All right guys, time for the riveting conclusion! I've been playing this fortress at really odd hours between work so I didn't take notes and have been relying off my screen shots to prompt my memory... I'm sure everything will be fine. Which is of course what I said about the fortress and... Well, I'll let you all be the judge.
Let's pick up where we left off.
I'd left the court yard in a bit of a mess.
Past mistakes were coming back to haunt me, that was for sure.
My plan was to create enough steel in my newly relocated forge to equip the Lucky Picks and then attack the goblins before they could flee and bring back a larger force. Luckily for me, the previous overseers had been busily stockpiling wood so fuel was, for a kind of miracle, no issue at all. The main barrier to progress was the low skill level of the wood burners and smelters. The smelters were slow but the wood burners were even slower and the supply chain kept becoming unbalanced. I fiddled with Dwarf Therapist but there was only so much that could be done. I built a third wood burning furnace directly next to the forge and that did help a bit, but it was a tedious project.
Later overseers might consider building a second base of operations directly off the magma forges. That is, after they take care of the new resident.
I had a look around and the staircases are close enough together that they could feasibly be linked by a secured (roofed) passageway. Adamantine is probably inaccessible forever unless someone really confident in their magma moving capabilities comes along. I had enough on my plate without taking anything like that on so I threw up another wall blocking the stairs to the caverns. Xosun spent the rest of my term committing genocide among the native fauna down there.
This approach was not without cost.
The mechanics took it hard on my turn, I don't mind admitting that. The saddest case is the former mayor Eshtan. He's lost his foot, his thumbnail is split open and infected, and his wife was the mechanic from the previous post stuck in the cage trap. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the arms race didn't afford us enough time to reach the caged captives.
Speaking of sad cases. I found out what happened to Dumat.
Okay guys, fess up, who locked the Elf in his bedroom? Seriously, that door was locked and forbidden which was the only reason it escaped my reconfiguration (and also the only reason I found it).
I was pondering this and the mystery of why in a fortress overflowing with wood, magnetite, and flux stone someone had spent time creating bone armor, when the goblins did exactly what I was afraid they'd do all along.
They were pulling a runner. I immediately unlocked the door and threw the Lucky Picks and the newly created Guard division after them in a hopes of stopping the messengers but they took so long to assemble that they didn't get in more than a few shots. I knew this meant trouble for later.
I had elected Onul, slayer of Spoilsfoiled the yak cow dust husk, Captain of the Guard and put all the dwarves with marksdwarf skill under her. I then recruited the rest of the likely fighters into The Lucky Picks bringing the number of soldiers up to 20. This turned out to be a dreadful mistake, but I will get to that.
With the goblins decamped from the courtyard and the doors open, the dwarves recommenced the frantic reconstruction of the wall and courtyard. Mostly they focused on lugging wood back to the stockpiles. At some point someone, quite possibly me, had ordered glumprong trees distressingly close to Evil Dust Corner cut down and this was the wood the dwarves were most bent on retrieving, because it was the farthest away I suppose. Who can figure with dwarves?
I meanwhile engaged in a horrible rendition of Find the Lady as I had all the unlisted cages built in the courtyard so that I could locate the bodies of the carpenter and the mechanic in order to have them dumped and then interred.
Soundsense gave me an achievement when I won!
I'd spent the slow moments of the siege popping down to the caverns to watch Xosun battle the cave critters. I hadn't developed a very high opinion of its abilities.
It seemed to spend most of its time hiding in its chosen spot.
When it wasn't crawling around the caverns leaving a trail of pussy white ichor.
Given that its special ability is its deadly blood, its pinata like qualities do make sense. It has a cracked copper exoskeleton that allows it to spew its poison all over everything it encounters. This makes Xosun a better candidate for a steel bolt or cave in than a silver hammer, but I figured sooner or later something bigger or smarter would come along and get it. Xosun, however, proved itself still quite deadly in spite of my scorn.
Datan is the dwarf I ordered to do nothing but tame animals. I'd hoped she'd become a super animal tamer and we'd be able to create a pet buffer for the dwarves. It was not to be though. Now, I didn't unblock the stairs into the caverns, and given that this didn't happen earlier leads me to believe that there is some entrance from the surface that goes all the way down into the caverns that I missed during my explorations. This means the dwarfs can wander down into Xosun's waiting claws at will.
In spite of the death of the beast master, I soon obtained some positive news.
We're also making progress on the crundle front.
I had the lever for the front gate moved down to a control room off the main hallway which I have labelled as its own burrow for ease of location. The gates and levers are both marked using the N menu. I also had some outdoor training facilities set up in an attempt mitigate the cave adaptation which had really had a chance to set in over the course of the siege. Setting up a goods stockpile did no good in helping to clear the courtyard at all. I couldn't for the life of me convince the dorfs to finish a Trade Depot, with predictable results.
The Liaison still put in an appearance. The world, I am told, is the same as ever, more's the pity. I did eventually get a Trade Depot built on about 12-28, long after it could do any good. A center for economic commerce, Autumntower is not. If anyone ever does have the opportunity to trade, I requested leather, seeds, and some wool bearing critters to replenish the supply (all of ours died during the siege). I say this knowing full well that it will probably never signify. We should probably focus on becoming entirely self sufficient. We could really use more leather to make backpacks and quivers for the troops though.
This is a view the mountainhomes share, interestingly enough. I picture them in much the same situation as we are, equipment and supply wise.
The traders had a bit of an altercation on their way out.
It doesn't show up in that shot, but the creature is actually a dust husk. I left them to it.
One of the merchants was pretty seriously injured but a guard picked him up and carried him away.
At some point, migrants arrived.
They mostly brought birds.
