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Author Topic: From the Fort that brought you Urist McLegendary and The Many Deaths of Nish...  (Read 1475 times)

Max™

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A new production, "Unsafe At Any Temperature", or "I Know What Urist Dig Last Summer"...

It was getting pretty slow so I figured I'd have it go out with a bang, and in the process I learned I had taken some things for granted which I shouldn't have.

*scene, a rose gold bed sitting inside of a masterfully engraved throne room/bedroom/dining room, another rose gold bed sitting in the background, an implausibly muscular young dorf in a full suit of unbelievably intricate steel plate is sitting on the bed kicking his feet idly, picking goblin chunks out of the carving of moon-snail men on his platinum warhammer, LashBrushed while an older dorf, also in unbelievably intricate steel plate armor, with the oddly named steel battle axe Modest-Caught, the Skunk-Indignation of Granite strapped to his back, stands tapping his foot impatiently*

Mayor: "I just don't see why you want us to wait for more obsidian mechanisms before we finish connecting the Monster to the west pumpstack, how could it possibly make a difference if it is made of shale or slate or anything else, it's at the very bloody bottom of the fort... er, uh, your Dukefulness, Sir McLegendary."

Duke McLegendary: "I've just got a strange feeling that we'd be better safe than sorry, but I suppose I can't actually think of a solid reason to hold up construction any longer."

Mayor: "I know you're as talented and strong and probably as smart as the next five dorfs put together, but I'm pretty sure you still can't see the future any better than Nish could, the poor thing."

Duke: "Oh! She got better, didn't you hear? Stumbled in from the access tunnels for the onacloV naked and confused, but otherwise fine."

Mayor: "Uh oh, just like the ewe-wool?"

Duke: "No no, she's really alive, not just uh... not dead, like it was... is... no need to get Nish chunks in Modest-Caught just yet, still, I hope you'll keep my preference for magma-ready components in mind with the next project?"

Mayor: "Of course, we're just in something of a rush, plus we're putting gears in between wooden axles anyways, when would it ever come up that the gear would be the weak point anyways?"

Duke: *scratches the steel beard carved on his helmet thoughtfully* "Good point! I hadn't thought of that. I feel much better!"

Mayor: "By the way, is that thing comfortable?" *pointing to the rose gold bed*

Duke: *thumps the bed with a steel gauntlet, a resounding clang echoes through the chamber* "Armok's tits of course it isn't! Sure is pretty, though." *begins worrying over the spot he struck as the mayor takes the staircase back up to the rest of the fort and issues the order to resume construction on the links between the Monster power plant and the pump stacks*

*end scene*

*cough*

I bring this up because as I said, I decided to see what would happen if I pulled all the levers, dropping all four of the magma pistons, including the onacloV, after activating the Monster powered pumpstacks, and just for good measure dumping the cistern above the (totally enclosed) pastures as well.

The onacloV was an outgrowth of my earlier goal of simply being able to flood the map as fast as possible, the southwest corner of the map had a little cul-de-sac with a 1 z ridge shaped like a broken C that was packed with trees, so it stifled all my early attempts at getting magma flowing through it.

Enter the onacloV, roughly 20x20x15 cubic urists of obsidian suspended by a single floor tile linked to a support, lined at the base with bridges, sitting over a 14 z deep cistern full of magma (the one which Nish initially died digging out before I discovered simply toggling the associated flags gives you a living but naked dorf... and an extra skeleton...) which I gave the weird name because in practice it is an inside out volcano. In my limited early testing it was sufficient to overcome the resistance of the terrain and magma was starting to reach the depression where the fort sits before the game crashed and I called it good enough to leave as it was.

Except later on I decided to change the terrain in that area a bit to help the more choked but much more sustained output from the southeast piston, and ended up flattening the whole area down to the fortifications around the magma pump feeder ponds.

This all took place during the first four and a half years as I waited for the goblins to arrive. They did show up and I ended up slaughtering a ton of them without ever sealing up the fort, which I was quite proud of. I ordered the civvies to stay downstairs, just like I do when initiating magma-floods, except I didn't drop any bridges, lock any doors, or forbid any hatches. Just left the military sitting there waiting, and Urist McLegendary along with the (now former, as he was voted out shortly before I pulled all the levers) mayor and the rest of the heavy military squad did their thing, sending body parts flying everywhere, tossing trolls by the ear with their teeth, and making a glorious mess.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2014, 03:58:40 pm by Max™ »
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Max™

