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[Larix]

A trivial bit of wholesome fun for a peasant, a respectable leap for dwarfkind.

On the seventh of Slate in the year 165, Tradedswallowed has achieved dwarven flight. Nothing that hasn't been done before and a good way shy of the possible maximum, but i'm nonetheless quite pleased. As expected, three maximum-friction track stops were enough to stop the speeding cart (accelerated through 28 ramps). All trackstops are linked to a lever and can be deactivated for the full-range double jump. Cart and dwarf were in free flight for about 30 ticks and were brought to a safe stop just after reaching the apex of their trajectory, 14 z-levels above and 45 tiles west of the jump ramp.

The proud dwarfmonaut was Eshtân Godlychambers, a thirteen-year old peasant. Asked if perhaps her miniscule size helped in keeping her safe, she confessed confusion about the question and pointed out that the other fort-born dwarfs weren't any larger than her. She didn't comment on the experience in detail, just quipped "it was more fun than throwing dead cavies on the rubbish pile" and dragged off the =spore tree minecart= to have another go. Edit: she went three rounds before going for her well-deserved celebratory drink.

I wonder if a steeply-descending minecart meeting a horizontal track will shift to horizontal movement or collide. In the former case, a dwarf could fly across a whole embark, which would be no mean feat. In the latter case, it'd be just another excessively elaborate way of producing dwarf soup. I'd expect ramps to work in any case, but they'd need to be placed in precisely the right place, not easy with the high speeds in two dimensions of ballistic minecarts at the end of their trajectory. Ah well, yet another thing to try out...

[Lolfail0009]

Winter of Year 1 in Loloksarek (Graniteechoes):

We had a werearmadillo! (Or an armadilla. Hard to tell from this angle.)
It was brutally murdered in a very bloody, gory fashion.
Which may mean the end of my fort, as either a bite or contact with the blood transfers the affliction.

My guess is that my old fortress, Sedilugog (Angelbane), will have had a far better death. Demons of fire and ruby. Sedilugog was always proud of its fine Evening Star, as well as Duskbrightens, the adamantine sword encrusted with garnet, star ruby and hydra bone. That may have lead to its downfall... If that is the case, what the hell attracted this armadillo? Excessive use of fastdwarf, perhaps?

[Larix]

Quick update: the long shot does work, although it seems to be a bit of risk: Momuz Kibzar, our legendary mason, suffered a bruised liver and bruised guts on two round trips. It seems that a steep landing on a flat track, while not a full collision, does smack the dwarf around a bit. I'll try if a ramp is less hazardous, but when looking at an impressive 150 tile travel, of which ~140 are free flight (there are a few tiles of 'tracked' travel to allow the second jump), some bruised organs seem like an acceptable health hazard.

Practical applications are easy to imagine - ferry services across rivers and lakes, supply of walled-off stations with troops and goods via airlift, shuttle to a 'cloud castle'. In all cases, the big problem will be having enough airspace for the ballistic curves. Having a 120z mountain on site helps, but even then it's necessary to build constructions close to the top of the map into every embark square into which you want to shoot minecarts.

[11sparky11]

On my third fort, my first ended in a tantrum spiral due to nub induced Fun. My second ended in the grand unveiling of my first circus. Anyway, in my current fort some elves arrived. At the exact moment they unloaded, goblins invaded with lots of crossbows. Then came the most beautiful thing in my time of playing DF, after I drew the drawbridge (my trap maze hadn't been completed) the goblins proceeded to massacre the elves, leaving me all the stuff. They then ran around chasing my animals and getting caught in my cage traps that I had placed all over the map, they then abandoned the siege and I was able to retrieve the elves goodies, take some of the goblins in for practice (although I have a very weak military), and some for my 100 odd dwarves to admire in the dining room. Good times.   

[Valikdu]

So, I have a modded creature that replaces gremlins.
It has a horn.
Consequently, one just ambushed and stabbed a child in the face fatally.

[doublestrafe]

By the late summer of the third year of the fortress of Castleships, the military was finally hitting its stride. Steel armor was well under production in the facility in the pits of the earth, and two squads of highly, if freshly, trained dwarves were assigned to train at the loosely-defined barracks outside the front gate. It was hard to get in or out of the fortress without having to step aside for metal-clad bodies tumbling about as they sparred.