A dwarf became possessed but I never paid attention to what he made. Really, all things considered, he's lucky I didn't drive him insane with burrow restrictions like I did in my turn over at Parallel Fortress. Why? Because once again, it was time for round two.
This time, we were really in for it.
They'd brought some of everything. I thought I had shots of the full list but apparently not. It was two pages long. Seriously, we joke about embracing diversity in Autumntower but The Delightful Jackal of Deer walk the walk as well as talking the talk. They brought their elf along with them instead of locking him in a room to die.
I guess that's what you get when your head administrator is a warthog.
I don't know which part amuses me more, that their master is a warthog or that he's a demonic administrator. I can't help but picture their master in tie and business suit running the dark bureaucracy where all individuality is drummed out of the inhabitants until they embrace the collective. Truly a foe to be resisted at all costs!
Though honestly, I didn't expect the costs to be all that high. I planned to seal off our newly refurbished courtyard and spend our time taking pot shots from the fortifications while I continued the task of forging enough armor to equip everyone with a steel helm, mail shirt, leggings, high boots and gauntlets. I had, however, overlooked something vital. While I'd been very careful to see that all my new gates and their corresponding levers were carefully labelled, I had not ensured that the dwarfs had gotten around to actually wiring them in between reloading the cage traps.
We would not have the option of hiding this time. I quickly ordered the civilians inside and dispatched the troops to guard the back gate. I still intended to have the archers shoot from the wall, but once they spotted the trolls the fight began and I had only marginal control.
I ordered them back within the walls after they finished the first two trolls but one of the marks dwarfs refused to move.
This lone gun man stood in the path of the onrushing invaders and calmly took shots while he dodged and blocked incoming arrows.
I stood amazed as he feathered the enemy forces with bolts, doing better than the majority of his comrades stationed on the northwest corner of the wall. He took down two goblins and as they came to engulf him, I caved and set in the Lucky Picks to try and save him. He died of course.
Followed soon after by a second death.
And a third and a fourth...
At which point, I quit taking screen shots of each death. Only half the militia had new steel equipment, the rest were still in bone and leather, and they died in droves. Only the marks dwarves who stayed put on the wall survived the culling. I've played plenty of fortress where iron was scarce, I should have known better than to have any dwarves assigned to the militia who didn't have steel equipment. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.
That we survived at all I largely attribute to the efforts of a handful of dwarfs. Usuth and Rith of the Lucky Picks distinguished themselves greatly upon the field of battle. They marched north together, leaving a trail of devastation behind them as they destroyed goblin recruit after goblin recruit with a single blow from spear or mace.
Nish, the marksdwarve put up a spirited and long stand even though she was entirely unarmored and carrying her baby on her back. The sword dwarf Likot, who was fully equipped it must be said, slept through the entire battle on the gate. The Commander Rith also hesitated, I'm not sure why. He stood in the gate for most of the battle, leaving it only to charge across the field and throw Nish out of the path of danger.
It didn't save her life. She died of her wounds before she could be carried from the bloody expanse path the western wall.
Her orphaned baby (the father was a farmer named Asmel, whom I believe was dead before I arrived) still crawls through the corpse pile out behind the fortress until dehydration or accident takes it.
Autumntower survived.
The rest of my turn was spent in harried struggle to complete my various construction projects and in silent contemplation of my failings as an overseer. There really isn't any reason the sieges should have been as disastrous as they were if I had just rebuilt the forges first thing and really focused on the steel issue, not to mention all around better management of military personnel and gates. I don't know as I accomplished much, but if the goal of the fort is to survive, then technically this was a win for the team.
These are the completed fortifications. If you can do it without blocking the ramp, build a floor and floating fortifications over the gate itself to prevent falls like I did over the front entrance. I ran out of time for it.
Likewise, the tree barrier is probably insufficient. That we haven't had an issue with crashing yet is kind of a miracle.
This is the cleaned up courtyard. I had to build the Depot there because the dwarves just did not have time for dumping and this was the only open space I could find.
Here's the current state of the farms with the clothing industry off to the right. Down by the bottom you can see where I dug a pen for non-pet birds. We mostly have geese in there at the moment. I have some eggs forbidden that might provide us with a future supply of eggs, meat and leather if we're patient.
This is an armory I had dug under the farms in hopes of speeding up equipment. DO NOT PUT BINS IN THESE STOCKPILES IT WILL MAKE THE EQUIPMENT INACCESSIBLE. Especially the bolts.
These are the workshops I built. This area is small but handy to the rest of the fortress which means a lot.
The dining room is not very grand but it's the most I could fit in around the extra stair case and with limited time. There's a leather shop with a stockpile for leather goods. The archers had no equipment before, but since the siege they are spoilt for choice when it comes to leather armor. I had them put steel mail shirts on under the leather armor. Get them some steel helmets and gauntlets (they don't interfere with shooting) and the dwarves will be safe shooting from the wall and hastier in arriving.
Here's the hospital and the nobles offices. They stored an adamantine strand in there that I can't seem to get out. I turned the other two into wafers. Doctors PREFER adamantine strands so be careful of that. Also, the hospital really needs soap. If someone could see that the reservoir gets fill and some wells built it would help with water supply now that the caverns are home to Xosun and the surface is undergoing frequent siege.
Here is the sadly expanded graveyard. The death toll on my turn was by far the most costly turn yet.
And here are the stats for the end of my turn.
And here is the save!
The Delightful Jackal of the Deer are really interesting. When I get a spare moment I might have a snoop through the legends finder or have a go at founding a sister fortress to Autumntowers.
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Topic: Pseudo-Succession Fortress, Ultra Hostile Experiment (Read 8864 times)