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Should we mod in Platinum blunt weapons and armour?

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Voting closed: May 25, 2020, 03:39:38 am


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Author Topic: Smithsoldier, Year 12: Clothes, Madness, and Beasts (And Candy) [47.04]  (Read 63696 times)

Salmeuk

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Re: Smithsoldier: Year 7: Bedrooms and Beasts [47.04]
« Reply #180 on: May 11, 2020, 06:19:18 am »

The Diary of Salmeuk: Winter of Year 181

A Vile Force of Darkness


On the second day of Moonstone, the goblins arrived.



Not too concerning, with our dwarves safely locked up, and instead it was kind of exciting. Our crossdwarf squad was posted to the southern fortifications.

Oooh boy there were a lot of 'em. Three pages of this:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The first thing the trolls did was destroy the exposed axle powering the waterfall. Huh. I forgot about that. Luckily they didn't feel like climbing further down the hole.

Our marksdwarves waited until the goblins meandered within range, and opened up fire:



But only to little effect. The goblins themselves were mostly dodging the bolts, and for some reason our dwarves weren't using those nice iron bolts I had made earlier. I didn't worry too much, I just let them get some practice.

This did reveal that the fortifications weren't of the best design. Simply 'm'oving the squad to the hallway would end up with most of the dwarves hanging out in the training range, instead of shooting like they should.



I had to assign the entire squad to a patrol route via the military menu. This didn't work as well for the northern side of the fort, so this is something the next overseer should think about fixing. Or maybe build a couple new archer towers closer to the map edge.

The Part Where I Let All The Trolls In

I soon grew bored of waiting around for the goblins to approach, and opened up the depot bridge in an attempt to bait them closer. Little did I know, almost all the trolls managed to sneak inside before I closed it again! I blame the grey coloring being easy to miss. But this was the situation:



That was a very large number of trolls. Still, I trusted our soldiers, and after closing the bridge behind the intruders I readied the squads for attack.



There they stood, Dwarf, Human and Goblin, with only a single (admittedly fairly thick) stone door in between them and thirty trolls. Then, the order came to attack!



Short work was made of the hulking trolls, since they run in terror at the sight of their own blood. Almost anticlimactic, really. Look at that blood splatter!

Above ground, the goblins made an error and walked right underneath the fortifications. Our squad had reloaded with those masterwork iron bolts, and many goblins and beak dogs were skewered with ease.





With that, the siege broke, and the rest of the invaders went running for the hills. Success!

Still, there was a lot to clean up. I resigned myself to taking care of all the junk and the corpses, rather than pursue my intended winter project. It will just have to wait.

It All Comes Together

The bedrooms were completed halfway through winter. Take a look:



Every bed is masterwork quality. Every cabinet is gold, and each dwarf has a microline coffer for whatever junk they want to hoard. A series of jeweled windows flanks the central room, which for now remain undesignated but would make perfect spaces for temples or other greeting halls. On the left side sit six Noble rooms, though these are still bare. Two streams of refreshing water stream past the entrance in an infinitely-circulating waterfall, ensuring happiness to all who pass!



This is all powered by a network of axles and gears connected to eight surface windmills. The staircase is closed off by an artifact floor hatch, so climbers cannot enter. However, now that I think about it, a Dragon might be able to destroy the windmills and get inside through the hole in the floor. Yeah, well, I've never seen a Dragon, have you??



So, that took literally my entire turn to complete. But well worth it! Happiness is already increasing, and if the next overseer prioritizes making new clothing from all that silk I collected (hint hint) I doubt it will ever be a large issue again.

I added some fortifications to our depot entrance, for the next siege:



I also created a small guildhall for the farmers guild that keeps petitioning us for space:



I moved most of the artifacts into the jewel vault, and put them on pedestals for safekeeping. This dramatically raised the value of the temple.





I don't have an image of this, but I also dug a centrally located dumping hole that goes straight to the magma I discovered. Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, I dug to the magma sea! But I didn't really do anything with it. There is a magma pit that brings the magma fairly close to us, but I would still recommend future overseers bring the magma up with minecarts, since the forges are so well organized already and moving them would invite great chaos.

