Playing the game and using new civilizationsGenerating a world with all races: Using
"number of civs: very high" should give all the civs as long as your world isn't "smallest".
Every version of the mod also comes packed with one large generated world for that version, ready to go.
Selecting your starting civ: in fortress mode, the selected race is the one visible atop "Neighbors" list."
Embark: Every playable race is given a fleshed out default embark profile.
Forbidden tasks: If you can't build a necessary workshop, you must not have a unit with that labor turned on. EG elves, farming, "thresher"
Generic Reactions: No matter what version you are playing, you can always hotfix reactions using the "generic" reactions in the save file itself (not the main raws).
Civ Colors:Foreground color [0-7]
Background color [0-7] (skip)
Brightness of the foreground color [0 or 1]
0 0 Black
1 0 Blue Gnome
2 0 Green Lizardfolk
3 0 Cyan Sahuagin
4 0 Red Succubus; Cambion(disabled by default)
5 0 Magenta Hob
6 0 Brown Kobold
7 0 Light grey Halflings
0 1 Dark grey 8 Serpentfolk
1 1 Light blue 9 Dwarf Subterr. 1
2 1 Light green 10 Elf Subterr. 2
3 1 Light cyan 11 Mer
4 1 Light red 12 Orc Subterr. 3 (disabled by default)
5 1 Light magenta 13 Goblin
6 1 Yellow 14 Angel; Amphib Man
7 1 White 15 Human
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hUmans: (Incl. Tips from Brolol.404 and Jake)
You start with a lord or lady, who can appoint a steward, chamberlain, chancellor, physician, guard captain and seargent as needed.
Assign 2 wood cutters/carpenters, 3 farmers and 1 animal handler (default in embark profile)
> Start with the following buildings/areas: farm plots, sawmill, animal pasture, meeting area, temple zone, stockpiles.
> Next build a village wall and a building for the lord/lady using wood blocks from the sawmill.
Remember to plant crops early. If the biome freezes, you will need your harvest to last the winter or you will have to find another food source.
A gunpowder industry takes a long time to set up, and the ingredients (sulfur and potash) may be easiest to import by trade
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elves: (Incl. Tips from ARP)
Elves work by growing seeds into "bloomed" wood logs at a Shaper's workshop.
Seeds: you can't start with them, so get them from plants. Use starting wood to make a still, carpenter, and crafting ("shaper") workshops. Set up a food stockpile. Designate plants for gathering. Eventually you'll be able to (b)rew drinks, and use the resulting seeds to grow woo(D). Try to turn off cooking for any seeds that can be brewed.
One thing holding you up from creating drinks (->seeds->wood) might be lack of barrels. If your barrels are all filled with booze, start pushing out lavish meals. Elves provide the world with food and drink as their main exports.
Trees growing in elf bases can be a problem since they wont cut them down. Use roads to block.
Farming: elves don't use agricultural farming; they are gatherers. Build a farmer's workshop using a shearer, milker, etc
Elves also don't mill, since they view seeds as babies.
Elves have access to scale in worldgen, which functions as leather. It's more sustainable...
Elves will recursively make mythril from mythril. Don't set functions to repeat; use workshops; micromanage
Your grown bloomwood is still wood (hardcoded). Don't trade it to other elves, who for some reason don't trust your methods!
However, you can fake feywood (metal) and they will accept this as trade.
Caravans from good areas can bring sunberries for mythril. You or your elven civilization need access to good areas.
elves don't use glass and stone, they use open air and wood; they can mine, but won't craft the ensuing stone.
elves like decorating with gems, but won't cut them
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mer: The spotlight civilization and inspiration for this mod!
Your first job is to build a kiln, followed by an aquitect's workshop. The kiln can be built from starting Clay or Charcoal.
After you have a kiln, you can gather clay, and can use the clay to build an aquitect's workshop.
-Alternatively, you can turn on carpentry, break your wagon, and build the AQ without a kiln.
Mer are primarily fishers. Get fishing while you gather your clay.
You can use some of your fish to cultivate coral or seaweed in the aquitect's works, with a Fish Dissector.
You can also use (land) vermin or corpse remains to multiply your coral, if needed.
You can easily see how much coral you have using the stocks -> tools
Coral is used to make furniture, and gives mer happy thoughts. Seaweed is your source of beds.
First make a carving knife, which lets you cut other coral. It's the only available edged tool.
