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[DJ]

Well, I just ran into my first cave river, and I am sorely disappointed. The long list of unseen dead critters, including cave crocodiles and olmmen, really set my expectations high. But when I finally found it, there was nothing in there but a couple of cave fish. I didn't even find any corpses. I guess they all fell into the mini-chasm that is the river's exit point.

Additionally, there is no dry land whatsoever in the river's cavern, so I guess I won't have an underground forest either. And my chasm (which was also hidden) is quite sparsely populated, too. The biggest threat my dwarves have right now is a single magma man that emerged from the magma pool I ran into. The only local threat left is hidden fun stuff, but I haven't started digging it out yet.

Anyway, is this the way cave rivers are supposed to be? Or did I just have bad luck and had one with a chasm that all it's inhabitants fell into and died?

I'm really thinking about abandoning this fort due to lack of local hostiles. I specifically searched with Regional Prospector for a place with plenty of baddies to keep me entertained, and now I'm sorely disappointed. The current fort doesn't have any iron, anyway (at least I haven't found any).

But before I embark again, I'd like some tips on finding features that are rich in bad guys. For example, do I need to select a cave river that has no ends in my fortress' local area, or will I lose frogmen even if there is no chasm for them to fall into?

[Bullion]

Caves are normally the best places for hostiles, you can find some bye going to adventuring and talking to peasants and mayors etc.

[Crafty Barnardo]

It sounds like you found a pretty bad-ass site, actually.  I've never found a cave river, and I have only found magma ounce.

That said, if you want lots of bad guys, you could try a terrifying region (purple areas) or just embark into the middle of a goblin fort.

[Ma]

Yes, Barnardo's suggestions are good ones (although the goblin fort one is tough.     )

But you have been unlucky with your cave river, DJ. I don't know if the chasm was visible on the embark screen (although I suspect it was), but it seems one seeking challenge should avoid zones where cave rivers flow next to a chasm since it appears that the waterfalls cause great mortality among the underground aquatic critters.

(There is a thread somewhere about that : there it is).

You may give another try with another river.

About underground forests, you could try a cave lake. Those have an irregular shape and may give birth to tower caps on their banks, but nothing quite like a real underground forest.

However, you can farm tower caps after irrigating a dug area with (any) water after you discovered the cave river or lake.

Alas, farming is quite less entertaining than a good old fight with lizardmen.      :p

[ February 01, 2008: Message edited by: Maître Smaug Capello ]

[JoRo]

My cave river in my first fort was almost completely empty.  It seemed that it dumped almost everything into the bottomless waterfall, leaving only a single frogman who escaped to murder my dwarves.  When I returned as an adventurer, apparently everything had respawned so for a while I couldn't take a step without a frogman/lizardman/mudman colliding with an obstacle.

[DJ]

Oh yeah, I noticed tower caps spawning in my maintenance tunnel next to water intake. So I decided to dig out a forest chamber next to the river and flood it so I get mud (yeah, I know I could do it without flooding in soil, but this seems more right). And the whole cave got covered in cave spider silk! My cats killed a couple of the useful critters before I forbid them entrance, but their population seems OK. I just hope that flooding won't exterminate them.

Also, my queen arrived dressed as a peasant, dropped all her clothes upon entering the map and went to buy two socks and a dress. Does this mean economy has started? BTW, my fort is totally unprepared for the queen. The only metal I have in abundance is copper, and I don't think that'll do for royal furniture. I'm making some aluminium stuff, but it's taking ages for my dwarves to smelt more aluminium and furniture takes a lot of bars.

Anyway, I guess I won't just go and abandon this fort. I'll try to get it destroyed by hostile forces.