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[Christes]

I love your fortress design, by the way.

[Martin]

Thanks. The fortress is a bit repetitive, but it's very efficient, which is what I needed for Morul.

Here's an update on skilling.

I looked at snapshots of Morul approximately 1 year apart. The tantrum spiral occurred during this year, so Morul had virtually no social interaction and virtually no sparring. During the year there were 3 sieges: 2 orc, 5 squads each and Morul was able to kill every orc, and one human of 1 squad, and Morul killed every human. The orcs at this time were upgraded from the standard: steel armor/weapons, size 9, damblock 7. I'm considering going to 9/9 next, but Morul really struggles to not become exhausted when facing two squads at once. He recovers instantly, but if he doesn't get that break, he risks falling unconscious, and then he's done for. There were no ranged units in any of these sieges.

Anyway, at the start of the year, he had the following stats:

1,549,133 xp
42 wrestler
40 shield
26 armor
24 str, 25 agi, 26 tough

At the end of the year (Autumn 245), he was at:

1,586,001 xp
44 wrestler
43 shield
29 armor
24 str, 25 agi, 27 tough

He's equipped hammer, and that went up from high master to grand master - not much at all.

Basically, a squad of 20 orcs piles on and he spends pretty much all of his time defending attacks - probably 20 shield/armor blocks for each attack he gets in. Once they get on top of him, the hammer comes out of play and he's stuck wrestling. When he manages to break out of the pack, he does get some mobility and the hammer gets used a bit. Also, the last squad is almost always engaged in a controlled space after the siege is broken, and he takes them on 1-2 at a time. That's probably where almost all of the hammer skill is developing.

But even at level 40, he's picking up 3 levels per year without sparring on both shield and armor.

Once I get some of these guys out of bed (11 still resting) and get an immigration wave, I'm going to draft a slew of stone/bone/wood crafters to be sparring partners. They're all pretty strong so I think they'll do alright with masterwork steel armor. After hammer, Morul has axe and spear, which are both at competent, and sword which isn't yet listed. I'm a little worried about him sparring with those. We'll see.

I'd like to see how Morul does in a year of sparring, with no sieges at all (I've had a few years like that so far) and how that compares.

[Derakon]

You might try setting up some kind of "combat cell" system to prevent Morul from getting mobbed so badly during sieges. Split the outside up into a whole bunch of 3x3 rooms separated by raising bridges. Once you've trapped the siege, lockdown all of the rooms, then let Morul into them one at a time. This should split up the attackers enough for him to get more non-wrestling experience in.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Oh.  My.  Armok.

Or should I use Morul instead?  By this point he has to have achieved apotheosis somehow.  How many kills has he reached by now?

[jokermatt999]

Just curious, has Legendary+ armor user appeared to do anything different? Doesn't it basically just affect how heavy it is? Also, does agility's effect cap at Perfectly Agile, or does he just basically teleport around now?

[Sensei]

I'm sure armor user greatly increases survivability, based on sparring. And there's no such thing as an attribute cap.

[Martin]

Someone asked about my Westlash fortress in another thread, and rather than threadjack someone else, I'll threadjack myself...

Westlash started with just the 7, but there's always a handful if immigrants even if your cap is 7. The fortress was around 15 when the last immigrant showed up (other than nobles). The fortress that you see in 245 has had an entire generation grow into adulthood, and is about 20 years in, if memory serves, with a very high child cap - some of the masons had 7 or 8 kids following them around.

Invasion was on the entire time. It was my first dig-and-reveal fortress and they started on the west mountain flank around the spire. Only part of the spire is on the map archive - it's 25 stories tall and tapers to a near point and is perfectly round the entire way without any construction. It rises maybe 8 stories above the top of the mountain plateau.

While the miners were digging the cliff face shear the first set of gobbos arrived and one of the miners cleared them out with her pick. It took almost another 2 years to get the west and south cliff cut down to be impassable and get the moat dug out. The east approach had a temporary bridge and the north was totally impassable. The east gatehouse was the first actual construction and the area beneath was loaded with weapon traps which provided the main defense. There was one champion marksdwarf to supplement the traps, who was rather effective with the stragglers, but the traps did the bulk of the work. There are ambushes reliably every season as the local goblin civ is pretty massive. No orcs, as it's pre-orc mod.