Merfolk can mine and make stone furniture, they just don't "craft" stone.
Stone is still a useful building material for workshops and constructions (e.g. walls)
If you find flint, you can make that into weapons or a pick; simple metals into crafts; and jade into furniture.
Merfolk know jade especially well, and can easily make crafts from it; otherwise, 5% of all rough gems will be cut into a single craft or large gem
cassiterite is crucially important; found in alluvial layers, it lets you glaze pottery
You are also heavily pottery dependent. Make clay crafts.
Merfolk can use their magic to work spare gold and platinum ores and jade at a Tidebinder's works
ores fall into the economic stone category, and so must be designated for non-restricted use in the z-stone menu. (for gold and platinum)
Trees growing in mer bases can be a problem since they wont cut them down. Use roads.
Merfolk can use shells for shell furniture, but very expensive
Weapons:
besides precious metal blunt weapons at the tidebonder,
merfolk can make a variety of traditional stone weapons at the craftsman's ("waker's") workshop.
You can also carve a bone short sword or bow at the craftsman's workshop
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goblins:----(includes tips from Hordes)
Kill wild animals to get bones. Carve them into furniture and items. You can also slaughter your rats.
Your caputured rivals' labor is mostly useful for hauling or fighting. You can turn off hauling on your main goblins.
Rival goblins need to drink, but not eat (rivals are denied food). Make sure you have a water source or you won't last the first winter.
Goblins live in disease-ridden pits with rats and fleas, so expect a lot of status icons.
If you're playing without any kind of automated labor, it's extremely important to start with skills eg animal skills, or else things like butchering rats won't work.
Goblins get good thoughts from being around bone furniture, etc; not wood or stone.
You can see how many bones you have from "body parts" in the Stockpiles.
ethics such as "eat sapient" only plays its role during world generation, meaning you still won't get the option to butcher sapients in actual gameplay
Goblins love to make and sell cheese, from the milk of female, diseased worgs. Note that due to a vanilla bug, (sentient?) pets like trolls can't be milked!
Do note that such "gobbie cheese" is exceptionally unpalatable to non-goblinoid races, including orcs, kobolds, and dwarves, all who might obtain access to it.
Non-diseased worgs make healthier "orc cheese," which doesn't upset anyone.
For making poisons at the altar, the ALCHEMY skill token is set in the embark profile on Gob 3 (doctor).
Alternatively, alchemist labor will need to be manually enabled.
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hobGoblins: play similar to goblins, but gain access to human sawmills, etc for aboveground building, and matchlock pistol + arquebus guns
The hobgoblin advantage is in their strong military (rather than the pellmell chaos of goblins or the raiding squads of orcs)
Military positions are based on caste. Squad Leaders and Commanders can only be hobgoblins, not bugbears or goblins.
They also have access to many recently-extinct creatures as pets.
They are the only EVIL civ with non-crude armor, giving them an advantage.
They also have access to orichalcum, a zinc+copper alloy made by infusing blood into the smelter, a better blunt weapon than silver (still not as good as strange mood platinum FWIW)
You can get buckets of blood from the goblins' corpse still.
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sahuagin: play the same as goblins, but trade slaves for sharks.
Sahuagins have the advantage of being amphibious, and can work better in wet conditions than others.
Sahuagins are the "edged only, no blunt" challenge civ.
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Orcs:Orcs are the "siege" civilization. They have more siege (animals) than the competing human and dwarf civs.
But they have crude armor.
Orcs are also very large, and can use the biggest "great" weapons.
Finally, orcs have some access to gunpowder (matchlock weapons), and steel,
and get an advantage making charcoal from cutting trees.
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kobolds:Kobold Camp! Stone age. No smelting, but lots of crafting at the (K)obold workshop
Scrap down invader metals, leathers, and clothes for raw materials.
Refit invader armor to little Kobold size.
Craft stray animal hair into clothes.
Knap stones and gems into weapons.
Ferment milk into Kumis - but watch out for diseased worgs!
Keep your milkable animals alive despite the onslaught from *10* enemy races!
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dark gnomes:Gnomes are the "no weapon or armor, only pets" challenge civ. Otherwise they are much like dwarves.
There are four "Castes" of golem - Female and Male laborers, Big packbeasts/hunters, and Huge war-trainables.
Although it is harder than "breeding" an army of golems, gnomes are also the only "thief" race to have access to wizardly magics
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serpentfolk (naga):Build multiple aquitect's workshops;
then use buckets of water to salvage for valuable flotsam and jetsam.
