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Author Topic: When to Abandon  (Read 2131 times)

Rakeela

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When to Abandon
« on: October 03, 2008, 07:33:04 pm »

I have a 2x2 fort that's very successful.  It's peaceful, luxurious, happy, and has almost everything a dwarf could want (as long as they don't want wood).  I brought along enough wood to make more than enough beds, too.  This is a fort that could probably exist for a thousand years without the slightest difficulty.  There's only one problem.  It's too far from civilization to get immigrants, or even traders.  We don't even get goblin sieges or kobold thieves.  (I did get a 'Thief!  Protect the hoard!' thing once, but there was no kobold thief on the map, I couldn't find anything stolen, and that was 5+ in-game years ago.)

All this may have something to do with my having picked a site surrounded by terrifying wastelands.  I don't know, do caravans and migrants take that into account?  Anyways, it feels weird to abandon a beautiful, busy fort like this, but it's getting a bit dull.  Anytime I want to expand anything, I think about how my dwarves are all insanely wealthy already and I have enough spare capacity to house twice as many dwarves in just as much opulence.  Anytime I try a huge vanity project, I quickly realize I haven't nearly got enough workers.

I mean, I'd give a royal throne room to any peasant who came along and just hauled stuff for me.  Should I abandon this fort, or is there something I can do to up the population?
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Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the blood god, for it is a dwarven number.  It's number is five-hundred and eighty nine.
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=53222.0

inaluct

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2008, 07:46:13 pm »

You can lock dwarves of the opposite sex together. I accidentally got two miners stranded once and they fell in love after a few days. Setting up things like that and waiting for the babies to grow up might be viable.

For your next fortress, let me make a recommendation; a scorching biome with a river or a lake.

If it's hot enough, you'll see why on embark.
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Fossaman

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2008, 07:49:51 pm »

Reproduction is probably your best bet. For less waiting, edit the Dwarf entry in the creature_standard raw so that the [CHILD:12] section has a lower number in it. If you can't get dwarves to marry, set up a small meeting zone, 5x5 usually works.

I wouldn't abandon just yet; see if you can make the dwarven baby factory work for you.
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Rakeela

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2008, 07:54:57 pm »

Six of my seven dwarfs are female.  The other one is the expedition leader.
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Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the blood god, for it is a dwarven number.  It's number is five-hundred and eighty nine.
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=53222.0

Eita

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2008, 08:30:43 pm »

Then set him out to stud.
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Bromor Neckbeard

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2008, 08:33:18 pm »

Yeah, it sounds like you're not going to get any immigrants.  I've never seen this happen, but there's a first time for everything.  If you don't mind waiting decades for a couple of generations to grow up, you could theoretically make your fort into something slightly less tiny, but you may want to restart.

I bet that theft was a monkey or a raccoon making off with something shiny.
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Drunken

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2008, 08:34:24 am »

I find you can get mega projects done really well with a single epic fortress builder dwarf and an entourage of haulers and day to day survival workers. If you mod the children up a bit like suggested you should be able to make many an uninterrupted mega project on this map.
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Erom

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2008, 11:30:18 am »

Sounds like Henry the 8th time!

Does the expedition leader already have a lover? If not, lock him with an axe and an unarmed female dwarf. He'll either fall in love and they'll start popping babies, or they'll get a powerful grudge and she'll end up decapitated. Rinse and repeat until one sticks, then seal up the fort and let it run for a few days until the children start growing up.
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Maggarg - Eater of chicke

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2008, 11:32:32 am »

Sounds like Henry the 8th time!

Does the expedition leader already have a lover? If not, lock him with an axe and an unarmed female dwarf. He'll either fall in love and they'll start popping babies, or they'll get a powerful grudge and she'll end up decapitated. Rinse and repeat until one sticks, then seal up the fort and let it run for a few days until the children start growing up.
He'll also eat all the food, drink all the booze and kill a few priests.
Actually, King Henry VIII was like Captain Stravich.
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Kagus

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2008, 11:38:30 am »

Stick all seven of them in a one-tile room for a while.  That'll get them all acquainted in very short order.

For survival, dump lots of food and drink into the room from up above, and then unforbid it once they're in.

Pie

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2008, 11:46:08 am »

Try putting a stockpile of crafts around the perimeter of the area. Then build up your wealth massively in the hope of attracting some thieves and then sieges.

ShunterAlhena

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2008, 12:47:14 pm »

OFF: Pie, I hate your avatar. (In case someone finds this post later on when Pie has finally changed it or the forums have crumbled to dust, it's an assembly line carrying in a living human head, feeding it something, having a hand tear off the face, a blade lance the skull, a spoon take out some of the brain and feeding it... to the next human head. In an endless loop.)

ON: I think I'd have abandoned that fortress long ago. Only woe is that it's not feasible in a roleplaying sense: why on earth would some dwarves abandon a safe, cozy, luxurious fortress and risk wandering through terrifying woods?
...then again... they're dwarves.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2008, 12:50:21 pm by ShunterAlhena »
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(name here)

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2008, 12:57:33 pm »

No dwarven caravan? is that even possible?
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Yanlin

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2008, 01:02:58 pm »

No dwarven caravan? is that even possible?

Does killing it count?
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Rakeela

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Re: When to Abandon
« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2008, 05:17:40 pm »

Apparently, no dwarven caravan is indeed possible.

And yeah, it's the 'not feasible in a roleplaying sense' problem that kept me from abandoning as long as I did.  I finally went ahead and did it though.  I'm just going to imagine that fortress is happily continuing where it was, or something.
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Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the blood god, for it is a dwarven number.  It's number is five-hundred and eighty nine.
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=53222.0
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