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[mickel]

I'd write a story based on the rioting in my latest fort. I wish I had taken notes so I knew who did what and when, but man, what a ride it was!

It started when a goblin ambush walked straight through my traps and started killing dwarves at the entrance. They didn't get many, perhaps four or five, before they retreated (and interestingly didn't manage to avoid the traps on the way out).

For some reason the entire fortress became instantly unhappy and over half of them started tantruming immediately. The tantrums came and went in waves, but it was usually between one and two thirds of the population. There was lots of fighting, insanity broke out in several places.

I drafted everyone who wasn't critical into the fortress guard to try to restore order, it worked a little. I especially remember one guard who for some reason took himself outside and locked himself up in chains outside the fortress (where I had my punishment chains). That proved to be a good move, because the people chained up there were largely spared from the rioting...

Eventually, as the population started to dwindle, my policy of sectioning the fortress started to pay off. I managed to get the tantrumers into pockets here and there where I let them starve to death. Some of them went berserk and destroyed the doors, getting out anyway, but for the most part it was successful.

Eventually the rioting died out with most of the population, and I was down to 25 (from 250), five of which were in chains and had been for most of the riots. (The guard who locked himself up was released by a colleague that had come to his senses, though I don't know if he survived. I hope he did.)

In the end the colony was reinforced by the baroness with consort, the hammerer, the tax collector, dungeon master, and three cheese makers. Interestingly they haven't made a single demand since they came, and I even think I saw them carrying bodies.

Another nice result was a short dress made of dwarven leather. I don't know whose skin it was made of, only that it was a peasant dead of other causes.

[Cavalcadeofcats]

...population 250?

What sort of machine do you HAVE, to run DF with 250 dwarves?

Not that it's a problem any longer, I suppose. Certainly the most spectacular fortress collapse I've heard of, by numbers alone if nothing else.

EDIT: Oh, and also this should probably be in the Dwarf Mode forum, not this one.

[ May 09, 2008: Message edited by: Cavalcadeofcats ]

[Kagus]

Man, if only I had the machine power to support that many dwarves...  You can support that kind of turmoil if you've got a lot of dwarves to spare, but I have to make do with just a few since this computer can't handle a whole lot of anything.

[mickel]

It's not a very high-end machine by any standards, and I have no idea how it happened. I'm not saying things went by quickly, and I had a small area fortress. For some reason my laptop, which is almost the same specs as my desktop machine, can't even run the intro to DF, much less load a fortress. Apparently my desktop machine has something the laptop's missing... Maybe it's magic? Or maybe my desktop machine has a ≡p3 processor≡ but my laptop only has a p3 processor?

At any rate, this is the first time I managed to survive a crisis like that. Well, I shouldn't speak too soon, some dwarves are still unhappy, and another crisis can happen any time.

[Dasleah]

I believe the main difference between desk- and lap-tops are that fact that most laptops (especially the old ones) don't have very good graphics capacity, and DF needs some decent OpenGL grunt to make everything run smooth.

[Gantolandon]

quote:For some reason my laptop, which is almost the same specs as my desktop machine, can't even run the intro to DF, much less load a fortress.

Check if your laptop is set to run with full power when connected to AC.

[mickel]

Yea, it is. I should get someone who actually knows how computers work to look at it...

In the meantime, an update on the Situation. The final victim of the rioting was my baroness. Having arrived at the very end of them into a fortress in utter shambles and having to share a room with three rotting bodies for over two years she was remarkably calm. However, the rather unpleasant reminders of death made her very aware of her own mortality. She started to grow increasingly worried about her age, and about the fact she had no tomb, but since I had gone from five legendary masons and seven legendary engravers to none of each, and there simply wasn't the manpower to spare for a while, I was unable to produce one of sufficient quality. She confined herself to her room (now without the rotting bodies) and eventually stopped drinking... Peace be upon her. Never a complaint, always ready to lend a hand, and now her remains are in a pile with a bunch of dead goblins and rotten fish.

[mickel]

quote:Originally posted by Dasleah:
<STRONG>I believe the main difference between desk- and lap-tops are that fact that most laptops (especially the old ones) don't have very good graphics capacity, and DF needs some decent OpenGL grunt to make everything run smooth.</STRONG>

That could be it. My desktop machine has an old GeForce 4, whereas the laptop has what identifies itself as a GeForce 2.

[MuonDecay]

quote:Originally posted by Dasleah:
<STRONG>... DF needs some decent OpenGL grunt to make everything run smooth.</STRONG>

For someone not tech-savvy, that statement sounds astoundingly counter-intuitive.

code:

The statement bites you in the head!
It is broken!
Your brain has been broken! 

[Juason]

A P3 and 250 dwarves? :boggles:  Could you post your .ini settings by chance?

I must admit the video card does play a respectable part.  On my latest 3x2 map with no temp or weather...

- Pentium 4 3Ghz w/ HT, Onboard Intel GPU, 2GB ram = 10fps w/ 30 dwarves.

- Pentium 4 3Ghz w/ HT, Radeon 9600 GPU, 2GB ram = 40fps w/ 60 dwarves.

- Pentium-m 2Ghz no HT, Geforce 6800 GPU, 2GB ram = 60fps w/ 60 dwarves.

That must be awesome to have such a big fort go to hell in a handbasket.  I've yet to see a downward spiral like that, even after losing bunches of dwarves.  I'm not sure if my awesome rooms, meeting hall or dining hall have something to do with it or not.