You can get wood, metal, containers, even weapons this way, along with coin, crafts, and of course seaweed.
Doing this trains the observer skill, making you better in combat.
To fill buckets with water:
-designate a pond zone over a water source with i -> p -> P -> f (should say "Full")
-designate a second, invalid pond zone on dry land with i -> p -> P -> f (should say "Not Full")
Your slave labor is only useful for hauling or fighting. You can turn off hauling on your main naga.
Slaves need to drink, but not eat (slaves are denied food). Make sure you have a water source or you won't last the first winter.
Naga are also amphibious and have a personal poison.
Naga also get good thoughts from being around bone furniture and constructions.
Naga also have access to human Sawmill/Quarry/Etc for efficient building, seeing as they have human slaves.
Finally, naga can construct powerful and logic-defying harpoon guns out of all steel.
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half-Angels:Angels are the "debug civ" that can do pretty much everything (although they still have unique position tokens and toy list).
Have the ability to use all the features and benefits of all others civilizations, so pick any one or two guides above to use as a base.
and have a much stronger pet - the Nephilim,
plus guaranteed unicorns/pegasi for high-value mats.
The point of the angel civ is to let you summon animalpeople and all kinds of huge beasts to replenish them in your world.
Note that animal men that are included in a worldgen angel site are NOT automatically added to either playable Adventure mode list - which is intended behavior.
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Playing adventure mode as a creature with a Lineage:Lineage System overview:
The Lineage System seeks to add DnD/Forgotten Realms -style "heritages" to DF:
-Without using known and limiting IP names, such as "Tiefling"
-Without losing the characteristics of the core race
-While preserving a sense of mystery and surprise.
Each race in the heritage system uses a 200-point randomness system.
Generally, 190 out of every 200 creatures will be what's on the tin. Elf, Dwarf, Human.
5 out of every 200 will be a half-breed, such as a half-elf. You CAN distinguish them by name, physical features, and description, but they are the same as their core race except for a bit more adaptability (represented by skill gain).
1 out of every 200, respectively, will be what forgotten realms calls a "planetouched" creature.
-Fey
-Shadow
-Fiend
-Celestial
-Elemental
But since this is DF, they aren't named "Aasimar", "Tieflings," and so on. You can imagine each society calls them something different.
Instead, they're just named... human! (for example) And the tilesprite is the same!
But if you look at the description, you can clearly see they have a different "heritage".
And if you play one... or against one... you'll see they have some powers to match.
Dwarves, Humans, Elves, Mer; Orcs, Goblins; and Halflings all participate in the Heritage system.
Elves have an added chance to have a DF-inspired take on Drow, since we all love Drow, but again without the IP language;
Elves also have much higher proportions of fey-inspired children than other races - think of them as Wild elves.
Creatures that can have Lineages: Humans,
Dwarves,
Elves,
Mer,
Orcs,
Goblins, and Halflings
Creatures that have non-lineage Special Castes: Hobgoblins,
Sahuagins,
Half-Angels and -Fiends, Great Dragons, River Drakes, Dragonfolk, Chimeras, Hybrids, Succubi, Lamias, Centaurs
Adventure mode Special Mentions: Lizardfolk are completely immune to most poisons and diseases.
Naga are immune to psychic powers.
Elves are immortal.
Goblins don't eat or drink. Djinn follow the same advantages as elemental lineages (below).
