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[The Navigator]

I've been reassigned from my comfortable life in the capitol to govern one of our outlying provinces. Still, the reported wealth of Archold, as it's called, has recently skyrocketed, so the conditions there shouldn't be too bad.

1st Granite
I.... There's....

DIRT!

Dirt, dirt, dirt! Everywhere!

I WILL NOT LIVE IN DIRT!

This is a disaster! The entire habitable part of the fortress has been built in the mud! There's also aparently an aquifier directly below us as well, which makes the ground.... squishy. No attempt at all has been made to stabilize the muddy corridors of this.... this.... mudhole. Ick!

There are also other things to unsettle a dwarf's stomache I observed on my way in. For instance, immediatly upon entering the gate I was greeted by the screams of several goblin captives, who where caged not ten paces away from the bloodied implements of the butcher's shop. Nearby also where several months worth of provisions left to rot out in the sun. Inside are some warehouses and a large chamber dug into the clay that the dwarfs here apparently use as some sort of gathering area. Along one wall are some beds where a wretched woodburner has  been dumped. Much of his body is broken but no attempt has been made to bandage him, or set his bones. The main stairway is lined with coffins. One level down is the work area, with several of the rooms being used as latrines... there are no doors to them, and the stench is incredible.

There is also a dead animal in the bedrooms area.

In the only part of the fortress dug into actual, Armok blessed rock is a series of suites currently under construction, presumably for the nobility. One of them has a coffin as its centerpiece.

This state of affairs cannot stand.


2nd Granite
I was woken last night by the shrieks of Iton Daggerfield, and injured fish dissector in the room next to mine. I've moved my things into one of the death suites for the time being, fortunately not one with a coffin.

I paid a vist to the farms today, to discover them untended and unplanted. It appears we have have several farmers here, but when I went to speak with them I found them variously drinking, lazing about or practicing masonry, of all things. They have all been reprimanded and sent to the farms. Well, except the ones drinking. It's just impolite to interrupt one enjoying a good ale.

It appears there are a number of things I should concentrate on, them being the breaching of the aquifier, the conctruction of a proper dwarven fortress, stabilizing beer and food production, and training a capable army.

4th Granite
Have decided to use magma on the aquifer. Ordered more picks to be produced.

5th Granite
It seems that a side effect of Operation Mamga Pierce will be that the moat will become filled with magma. The workers are ecstatic, fire-happy little masochists that they are.

12th Granite
One of my predecessors has somehow installed a mind-bending triple door configuration on one of the hallways leading into the magma chamber. Spent hours staring at it.

13th Granite
Elves!

14th Granite
The pointy ears disappoint me, they brought nothing but cloth. I've ordered a ballista constructed next to the trade depot.

16th Granite
A goblin ambuscade at our very gates! Curse them!

16th Granite (slightly later)
By Armok's Beard WHERE IS THE MILITARY?!?

To Be Continued

[MrWiggles]

Is there still an open space?

[Dante`]

Yes theres still an open space.   Also lol You noticed one of the things I was cursing about to my friends before I handed it over.  (omfg who the fuck put this rotting dead carcass in the rooms i'm building?)  And did you like the coffin I put there? Lol.
Anyway Love the story so far.

MrWiggles I've added you to the list.

[The Navigator]

Continued

18th Granite
The goblins came straight through our traps. I was outside at the time, setting up to start building the ballista when it happened. Having no alternative, I was forced to try to charge through them to reach the entrance. Fortunately, a marksdwarf practicing on the hill above heard my shouts and rushed to assist. Together we managed to hold them off until more help arrived. I even took down two of the blighters myself. No casualties. Well, except the elves. The only survivor ran off into the sunset, leaving us with a mountain of useless cloth. I'm going ahead with the ballista construction anyway. He'll be back.

20th Granite
A second ambush! This time they've caught one of our marksdwarfs outside the walls.

Update: The marksdwarf, Lolor, has been killed. Fortunately he will not be missed as he had no friends. Now where's that lever?

21th Granite
The gate has been shut and we are now sealed off from the world. Preparations for Operation Magma Pierce are finished and the pumps are ready to be manned.

There. Will. Be. ROCK!

7th Slate
Going well, for the most part. We've been getting some thefts by rhesus macaques but its been nothing significant. They did, however, make off with Lolor's pants.