To continue about that dumping hole, it destroys everything throw in and can be closed with the lever right next to it. And SHOULD be closed if anything untoward enters the second layer of caverns. I can only imagine someone forgetting to do this and losing the fort over it, so take care!

Finally, here's a zoomed-out view of the workshop levels.



And with those things completed, the world passed into year 182, and surprisingly into The Age of Legends. I wonder if Zon's killing of the Roc had anything to do with this.




================

Let me know if you have any questions. This save is absolutely ripe for megaprojects or death labyrinths or what-have-you. FPS isn't too bad, but if you let things get to disorganized or invite too many more entertainers, that could change for the worse.

http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=15067
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Quantum Drop

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Re: Smithsoldier: Year 7: Bedrooms and Beasts [47.04]
« Reply #181 on: May 11, 2020, 07:42:25 am »

Excellent work, Salmeuk!

Had a look at what the FB may look like - apparently, Ceratopsids are a family of dinosaurs (like the Triceratops). Methinks that thing will be Fun when we finally take it on. If there are any objections to me testing what it is and posting the result, maybe we could try and sacrifice some of the Gobbos to see what it does?

Furthermore, good to see we reached the Magma Sea - gives us a convenient way to dispose of the Goblins in cages along with the regular trash, or to pull some magma-megaprojects. Seeing happiness increased is brilliant too - that waterfall and the bedrooms are really going to help keep the dwarves sane, and I imagine that temple should have some great effects, too. Though, I must ask: what's with the trippy-looking flashes on the bedroom gif's tiles?

The new defences should do quite well, too - maybe we could try and paint the way into the depot blue/red with Troll/Gobbo blood at some point, if things get a little too calm?
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I am ambushed by humans, and for a change, they do not drop dead immediately. I bash the master with my ladle, and he is propelled away. While in mid-air, he dies of old age.

Salmeuk

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Re: Smithsoldier: Year 7: Bedrooms and Beasts [47.04]
« Reply #182 on: May 11, 2020, 08:30:52 am »

Excellent work, Salmeuk!

Had a look at what the FB may look like - apparently, Ceratopsids are a family of dinosaurs (like the Triceratops). Methinks that thing will be Fun when we finally take it on. If there are any objections to me testing what it is and posting the result, maybe we could try and sacrifice some of the Gobbos to see what it does?

Furthermore, good to see we reached the Magma Sea - gives us a convenient way to dispose of the Goblins in cages along with the regular trash, or to pull some magma-megaprojects. Seeing happiness increased is brilliant too - that waterfall and the bedrooms are really going to help keep the dwarves sane, and I imagine that temple should have some great effects, too. Though, I must ask: what's with the trippy-looking flashes on the bedroom gif's tiles?

The new defences should do quite well, too - maybe we could try and paint the way into the depot blue/red with Troll/Gobbo blood at some point, if things get a little too calm?

Yeah I think magma forges are the next logical step. Not to say our current setup isn't working, in fact it works quite brilliantly as long as you aren't manually hauling all that wood downstairs, but it's super inefficient to melt goblinite w/ wood-based charcoal.

The trippy flashes are the gem windows! They flash between each color of gem used. It's kind of chaotic but I think it looks nice. Gaudy, but nice.

Woah, so a poison-breathing Triceratops? Uhhh.. yeah let's chuck some gobbos downstairs and see what happens.

BTW the spike trap room failed to gore anyone because you need at least 2-zlevels of height before a falling creature will interact with upright spikes, at least according to the wiki. I wanted to mess around with more goblin arena things but ran out of time. We certainly have a lot of the little buggers, and we captured about six more during this last siege.

