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[ToonyMan]

By-the-way, all the levers should have notes associated with what they do.  Happy Hunting!

[ToonyMan]

Update today? 

[Rysith]

With luck. Lately, I've been running into "Rysith cancels Play Dwarf Fortress: Interrupted by Real Life", but I've been getting a bit of time in.

Of course, the first thing I did was lower the bridge, but thus far I've avoided losing in favor of killing orcs. With luck, my contribution will be the development of an orc-capable military.

[Rysith]

12th Obsidian

So, there I was, minding my own business, when the king told me that he had a little project for me. I was supposed to go manage a fortress for a year, to make sure I had everything down. Apparently, he had grown a bit tired of my mad science experiments, and wanted me out of the mountainhomes for a while. The King's orders aren't something to be disobeyed lightly, so I packed up my things and headed out the next day. I should arrive just in time for spring!

1st Granite
Well, I got myself here. Looks like they are having a bit of an Orc problem at the moment. Maybe that's why the king sent me, since I have gotten something of a reputation for dealing with them well. Slipping past them was no problem: They may be large and strong, but eyesight and brains were never their strong point. I need to fix that eventually.

The orcs were my first priority: they should be driven off before any potential traders arrive. Ah! right here, next to the entranceway, is a lever. That must be for this fort's deathtrap entrance!


Ah, no, my mistake: That's the bridge that lets the snipers into the fortress.


But, we seem to be doing rather well. The previous fortress ruler seems to enjoy marksdwarves. Though we're listed as having 30 of them, we've actually only got 10 or so, since most of them are in the fortress or royal guards. 10 should be enough, though. He's got a very nice defensive position set up.


I see, though, that there is a giant blind spot to the front. I'll have to fix that once they leave. In the mean time, though, we seem to be giving a rather good account of ourselves:


We lured the orcs to the gates, and killed them with fire iron. By my count, 16 orcs down. With the number of marksorcs that we killed, I think we came out ahead, ammunition-wise, and we definitely did if you could the bolts we can make from their bones.

In the middle of that battle, the countess came up to me saying that there was an elf ranting about how we were desecrating the trees. I told her I had ordered no tree desecration during my reign here, and she went off, seemingly satisfied. I also noticed that her husband wants us to make some trifle pewter items. Since we have neither tin nor copper, I'm not sure how we are to accomplish that.

I also had a dwarven liason show up, though I'm not sure how. We had our usual little talk; I requested some metals, coal, valuable leather, weapons, and armor. I have no idea why he was still around. He asked us for a bunch of stuff that I wasn't really paying attention to, but I did notice both prepared meals and drinks. We've got plenty of those, so we should be fine.

Shortly after the orcs fled and I had ordered the peasants out to clean up the mess, the elves showed up. I wasn't sure of the fortress's usual conduct towards them, so I played it safe and gave them a bunch of the stuff we had dragged off of the orcs. They seemed happy with it. We got a variety of interesting new animals for our menagerie in trade, including a leopard and a grizzly bear. This fortress certainly seems to have a lot of animals running around, so I'm sure the new additions will be appreciated.

As is inevitable whenever a bunch of peasants are running around outside, the goblins decided that now was the perfect time for an ambush. Twice, actually. Fortunately, we only lost one dwarf (a farmer), two dogs, and a horse. In exchange, we killed a total of 10 goblins: 5 wrestlers, two speargoblins, two macegoblins, and a marksgoblin. I know that there was a note left that I shouldn't order Thob into combat yet, but I've always said that live combat training is the best way to figure out which end of an axe to hold. He performed admirably, killing a total of seven goblins. He suffered one wound, when the marksgoblin shot him in the left third toe, but he'll get over it. For his bravery in combat, the count dubbed him "Thob Bodicewalls the Hot Kindnesses." I'll try not to think too much about what he might have been implying.

Lastly, on the 23rd of granite one of the carpenters was possessed by unknown forces, and is standing in his workshop even now screaming for a shell. We've got a turtle shell, but it's in a cage and he apparently can't be bothered to go get it out himself. Someone will get to it eventually.

I've decided that if I can accomplish nothing else during my tenure as fortress ruler, I'll get the army into shape to the point where it can go toe-to-toe with the orcs. I've organized them into proper squads, and told them to carry food and drink so they don't run off in the middle of combat, and given them a barracks to spar in. I've also drafted some of our 26 farmers as a squad of swordsdwarves, equipping them with the leftover equipment we've got lying around. 26 farmers, really. I also noticed that we had 28 children. I would have drafted them too, but apparently that's not allowed. I swear, on their twelfth birthdays, it's going to be sword and shield in hand for each and every one of them, if I have anything to do with it.

So, that's the end of my first month of rule: we've killed some orcs, I've organized our military, and there is a carpenter raving about his laziness. I can see the King has a sense of humor. But I'll get this fortress organized and working, even if I have to go off and do everything myself!

[ToonyMan]

Agh my message got all messed up when I finshed, I have to write it again!




Well I said that we absolutely need a better military and you're doing a good job so far.  'Thob' did good, 7 gobins!   




"Oi! My toe!"

