SmallHands, 177The last time I played SmallHands, it was still 0.47.04. I had to move the changes from d_init between locations, which gives me a good opportunity to show what I’m using:
[POPULATION_CAP:50]
[STRICT_POPULATION_CAP:60]
[BABY_CHILD_CAP:100:1000]
[VISITOR_CAP:5]
[INVASION_SOLDIER_CAP:60]
[INVASION_MONSTER_CAP:30]
[SPECIFIC_SEED_CAP:50]
[FORTRESS_SEED_CAP:720]Invasion caps were unchanged since the days when the popcap was 40; if you want to increase them now’s the time. Seed cap is more of my own personal hang-up, I keep it on the same number as the popcap (and total seed cap varies on how many individual crops I have).
And that’s the end of the OOC, I think, now onto the adventures of Malfoy StrapCobalt, the sociopathic overseer. Who is… slightly less sociopathic, and somewhat more of a full-on basket case, when I look in her description:
Zultan, captain of the guard, performs her duty: she notifies the overseer that a citizen named Morul is drowsy:
There’s no need to be alarmed: Morul is the latest victim of the fort, and has been babbling nonsense for at least a few months. I take it upon myself to resolve the matter in a permanent fashion: I lock the door to Morul’s prison cell.
Most citizens have some piece of tattered clothing, myself included. It would be trivial to throw it in the old atom smasher, but I’ll indulge in the world’s most pathetic vendetta: I want this garbage to burn!
And I found the perfect spot, too: in the old ballista room, someone has built a 3-levels tall drop on top of a tile of magma; presumably, for this exact purpose. There was no dump zone on top, though; the magic of paperwork establishes one, and then all citizens are issued orders to dump tattered clothes. Then I do the same myself; that was surprisingly satisfying!
As for the rest of the fort, we were ‘blessed’ with a giant pile of garbage from the last siege. Being part of a siege, it was marked as forbidden for access, and nobody has updated the records despite the entire year that has passed. Most of it is crude iron armor, the only armor that goblins know how to make. Between the low quality and the smears of ash that were once greenskins and traitors, no sane dwarf wants to wear it. It will be melted down to bars, and turned to steel.
Appreciating the Tall Bar and its frothy magma top. But are there some obvious shortcomings?
1. Pump #2 doesn’t have access; will it be powered from below/above?
2. Pumps #3 to #7 have the same (apparent?) design flaw: there’s a wall tile missing, allowing magma to seep between the pump and the wall:
Perhaps this isn’t a flaw: it’s possible that magma moves fast enough that it never has a chance to flow outside. Still, we’re one tired pump operator away from an entirely undesired magma flood, as opposed to the desired one that should come after the mug top is filled. With respect to the Tall Bar, a dedicated access stair will be made off to the right side, and all possible leaks will be plugged.
3. On the levels where pumps #8 #9 and #10 should have been, there is nothing; only the space for them, and some iron pump components; I hurry to re-issue orders of construction, making sure to specify gabbro blocks in addition to the iron corkscrews and pipes.
Despite not being the most technically-inclined dwarfette, I can at least draw inspiration from the other magma pump in SmallHands; the one that’s bringing the blood of the stone from the depths to the blighted surface. That one has a very clear “wall and gear assembly” structure, for as far down as can be seen. I shall endeavour to replicate it for the 10 pumps of the Tall Bar.
4. Pump #10 is of particular interest: was it supposed to be connected to a windmill? There is no record of such, but if it ever was, the wooden axle has definitely burnt when the magma was released.
5. And speaking of windmills! There are records of the fort having 4 windmills to power the stack; only 1 has survived:
Obviously the remainder will get built as well; but looking at this 11th level, I can’t help but think: was there supposed to be a pump in here as well? Was the Tall Bar intended to be double-frothy?
At least the operation instructions have been clear enough: go to the Tall Bar, pull the east lever to fill the top of the bar with magma, pull the west lever to make that magma flow!
Apropos of nothing: “pull the east lever to fill the top of the bar with magma” has got to be one of the most stereotypically dwarven sentences I have ever written. I have no regrets. None whatsoever. Years ago I would have, but I’ve lived here for a decade; SmallHands changes you!
Regardless; my next focus is in the smithy; there’s much iron crap to melt, and very little coal and flux to turn it into steel. The quantum stockpile for miserable metal paraphernalia has been destroyed, at some point or another; now it’s been reinstated, and a large stockpile for flux stone joins it as well.
Some flux stone from out of the way is marked for digging. All trees are being marked for cutting, both in the third cavern, and in the ‘surface’ tree farm that I have dug out in my first mandate. Wasn’t I clever? Wasn’t I, oh naysayers of mine?!?
If the existing number of logs is still insufficient, I’ll organize a logging force from the dwarves already afflicted by the fever; these can cut out all trees in the goop area, and bring them over in the fort, after thorough washing of course.
And it’s almost not even notable that we have acquired a bunch of new guests:
Unfortunately for them, they’ve arrived in the east, straight in the ‘goop zone’. They are completely isolated, have been immediately infested by the cursed fever, and the greatest impact they’ve had so far is to shoot a giant black bird over our passable territory. Thanks for the meat, I suppose.
Any half-formed ideas to send the army against them were immediately dismissed: the risk of smearing our soldiers with the damnable goo is far too high. The greenskins can sit at the foot of the necro tower, and maybe haul some goop back to their revolting dark pit. It’s nothing less than they deserve.
That should be the preliminary plotting done, now there’s nothing left but labor.
177.02.17 Morul has finally perished. May he find peace.
177.03.05 The 'melt pile' has been suspended; while there's still plenty of metal crap to move to it, hauling all of them is taking too much of our time. We'll take a break; coal and flux are our primary bottleneck anyway, not iron bars.
On a related subject, the goblins also have copper, and we have remarkable amounts of cassiterite. Perhaps we can supplement our lack of steel with some bronze? I do believe it's only slightly less effective than steel, and more effective than iron anyway.
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OOC: Spring has almost passed, entirely with fort maintenance. Once I get some feedback, I'll figure out how to alter the pump stack on the side of the Tall Bar.
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Topic: Smallhands - nearly 40 years and still tiny! (Read 441777 times)