A combination of ADHD (actual ADHD) and varied tastes means that I play this game very off and on... which is not conducive to learning the schisting thing.
Well, been in a Dwarf Fortress mood lately so I can actually contribute for once.
Started a fortress lately. An above ground fortress.
As of today, I've had two fey moods (which resulted in a surprisingly cheap metal bracelet and a surprisingly expensive limestone bed) and now I have a population of 83. Half of which are children.
And a few of those children are actually helping with work, hauling and installing stuff. I have not upgraded Dwarf Fortress in a long time so this is probably a glitch that got fixed.
Still, though, the biggest problem is that I don't have room for 83 people. Every time I build a house, a child rushes in and claims it. So, slowly but surely, I'm building an "apartment complex" to house some people.
In the meantime, I'm also trying to build my tavern/longhouse. Problem is, building floors/roofs takes a lot of materials, and I'm only just now finishing with the floor of the second level. Now I'm gonna need to build more floors, and roof on top of THAT, before I can finish the actual longhouse part of the tavern. In the meantime I'm directing most of my beds towards the first floor.
SO
MANY
BEARDLINGS.
At least I've managed to accomplish getting iron, avoided having my grazing animals starved to death, and somehow manage to have an above farm going and going well.
We've only had one death so far, when an enraged kangaroo doe that a couple of my speardwarves were harassing (on my orders) attacked a farmer and, I'm guessing, destroyed his lungs, because he "suffocated to death" (and wasn't anywhere near water or mud). Took me awhile to build a grave for him and a few dwarves are unhappy seeing him decay. Bleh.
All in all, I'm not doing as well as some of you, and I'm not even READY to begin a mega project of any sort. But...
I am happy that I'm doing as well as I am. It'll probably be a tantrum spiral that destroys this fort, but I'm determined to make this work.
Though the lack of a surrounding wall will probably be a problem. Working on getting a hospital up and running complete with a local ashery and soap workshop.
And hopefully, now that I have my speardwarves set to train year round, they'll actually start sparring.