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Then I pulled the levers, I set the pumps going first:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Monster is a four-wheel water reactor, with a hatch to shut off the input, and a gaggle of gears and a couple dry pumps linked up to drag it to a stop when the hatch closes, open it up, have a dorf kick it, and due to micromanaging the pumpstacks (suspended all of them after designating construction from the bottom up, then unsuspended them from the top down) and magma starts pouring out immediately, wonderful.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The two northern slit/above-ground pistons were just experiments but they look cool so I keep them linked up with the more traditional in-ground piston in the southeast near the volcano. To supplement the unfortunately meagre output of the northern pistons I put a big cistern on top of the pasture roof with bridges so it dumps out and keeps things hot and bubbly as long as I want them to be:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Now, as I mentioned above, the onacloV was initially designed while there were a few obstructions in the path of the lava flood it releases... said obstructions were later removed with little consideration for the ultimate results of these changes, until now.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

...I swear the game times this stuff deliberately, btw.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Ok guys, we've made it, time to check out our new OH MY GOD WHY IS THERE LAVA EVERYWHERE WHAT DID WE WALK IN ON?"

'Nothing much, just throwing a party, why you ask?'
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

...oh dammit all, I apparently saved over the screenshots showing that I did not put magma-safe hatches over the staircases leading down through the fort all the way into McLegendary's bedroom, or that magma leaked through them, went down the corridor and melted that one gear, leaving the axles intact, and also destroying the lever which is used to link up the drag-gears/shut the input hatch.

Apparently I was a bit too distracted trying to figure out what to do to make sure I had the right names on the screenshots, dammit all to hell.

All of these tiles around the staircase should be engraved, but had magma on them:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Magma made it down here to the cursor, destroying the gear there, leaving the axles untouched (the ones to the right were still spinning happily after the left pumpstack shut off) and also destroyed the lever in the middle by the 3x3 stair block.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I've since made the decision to install magma-safe hatches on the stairs here and by the other statue to the other side with a dorf on it.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Because this did not offer nearly the resistance I initially designed the onacloV around.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The raised part there has a dog with cage traps to take care of crap undead... it had puppies, they were all unharmed of course...
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Loud Whispers

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    • I APPLAUD YOU SIRRAH

"Ok guys, we've made it, time to check out our new OH MY GOD WHY IS THERE LAVA EVERYWHERE WHAT DID WE WALK IN ON?"
Haha, excellent. This was a piston and pump induced flood?

Chief10

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What tile set are you using?
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Baffler

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The OP made me realize just how well suited DF is to adaptation to the stage.

*Baffler files it away in the idea cabinet.*
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Max™

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"Ok guys, we've made it, time to check out our new OH MY GOD WHY IS THERE LAVA EVERYWHERE WHAT DID WE WALK IN ON?"
Haha, excellent. This was a piston and pump induced flood?
Yup.

Two liquids/tiletypes manufactured slit pistons (1x13x9 I think?) which only drop far enough that three z levels are still sticking out of the ground, giving a big flat sheet of magma suspended over them, turned out neat but it didn't give as much oomph as I hoped.

Then an honest to goodness dug out and volcano filled one inside the mountain by the volcano which drains through floodgated fortifications, and then the big liquids manufactured onacloV (obsidian > range 22 18 15 I think is what I used, and then I dug out the cistern and filled it after putting in the bridge seals and support) plus the pumpstacks that drain the flat cistern around the forges plus two roughly cubical stores just under the big open-air magma storage reservoirs on either side of the fort. The pumpstacks by themselves flood the area around the fort really effectively, used them to dispose of several elven caravans, but like I said, I got bored waiting for the gobs to show up in the first few years and started various projects in the meantime.

I got the idea while I was laying there trying to fall asleep and the Rocky and Bullwinkle bit popped into my head "now here's something we hope you'll REALLY enjoy... [something something something], or [the something that something somethinged]" type gags, the rest just kinda rolled out as a fun way to explain the oversight, because honestly... why on earth would THAT component need to be magma safe?

Because dorf fortress, that's why.

Oh, the tileset is a tweaked mixture of the Bisasam and Phsstphok 24x24 tilesets I spliced together because I love how immediately legible it is for me, no matter what I try I keep coming back... though I did really dig the 30x30 Duerer mockup HaterSkater threw together, but it kept crashing when I would resize the smaller text tiles up so that'll have to wait for a more carefully assembled set. There are a couple other parts mixed in, grabbed the boulder from Vanst7's lovely art project, them being another 24x24 tileset fan, with a dollop of 24x24 spacefox dorfs on top for cuteness.

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