarf power to burn wood too... should I even bother continuing?

Magma forges + smelters can handle your smithing needs.  If you have sand on the map that can be harvested safely, a magma glass smelter can handle all (non-bed) furniture and pots as well, freeing up the need for stone hauling.  Walling off a portion of cavern 1 would give you access to wood for moods and the like.

To really do it well, it would be best to haul some magma up via minecarts to get everything close to the main fortress rather than 100z's down.  I really need to learn how to do it.  I've seen it set up at Furnaceclans (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=129994.0), but I think I'm setting up my ramps wrong.  A problem for another day.

A webbing beast might be an issue (although 200 dwarves are more than could be webbed at once), but a deadly dust one would be, well, deadly.  I'd suggest setting up a FB trap for a webber for silk clothes for children/civilians and another trap for obsidianizing any FB you couldnt really handle in melee.

It sounds like a fun challenge though.  My current fort is in the boring part of setting up a (for me) megaproject.  This would be a good excuse to finally download the new version and give it a shot.

[Pirate Bob]

If you don't mind using exploits, you can even get unlimited steel without much fuel.  Use the logs from your wagon to make at least one steel bar.  Then you can continuously make large axe blades and/or chain leggings (or several other choices - see the "melt" page of the wiki) that melt to produce more bars than they take to forge.  You can also used bolts, but you need to unstack them.  Coins are the best, but cannot be unstacked without trading.

Anyhow, you probably don't want to do this, since you are looking for a challenge.  It also takes a bit of dwarf labor, but really not much different than mining, hauling, and smelting ores.  Plus it trains your smiths and furnace operators really fast.  It definitely does take a lot more user input at you have to constantly designate items for melting.

[Mimodo]

I decided to push on anyway...

It's a really plain embark. Flat tundra, no trees, no plants, just a fine dusting of snow.

The only metal I have is hematite (WIN!), as well as a billion unneeded gems. This would be a very rich fort if I used them.

2 migrant waves in, and I have a smelter, a smith, two farmers, a woodburner, and a miner. The rest are on full time military duty.

The dogs are breeding, so I'm quite happy with that too! I've hit the first cavern, and I'm hoping to get to magma soon. Question: what's the quickest way to get hematite down 100+ Z levels? The labour in hauling of stone down, and products up, or alternatively making a pump stack may keep charcoal as a more liable choice

[StagnantSoul]

Make a chute down to where your forge will be, set up a catapult with a stockpile of hematite nearby, and fire at will.

[Urist McShire]

Or instead dig a 100x-level chute down, set up a minecart track next to the chute, and tell it to dump in the direction of the chute. All of the hematite stored in the cart will be dumped down the hole and ready to be used for your smelting and smithing needs.