Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Grand Sage]

I would be interested in your input on a fort I am playing. The whole concept is a military fort (as in, fortified camp, not fortress), with most of my dwarves in a squad. Most of the buildings are therefor going to be above ground, with maybe some cellars for storage ect. I would really like to build "tents" or some sort of temporary shelter, but I can't really think of anything that works. Any ideas?

[FantasticDorf]

Tents exist in the game but aren't really made out of constructable materials, but are operably the same as walls, I don't personally know what would happen if you could construct a real wall out of cloth or leather material, but it seems to remain its own wall-type in world generation where it does appear a bit like how glass doors are named 'portals' or how wood & rock coffins have different names attributed to material type.

If you have any ideas about the construction process, steps or application for tents, the suggestion forum would be a more visible place to share it than the DF general . I guess i can part with the trivia that before the tavern arc, world generation used to spawn in little hostile hyena-men villages that used to live in spider-silk tents and poach your livestock you left outside to graze.

[Grand Sage]

It's not so much that I want tents added, than that I would like to find a creative way to make tent-like shelters in the current version of DF.

[Baffler]

This mod and I believe a few others have cloth building materials in them. This one is old but the reactions should still work. If you don't want to gen a new world though you still have a couple options. You could do rows of dugout things like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

Z-1 (underground)
░░▲░░
░Θ.Θ░
░Θ.Θ░
░Θ.Θ░
░Θ.Θ░
░░▲░░

Z=0 (ground level)
.;▼,.
.▲0▲.
,▲║▲,
.▲║▲;
;▲0▲,
;.▼,.


It's more semi-permanent than temporary, but it's at least cheaper (and a bit more dwarfy) than a log structure on the surface, and easily extensible too. You don't strictly need the roof thing topside but it makes it easier to keep track of, and you can RP it as keeping the rain out. Or you could put a log structure on top of them lengthwise and use it as a mess or workshops or something which could justifiably be made out of something more sturdy.

[Grand Sage]

Uh, I like the last idea, it has a sort of WWI trench feel to it imo. I don't really do mods or texturepacks though.

I was almost resorting to wooden huts of some sort, and, as my fort progresses, I will probably still do some wooden buildings. keeping it relatively primitive of course. I ever consider removing the middle part of your roof, so its just inside on the rows were the beds are. Man I wish I could make them build campfires, even if its just for atmospheric purposes Thx a lot!

[PatrikLundell]

I believe Fleeting Frames did some light modding to make cloth based walls (which were similar to those used by DF tents).

[Miuramir]

... The whole concept is a military fort (as in, fortified camp, not fortress), with most of my dwarves in a squad. Most of the buildings are therefor going to be above ground, with maybe some cellars for storage ect. ...

You might want to look at some more medium-term camps like Valley Forge
While technically several hundred years later than the DF cutoff of about 1400, nothing in their construction required better than dwarf-tech (iron axes, a forest, and cheap unskilled labor; somewhat supervised by minimally-skilled designers). 

"While no accurate account exists for the exact number of log huts built, experts estimate a range between 1,300-1,600 structures." ...
"Afterwards, brigadier generals appointed officers from each regiment to mark out the precise spot for every officer and all enlisted men’s huts.  Despite commanders’ attempts at standardization, the huts varied in terms of size, materials, and construction techniques. Military historian John B. B. Trussell Jr. writes that many squads “dug their floors almost two feet below ground level,” to reduce wind exposure or the number of logs required for construction.  In addition, some huts had thatched straw roofs, while others consisted of brush, canvas, or clapboards. In a letter to his wife Adrienne, Lafayette described the huts as “small barracks, which are scarcely more cheerful than dungeons.”

Given dwarf tendencies, digging a -1Z trench and flooring (roofing) it over with wood planks is not unreasonable; DF dwarves could probably do the digging faster than the building of a wood-block hut. 

[Grand Sage]

That is a very fascinating peace of history you dug up for me there! In design, I suppose, they would not wary much from Bafflers idea. A shame that you cannot dig a whole a half dwarf deep

[bloop_bleep]

I have an idea. Tent walls have the problem that they're completely indestructible -- even bronze colossi wouldn't be able to get through them. To fix this, you could create a custom 1-tile building that is impassable, and requires a piece of cloth to construct. That way, dwarves and small invaders won't be able to go through them, but building destroyers like trolls and giant cave spiders can knock them down.

[Sanctume]

If you use 3 gems to make a window, it is impassable, yet remain vulnerable to building destroyers. 

So a mod to use 1 to 3 pieces of cloth or leather to make some sort of tent wall. 

I make dwarf hovels which is a 2x2 channeled dirt. 

level 1: Keep 1 ramp.  Deconstruct the other 3 up ramps and put floor above as ceiling.  1 bed.
level 2: put 1 hatch above ramp. 
level 3: floor the 3 tiles on the bottom. 
level 4: use wood for ramp. 
level 5: add a cabinet.
level 6: add a chest.

You can even dig it in such a way that 10 are setup with a barracks on the surface.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

Z+0 (ground level)
.++.++.++.++.
.+h.h+.+h.h+.
.............
.++.......++.
.+h...A...h+.
.++.......++.
.............
.+h.h+.+h.h+.
.++.++.++.++.

Z-1 (underground)
░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░++░++░++░++░
░+▲░▲+░+▲░▲+░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░++░░░░░░░++░
░+▲░░░░░░░▲+░
░++░░░░░░░++░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░+▲░▲+░+▲░▲+░
░++░++░++░++░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░

[Grand Sage]

Hmm, Im doing something similar right now, but with an adoption of Bafflers "huts". Instead of barracks in the middle I put a Kitchen, like the cooking fire of a camp. I have some big barracks in the middle of the map.

As stated earlier in this thread, I don't intent on using mods to do this, but its very interesting what you come up with.

Bleep, doesn't the fact that the walls are buildings stop them from limiting room designation? Also, how would the roof work?

Sanctume, isn't the window a very "special" case when it comes to constructions?

[bloop_bleep]

They would indeed not limit room designations, and you would have to make a roof out of other materials as well. A way to solve the first but not the second problem would be a reaction to make doors out of cloth. You can forbid the doors to stop non-building destroyers from getting in. There's no way to solve the second problem without making the tent indestructible, since the only buildings that can provide support are constructions, and those cannot be destroyed.

[Rose]

Actually, no, supports also give support, and can be destroyed by building destroyers, unless Toady changed that.

[bloop_bleep]

Actually, no, supports also give support, and can be destroyed by building destroyers, unless Toady changed that.

Supports cannot be destroyed by building destroyers, actually, and I'm not sure if they ever could be...

[Rose]

Maybe I'm mis-remembering, then, because I strongly recall building destroyer traps consisting of some floor tiles held up by a support in the olden days, but I might be wrong.