For some reason, when the goblins came, only one dwarf was there.

Moldath Mözirïngiz was ostensibly a marksdwarf, although he was considerably better with a hammer, and even better than that at ripening a fine cheese. The truth was that he was no more than adequate with a crossbow, despite the number of bolts he had deposited in and around--mostly around--the targets in the south of the training field. It didn't matter, though. When the first indication of trouble is the zip of an incoming arrow, there is little time to winch and aim your weapon.

Instead, Moldath hefted the crossbow in one hand, swatted the missile out of the sky, and charged. Another arrow came, and another. He had batted seven arrows out of his way by the time he reached his assailant. Grinning, he swung his weapon of choice in a deadly arc, bringing it to bear with all his might on the cowering goblin bowman's off hand.

~tap~

"Ow."

The effect was underwhelming. Moldath struck again, and then again, never managing to do more than inconvenience his foe. More arrows flew at him, but never got past his guard. The battle was at a stalemate.

crunch

A fist met his jaw from behind, and Moldath spat teeth. A squad of goblins with pikes sprang from behind the trees, led by a grinning swordsgoblin. Moldath danced between the lunging and stabbing pikes, receiving no more than bruises from lucky shots, but giving little better. At one point he felt a bone give beneath his crossbow; at another he found a finger between his remaining teeth, one that did not belong to him. He spat it out and kept swinging, knowing he could not keep this up forever.

Alas, he was correct. A silver-tipped shaft suddenly appeared in his right forearm. He blinked, and in the time it took for him to realize what happened, a goblin's pike was smashing into the other, knocking away his weapon. He tried to dodge, but another blow landed almost immediately, and Moldath saw blackness.

But Moldath's tale did not end there. The goblins pounded and stabbed his unconscious figure, but Moldath was made of sterner stuff. Flesh tore and bones shattered, but the dwarf simply would not die. They shot him five more times, and bashed and jabbed at him unendingly, to no avail. At one point, he started to wake up, but a swift kick to the head put an end to that. In the end, they were reduced to pounding him on the head repeatedly in frustration. They were still at it when the rest of the squad finally caught up to them.

Moldath is resting quietly in the hospital now, his prognosis questionable. The sheer number of broken bones is overwhelming; certainly some gypsum mining will have to happen if there's to be enough plaster. Regardless, Moldath successfully held off two bands of goblins singlehandedly. Though he earned no kills and no title, he saved lives this day, and is a hero to the dwarves of Castleships.

This is what Moldath's medical records look like:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

right upper leg, bone
   Smashed open
---
right upper arm, skin
   Cut apart
right upper arm, fat
   Cut apart
right upper arm, muscle
   Cut apart
right upper arm, bone
   Torn tendon
   Torn ligament
   Cut apart
---
left upper arm, bone
   Smashed open
---
left upper leg, bone
   Smashed open
---
right lower arm, bone
   Smashed open
---
left floating ribs, bone
   Smashed open
---
right upper leg, bone
   Smashed open
---
left upper arm, bone
   Overlapping fracture
   Smashed apart
---
left false ribs, bone
   Smashed open
---
right upper arm, bone
   Smashed open
---

right lower leg, bone
   Smashed open
right knee, bone
   Smashed open
---
left lower leg, bone
   Cut open
---
right hand, skin
   Cut apart
right hand, fat
   Cut apart
Right hand, muscle
   Cut apart
Right hand, bone
   Torn tendon
   Torn ligament
   Cut apart
---
left lower leg, skin
   Cut apart
left lower leg, fat
   Cut apart
left lower leg, muscle
   Cut apart
left lower leg, bone
   Torn tendon
   Torn ligament
   Cut apart
---
right lower arm, bone
   Cut open
---
left upper arm, bone
   Needs setting
   Smashed apart
---
right lower leg, bone
   Smashed open
right knee, bone
   Smashed open
---
left upper leg, bone
   Smashed open
---
left upper arm, bone
   Needs setting
   Smashed apart
left shoulder, bone
   Smashed open
---
left hand, skin
   Cut apart
left hand, fat
   Cut apart
left hand, muscle
   Cut apart
left hand, bone
   Torn tendon
   Torn ligament
   Cut apart
left wrist, muscle
   Cut apart
left wrist, bone
   Torn tendon
   Torn ligament
   Cut apart
---
right lower leg, bone
   Cut open
---
left upper arm, bone
   Needs setting
   Smashed apart
left shoulder, bone
   Smashed open
---
right foot, skin
   Cut apart
right foot, fat
   Cut apart
right foot, muscle
   Cut apart
right foot, bone
   Torn tendon
   Torn ligament
   Cut apart
---
right lower leg, bone
   Cut open