Non-Civ playable adventurers: Animalmen; Harpies / Sirens; Ogres; Oni; Fauns / Satyrs; Nymphs/Dryad-likes; Jotun; Half-fiends; Shapeshifters; Wildmen; Stalkers; Dragonfolk; Psions; Naga; Aetherials; Redcaps; Gorgons; Blemmyes; Djinn; Dark Dwellers; Corroders
Starting as a Lineage caste in adventure mode:Select one of the seven creatures with a lineage system. Press "g" to change the "caste" (gender). It will always cycle through the options in the same order, although it's random whether the first option is default male or default female. You can tell where you are in the list because the Half-races do NOT have disguised name, so they are like a bookmark for where you are in the list. Here's the order:
Human: Human m/f HalfHuman m/f Ungifted m/f Fey Lineage m/f Shadow Lineage m/f Aasimar m/f Tiefling m/f Air Genasi m/f
Dwarf: Dwarf m/f HalfDwarf m/f Fey Lineage m/f Shadow Lineage m/f Angel Lineage m/f Maeluth m/f Duergar m/f
Elf: Elf m/f Halfelf m/f Drow m/f WildElf m/f Shadar-kai m/f Celadrin m/f Fey'ri m/f
Mer: Mer m/f HalfMer m/f Fey Lineage m/f Shadow Lineage m/f Angel Lineage m/f Merrow m/f Water Lineage m/f
Goblin: Goblin m/f HalfGoblin m/f Fey Lineage m/f Shadow Lineage m/f Angel Lineage m/f Demon Lineage m/f Fire Lineage m/f
Orc: Orc m/f HalfOrc m/f Uruk Tanarukk m/f
Halfling: Lightfoot m/f Stout m/f D'hin'ni m/f Wispling m/f
So Dwarves, Mer, and Goblins are identical; Humans and Elves have an additional unaspected lineage, though elves lack an elemental lineage; and Orcs and Halflings have condensed options.
Guide to lineage advantages:These apply to lineage creatures.
Half/Near: Not disguised! Shows "half" in its creature name, unlike the others. Better skill gain.
Fey: Weak low-light vision, immune to polymorphy magic. Weak to good old-fashion iron. Entangling vine spell.
Shadow: Strong low-light vision, immune to hexing magic. Invisibility and negative energy spells.
Celestial: Mild low-light vision, immune to divine magic, immune to some reanimation magic. Defense and anti-evil spells.
Demonic: Mild low-light vision, immune to some pyromancy magic, weak to anti-evil bolts. Blindness and torment-bolt spells.
Elemental: Immunity to aether magic, and additional advantages by type - See below.
Guide to elemental advantages:These apply to lineage creatures, djinn, and elementals themselves. Combined elementals get the advantages of each parent elemental. (Elementals aren't playable, but it's a useful reference when fighting them).
All: Mild low-light vision, do not need to breathe air, immune to some reanimation magic. Corresponding elemental spell attack.
Earth: Petrify Immune
Fire: Fire Immune
Water: Cold Immune
Air: Shock Immune
Elemental creatures: All have a bodylimb regeneration skill to keep them in combat a bit longer. Remember that they are also one of only 3 (types of) magical creatures that can spawn in mundane biomes.
Elemental creature combinations: (Surface, Underground)
(S) Ice elemental: Water, Air
(S) Vacuum elemental: -Air
(S) Water elemental
(S) Air elemental
(S) Salt elemental: -Water
(S) Energy elemental: -Fire
(S) Steam elemental: Water, Fire
(S) Smoke elemental: Fire, Air
(S) Dust elemental: Air, Earth
(U) Earth elemental
(U) Fire elemental
(U) Blood elemental: +Water
(U) Crystal elemental: -Earth
(U) Magma elemental: Earth, Fire
(U) Metal elemental: +Earth
(U) Mud/Tar elemental: Earth, Water
Aetherial: this creature is a "pure magic" elemental
Gargoyle: this non-elemental creature is nonetheless "earth-aspected."
Oread, Neriad: these fey creatures are nonetheless "water-aspected."
Air beast: this non-elemental creature is nonetheless "air-aspected."
Dragons, Chimeras, Drakes, Dragonfolk: these creatures are aspected to one of the four elements, with poison and acid belonging to "earth."
The underground elementals are all useful for replenishing the resources of your fort, while the surface elementals (1 per mundane biome) are sources of aether foci. Be careful - all of them fight back.
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The Weapons of HighfantasyHighfantasy balances all weapons so that nothing is "overpowered." Thanks to Sver's Combat Evolved, everything hits about the same, even new weapons like the
Kusarigama and
Ahtlatl and tools like the ladle. The exceptions occur with weapons that are created after a long or challenging tech tree, meaning the guns (see below) and the magestaff, which trains wizard skills.
Highfantasy reduces the damage done by unarmed strikes. Using the work of a couple mod authors, including Warlord's Vanilla Spice Revised, unarmed strikes are weaker, and most weak humanoid creatures won't use strong bites or scratches in combat either. However, overall body integrity is a bit stronger, with some organs healing faster and some joints toughened. The full joint rework from Sver is not included, due to invalidating too much of the vanilla wiki.
Highfantasy includes ranged weapon sets so your warriors will never club with their crossbows again. Unless you tell them to, of course. Otherwise, they'll go out armed with a "set of arms" such as a crossbow and mace, and attack with the mace when needed. Of course, you can always still craft ranged weapons by themselves if you see a need.
