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[Quarque]

Gooseflesh as suddenly the messages popped up:

"You have discovered the magma sea!"
"[spoiler]! Praise be the miners!"

But no one was digging that deep!

After closer inspection I found out the reasons: one of my war bears, that I had stationed in a cavern in front of the entry to my fortress, had gotten into a fight with a troglodyte, started fleeing and stumbled into a very deep magma pipe. The bear had survived a dive down through about 50 Z levels of magma, discovering all those new wonders before finally dying horribly. He was one tough bear.

edit: just checked - the magma in the pipe reaches up to Z:81. The bear had discovered the magma sea down at Z:-16. 

[Derro]

After a long hiatus, I've began yet another fortress. Perfectcrypts, as it is called, is located in the world's central badlands. Its civilization, which commands only a tiny hamlet apart from this fortress, is besieged by goblins, elves, and undead, and the humans don't look too friendly either.

Basic fortress preparation has been underway for a while now. The turkeys have gotten their own tiny pasture, the large workshop and storage rooms have been dug, a bloodthirsty porcupine has been put down by the expedition's sole sworddwarf (her name is Tholtig... named after an ancient hero?), the bookkeeper has began recording our supplies, and porcupine and yak skeletons are swiftly being turned into bone crafts.

Come summer, there was a brief panic when a siege alert got issued, but a subsequent inspection of the area revealed nothing. The incident was blamed on some spoiled capybara guts and the fortress has returned to a state of peace, awaiting the first migrants.

[Fleeting Frames]

Was thinking of ways to improve fps with code. Discovered that you can turn caveins off and on mid-game. So I promptly made it default off and tossed repeat -time 1 -timeUnits days -command [ togglecaveinsonoff ] -name wilecoyote into OnMapLoad_extra.init with

Spoiler: togglecaveinsonoff.lua (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

df.global.d_init.flags4.CAVEINS = true
dfhack.timeout(5, 'ticks', function() df.global.d_init.flags4.CAVEINS = false end)

into /hack/scripts. (Quickest idea to implement, like, ever.)

It's pretty amusing to watch, makes building wall sections off bridges less tedious though bit risky.

[Derro]

Perfectcrypts has grown to 18 citizens thanks to two migrant waves. The old entrance, leading directly to the farms, has been boarded up. Instead, a tower is being built, on top of which the two-dwarf militia (kills so far: a porcupine and two tortoises) trains vigorously. Hopefully the first siege will take a while to show up: two novice sworddwarves probably won't be enough to hold them back.

Also, a dwarvish caravan came along and sold us a ton of useful stuff in exchange for five bone crafts and a fancy mug. Then again, something like 30% of the dwarven population outside my fortress is some kind of nobility, so I suppose it's somewhat justified.

[Eric Blank]

Had three caravan guards mysteriously die. Just flop over and die at the depot. Nobody else was harmed or spooked at all. I blame the fire glass in their inventory, still adjusting that stuff.

Also saved a serpentman tribe from the harsh realities of cavern life by walling them in.

[bloop_bleep]

Had three caravan guards mysteriously die. Just flop over and die at the depot. Nobody else was harmed or spooked at all. I blame the fire glass in their inventory, still adjusting that stuff.

Also saved a serpentman tribe from the harsh realities of cavern life by walling them in.

Perhaps it was old age? Would explain why they all died instantly and at the same time.

[Eric Blank]

It was more one after the other, but it was in fairly quick succession.

Just starting to get the tavern fleshed out, got some tables finally. And some beds

There were also a bunch of dralthas running in through my cavern access by the serpent people. I caught two of them since they got in the fort before a wall could be built. Im gonna breed dralthas

[shrike.ex]

I just got my shit utterly wrecked by a vile force of darkness. 87 Dwarves, a marksdwarf squad, a hammer squad, and a mixed-melee squad, all trained and kitted. Sadly, they were kitted in copper, since my embark was not kind. The vile force of darkness was in full goblinite. Also, they had ogres.

I'd taken a bit of a break for DF; I didn't know ogres were a thing. Now I do.

Hey, I still have eleven non-bard/child dwarves left, so I have that going for me.

[Fleeting Frames]

Ogres are a thing nearly the size of giants and apparently quite stealthy.

Sounds like it was an experience, at least.

[shrike.ex]

Ogres are a thing nearly the size of giants and apparently quite stealthy.

Sounds like it was an experience, at least.

Very educational, to say the least.

[Derro]

The story of Earthcrescent

I figured I'd share the story of my most successful attempt at an 0 pt. glacier embark (because why not?) so far here.


Earthcrescent was different from most fortresses in two ways. Firstly, it was located atop a haunted glacier, known only as the Ice of Sins. Secondly, its explorers were given only the clothes on their back, an old empty wagon, and two pack animals before being sent off. It seemed the expedition was doomed to fail.

It was. But the things that happened in between were truly magnificent, and worthy of retelling.

The dwarves arrived at their destination on the 15th of Granite. The glacier was empty and barren, save for a single towering stone spire. Expedition leader Olin, who had the sharpest eyes, spotted a small opening high up the spire's wall and commanded the expedition in. The wagon was quickly demolished, its wood stored on the upper levels of the newly discovered cave. Then down the dwarves went, descending below the glacier through tunnels of stone.