OMP performed satisfactorily. The pumps were a little late in being shut off, resulting in a certain amount of flooding of the piercing chamber, but thats currently being drained into an adjacent room. Soon we can begin mining into the aquifer!

I've also taken the time to have a still set up nearer the food stores. This should greatly cut down on the time needed to produce booze. Near the food stockpile were the skeletal remains of a fish dissector from a bygone age. I wonder how many other dead are scattered about the corridors.

22nd Slate
Little is happening. Bloody magma is taking forever to cool.

24th Slate
Apparently in previous years large sections of the hill were mined out without removing the soil above them, leaving dangerously large overhangs. I'm having those whittled down to the new contours of the hill.

25th Slate
One of our metal crafters, Logem Zegiteb, has started raving and shrieking as one fey. He's claimed one of our forges in the volcano.

1nd Felisite
The magma seems to have cooled enough that its probably safe to begin digging into the aquifer.

2nd Felisite
A miner just ran past my office. I think he was on fire.

2nd Felisite (later)
I've tried to evacuate the area that the miner has been placed in. However, upon leaving one of the dwarf's friends has grabbed him and is transporting him elsewhere.

3rd Felisite
The miner Melbil Inolnomal died of his wounds en route today. Access to the hallway where he fell (the one with the latrines) has been restricted. Smoke now fills the halls of Archold.

4th Felisite
Smoke from the hallway has cleared recently, revealing it to full of blood. This... this must be a sign from Armok! A blessing on this fortress! I hereby declare the Latrineway to be hallowed ground!

[jseah]

O.o  that doesn't sound good. 

A miner and a marksdwarf?  Was the marksdwarf one of the elites?  The miner probably doesn't matter unless he set others on fire. 

If you've pulled the lever to shut the goblins out, you can just man the walls with crossbows and the goblins'll get shot to pieces easily. 

#################################################################

Glad you noticed the triple door.  My doing...  =P

[Dante`]

Wow... The shitters are hallowed ground.. Praise be amorak!

On a side note im the one who mined out the hill...  I figured there was a waste of space (and whenever I got around to the top it could make extra farmland).  Cant wait for the next exciting update!

[blah28722]

I'd like to toss a few things up for discussion before my turn:

What do we feel about the more "cheap" or cheaty-feeling ways of play? Should we just avoid it and try to hit the challenges?

By this I mean:

Brewing plants to cook for larger food stacks
2x2 meeting square to stat up dwarves
lots of traps
cross-training dwarves on easy to raise stats
quantum stockpiles and atom smashes


Please let me know if we feel that using these would take the fun away.

[The Navigator]

O.o  that doesn't sound good. 

A miner and a marksdwarf?  Was the marksdwarf one of the elites?  The miner probably doesn't matter unless he set others on fire. 

He probably was, he was one of the only two marksdwarfs in the fortress. And this? Bad? This place is practically a paradise compared to what I usually subject my dwarfies to. 

On a side note im the one who mined out the hill...  I figured there was a waste of space (and whenever I got around to the top it could make extra farmland). 

Ahh hehe. That explains it. Though I probably would've used ramps instead, as they'd have gotten rid of the floor above it, too.

[Dante`]

Hmm aye.  But I suck at using ramps (wow though I remember back when I thought ramps were the only way to go between z lvl.)
I just messed with magma on another map..  How do you get the pumps working without them burning up?

As to the question... I set ... 4 cage traps and caught 8 goblins. >.> woot.  But hey i'm up for however the discussion goes.  Personally I dont want it to be too easy (sure sure navigator! I had a year where absolutly piss all happens and you get FIVE ambushes at the same time? )

I just edited some more stuff in instead of adding a new post.

[The Navigator]

8th Felisite
Immigrants! And at the head of their train is the honorable Monom Itobbomrek, a religious figure of no small importance back at the mountainhomes. Dressed in humble garb.... a cloak and mittens, nothing else, he comes to dwell in the place blessed by Armok.

I shall immediately prepare the Latrineway for his eminence.

Meanwhile, our miners have resumed work on OMP with renewed vigour, if somewhat more caution.

15th Felisite
SUCESS!!! Today the miners broke through the aquifer. We now have access to unlimited amounts of stone and wealth directly beneath the fortress.