Guide to ranged weapon sets: crossbows (minsize 20000) and arbalests (minsize 15000) are small enough for kobolds
WANDERER_ARMS_SVER] crossbow + hatchet
CROSSBOWMAN_ARMS_SVER] crossbow + parrying dagger
SKIRMISHER_ARMS_SVER] crossbow + short sword
HIGHWAYMAN_ARMS_SVER] crossbow + mace
SCOUT_ARMS_SVER] crossbow + war cleaver
ARBALESTER_ARMS_SVER] arbalest + parrying dagger
SHARPSHOOTER_ARMS_SVER] arbalest + battle axe
TRENCHMAN_ARMS_SVER] arbalest + war hammer
[HUNTER_ARMS_SVER] arbalest + war cleaver
MARKSMAN_ARMS_SVER] arbalest + large dagger
BOLTS] =VANILLA=
BOLTS_BROAD_SVER]
BOLTS_BLUNT_SVER]
bows (minsize 38000), recurve bows (minsize 60000), spear-throwers (minsize 45000) are too big for kobolds
longbows (minsize 70000) are too big for dwarves
slings are small enough for most races (minsize 6000)
TRAPPER_ARMS_SVER] bow + hatchet
BOWMAN_ARMS_SVER] bow + parrying dagger
WOODSMAN_ARMS_SVER] bow + bearded axe
STAKESMAN_ARMS_SVER] bow + maul
ADVENTURER_ARMS_SVER] bow + longsword
RANGER_ARMS_SVER] longbow + war knife
YEOMAN_ARMS_SVER] longbow + short sword
LINEBREAKER_ARMS_SVER] longbow + war hammer
FORESTER_ARMS_SVER] longbow + hawk axe
LONGBOWMAN_ARMS_SVER] longbow + large dagger
RAVAGER_ARMS_SVER] recurve bow + morningstar
NOMAD_ARMS_SVER] recurve bow + scimitar
GUARD_ARMS_SVER] recurve bow + horned axe
AMBUSHER_ARMS_SVER] recurve bow + large dagger
CHARGER_ARMS_SVER] recurve bow + estoc
ARROWS] =VANILLA=
ARROWS_BROAD_SVER]
ARROWS_CRESCENT_SVER]
SPEAR_SLING_SVER] sling + short spear
RUSTLER_ARMS_SVER] sling + morningstar
WATCHMAN_ARMS_SVER] sling + bladed spear
BILLMAN_ARMS_SVER] sling + dagger-axe
POACHER_ARMS_SVER] sling + mace
SLINGER_ARMS_SVER] sling + short sword
ROGUE_ARMS_SVER] sling + large dagger
SLING_BULLETS_SVER]
SLING_BOULDERS_SVER]
JAVELINMAN_ARMS_SVER] spear-thrower + spear
MILITIA_ARMS_SVER] spear-thrower + spiked staff
RAIDER_ARMS_SVER] spear-thrower + battle axe
LANCER_ARMS_SVER] spear-thrower + heavy spear
COMPANION_ARMS_SVER] spear-thrower + war cleaver
MONSTERSLAYER_ARMS_SVER] spear-thrower + falx
BEASTHUNTER_ARMS_SVER] spear-thrower + great cleaver
JAVELINS_SVER]
WAR_DARTS_SVER]
HB_BOLTS_SVER] ammo is fine as is
HB_BALLS_SVER]
BLOWGUN] =VANILLA=
BLOWDARTS] =VANILLA=
Guide to new armor sets:Highfantasy sticks to the vanilla definitions of armor and clothing so as not to invalidate information on the wiki. However, there are a few new inclusions.
First, shields have been expanded to include three new types.
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_BUCKLER] =VANILLA=
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_SHIELD] =VANILLA=
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_MEDIUM_SVER]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_LARGE_SVER]
[SHIELD:ITEM_SHIELD_TOWER_SVER]
Second, special armor has been provided to make ranged combat units more mobile yet well-covered.
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_PLATE_ARCHER_SVER:COMMON] =SVER_ARCHER_ARMOR=
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_HALF_ARCHER_SVER:COMMON] =SVER_ARCHER_ARMOR=
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_MAIL_ARCHER_SVER:COMMON] =SVER_ARCHER_ARMOR=
[ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_MAIL_VEST_ARCHER_SVER:COMMON] =SVER_ARCHER_ARMOR=
Finally, nonstandard armor has been provided to spice up most invaders.
