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[Larix]

My tree-fort is mostly built up now. 5600 blocks in use, mostly to "floor" (bridge actually) over quite a bit of the map to provide the required ceiling over beds, tables, chairs and coffins.

Dwarfs can live in trees, but you quickly run out of things to do. Even with the multi-log trees of .40+, building material is limited if you don't dig (one log gives one block, making blocks is mainly for aesthetics, bookkeeping and for allowing caravans to carry logs). Furthermore, farming above-ground is tricky since it requires irrigation and there can be biome changes when going up far enough: my map is temperate on the ground and up to ~ z+8, mountain and thus un-farmable above the treetops. Even more annoyingly, natural trees don't mesh well with dwarven industry - few trees have enough branch space for a 3x3 workshop let alone a trade depot, and twigs, which are pretty much all over a tree's fringes, hinder access.

Consequently, most aboveground stuff was eventually stuck in a jumble of artificial wooden constructions, several z above the ground.

Weirdnesses: once again, i got a moody dwarf without digging a single tile. Don't know what allows "discovering" tiles without striking the earth, but i've had it happen in in several no-digging embarks. Since it was a starting dwarf and a jeweller, i decided to dig up a raw gem after all and walled off the mine thereafter. Of course, no gems were found before striking the first cavern, so there were a few more moods after that.

Around year 20, the elven caravan hiccupped: they wouldn't trade because they "hadn't finished unpacking" which afaik meant one of them got stuck off-map, i.e. got spawned but failed to enter the map proper. While this was bad enough, it got worse: the human caravan also got stuck, with no unit becoming visible at all. Suspecting that my map entry had gotten bugged, i blocked the place with raised bridges and made a new entry point. The dwarven caravan arrived and traded without issue (and took the spoils of a full year of industry back home: 1,15 Million ☼ in food, crafts and old clothes). In mid-autumn, several human merchants showed up and turned berserk, a few non-violent mad ones entered the map as well. Somewhere in all this, some grown-wood items showed up - and right enough, the following spring the elven caravan showed up again. Seems like the missing elven merchant got unstucked by the human meltdown. There are several tiles near the edge where my dwarfs have to crouch down and crawl, suggesting there are either several "phantom" units, or a phantom wagon There are still a bunch of untouchable, merchant-marked items around, so the human caravan still has stuck units in place and is probably permanently borked.

A dwarven child got both hands broken in a fall; looking at the place he landed, he was probably playing on the minecart track 11 z above-ground and dodged off. Interestingly, he got positive "put on an exceptional/supreme item" thoughts - when he was sutured/splinted with exceptional cloth and a masterwork splint. Yet another perk of healthcare!

[Fleeting Frames]

Tree fort is somehow attractive, tho. Would be nice if you could upload a map?

Iirc Humankin succession got first mood without enough digging as well.

Didn't know that dwarves would crouch near map edge stuck caravans, tough I knew that they could take their food when hungry (I stick children in a burrow and then forget to feed them).

[Derro]

It seemed like Violenttrades was finally becoming a proper fortress. The heaps of trader trash on the surface had finally been cleaned up, new migrants had come to the fortress without getting eaten by wolves, the stockpile had been doubled in size, and a mayor had been elected and subsequently decided to celebrate by getting a strange mood.

Then As Oceanumbras the forgotten beast arrived. It was a gruesome dimetrodon consisting of filth, and upon spawning immediately entered the water. As a result, my militia was unable to kill it before it surfaced in a water gathering zone, killing about a dozen dwarves until a hammerdwarf finally pulverized its lower body. Most notable of the victims is probably the baby born during a strange mood some months ago.

The mayor, who'd up to then been happily working on his cloth and stone blocks, reveals he's made... a platinum helmet. Ah well, it's an artifact, and it's better than the copper and wood I'm stuck with, so I give it to my militia commander.

To avoid a situation like this in the future, research is being done in walling off the caves entirely and establishing a well somewhere. It's going to take some time, but I've got plenty.