There were still three bolts and two arrows stuck in him, as well.

Though he did not earn a title, I will give him one until the dwarves see fit to rename him. And I will call him Tank.

[VerdantSF]

Moldath the Tank, indeed!  Once he's better, he deserves a real hammer for some vengeance fun times.

[Urist Mcfortwrecker]

its a miracle no limbs were severed or major nerve or arterial damage occured, otherwise you miught have lost him, now hell just have to sit on a traction bench for a year

[Eric Blank]

There was an accident while working in the caverns around the magma pipe. I've been walling off the edges of the map wherever possible, and I had finished the second story of several of the sections where the cavern ceiling was two z-levels tall, but was still in the process of building the catwalks to access the second story of one of them when a herd of crundles showed up. They immediately took over the work area, scaring away any dwarves who came near, until one of those dwarves approaching and fleeing from the area came upon a grizzly scene: The ravaged and half-eaten corpse of Stakud the soldier, who apparently got too close for comfort to the crundles. He (or she, I can't find anyone who knew them so I can't check their profile post-mortem) was, luckily, the only casualty so far.

I evacuated the area and had everything in it forbidden, to keep dwarves out. Then, I sent in the marksdwarves to hold the passage crossing the north shore of the lake nearby, the only access to and from that section of the caverns, until the melee troops showed up. They all charged in, and blood was spilled. The crundles were, as far as I know, wiped out entirely. However, a baby was knocked out of it's mother's hands by the creatures and bled to death before it could be rescued, as everyone was busy chasing crundles around in circles instead of listening to orders.

Both of them have been entombed and many of the dead crundles were taken to the refuse stockpile, although the fort is currently overwhelmed with orders and little is getting done in good time. The population is currently up to 75, although many of them are children and I've been assigning far too much work. The crundle that killed the baby was butchered, at least, but now everything else is rotten.

[Mudcrab]

Year 126, work on Deep-pit has begun.

I have embarked on an island off the mainland, a great pit with several tiers will be dug. This is where the labourers will live and toil, mostly toil.

Those other dwarfs I deem to be worthy will have grand rooms in the rock below. Justice will be a swift and decisively served dish.
...Plenty of wonderful food will be available, as invaders are not know to the citizens of Deep-pit.

First thing to do is get a load of high value meals done to maximise the first 2 migrant waves.

[Solon64]

"Engraved on the wall is an image of nothing by Soshosh Bavastbecor."

Ohh, masterwork mod, you so crazy.

In other news, Spring has arrived!  All of my farmers are also herbalists, so I'm torn between allowing them to get the fisher berry crop planted (Fisher berries are my prime food source and not planting them in time will lead to starvation in the winter), or allowing them to scour the land for the fresh spring plants that have appeared in the valley.  Food stores are low, so it's a choice between starve now or starve later.  Tough decisions to be made in RazorSteel! (that was actually the name the RNG gave my fortress.  You all know exactly what must be done with a name like that.)

[Oaktree]

Year 8 has passed in Swordgleams.

Only one goblin siege, which arrived in the summer.  The militia commander opted to trap three goblin squads between the inner and outer defenses rather than wait longer to see if the the fourth squad (and its elite archer leader) would get past the gates before the slaughter of the earlier arriving squads triggered a general retreat.   The archers left while their forty-eight comrades, mounts, and support war creatures were softened up by traps and marksdwarves before being overrun by twenty screaming steel-clad melee dwarves.  Many kills were had and more nicknames were given.