The crossdwarves were surprisingly effective. If we were to build some pop-up turret fortifications around the map, I think they could bust any siege with enough time and bolts.
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LeftHandofGod

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Re: Smithsoldier: Year 7: Bedrooms and Beasts [47.04]
« Reply #183 on: May 11, 2020, 09:51:04 pm »

Well, I guess it's my turn now, isn't it? Better roll up your sleeves and get ready for a train wreck, cause I've never managed a fortress this large or advanced.
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StrikaAmaru

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Re: Smithsoldier: Year 7: Bedrooms and Beasts [47.04]
« Reply #184 on: May 12, 2020, 01:37:54 am »

"The world has passed into the Age of Legends" - a statement fitting both in-game and out :D

A wonderful turn, Salmeuk, and I'm looking forward to see how SmithSoldier looks now. Already, I adore the new bedroom area, with its gem windows that I wanted to build and never got around too. (note to future overseers: windows of any type can be attacked and destroyed; don't build them anywhere perilous, like the caverns or the surface).

I doubt I'll have much DF time in the near future, tho; work has returned with a vengeance.

... Better than the alternative, I suppose.

Something I'm definitely going to remember from this turn: "I moved most of the artifacts into the jewel vault, and put them on pedestals for safekeeping. This dramatically raised the value of the temple."

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Needs caffeine to get through the working day.
[Sigtext. Contains links to mods, LPs and an index of all the things I wrote on this forum. Does not contain a viable sig. http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=49316.msg6860463#msg6860463]

Salmeuk

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Re: Smithsoldier: Year 7: Bedrooms and Beasts [47.04]
« Reply #185 on: May 12, 2020, 06:03:07 pm »

Well, I guess it's my turn now, isn't it? Better roll up your sleeves and get ready for a train wreck, cause I've never managed a fortress this large or advanced.

It can be super-confusing to play a fortress that has been managed by a succession of players, each with their own idea about how to organize the place. Here are some tips:

1. Identify fortress entrances and exits before you unpause. Find the associated levers with those entrance drawbridges, and if you can't find the levers (in this fortress they all have notes) ask us! Or you can always make new levers too. Sometimes that's the best option.

2. Figure out where the action is. By that, I mean what the heck the dwarves are busy with. IIRC the dwarves are mostly hauling wood and making charcoal, and a few are carving doors or smoothing rock. Do you approve? You are overseer, afterall, and aborting the previous overseers leftover projects is totally within reason, in fact it is encouraged!

3. Figure out the state of the military and which squad to deploy where. We have three melee squads and one xbow squad (the cobalt bolts, aptly named), so mixing those up could be disastrous.

4. Are there any immediate dangers on the map? I can tell you the answer to this one - yes. There is a forgotten beast roaming the 1st caverns, the ones with all the webs. So don't open those doors!

5. Is it laggy for you? This one doesn't have much of a solution besides getting used to AFK management. Watch a ten-minute video and come back to a new room dug, or a work order finished.

Please note (I also forgot this) there is a lever near the waterfall resevoir to shut it down. This is reversible, and can save you FPS (though frankly not very much). If you want you could just run it every other season to keep the dwarves mostly happy!
"The world has passed into the Age of Legends" - a statement fitting both in-game and out :D

A wonderful turn, Salmeuk, and I'm looking forward to see how SmithSoldier looks now. Already, I adore the new bedroom area, with its gem windows that I wanted to build and never got around too. (note to future overseers: windows of any type can be attacked and destroyed; don't build them anywhere perilous, like the caverns or the surface).

I doubt I'll have much DF time in the near future, tho; work has returned with a vengeance.

... Better than the alternative, I suppose.

Something I'm definitely going to remember from this turn: "I moved most of the artifacts into the jewel vault, and put them on pedestals for safekeeping. This dramatically raised the value of the temple."

Well thank you! I, too, am a huge fan of gem windows. Shiny shiny and all that. And who knows how long these next few turns might take, you might just luck out and have an open slot when you find time again.
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LeftHandofGod

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Re: Smithsoldier: Year 7: Bedrooms and Beasts [47.04]
« Reply #186 on: May 12, 2020, 11:35:24 pm »

Well thanks! Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to transport magma safely up to reservoirs underneath the workshops, but the wiki isn't that helpful cause I don't want to build minecart tracks.
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Salmeuk

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Re: Smithsoldier: Year 7: Bedrooms and Beasts [47.04]
« Reply #187 on: May 13, 2020, 12:36:06 am »

Read here: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Magma#Minecarts

Design three has worked well for me in the past, and I didn't even need iron wheelbarrows to move the minecarts. Essentially you put a minecart in a 1-tile chamber and fill it with magma (very carefully!). Then, that minecart can be carried up to a track stop by one of your dwarves and dumped into a pit. I believe two minecarts per pit will leave you with a permanent supply of magma, useful for any of the forges.