After defenses, the first goal was to get the church carved out. There's no construction there other than the occasional patch to fill in an extracted gem. All workshops, beds, and stockpiles were in the various levels of the church and the fortress grew out from there. The buildings were designed to look organic to a town, and I think it's worked out pretty well. I like the little plaza outside the church where the trade depot is. The vaults to the south hold all of the trade goods and precious metals and gems. Each building was designed to be like a little business, with a workshop on the ground floor and storage in the upper stories for the raw materials. Furniture will  eventually be added to make the place look more organic. I'm really happy with the farm in the middle of the town. That was pretty dicey to work around the soil layers to get a 3 story above/below ground farm, but I'm really happy with the result.

The pool near the keep was a natural pond that got expanded and incorporated into the water system. There's another small fountain near the furnaces. The housing is expected to look like apartments - some are multifamily with 3-4 full bedrooms and others are 3 or 4 story walk-up apartments for nobles (the square 4x4 ones).

Once some of the kids grew up they were drafted into the military and by then the keep was able to contain any approaches from the east inside that area. The north entrance was then built and opened up, and then the traps were removed so the military could manage everything. Guard kittens reveal ambushes and the military takes a post in the keep. Enemies are allowed to travel as far as the keep where the marksdwarves are stationed and the melee troops are waiting just around that corner where the last-defense traps are. None have ever made it that far, or even taken out the inner kitten alarms. There are two sets of steel grates at the keep that can be lowered by lever and the top of the trap is accessible by marksdwarves up top. As you can tell from the ballista bolt inventory, I'm training up a siege engineer to make some masterwork ballistas to go in the niche there in the keep to fire up the two approach lanes.

There have been a number of casualties and you can see the start of the crypt under the church. Mostly dwarves cleaning up from ambushes getting tagged by ranged units back when the enemy was getting engaged at the edge of the map. Gobbos would sometimes spawn right at the drawbridge and open fire. Dwarves had no hope. By drawing them in and engaging them at the keep, it's generally safer, but the poor sucker who needs to go out and tie up a new kitten at the gatehouse is a sitting duck. I'm considering a better approach there.

The most fun is when gobbos arrive along the south flank near the depot, particularly when there are humans or dwarves trading. The gobbos fire down onto the depot and wreak all kinds of havok. Because the buildings are dug out, the dwarves will use any building as a sanctuary when the 'stay indoors' order is given, which is pretty cool.

The irrigation system is a future problem. There's still an underground river and pool on the map. I think it's about 15 or so z-levels *above* the main fortress level back behind the spire. I didn't road over the irrigation system, so once that underground water gets tapped, my irrigation will get clogged with towercaps. I could do the stockpile trick, but if I get back to the fortress I'll probably drain the subterranean areas and road them over. Not sure how to incorporate the river/pool anyway.

[Elliott_Thinas]

Beautiful fort there Martin!

[Martin]

21st Opal, 246, Mid-Winter

Tantrum spiral now well behind us, progress on the fortress continues. All dwarves injured in the spiral are recovered, but two were wounded in a mining accident (noobs!) and two of four new recruits were wounded sparring with the hammers. Nothing too major.

The extra recruits have given Morul some more sparring time and he's finally made legendary hammerdwarf. That's brings us to the end of the blunt weapons and on to the pointy ones. Morul is currently a competent axe/spear from the time in the hunting arena, but no rating on sword. I think we'll move Morul on to axe now and get that finished off. Not sure if the axe will allow him to engage with the orcs better than the hammer did, but I hope so.

With the return of the laborers, the magma pipe is again being drained and the miners are expanding the moat. Initial plans for Moruls suite have been drawn up and construction will begin once the miners have dropped to the entrance level - 11 z-levels below the surface. The suite will be a 13-tile diameter steel, glass, and adamantine sphere suspended in the magma pipe. The only access will be from the back of the military level, which is already highly secure. Morul will also serve as guardian for the fortress artifacts.

Once the pipe is drained, the dwarves will need to keep it drained - by hand - for at least a year until the dig is finished and the shell of the suite is complete.