[(name here)]

I do like the sound of upgrading the military, though what we really need is more marksdwarves instead of more melee dwarves.

[ToonyMan]

The orcs do have a tendency to bring lots of marksorcs.

[Rysith]

I do like the sound of upgrading the military, though what we really need is more marksdwarves instead of more melee dwarves.

I disagree: We've already got plenty of marksdwarves (10 by my count, not including the fortress guard). What we lack is a heavy force to pin the orcs down while the marksdwarves kill them. Right now, it's a pain to get the orcs to wander around to the fortress entrance for slaughter, which some melee dwarves should solve. A trained dwarf in decent armor should be able to hold their own in melee. The trick, I suppose, is the "trained with decent armor", but I'm working on that.

I've also opted for swords over maces, since what we really want for dealing with the orcs is severing criticals: a lost leg or arm will kill them pretty quickly, and a lost torso or head kills them instantly. Spears aren't so good because of no_pain, and maces, while solid, don't critical nearly as much. I think the macedwarves we've got now, plus future sworddwarves, should be fine.

There may also be some *ahem* alterations to the entrance corridor to encourage the slaughter of orcs in melee.

[(name here)]

I honestly know nothing about the merits of various melee weapons. Most of the time i use swords purely because i tend to have obsidian. Makes armoring easier when you don't have to divert metal to weapons.

I would like to know what is generally considered the best weapon for normal gameplay.

And yeah, we do need melee dwarves, but i don't think 26 more at the expense of no marksdwarves is a good idea.

[ToonyMan]

No idea.  We could always use a bunch of bridges or something to lock them in safetly then shot holes through them without wasting melee dwarves, but then we would need a "control room" dwarf.

[(name here)]

We also ought to cross-train crossbow dwarves with silver hammers and maybe some minor wrestling practice for last ditch defense and dodge, respectively.

[Rysith]

I honestly know nothing about the merits of various melee weapons. Most of the time i use swords purely because i tend to have obsidian. Makes armoring easier when you don't have to divert metal to weapons.

I would like to know what is generally considered the best weapon for normal gameplay.

And yeah, we do need melee dwarves, but i don't think 26 more at the expense of no marksdwarves is a good idea.

I'm not drafting all the farmers, just some of them (6 right now), don't worry. It doesn't look like we need more marksdwarves, though.

I'll see if I can get the marksdwarves a bit of sparring, too.

[ToonyMan]

I'm sure drafting 6 farmers is fine.  Most arn't even farmers anywho.  Just a potash maker or thresher.   

[Rysith]

Slate and Felsite, now called "The Months of Hauling"

Where to begin?

First, I discovered that we may actually need more marksdwarves: It seems like half the ones we have are in bed with injuries, and five is too few. I'm also considering moving some of the fortress guard to melee weapons, to serve as sparring partners for the regular military.

Then, in the midst of the hauling of everything left over from the orcs, I noticed the state of our stockpiles. Who organized them? What could they have been thinking? I fear that getting them in order within my year is too much, though I will certainly try. I've told the dwarves to stop storing seeds in all the food stockpiles I could find, and made new seed-only stockpiles near the farms, which should speed up the planting a bit. I've also started digging a room off the dining room to hold food and booze, and I'll be planting strategic booze caches around the fortress. Organizing the wood, blocks, goods, and metal, though, may prove to be too large a project.

Speaking of the dining room, I've also ordered a cage built in it that I'm throwing at least some of the animals that we've got running around into. The bear cubs, especially, are just getting underfoot. I'm also a bit concerned with the number of goblin, orc, and human prisoners that we've got, especially since I can't easily tell if they've still got their weapons on them. Sticking them in the arena is out, since we've got three injured dwarves in there right now, so I'll have to come up with some other disposal arrangement. Blood for the Blood God!

About halfway through Felsite, the elves left. Good enough for me. That carpenter finally got ahold of his shell, and he's started making something. No idea what it is, but he's got quite the collection of stuff in there with him.

Deathquest is also apparently enough of a cursed deathtrap that no migrants want to come. Firstly, the fortress is named "Deathquest". You'd expect a bit of death to happen in it. Secondly, I haven't killed anyone at all yet, not even the noble couple! They're pushing for it, though: The Countess Consort is starting to get annoyed about the lack of lay pewter, and the Count himself came and asked me if I could get him some nickle silver items. Actual silver we could do, but we're somewhat lacking in the nickle department. Cursed deathtrap has a nice ring to it, though. They think we've got a cursed deathtrap? I'll put one right in front of the main gate! I'll show them a cursed deathtrap! I'll show them all! Mwahahahahaha! Sorry, got a bit carried away there. but a deathtrap sounds inviting to me. Maybe a good way to deal with the prisoners, too....

Lastly, I've started mining out some areas to be individual graves. This will give our miners and masons something to do, and should make everyone feel a bit happier: They'll know that at least when they die, there will be a place waiting for them. Should help to counteract the effect of the plain earthen rooms.

[ToonyMan]

I guess the Count finally healed up, eh?   He was bed-ridden my whole year.     The Elf Diplomat justed watched him the WHOLE time and the dwarven liason dude was just milling around like any other dwarf.   




I was hauling stuff the whole year last year too.