If you do try this method, we have plenty of iron, but make sure to keep track of where those iron minecarts go!
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LeftHandofGod

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Re: Smithsoldier Year 8: A Hand on the Helm [47.04]
« Reply #188 on: May 13, 2020, 09:35:35 pm »

Part 1 - Expansion and other Busy Work

Wait. You want ME to be an overseer? Oh no. Not in a million...o-oh okay. Let's not get hasty now. Why don't you tell the lads to put the spears away and we'll talk about this.

Hasty shuffling

Now then. I'm really not qualified for this job, I'm just a lowly smith. And after seeing Dostngosp...I-I can't even wield a weapon without seeing his mangled corpse. What kind of a dwarf does that make me? Do you really want someone leading the fort who can't even fight with the troops? Armok's teeth, the way things have been going, we'll have at least one goblin siege come down on our heads during my term. That said, I think that I should-....hello there, Salumek! Errrr....fancy seeing you here. Say! Is there any way you could take the position an extra yea- What??? No, I don't know anything about where Zon was last night! You're her husband, you should know-

Grating screech of stone, and a pained yelp. Frantic scrabbling.

Okay, that might be Zon's undergarments! But what was I going to do, say no? I mean, come on, if she tells someone to-

Thud of a fist.

Ach! Alright! When you put it like that, I'll do it! Blood God's testicles, just don't throw me out!
--------------
The Overseer Stukosakur "LeftHand", year of Armok 182.
--------------
Gah, but now they're making me write down everything I do. Damned idiots, I'll show them. Maybe see if I can sneak a defective armor piece into their armories, get them killed, hopefully? Either way, I hope they all rot in hell, especially that she-devil Zon and her wicked tongue.

Enough of that, though. My time has started rather uneventfully, but I've ordered widescale production of several things, including silk cloth to be made into new clothes. I've also tasked the forgemaster with churning out as many steel plate pieces of armor as possible, and the smelters have been told to check their lists of items to be melted back down and get to work. Additionally, it came to my attention that we have citizens of this fort sleeping on the ground like ruffians.

Unacceptable!

All of the spare luxury beds have been assigned, and more beds have been requested from the carpenters to fill the empty cells on the third level. They're nothing to warm the heart, but it's enough to provide for our citizens until more complexes can be delved. Further, one must consider the potential of have more reinforcements from the Mountainhomes arriving. Where would we be then?

Perhaps my biggest endeavor at the moment is tasking our miners with expanding the available space on the workshop level.


We're going to make more space for other workshops, and hopefully can find other things to do with all that space. Maybe a temple?

(Ooc: Where is the damned hospital? I can't seem to find it.)
EDIT: HUZZAH! SUCCESS!

« Last Edit: May 14, 2020, 07:56:27 pm by LeftHandofGod »
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Quantum Drop

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Re: Smithsoldier Year 8: A Hand on the Helm [47.04]
« Reply #189 on: May 14, 2020, 07:30:12 am »

When trying to post something from Imgur, try opening the image in a new tab via right clicking it, then copy the image address. Use the syntax in the spoiler below (replacing the address with that of your image) to get it into the post. I think that should work.

Spoiler: Example (click to show/hide)

As for the hospital, look down to the lower right corner of the screen and you should see a bunch of numbers. The hospital is on the level reading '144'. Alternatively, if you can see the main drawbridge, the hosptial is one z-level below that; either way, it should be on the left side of the screen.
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I am ambushed by humans, and for a change, they do not drop dead immediately. I bash the master with my ladle, and he is propelled away. While in mid-air, he dies of old age.