Two more minotaurs arrived (bringing the total to eight!)  One was caught in a cage trap.  The other dodged marksdwarf fire in a rapid advance, but was then seriously wounded by a weapon trap.  Once prone the marksdwarves filled it with bolts, and another member of the fortress guard now has two minotaur kills to his credit.

Most of the other work by the fortress in the year took place underground.  Adamantine was mined out and processed - with some freshly forged weapons going to the long sword and battleaxe squads.

And a planned expedition entered the upper cavern and sealed off the western half.  Two large skirmishes were fought by guard squads verses troglodyte groups, and also minor fights against wandering wildlife that were interrupting the masons in their work.  A few places required three levels of wall to seal, but it was eventually completed.  Afterwards, the entry area was mined wider, webs were collected, and the woodcutters turned loose to log the entire zone.  Once some open space was available the entire fortress population of blind cave bears were relocated there to serve as the guard animal contingent for future expansion eastward, or into the lower cavern.

Finally, the war rhinos have chased kobolds two more times.  The courtyard entrance has grates above some underground pasture holding war rhinos - and the pasture has a ramp (that can be sealed off by a bridge) up into the south courtyard.  When kobolds are detected crossing, or just past the grate, the rhinos come up through the ramp in pursuit.  The kobolds are pretty quick, but usually do not outrun the guard squad's crossbow bolts.  The lucky kobolds are those killed by head shots or knocked off the path into the ditch.  The others who are slowed by wounds get pasted by the rhinos.

And in the "bling" category a miner got a mood and grabbed *three* pieces of raw adamantine when claiming a mason's workshop.  The result was a 1.2 million db grate.  The perfect object for a monarch's room, or simply as a building destroyer trap centerpiece.  The shiny holds their attention while the pointy spikes tear into them.

[Lolfail0009]

Year Two in Loloksarek:
Death. Kidnappings. Misery.

And while you'd die I am STILL ALIVE.

My only military dwarf, Meng Kadolulab, has grown attached to a steel crossbow. He has earned the title of Legacy Marksdwarf, due to not only protecting (hah!) the fortress, but also feeding it.

EDIT: And Armok has shown pity pride in Loloksarek, deeming it a fine successor to Sedilugog, for he has sent a huge wave of migrants, bringing the population to 69. However, of the many that arrived, only 28 are able to work.

[11sparky11]

Quick update in Largegild, I threw some critters in my deathpit and discovered an incredibly vicious sloth.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

He also killed a rattlesnake. I wonder if he'll kill the elephants and goblins, they seem to be just running around.

EDIT: Big update, I don't know if this is normal, but when another elven caravan appeared (I swear these guys are a curse) I got invaded by over 50 mounted and unmounted goblins, and seconds later another undead army/necromancer force of around 50 appeared, I left my bridge up thinking they would go through my trap corridor. I had hatches thinking that the building destroyers can not destroy hatches (I forgot were I heard that) but apparently they can, I closed the bridge up trapping my entire fortress in with trolls and goblins, luckily I was able to kill them with no losses (just a few civs with broken bones), and just this second I discovered that there was a troll in the main shaft, amazingly he was being CHASED by two of the many mayor's dogs. They slaughtered him somehow. Anyway, the zombies and goblins have mostly killed each other  with only a few still uncaged. I think they invaded when I broke a mil wealth. Lots of !!Fun!!

EDIT: Iv'e cleaned up the stragglers, somehow a zombie human managed to kill a macedwarf that was clad in iron armour with a fibre chassue, he hit my dorf in the head and cracked the skull,while the macedwarf was unable to damage him with his steel mace. Then, after he fell a marksdwarf ran up, hit the zombie once on the head and killed it flat out.  Anyway that's that siege over.

So, you guys have any suggestions what to do with these guys?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Eric Blank]

My best suggestion is to make a meat grinder pit: throw them all in there sans the necromancers, dump a bunch of corpses in with them, and have an observation room above and to the side with the necromancers stationed behind windows which are behind fortifications, so they can look into the pit and repeatedly raise corpses. It'll turn into one big, undead disposal unit for prisoners.

You'll want to include a bridge to raise that can block the necromancers' view or something, though. Maybe another system for clearing the pit, because you definitely wouldn't want to do it with dwarf power.