[deathpunch578]

ignore this post. see below.

[Fleeting Frames]

Nah, negatives are good, positives are bad, easily shown by the fact that most of your fort is ecstatic at -tens of thousands or less - though manipulator caps it at -99999 (the actual number goes high, er. lower.).

[FantasticDorf]

Been trying out different fortress designs. I managed to make a simplistic irrigation system also that basically works as a terrace farm where i move the water through out of a reservoir to empty out into fortifications for as many farms as i want depending on location, moving the water along like a aquaduct, then when resealed hopefully becomes a stable water supply.

I've never personally been a fan of open design (where people lump stockpiles & workshops into enormous rooms) but i've been giving some designs a try and im getting the hang of it. I've managed to ironically compact my space better.

[Jazz Cat]

I (quite nearly) got my perfect embark! A volcano standing in the middle of an otherwise completely flat field:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's a shame there's no river available, but ah well. I'll have to breach the caverns in the hope of some water for my hospital.
...And I will need a hospital (hopefully), because I embarked right in the middle of Goblintown, Goblintopia. Fingers crossed for a siege—I've turned the population/created wealth requirements all the way down, in the hopes of getting some FUN. I have yet in all my months of playing DF to suffer through a siege.

[Fleeting Frames]

You could add a river with PatrikLundell's region-manipulator. A circular one, if you so wish.

Volcanoes tend to do that sometimes. Not sure why, but don't mind the bug.

[Derro]

To prevent any further repeats of the dimetrodon disaster, I decided to make an indoor well, as well as a passage from the fortress to the surface that doesn't go through the cavern. The passage was done quickly enough, but between expanding the dining hall, creating an exit channel, and having all levers lined up, the well took some more time. On the plus side, it's absolutely awesome: no less than two artifacts are part of it. I'm hoping for an artifact bucket soon.

A minor issue arose when the miner who breached the cave lake ended up almost drowning. Fortunately, she was able to get out of the water, climb onto a giant mushroom, and dig her way to safety.

Also, merchants visited, dropped all of their stuff due to the evil rain, and left. The stuff is mine now, except for a caged cat and alpaca which are strangely still merchant property.

A farmer got secretive, seized a craftsdwarf workshop, and demanded a ton of stuff.

While he was gathering it, I suddenly received cancellation spam due to an ice wolf. Fearing the worst, I moved to the surface... and saw one dead wolf, as well as a heavily wounded one that was being chased by half a dozen dwarves. Take that, you cursed canines! Apparently the ice wolf population cap is only 20: I feel like I'll be able to drive them to extinction altogether in a few more years.

The farmer, now sitting on a pile of gold bars, gold ore, wood, stone blocks, rough gems, and leather, began working on his artifact! A short time later, I received... a native gold scepter. It's valueable, and I got a legendary stonecrafter out of it (hope you like crafting mugs), but it's otherwise useless.

The pictures on it are interesting, though. First is a simple image of the artifact itself, second is a depiction of my militia commander punching an elf merchant's head in back in the fortress's second year, and third is an image of Zon Roomtemples, a dwarf who got killed during the dimetrodon attack. Curiously, Zon appears to be completely unrelated to the farmer: the only connection between them is that they're the only two secretive dwarves so far, and both made scepters. Is this a conspiracy? Is some scepter-loving secretiveness-inducing presence controlling my dwarves? Only time will tell!

[Derro]

More digging in Violenttrades! A large underground tunnel leading from the downward passage to the map edge was dug out, thereby allowing merchants to immediately move underground after entering the map. No more losing dwarf caravans to horrid murk!

Also, a giant scaly crab FB with a poisonous bite attacked. At first, it was content just murdering some pond grabbers, but a while later I noticed it'd killed one of the sheep grazing on cave moss outside the fortress. Fortunately, the militia could quickly intervene. In the end, only a ram and a dwarf lost their lives, while the hammerdwarf who killed the crab got an awesome named weapon out of it.

