Update on the situation of "Weakenedsack". The population is hovering at just over fifty dorfs (with more than twice as many animals), seven of whom are miserable or worse, one of whom is the sheriff/baron consort. The previous werewolf siege had actually been driven off by well-timed (for me) demon siege along with a few illithid ambushes who then proceeded to retreat due to their own casualties. I took this chance to gather the skeletal remains of those who had been unfortunate enough to be caught outside as well as begin construction on a second outer wall in an effort to expand and more effectively fortify my above-ground perimeter. I had managed to get the wall halfway finished when I got a dusk elf diplomat who happened upon a demonic union ambush party. They were quickly dealt with by my militia commander and a few other soldiers.
Then came the ezrakim diplomat. Then the keeper diplomat. Then their respective caravans followed by an Illithid ambush in which my commander and a few other soldiers died from complications of standing on top of the brightly burning corpse of the mindflayer wrestler ambush leader after being cleared to return to base (goddamn idiots). This was particularly vexing as those who died were among the few I had thus far managed to train in my danger room (my first time attempting such a thing -- I think I might expand it so that I can train more than one at a time, even though it will take an ass-load of mechanisms).
Anyways, shortly after the caravans arrived, a force of around forty-to-fifty werewolves show up to siege my ass. Cue several minutes of panicked designating as I did my best to get all my dorfs inside and seal the exposed secondary entrance tunnel. Thankfully, I managed to achieve lockdown with only one or two extra casualties and only a single lycanthropic jackass getting in before the under-river drawbridge could close. Of course, that drawbridge wasn't the only thing between my fort and the outside world -- not at all: I had a secondary line of defense set up with a pressure plate connected to both a cage stuffed with pretty much every one of my twenty-plus war boars, war dogs, and war mastiffs and a second drawbridge, with sufficient distance between each of these three components to account for mechanical delay and intruder movement speed. The purpose of this trap was two-fold: 1.) seal any siegers out, and 2.) sic my bloodthirsty warbeasts on their asses (partly as a delaying tactic to give me enough time to scramble what few troops I have so that even if the intruder(s) should manage to kill the war beasts and re-lower the second drawbridge by stepping on the panel a second time, they still won't be getting into the fortress proper alive unless they're some kind of invincible megabeast). However, genesis werewolves are apparently [TRAP_AVOID], so that didn't work. However, that didn't save it from the weapons of the merchant guards who had managed to get inside, and it was smote in short order.
Anyways, a few weeks pass and the werewolves still aren't leaving, preferring to duke it out with illithid ambush parties in the unfinished outer walls (I'm starting to wonder if the werewolves, assorted demon-kin, and mind flayers are actually at war with each other and are just using my embark site as a battleground to settle some ancient blood-feud and merely harass my dwarves for sport in between their periodic epic clashes) so those merchants who managed to make it to the (relative) safety of my fort now have nowhere else to go after trading with me (read: after I robbed them of their shit because I am seriously not in the mood right now). So they are now roaming the halls of the "noble" village of Othilfath, slowly going insane, berserkers getting the honor of being torn limb from limb by patrolling war beasts (because I had released them and dismantled the cage and pressure plate in disgust shortly after the failure of the above trap). Thankfully, aside from a few casualties and a tantruming sheriff/baron consort, the dwarves of Weakenedsack persevere, having begun the preliminary stages of construction on a sizable legendary dining room, as well as hollowing out additional livingspaces and transferring all of the limonite, goethite, lignite, bituminous coal, magnetite, and dry peat lying around in the fort down to the magma furnaces twenty-three z-levels below the surface in preparation for operation "smelt more steel than we will ever need", partly because I am using most of my existing steel that hasn't already been converted into weapons or armor to forge thrones and tables for the aforementioned legendary dining room.
I have to say, for mass production of steel, the genesis mod's magma blast furnace is the way to go.
(On an interesting note, I started writing this post more than three hours ago, but between my sloooow typing, wanting to recount as much of what transpired since my previous post as possible, and leaving to attend a small birthday celebration for my grandmother two hours ago, it took me a crazy amount of time to finish.)
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Topic: What's going on in your fort? (Read 6232001 times)