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[Sethatos]

Well playing it safe is always boring no matter what the game. Also, Dwarf Fortress isn't a game for quick gratification. It's rewards tend to be more long term especially after the embark profile novelty wears off.

It's like building a patio in your backyard by yourself for four weeks while your wife critiques how level the ground is that you spent hours and hours digging and had to move 32 wheelbarrows of dirt just so she could have a dumb thing she saw on a YouTube video where the guy said it would only take a weekend. But afterwards, having a beer on the patio you made is pretty nice.

[newtonsolo313]

Well playing it safe is always boring no matter what the game. Also, Dwarf Fortress isn't a game for quick gratification. It's rewards tend to be more long term especially after the embark profile novelty wears off.

It's like building a patio in your backyard by yourself for four weeks while your wife critiques how level the ground is that you spent hours and hours digging and had to move 32 wheelbarrows of dirt just so she could have a dumb thing she saw on a YouTube video where the guy said it would only take a weekend. But afterwards, having a beer on the patio you made is pretty nice.

Except that instead a patio it's a death trap and instead of drinking beer your murdering people

[Ironfang]

Well playing it safe is always boring no matter what the game. Also, Dwarf Fortress isn't a game for quick gratification. It's rewards tend to be more long term especially after the embark profile novelty wears off.

It's like building a patio in your backyard by yourself for four weeks while your wife critiques how level the ground is that you spent hours and hours digging and had to move 32 wheelbarrows of dirt just so she could have a dumb thing she saw on a YouTube video where the guy said it would only take a weekend. But afterwards, having a beer on the patio you made is pretty nice.

Except that instead a patio it's a death trap and instead of drinking beer your murdering people

Well, you still have the beer.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Are you playing the latest version?
Population 80, goblin neighbors (checked on embark screen), highly populated world (I.e not 5 year history).

If you've played several times, fulfilled all the above conditions and you've still never seen a siege then I suggest redownloading the game. Maybe you're playing 40.24 by mistake with it's lost armies.

And yes, set a goal (play any sandbox without setting a goal and it'll get old fast). Try exploring the world in Legends Viewer before you start. Rp a little.

[anewaname]

Never have I ever gotten a single goblin siege.
.....
(TL;DR: I would like to attract more sieges and other fun things)

With 43.05, there is an issue where a nearby gobin civ will only use their closest site to attack the closest enemy site (or something similar to that effect). To get those the great invasions, embark adjacent to some Dark Fortress that has 5k+ goblins in it. When I generate a world, I use 'p' to export the population and site info and text search that file for high pop dark fortresses, then find a spot right next to them on the map. Then get up to 80+ pop and they will come for you next winter. See the first few posts in these threads here and here.

[Inconspicuous]

Thank you for the advice. By the way, how do you take screenshots of DF?

[anewaname]

Thank you for the advice. By the way, how do you take screenshots of DF?

Just like any other screenshot method, use the Printscreen key or Alt+Printscreen, then paste it into an image editor. Then you can upload it to a site like imgur.com and drop it into a post using the img html tags.

[Bortness]

Have you tried embarking in a high savagery / high evil reanimating biome (potentially with husking weather phenomena as well)?

Fun is to be had.

[Thisfox]

Thank you for the advice. By the way, how do you take screenshots of DF?

Just like any other screenshot method, use the Printscreen key or Alt+Printscreen, then paste it into an image editor. Then you can upload it to a site like imgur.com and drop it into a post using the img html tags.

Or, if you're on a mac, command-shift-4, highlight the bit you want the screenshot (or to print the whole screen, command-shift-3), and go collect your jpg wherever you store screenshots (I get them put on my desktop, but people often choose their downloads folder instead). The hosting site method is still the same though. I use photobucket, but it is full of advertisements.

[Snafu]

On a PC Alt-PrtScrn will copy the active pane to the clipboard (PrtScrn by itself will copy the entire screen). Once you have the image in the clipboard you can do what you want WRT pre-processing via any handy paint-type program (add arrows, comments; highlight areas etc) then upload the resulting image to some cloud-based server.

I use tinypic, which in addition to allowing short URLs (relevant for sig limits etc) does some basic post-processing itself depending upon where you want to paste the image, & provides the relevant links instantly as a handy shortcut. I also found it's a lot less ad-intrusive than imgur, once (freely) registered (with a spam-only email that I never check, so this doesn't bother me)

[Inconspicuous]

Okay. Any tips for documenting the history of a fortress? How often should I update it? Should I limit myself to sessions of specific length, or just play as much as I want and write a separate post for every season or so?

Basically, how do I write stories about my fortress, like Boatmurdered or Glazedcoast?

[Thisfox]

I would recommend an update once a season, with a "breaking news" post for any immediate events such as battles, moods, fires or floods. That's how the succession forts I've loved the most have done it.

Try to occasionally show the individual stories of your dorfs, if you can, and don't forget to document the odd quirks. Storytelling is always awesome in this game. Have fun

[snow dwarf]

Thank you for the advice. By the way, how do you take screenshots of DF?

Tutorial: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=162924.0

[Grand Sage]

I was taught by the Wikipedia tutorial to play it safe, so it's what I did.

Really? that must be the only part of the wiki that says that! everywhere else its all "loosing is fun" (it is!). Though I actually never lost, but I got down to 1 slowly dehydrating baby once

What I do right now is just not building a door... my fortress is just wide open, which makes sieges more... interesting. as for sieges, you can always piss of the elves or the humans if you need more blood

I cant recommend evil biomes, because the undead are extremely bugged, but a site where you do not have acces to all ressources might force you to trade more. say, no trees, or no vegetation, or perhaps (as mentioned above) glacier, though i haven't tried that.

[Salmeuk]

Basically, how do I write stories about my fortress, like Boatmurdered or Glazedcoast?

Just take small notes while your playing when something interesting happens. You might find that there isn't much to report about at first, but you just need to look a little closer at whats happening around your fortress. Who is friends with who? Anyone have a grudge? Do people worship any strange deities? Any strange wildlife roaming about? Any inexplicable injuries? Who's the most skilled dwarf in your fortress, and are they happy? Is anyone happy? Are they unhappy for a particularly gruesome/ridiculous reason? What room is covered in blood and why? What's your fortresses main export? What about your leaders, are they crazy, neurotic, or just sadistic? Have you made any mistakes during play that might be explained from the perspective of a dwarf ('the gods must be crazy' or 'this overseer is incompetent')? And so on. . .

Just the question, "why does this fortress exist?" and you might discover a really interesting story. Be prepared to stretch the literal gameplay into an interesting narrative - Dwarf Fortress remains a closed system where most every strange quirk or event is explicable. The wonder and magic of the story has to come from you!