Surgeon's Journal: WinterAs is often the case, the change of seasons ushered in a new wave of dwarven identity crisis. The first such case was ToniK, who told me he wanted to join me in my scientific pursuits. Whether it was out of shared ideals, or something else entirely is up for debate.
Next up is our legendary weaponsmith, who now wished to be called Shul-nak. Not only has he outfitted our military with truly excellent weapons, but he swings a mean axe himself. In another life, he might have been tabbed for military service, but his craftsmanship is too valuable to waste.
One of the newest members of the Earthen Assaults wanted a minor name change to signify her new responsibilities. Formerly known as Zulgar, now she wishes to be called by her more formal name, Zulgarkun. The spear is her weapon of choice, and will serve the fortress well.
Finally, one of the Shafts of Fortifying wishes to be known as DDDragoni. One of the older members of Breadbowl, she desires to utilize her twilight years in defense of her home, staring death head on with an axe in her hand.
The naming ceremonies were cut short however. The second day of winter brought more than simple name changes with it.
They came for me again! Threats press in from all around, no matter what precautions I've taken. No longer content with sending raw recruits and ogres at us, this was a siege of trained goblins with troll support. The alarm resonated throughout the fortress as we prepared for the invaders to advance on the barracks, this time with the moat completely dry. Or at least that was the plan...
A stray water buffalo wandered up a ramp that was next to the wall for some unknown reason and began getting peppered by goblin arrows. Death quickly followed, but not before bringing another mini-crisis with it.
A lone goblin pikeman successfully scaled the wall and hopped across, right into the fortress proper. With the troops in the barracks far to the west, I called for the Watch to see if they could snipe him down while he chased after a nearby yak. Before they could arrive, Tirist of the miner's guild decided to take matters into his own hands.
Sustaining only superficial injuries, our miner emerged victorious. Severing both feet and the left forearm, the goblin bled to death quite quickly. Meanwhile, the brunt of the trolls with a few goblin bowmen for support were approaching the barracks entrance.
With the inability to surround our superior troops or provide supporting bowfire, the hallway was soon coated in the foul smelling blue troll blood.
With their troll allies already slain after rushing so far ahead, the bulk of the goblin forces made their way towards the corpse-riddled hallway.
I could't see what transpired within those confined spaces, but the soldiers say it was a slaughter of gruesome proportions.
All in all, only a few cuts and bruises on our end, while the goblin force was decimated. One troubling sight was a lone troll that managed to scale the walls of the barracks and hop over, but he was quickly wiped out from behind. I made a mental note to expand the walls up top to deter such ideas in the future.
Two events happened in celebration of the end of the siege.
Iton, one of our farmers, claimed a carpenter's workshop and began furiously sketching. He seemed to have everything he needed, so further oversight was unnecessary. The other event was much more predictable.
Quite the party aficionado we have in our midst. Spirits were quite high, and I decided to attend as well. Seeing how I was planning on spending most of the immediate future engrossed in the old manuscripts, drinking until I couldn't remember my name seemed like the thing to do.
While I was nursing a particularly nasty hangover, Iton emerged from his workshop with a marvelous new creation.
In order to make sure it was never used in something crude like animal trappings, I designated it to be placed on display in the dining hall. I didn't look at it too closely, as I was quite preoccupied with the results of my studies. Contingency Plan Omega is foolproof; no matter what comes for me, I'll be ready. In the event of a total catastrophe and the walls are breached by goblin, beast, or even the gods themselves, I can escape Breadbowl safely with such speed that they will never catch up to me! There is no practical way to do an actual test of the system, but the old texts are littered with examples. Urist and his son escaping the island dungeon, the legendary Morul and his encounter with the unfortunate Orc, the list goes on and on. I've told no one of Omega; there will not be any hinderances with my escape should the worst come to pass. There might be a stampede by the others once they see the Plan in action, but by then I will already be long gone.
Almost as proof of the wisdom of my plans, an uninvited guest appeared in the depths below.