LeftHandofGod

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Re: Smithsoldier Year 8: A Hand on the Helm [47.04]
« Reply #190 on: May 14, 2020, 07:59:23 pm »

So, thanks! However, got another question or two.
#1. The waterfall appears to have mysteriously dried up. Suggestions to fix?
#2. Also, I did a save so I could see about maybe getting our military to go kill that damned FB so the weavers can grab those awesome webs, but when I broke the wall and gave the kill order...nothing happens. They just...keep training. Help?
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LeftHandofGod

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Re: Smithsoldier Year 8: A Hand on the Helm [47.04]
« Reply #191 on: May 14, 2020, 11:04:36 pm »

Part 2: Victory in the Deep!

The night before last, I had a dream of blood and steel in the deep places of the earth. When I woke, I ordered the military to the first cavern level, and then told our miners to clear the blocks holding the dread beast at bay. Our brave dwarves sallied forth and split the foul thing asunder with cold dwarven steel and wrath. One of the recruits was caught in its breath, but that's incidental. Now we can harvest the precious webs for our looms!

On a slightly more unfortunate note, a second Forgotten Beast was spotted on the far side of a lake in the second level. Thankfully, we have our stairways blocked off, so it shouldn't be a problem for some time. I have also just been informed that the furnaces have run out of wood.

Again.

Fed up with this state of affairs, I have mandated a mass clearing of the forests. While my predecessors may have prized the quality of certain woods over others, such concerns have no place in our fortress. One kind of log burns just as well as another, and we have need of fuel to make more steel. I have also ordered excavations below the workshop level for the storage of vast amounts of wood and stone. Of such things is dwarven industry founded upon, and I will not have it said that I left Steelsoldier in a poorer state than I found it!





On a VERY disturbing note, when I went to collect my morning drink, I found one of our goblin recruits throwing a tantrum over not having had a drink in far too long. Inquiring further, I was met with the horrifying information that there are exactly ten goblets in the hold. Ten! For a population of 150 dwarves! Needless to say, the crafters will be put to work immediately. We also need more barrels for alcohol production, the brewers tell me that they've run short.

Finally, the miners have recently formed a guild, and ever since have been bothering me with requests for space for a guild hall and, even worse, set working hours! Fortresses live and die by their miners, and now they're demanding actual rights. Armok above, but this job is horrendous. No wonder the Overseers have to be brought into this accursed office at spearpoint every spring!

(Note: I figured out why the military couldn't do anything. The first time I tried it, I didn't check that the place I'd breached into the greater caverns allowed the dwarves to path through to the FB. Stupid me, lol. But seriously, the fight was very fast, and once they got up close with it, it died like a little bitch.)
« Last Edit: May 14, 2020, 11:06:56 pm by LeftHandofGod »
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Glloyd

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Re: Smithsoldier Year 8: A Hand on the Helm [47.04]
« Reply #192 on: May 15, 2020, 06:10:11 pm »

Holy shit, that's a lot of storage.

LeftHandofGod

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Re: Smithsoldier Year 8: A Hand on the Helm [47.04]
« Reply #193 on: May 15, 2020, 08:07:42 pm »

Yeah, but we're gonna need it, cause I'm gonna spam production.
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Salmeuk

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Re: Smithsoldier Year 8: A Hand on the Helm [47.04]
« Reply #194 on: May 15, 2020, 10:08:14 pm »

Oh my god lol, look at you! I haven't seen designations that large in many years! I would also hesitate to cut down all of the forest. There were about 1500 logs still hanging around topside, but I had forbidden them since the dwarves had a tendency to haul them the long way down.

So, if you look around on the surface you should find a little bunker, with two doors and two drawbridges. There is a single-tile pit in the center, and if you follow it all the way down you end up at the production level. This is also where you find the lever to open those drawbridges. If I were you, I would mass-dump all of the chopped wood down that hole, so you don't waste all your labor hauling wood all the way down the staircase!

About the waterfall, it's kind of difficult to diagnose without pictures. . is the reservoir completely empty? Try turning it off and on again. Or check the machinery and make sure the power is making it all the way from the windmills to the pumps.

Oh, another reason not to chop down trees. . . there were some questionably shallow rooms that will surely collapse should trunks fall on top. These rooms were pancaked on top of one another, too, so one collapse could penetrate up to four zlevels. It was a flaw I never got around to fixing. So take care.

Looking forward to the next update!
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