CRUDE ARMOR is used by orcs and other evil invaders. It is heavy but made from fewer pieces of metal. It also includes the new clothing items NECKLACE, CULOTTE, and SOUTIF. Beware, Hobgoblins wear normal, powerful armor still!
RUDIMENTARY ARMOR is used by kobolds, who are just doing the best they can with melted-down and reforged scraps.
Guide to new materials:Highfantasy introduces a few noteworthy new materials.
BLACK STEEL is an alternative to steel for steel-makers with access to different ores. (SPL)
WHITE GOLD is an alternative to platinum for steel-makers with access to different ores.
ORES OF COAL AND IRON may release toxic particles when mined. (VSR)
GOETHITE is an iron-bearing ore present in swampy biomes.
REALGAR, ORPIMENT, ARSENOLITE, ARSENOPYRITE, and FLUORAPATITE are rocks which must be hazardously extracted. (HF)
PHOSPHORITE is a rock-based but dangerous fertilizer alternative that does not require burning trees.
APATITEs (various colors) are beautiful gems found in clusters of phosphorite.
COLD IRON is an alternative to iron that is strangely effective against fiendish foes. (tbDND)
LUCID IRON is a similar substance that has outsized power against psyionic creatures.
BLOOMWOOD is a wood substitute made by the elves, although other elves may pretend not to recognize it. (ARP)
FEYWOOD is weapon-grade metallic wood made using a catalyst by elf adventurers who set off into the world. (ADV)
MYTHRIL is the second-sharpest metal, crafted by elves using their strange magics. (HF)
ORICHALCUM is the second-hardest metal, crafted by hobgoblins as they prepare for war.
AETHER is the essence of magic itself, and can be found in many forms, including pure, metallic, and salts and residues used in research. (Spell)
HOLYWOOD is the essence of divinity, and can be used to smite evil foes.
Guide to Gun Manufacturing:Not every civilization can make and use guns, and no map will have every necessary material.
There are two main processes involved, making the weapons and making the ammunition, within the three dedicated firearms workshops. The exception is gunpowder, which you'll probably only be making intermittently.
There is a progression system based on what you have access to.
No steel Arquebus or Matchlock, using brass match lock
Steel, no flinty mats and/or gunpowder Spring-guns
Steel, no paper Blunderbuss / Dragoon
All mats "Best" guns
To make a gun, you need a lock, a stock, and a barrel. Bayonets are optional and can be added later.
The required materials are:
Matchlocks Steel OR Brass* + potash OR saltpeter + cloth *hardened
Springlocks (makes guns that don't take gunpowder) Steel
Wheellocks (functions as Firelock) Steel + pyrite
Firelocks Steel + striker
Striker flint OR chert OR agate
Large Stock / 2 Small Stocks 1 log
Long Barrel / 2 Short Barrels 1 metal bar
Arquebus** 1 Matchlock (L) 1 Large Stock 1 Long Barrel
Spring-gun* 1 Springlock(L) 1 Large Stock 1 Long Barrel
Rifle, Musket, Hand mortar, Fowling piece^, Blunderbuss: 1 Firelock (L) 1 Large Stock 1 Long Barrel
Matchlock Pistol** 1 Matchlock (S) 1 Small Stock 1 Short Barrel
Small spring-gun* 1 Springlock(S) 1 Small Stock 1 Short Barrel
Pistol, Bladed pistol, Carbine 1 Firelock (S) 1 Small Stock 1 Short Barrel
* These weapons can be made with copper barrel. All others are restricted to iron, bronze or steel.
** These weapons can be made with copper barrel by dwarves only. All others are restricted to iron, bronze or steel.
^ Aka a shotgun, this one weapon accepts two different ammos.
Strikers | Stocks | Guns are assembled in the Assembly Workbench using Weaponsmithing.
Barrels | Locks are made at the Gunsmith's forge using Metalcrafting.
Firelocks and spring-locks can be bought from the caravans in boxes, which can be opened at the Workbench using the Striking skill. There's a 95% chance you'll get a wooden chest free out of this reaction, but occasionally it'll break. Each box contains six large or ten small locks of the type you bought.