Spring came, and so did the elf caravan. The moment they and their stuff got inside the depot, I locked it off, sent in my militia commander, and watched him massacre them all (honored be the fortress name!). Nothing personal, just needed four more named kills to give him an awesome title. Also I got some clothes and wood out of it, so that's a bonus.

With the militia near the surface anyway, and little else to do, I decided to begin Operation Wildlife Extermination. Two packs of ice wolves were rapidly slaughtered, followed by half a dozen of blizzard men, forevermore erasing those evil entities from the lands around Violenttrades. Right now, all animals are either birds from an overlapping peaceful ocean or cave creatures.

Also, a dwarf got a fey mood, gathered a ton of stuff, and made a fancy crown. Well, at least it's not a scepter...

[Fleeting Frames]

Hm. Your milita commander should wear the crown. It's only fitting and leaves him vulnerable to headshots.

[Derro]

Violenttrades' miners finally began digging past the first cavern layer, successfully breaching what seemed like a weird mixture of the 2nd and 3rd (there's Blood Thorns, but no second layer was ever found). A short distance past were the magma seas, with one adamantine pillar located already.

Around the same time, I sent out the militia to kill a cave crocodile. It was a routine thing: even the single dwarf moving far ahead of the others would be able to do it.

When she arrived at the crocodile's location, however, she found out it'd already been killed... by a giant humanoid web-spewing forgotten beast made out of gemstones. The beast killed the soldier... and the two after it... and the horde of peasants who then tried to grab all the dead guy's stuff...

Will Violenttrades survive? Will it be sealed off from the caverns at last? Will the adamantine be mined? Find out in the next update!

Hm. Your milita commander should wear the crown. It's only fitting and leaves him vulnerable to headshots.

Militia commander is already wearing another artifact: a neat platinum helmet. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[vekar]

The hamlet of Unalolin (Blunted Tongs) has some interesting wall decor: Apparently there is a place called: The Hills of Veiling. For the past 180+ years (many engravings in my fort) this place is the scene of DF Verdun. Every race and bit of wildlife has held massive pitched battles there, one was called "Ustrok Slaz" or "The Battle of Splattering," which was quite descriptive of the scene depicted: Elf bought it via goblin crossbowman. Everything from giant wolves, dingoes, zombie hydras you name it have been slaughtering the hell of anything in that region. Frankly, after this fort is over I want to travel there and continue this legendary's place bloody history: build a fortified dwarf fortress and let the screaming hordes of hell come and just TRY to push me off these "veiled hills" of Verdun.


Seriously, my dwarves have been making a "complete history of..." for those hills through engravings, nasty, nasty stuff has happened there.

[Derro]

The hamlet of Unalolin (Blunted Tongs) has some interesting wall decor: Apparently there is a place called: The Hills of Veiling. For the past 180+ years (many engravings in my fort) this place is the scene of DF Verdun. Every race and bit of wildlife has held massive pitched battles there, one was called "Ustrok Slaz" or "The Battle of Splattering," which was quite descriptive of the scene depicted: Elf bought it via goblin crossbowman. Everything from giant wolves, dingoes, zombie hydras you name it have been slaughtering the hell of anything in that region. Frankly, after this fort is over I want to travel there and continue this legendary's place bloody history: build a fortified dwarf fortress and let the screaming hordes of hell come and just TRY to push me off these "veiled hills" of Verdun.


Seriously, my dwarves have been making a "complete history of..." for those hills through engravings, nasty, nasty stuff has happened there.

I wish I had dwarves engraving interesting history. With me, it's just '150 years ago, a plump helmet woman settled here' and 'two years ago, the militia commander exploded an elf by punching his head'.

[Fleeting Frames]

@Derro: Right, I forgot; I guess nobody should wear it then.

Forbid on death can be pretty useful and pretty annoying as default setting.