Barely a dozen levels in, they encountered their first obstacle: a troll of considerable size. Relying upon the element of surprise and strength in numbers, all seven explorers ganged up on the beast. A number of powerful strikes brought it down with minimal loss of dwarven life, then strikes to the heart and lungs caused the beast to suffocate. Its body was thrown off the spire, in case the area turned out to reanimate the dead.

This concern proved unnecessary, but the dwarves had more pressing needs. Down they traveled once more, coming across deposits of tetrahedrite, gems, and even gold. Without a pick such things were sadly unattainable.

A second troll was encountered and dispatched, albeit with slightly less ease than the first. Lugging its corpse back up to the surface would've taken months, so it was left to rot were the dwarves killed it.

Finally, a large cavern was discovered, filled with mushrooms and soil. The dwarves, now all quite thirsty, began looking for water. To cover more ground, they chose to split up.

This was the beginning of the end.

A giant cave spider assaulted Dobar, who was quickly webbed and devoured. The other dwarves banded together to kill it, more died in the subsequent chase and battle. Finally the expedition leader managed to punch the monster's head hard enough to bruise its brain.

By then, only three dwarves remained, and they still had found no water. Come early Felsite, it became apparent that the cave held no water at all. The dwarves were doomed.

The horse and water buffalo, who had dutifully followed their masters down, were released into the caverns. Perhaps they would live, perhaps they would be killed within days, but at least they'd have a chance to survive.

The dwarves themselves gathered in a spacious passage, where they spent their final days reciting poetry.

Finally, on the 23rd of Felsite all three simultaneously died of thirst. Earthcrescent had crumbled to its end.

[Spriggans]

0ps in Evil glacier with a cave entrance ?

I might try my luck on that as well. Seems rewarding.

[Derro]

0ps in Evil glacier with a cave entrance ?

I might try my luck on that as well. Seems rewarding.

Allow me to give you some advice:

-Seven unarmed dwarves are generally capable of taking down even large monsters if they rush it, but actually finishing off their enemies is harder. Try to attack creatures the moment they are in side passages: otherwise their unconscious, bruised bodies can cause dwarves on their way up/down to run back in panic.
-Bone crossbows can be used as clubs. They're not strong, but they're better than bare fists and can be traded away later.
-Don't attack any undead more dangerous than a zombie yak skin. If there's even the slightest chance of the biome being reanimating, either chuck any corpses you get off the cave pillar or store them behind wooden walls. You can even just leave any foes alive but unconscious: they're less trouble that way.
-I prefer to wall off the cave entrance as soon as I get everything inside and leave one or two dwarves at the top, near the initial wood stockpile. This way, you will be able to move wood downstairs faster once you reach the caverns, as well as unseal the entrance should any visitors arrive. Do note that it obviously increases combat difficulty.
-Trolls are common in the upper cave layers, but you don't have to kill them. However, military dwarves are going to attack one the moment they spot it.
-Leaving (one of) your draft animals alive may actually be better than killing them as soon as you embark. They'll survive until you reach the caverns, and if you kill them immediately the meat will probably spoil before your dwarves eat all of it.
-If you don't find water in the caves, you can theoretically survive by either making a bucket and milking your draft animals (which can live on cavern moss), or by making a barrel and brewing gathered plants. Note that this makes constructing a trade depot impossible: you'll have to wait for a migrant to bring you an axe (pickaxe won't work as you need to trade before you can build a forge).
-A tavern is free to make and will draw people to your fortress. Who knows, one of them may be a competent warrior who doesn't mind killing random cave creatures for a bunch of dirt-poor dwarves.

[Fleeting Frames]

@Derro: You dare? You dare!

Always good to see theory going into practice.

I see you settled onto a cave. Can be beneficial, can have 100 goblins or a hydra out to kill you...

Though not reanimating makes thing slightly easier. Still 0-point embark, still nice that troll got damage faster than it regenerated. Good for bone crossbows.

And...No water? No puke, either?

You could also get an axe off visitor, FYI. I'm not sure how necessary the wood stockpile is when you have only 3 logs.

[Derro]

Managed to get a pretty good start today. Sinister glacier where it rains yellow slime that makes you vomit blood (as a few ice wolves learned the hard way), but no reanimation. The dwarves encountered two trolls on the way down the cavern (which fortunately had both water and mushrooms), but managed to avoid combat with them. They also killed and subsequently ate a giant rat.

What's more, there's tons of gold and even some platinum ready to be dug out! The year 2 caravan is going to be pleasantly surprised!

@Derro: You dare? You dare!

Always good to see theory going into practice.

I see you settled onto a cave. Can be beneficial, can have 100 goblins or a hydra out to kill you...

Though not reanimating makes thing slightly easier. Still 0-point embark, still nice that troll got damage faster than it regenerated. Good for bone crossbows.

And...No water? No puke, either?

You could also get an axe off visitor, FYI. I'm not sure how necessary the wood stockpile is when you have only 3 logs.

1. Settling on a cave is basically the only way to survive. I mean, I guess a hypothetical fortress where you milk your pack animals to combat thirst might work, but I'm not sure.

2. The wood stockpile is mostly there to make sure your only building materials don't end up outside coated in evil rain and surrounded by undead yetis.