Ammunition is a two-step process, at least for gunpowder arms. The first step is to make a batch of gunstones or buck/birdshot at the Ammunition Mint, using the Metalcrafting labour. These can be made of quite literally any metal, although there are separate reactions for lead, iron and copper. Shot made from lead or other mostly-useless metals like tin or zinc will reliably kill or incapacitate through leather. Gunstones can be fired from spring guns by themselves, but if you want a bit more bang for your dwarfbuck you'll need to combine them with some paper and a sack of gunpowder at the Workbench with the Bookbinding skill.
As for gunpowder itself, you will require the following: 2 blocks of coal or charcoal, 8 blocks of saltpeter or potash, 1 boulder of brimstone and ten empty bags. This is the only BPFA reaction to take place at the Smelter, using furnace operating.
Militia squads, including the default "leather armor" uniform, will not assign themselves cartridge ammo to carry. You must manually add the right ammo in the military supplies ammo screen.
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The Pursuit of KnowledgeMagic is an endgame system in Highfantasy. To start as a wizard, you need a grimoire (a spellbook), which you can make or buy, but crafting this grimoire requires a light yellow diamond - meaning you'll have to wait until you mine or trade one to get going with your scholarly studies. Even the grimoire only lets you study magic in general, to learn three weak spells. To proceed any farther, you'll need a focus.
Magic comes from many sources. Magic can be studied as a wizard in fort or adventure mode. It can be given or stolen as a secret from a secret-keeper. It can be unlocked through an encounter with a sorcerous being. A few magical creatures can even gift unique magic spells just for encountering them; these include Aetherials, Chaos Witches, and Cave Fish and Cave Swallow people.
Activating the Alchemy skillThe magestaff is a magical weapon that activates and trains the user's ALCHEMY skill, used for wizardly reactions.
The magestaff is now created through specific reactions only, at the wizard workshop (or by an adventurer), using ENCRUSTGEM and a rough gem. This also helps rebalance it as an "elite" weapon like guns.
Charges for the magestaff are now created through specific reactions only, at the wizard workshop (or by adventurers), using CUTGEM and a rough gem. Sometimes, you'll fail to create a charge, but transmute a light diamond instead.
The wizard workshop building, like the magestaff, is built using any rough gem, so that the building itself can be constructed early on....but you won't get much farther in your magical studies until you craft a grimoire.
Gems are easy enough to find in fort mode, and in adventure mode, characters now have the option to scavenge for them. This can get you started building a magestaff and workshop. Gems have more uses than ever!
*gnome "magitek" boost - dark gnomes (and angels) can craft magestaffs and charges out of any material, and can embark with them, without needing to use the wizard's workshop.
Diamond in the roughTwo ingredients are needed to craft a grimoire (spellbook): aether salt and a light diamond.
In both fort and adventure mode, there are many ways to produce aether salt, including some which are slow but free.
After that, you'll need to find the diamond to proceed. Not everyone wants to wait for a lucky mining strike, trade opportunity, or loot pile theft, so keep in mind that you can sometimes transmute a diamond from any other gem using "Create Spell Charges" in both modes.
With these shortcuts available, there's no need to waste all your points on a grimoire in adventure mode!
Also of note, studying magic creates a lot of aether salt and occasionally some aether residue. Normally, the only use for aether residue is to reduce it back into salt. But after you have a grimoire, you can use the reaction "Contaminants of Stones" with both aether salt and residue to gradually create all the diamonds you'll ever need!
Finding your wizardly FocusTo learn the 5 schools of magic, you’ll need to find their Focus.
Every reaction that has a change to create a focus is clearly labeled with the success chance.
The Aether Focus is created 1% when studying general magic (DF and ADV). Alternatively, kill any Elemental.
The Pyromancy Focus is created 1% while making fireball basin (DF and ADV). Alternatively, kill a Chaos Witch in the lava sea.
The Miracle Focus is created 2-3% while using altar (DF) or shrine (ADV). Alternatively, kill an Empyrean megabeast.
There is no Necromancy Focus, but necromantic ice spells can be studied by resonating two aether foci together.
The Bestiary is created 1% when summoning pets* (DF and ADV). Alternatively, kill a Chimera or a Chimeric Hybrid semimegabeast.
The Hexing Focus is created 1% when summoning demons* (DF and ADV). Alternatively, kill a Hollow One in the deep caverns.
*Requires a planar tome. The Planar Tome is created 1% while making aether residue (DF and ADV). Alternatively, kill an Aetherial.
