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Author Topic: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature  (Read 1454 times)

krumlink

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Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« on: October 03, 2008, 09:53:45 pm »

I just really decided to care about the reclaim feature when all my miner dwarves were killed in a cave in. So I reclaim the site and I have 21 dwarves, and using the preset item thing I have everything I had before but an additional 14 slaves dwarves. Couldn't you just embark to a locale then abandon then reclaim it and get an additional 14 slaves dwarves in the first place?
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krumlink

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2008, 09:55:04 pm »

Not to mention you can just reclaim your old buildings, so now I have forges and stuff already here! So I really have to do nothing now :)
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krumlink

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2008, 09:56:12 pm »

AND they all had steel stuff!
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Warlord255

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2008, 10:03:48 pm »

Well, there is the element of challenge, as well as the fact that all local monsters (see: caves) seem to get cleared out when you reclaim, thereby reducing your entertainment even further.
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Untelligent

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2008, 10:29:31 pm »

If I remember correctly, the feature critters don't get "cleared out," they respawn. Even if they haven't been killed yet. So you end up with MORE critters.

Maybe they're in ambush mode.
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krumlink

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2008, 10:33:29 pm »

I reclaimed the items in the buildings making them useful again.

Still though, they all had leather armor and steel.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Skid

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2008, 11:41:04 pm »

Yes, all the original monsters go invisible until they are standing right next to one of your reclaiming dwarves. (Tried this today with a colony of 5 skeletal giants. Not pretty.) And if you leave it unreclaimed for too long, your fort will develop some new nasty monsters of it's own.  Leaving it for about 3 years almost guarantees getting a giant cave spider.
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Magua

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2008, 12:09:05 am »

Not that I've yet to reclaim, but is the number of dwarves commensurate with the amount of monsters?  That is, more dwarves on reclaim == more monsters to fight?
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Skid

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2008, 12:18:13 am »

Seems to be more related to how many dwarves you had at the height or your fort, or maybe how much wealth it had accumulated.
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Stromko

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2008, 03:56:47 am »

On your original embark you can get fairly high skills, if I recall correctly you can get them up to Proficient which ain't too shabby. Upon reclaim, I think you only get a basic level of skill in the professions you choose for them. Of course you get lots of free weapons which is nice if your site didn't have rich metal veins and/or magma.

I prefer to keep my original embark dwarves around because having proficient armorers and weaponsmiths is an excellent basis for a powerful military once I have the means to get my forges churning. A good appraiser and stonecrafter lets me get started on serious trading on the very first caravan. Proficient masons and carpenters are just a nice all-around bonus to the quality and happiness of the fort.

For me the most valuable thing is having sufficiently skilled dwarves. A small elite military in exceptional gear is better than a large, normal army that takes too many losses and plunges your fortress into despair. Besides, a bunch of highly-skilled crafts, furniture, and trade means you'll have tons of migrants within a year or two, so abandoning and reclaiming isn't much of a shortcut.
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Vaftrudner

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2008, 04:20:34 am »

Seems to be more related to how many dwarves you had at the height or your fort, or maybe how much wealth it had accumulated.
Probably wealth, because when reclaiming my 5 million fort, I got 70 dwarves.

Overdose

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2008, 04:38:54 am »

Seems to be more related to how many dwarves you had at the height or your fort, or maybe how much wealth it had accumulated.
Probably wealth, because when reclaiming my 5 million fort, I got 70 dwarves.
Dunno about that, i reclaimed a fort i literally just started next to a big chasm, and i had 70 starters there despite not having anything in the fort but some scraps from forgetting to get a loadout ready.
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Vaftrudner

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2008, 04:47:40 am »

Seems to be more related to how many dwarves you had at the height or your fort, or maybe how much wealth it had accumulated.
Probably wealth, because when reclaiming my 5 million fort, I got 70 dwarves.
Dunno about that, i reclaimed a fort i literally just started next to a big chasm, and i had 70 starters there despite not having anything in the fort but some scraps from forgetting to get a loadout ready.
Hm, ok, it might be that, because the less prosperous fort I reclaimed where I got around 20 dwarves didn't have a chasm, and the one where I got 70 fort had a chasm and HFS.

Concerning the op, I agree with Stromko. When I got the fort up and running again, what I missed the most were specialized workers. I'd rather have 7 highly skilled dwarves than 70 novices running around.

Overdose

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2008, 01:07:30 pm »

Seems to be more related to how many dwarves you had at the height or your fort, or maybe how much wealth it had accumulated.
Probably wealth, because when reclaiming my 5 million fort, I got 70 dwarves.
Dunno about that, i reclaimed a fort i literally just started next to a big chasm, and i had 70 starters there despite not having anything in the fort but some scraps from forgetting to get a loadout ready.
Hm, ok, it might be that, because the less prosperous fort I reclaimed where I got around 20 dwarves didn't have a chasm, and the one where I got 70 fort had a chasm and HFS.

Concerning the op, I agree with Stromko. When I got the fort up and running again, what I missed the most were specialized workers. I'd rather have 7 highly skilled dwarves than 70 novices running around.
At least you start off with 70 dwarfs with skills you want, rather then having entire immigration waves of milkers and cheese makers that you have to work up. Plus they all come with some military skill too, and neat steel armor and a variety of weaponry depending on what you bring (lots of free axes for woodcutters).
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Haven

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Re: Original Embark seems irreleveant with a huge Reclaim feature
« Reply #14 on: October 05, 2008, 01:01:45 am »

Working the migrants up over the years it takes to get to 70 should yield a net gain. I do think there should be some ties to fort wealth as well, though.

All in all, the extra time to prep the fort itself is worth it for me, as well as the lack of ambushes outside.
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