--- Labor (52)
18th Moonstone, 202, Early Winter - Miner
19th Limestone, 206, Early Autumn - Woodcutter
27th Granite, 207, Early Spring - Appraiser
9th Sandstone, 207, Mid-Autumn - Bone Carver
11th Granite, 208, Early Spring - Furnace Operator
27th Opal, 208, Mid Winter - Engraver
5th Granite, 209, Early Spring - Carpenter
24th Timber, 209, Late Autumn - Mason
13th Opal, 209, Mid-Winter - Weaver
14th Obsidian, 209, Late Winter - Dyer
12th Granite, 210, Early Spring - Clothier
2nd Hematite, 211, Early Summer - Miller
10th Sandstone, 211, Mid-Autumn - Bowyer
26th Sandstone, 211, Mid-Autumn - Cook
20th Felsite, 212, Late Spring - Brewer
12th Limestone, 214, Early Autumn - Milker
12th Limestone, 214, Early Autumn - Cheese Maker
13th Timber, 214, Late Autumn - Thresher
13th Obsidian, 214, Late Winter - Trapper
23rd Felsite, 215, Late Spring - Metalsmith
6th Opal, 215, Mid-Winter - Glassmaker
5th Sandstone, 216, Mid-Autumn - Wood Burning
12th Timber, 216, Late Autumn - Animal Dissector
13th Granite, 217, Early Spring - Lye Maker
25th Malachite, 217, Mid-Summer - Potash Maker
8th Sandstone, 217, Mid-Autumn - Siege Operator
27th Timber, 217, Late Autumn - Leatherworker
25th Hematite, 218, Early Summer - Animal Training
21st Sandstone, 218, Mid-Autumn - Tanning
27th Sandstone, 218, Mid-Autumn - Butcher
18th Granite, 219, Early Spring - Gem Cutter
23rd Felsite, 219, Late Spring - Mechanic
4th Limestone, 219, Early Autumn - Stonecrafter
26th Hematite, 221, Early Summer - Siege Engineer
24th Slate, 222, Mid-Spring - Ambusher
19th Limestone, 222, Early Autumn - Herbalist
26th Sandstone, 222, Mid-Autumn - Gem Setter
14th Galena, 225, Late Summer - Fishing
14th Sandstone, 225, Mid-Autumn - Fish Cleaning
12th Malachite, 226, Mid-Summer - Grower
21st Hematite, 227, Early Summer - Architect
3rd Malachite, 227, Mid-Summer - Soap Making
15th Limestone, 227, Early Autumn - Organizer
14th Felsite, 228, Late Spring - Fish Dissector
5th Hematite, 228, Early Summer - Animal Care
26th Hematite, 228, Early Summer - Pump Operating
6th Galena, 228, Late Summer - Armorsmith
1st Moonstone, 228, Early Winter - Weaponsmith
1st Hematite, 229, Early Summer - Woodcrafter
27th Galena, 229, Late Summer - Metalcrafter
2nd Galena, 230, Late Summer - Strand Extracting
9th Malachite, 231, Mid-Summer - Record Keeper

--- Social (9)
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Consoler
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Negotiator
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Intimidator
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Persuader
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Judge of Intent
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Pacifier
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Comedian
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Conversationalist
15th Limestone, 241, Early Autumn - Flatterer

--- Military (7)
11th Hematite, 234, Early Summer - Swimmer
26th Moonstone, 235, Early Winter - Marksdwarf
15th Limestone, 235, Early Autumn - Wrestler
1st Limestone, 236, Early Autumn - Shield User
28th Sandstone, 238, Late Autumn - Armor User
7th Felsite, 241, Late Spring - Macedwarf
21st Opal, 246, Mid-Winter - Hammerdwarf

[Heartpower]

I still check this thread everyday.  Thanks for sticking in there, Martin.

[Sensei]

What's that leave, excluding the crazy ones like Liar and Nature Magic?

I can only think of spears, swords and axes off the top of my head...

[Martin]

What's that leave, excluding the crazy ones like Liar and Nature Magic?

I can only think of spears, swords and axes off the top of my head...

That's all that's left. I just need to get them to skill up faster than the 5 years that hammer took. Avoiding tantrum spirals will probably help...

[Grendus]

Sounds like your problem with training is both that Morul is lethally dangerous even when sparring and orcs like to grapple instead of fight with weapons. Not sure, maybe there's a way to mod orcs so they can't wrestle?

[zchris13]

Like giving them weapons?

[Slogo]

It's fitting that Morul isn't a legendary liar yet. Anything he'd lie about he's probably actually done. "One time I took out 5 squads of orcs! Oh wait I actually did do that hmmm..."