Of course, you can buy these Foci from merchants, but one focus costs as much as 10 excellent weapons, so there are choices to make.
All spells are learned by eating their magical “essence” after making it.
The half-angel civilization has the ability to take planar summoning even farther by bringing forth even more powerful, deadly beasts.
List of SpellsAs of v1.3.00,
Studying in general has 3
Aetherial wizardry has 8, and others from becoming a sorcerer, and others from the silence secret
Miracle wizardry has 16, plus 4 more learned instantly from study accidents, and more from the channeling secret
Pyromancy wizards have 3, but the pyromancy secret has more, and there's a spell exclusively learned from chaos witches
Necromancy wizards have 3, but of course the necromancy secret is a rich wealth of knowledge
Polybestia wizards have 16 (elves/angels/adventurers) / 6 (Dwarves) / 4 (others), and more from the druid secret
Dementia wizards have 5, and more from the shadowmancy secret, but studying dementia may be fatal! (Fort mode only)
It should take about the same amount of studies (~100) to get all essences in each school.
Secrets and their TutelageLearning a secret unlocks the character's inner power. Secrets can be found from one or more learning sources. Secrets and sorcery all change the title of the character, while wizardly studies do not. The names of secret keepers and their sources are:
Sorcery* (pure) encounters
Channeler (divine) gods, masters, slabs
[Necromancer] [gods, masters, slabs]
Pyromancer (fire) gods, masters, slabs
Druid (polybestia) gods, masters, slabs
Shadowmancer (shadows/unnatural birth) gods, masters, slabs
Silencer (antimagic) gods, masters, slabs; research (does not work in current vanilla version)
Sorcery is the gift of using pure aetherial magic without studying as a wizard. Sorcery is unlocked through an encounter with a magical being; these include dryads, carp men, frost giants, and summoned pet familiars. Sorcery can also be "forced" by ingesting a sorcery potion, made by a wizard.
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Delving deep into the world belowHighfantasy is highly consistent with surface spawning. The foes that appear are evenly distributed across appropriate biomes.
Every biome contains exactly one elemental, one or more intelligent humanoid, and one or more rare, prehistoric mammal like a Mega Armadillo.
Every savage biome contains wild goblins, giant animals, and at least one magical large predator if non-tropical.
Every evil biome contains feral goblins, generic ghouls n ghosts, and at least one evil large predator.
Every good biome contains failed hybrids, animalmen, and (due to scarcity) the same set of unicorn+faun+mermaid+ wild magical creatures.
Drakes and skales, though magical, can spawn in mundane biomes; they are "commonplace."
Dinosaurs spawn in "primoridal" (savage tropical) biomes with distinct food chains based on evolutionary eras. The predator spawns only when the prey spawns, and the prey spawns only with the right plant.
Highfantasy reorganizes the caverns. One of only two big changes to vanilla wiki information, everything in cavern layer three has been "moved up" to layer two.
Functionally, nothing is lost, since layer two was a "transition layer" with a combination of layer 1 and layer 3 creatures.
This change can be easily reversed by using the optional version c_variation_highfantasy file, located in the optional files, without locking you out of the new creatures.
(The other big vanilla wiki change is that animal men spawn in "good" biomes, not "savage." This is part of the mod story and also helps greatly with savage biome diversity.)
Cavern plant-life has not been changed. The following descriptions use the colors as currently previewed for the Premium release.
Layer One: The Moss-covered CavernJust like in vanilla, this early cavern layer contains the sort of simple creatures that adventures might be hired to stop from raiding village cellars. It also contains a few fungal beasties that lovers of cleanliness had best avoid.
Layer Two: The Twisting PassagesLike the vanilla layer three, these dark spaces contain hulking creatures that the local ruler would probably send their best knights down to kill, and is not for the faint of heart. Among these brutes are the bosses of the fungal creatures above.
Layer Three: The Deep DarknessHere in the quiet depths, danger lurks around every corner. Among the empty chasms creep horrifying creatures that only great heroes and wizened mages would dare battle, including dryders and corroders. But the true danger lies in the murky pools, from which eldritch horrors emerge to scout the lands above.
The eldritch creatures, from "What Lurks Below" by ZM5, include:
-predators (two-word creatures ending in -er, like "flesh harvester")
-minions (one-word creatures referencing the predators, like "fleshworm")
-bosses (the Hollow One, Amalgamated One, and Dessicated One)