Our new enemy roams freely in Cavern 3, where he is quite unable to reach me. Today is not the day for Omega, and time marches on here in Breadbowl.
The winter months seemed to fly by, as my fellow dwarves tried to do every task they could possibly think of other than dumping the goblin and troll corpses in the magma dump. It is no longer my concern, as the next overseer will have to deal with their remains. Finally content with my place in the world, I decided to look over the fortress as the last days of winter come to an end.
Magma is being hauled to the new kilns. Food storage is in very short supply and having 6 kilns up and running will help out tremendously. The farmers tell me there is a backlog of over 2000 plants to be brewed, and even these new kilns might not be enough to get us enough pottery. (Kiln 3 minecart was empty for some reason, so it wont have enough magma for power until the next batch.)
Pastureland continues to be an issue that needs resolving. Donkey, horse, and rhino pastures are insufficient, while the yak and water buffalo still reside in temporary pastureland to the northeast of the forges. More dirt roads need to be constructed over any saplings or plantlife to allow maximum grazing area.
Clear glass block production continues slow but steadily. Magma glass forges should be constructed to increase output, as well as for glass pot creation afterwards.
A view of the dining hall. The lever in the southwest corner needs to be pulled while under siege in order to remove the caravan access point where invaders could bypass the barracks. Making a variety of metal tables and chairs will increase happiness. We need a lot of magma powered forges and smelters for that, and hopefully the next overseer has them installed as well.
A bird's eye view of Breadbowl and most of our surrounding lands. The caravan highway is complete around all 4 edges of our map to ensure the caravans will always have wagon access. The moat is almost totally dried out now, and I would recommend leaving it that way. While it was quite useful in it's time, our soldiers have proven more than capable when it comes to warfare. (That and FPS death is a real thing. Even with the moat drained, I was hovering at 18 FPS.)
The greater cave spider web collection area is fully complete. When the lever is pulled, the shielding bridge will lower and the spider will spray the dog with webs, filling the room. Pull again to raise the shield, then collect away. In case you ever want to cage the spider again, simply unlock the door behind him and he will wander into the waiting cage trap. Note that this entire setup will not work if the spider is ever tamed.
Thus ends my tenure as overseer of Breadbowl. The fortress will be entrusted to the capable hands of my successor, whomever that may be. May the gods smile upon us (and if not, Omega is salvation for me!)
~~~Journal's End~~~With that, my turn as overseer is finished. Thanks for having me, it was really fun.
Two things I didn't document on purpose: Contingency Plan Omega and the medical training system. I'm going to let the next overseer show everyone those two however they see fit. I'll PM the training system details to the next overseer so they know where it is and exactly how it works. I've used the same setup in another fort to great success, which makes the failure of the system here so frustrating for me. It is either instant death or not even a bruise here, whereas I usually get broken bones and torn muscles to train my medical staff with. For Omega, I'm not going to tell anyone about it, other than its completely harmless as far as the safety of the fort is concerned.
A TLDR list of recommendations for the next overseer:
1) After the magma kilns are in place, collect more magma. We need magma glass furnaces, smelters, and forges.
2) This fort is far and away the most mineral rich fort I've ever played. I can't recall of even
hearing about another fort that has more minerals. Once you have the magma smelters going, try and make a variety of metal tables and chairs for the dining hall, one for each type of specialty metal. I've got a rose gold and regular gold set in there, with some sterling silver and nickel silver ones in the quarantine zone.
3) Buy all the gypsum plaster from the caravan in the fall. That's the only thing that we really desperately need. Cloth and leather is always good to have though.
4) Fix the pastures. I did very little for advancing the fort during my tenure as far as pastures were concerned, as I was concentrating on other things. They do need some help though.
5) Try and make the outer wall 2z's high to prevent enemy climbers.
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Topic: Breadbowl: a Succession Farm [42.06] - Breadbowl Ends (Read 446420 times)