23rd Felisite
DISASTER!!! While carving a new great hall from the bedrock we struck a deeper aquifer layer, slowly flooding the chamber. As I write this, our non-farming masons are desperately trying to wall off the stairway to salvage this narrow passage into the earth.

26th Felsite
The safety of the passage has been assured. Also, I've recently been informed that the correct spelling is, in fact, "Felsite," not "Felisite." Not that it matters, now.

1st Hematite
SWEET BABY ARMOK I FORGOT THE METALCRAFTER

8th Hematite
Whew. Okay, the metalcrafter is now safely secluded in his forge with all the materials gathered that he needs. You should have seen him, he was hoarse from shrieking his demands for so long, down in that dungeon/smithy. Poor thing was about to snap then and there.

In other news, renovation of the Latrineway has begun. The soil is being stripped away to be replaced with freshly mined rock. Once Logem is finished with whatever he's making I'll order some metal furnishings to be made for His Eminence.

13th Hematite
Logem has produced Hailedfair, a mighty trifle pewter chain! Our trader appraised its value at 31,200. Begun excavating another hall, this time deeper in the bedrock to avoid another flooding.

14th Hematite
The scouts reported that goblins have ambushed and killed an axe dwarf I never knew existed. Evidently he had immigrated here and decided to camp out in the wilderness. I have mixed feeling about this.

16th Hematite
A pair of goblin snatchers were just caught today. I've ordered a few more cage traps placed.

17th Hematite
A human diplomat decided to pay us a visit. He's currently coming up from the south and...

....

Bloody goblins.

(Later)There are now 3 ambush groups running around the fortress chasing the diplomat. That boy can run, I'll give him that.

(Still later)2 more ambushes have sprung from hiding. Caravan guards are helping our men hold the gate, and I think the diplomat just did a front flip over a hammer goblin. Kalida has taken a hit to his arm and has retired from the battle. Erith, Udib and I are continuing the fight.

18th Hematite
The field is ours, and Diplomat Kasat Tumazangur is safely inside.

[The Navigator]

I just messed with magma on another map..  How do you get the pumps working without them burning up?

Just dont use any wood components. I usually use rock blocks and copper screws/pipes.

Hmm... that reminds me....  crap.

[MrWiggles]

Hmm aye.  But I suck at using ramps (wow though I remember back when I thought ramps were the only way to go between z lvl.)
I just messed with magma on another map..  How do you get the pumps working without them burning up?

As to the question... I set ... 4 cage traps and caught 8 goblins. >.> woot.  But hey i'm up for however the discussion goes.

To make screw pumps for transferring magma, all the materiel used in construction need to be magma safe. So, this means the pipe and the screw need to be made out of either; iron, steel or the super spiffy gold metal. The mechanism for it needs to be and can only be made out of bauxite. 

[Dante`]

Ah thanks MrWiggles.  I tried copper because I hadnt had any steel around.  It was kinda cool to see the pumps powerd only off the heat of the magma for a while (since the windmill destroyed itself on the z level above it almost instantly)

[The Navigator]

Hmm aye.  But I suck at using ramps (wow though I remember back when I thought ramps were the only way to go between z lvl.)
I just messed with magma on another map..  How do you get the pumps working without them burning up?

As to the question... I set ... 4 cage traps and caught 8 goblins. >.> woot.  But hey i'm up for however the discussion goes.

To make screw pumps for transferring magma, all the materiel used in construction need to be magma safe. So, this means the pipe and the screw need to be made out of either; iron, steel or the super spiffy gold metal. The mechanism for it needs to be and can only be made out of bauxite. 

Actually thats only if you plan on having the pump submersed in magma, and even in that case green glass also works. If you just plan on pumping it into a separate area, it can be made of anything, even wood. However wooden components will eventually take wear and then disappear, destroying the pump.

[jseah]

Sounds like it's going good.  Diplomats running around the wall is business as usual of course. 

###############

Magma and pumps:
You don't need the materials to be magma safe. 

As long as magma does not flow over the pump, it's fine as long as there's no wood. 

############################################

About the cheaty things:
Brewing plants to cook for larger food stacks
2x2 meeting square to stat up dwarves
lots of traps
cross-training dwarves on easy to raise stats
quantum stockpiles and atom smashes

Cooking booze shouldn't be allowed,  but if it's that or lose the fort, then by all means save the fort.  We can swap over to a purely sweet pod/quarry bush farm if you're worried about food. 
2x2 meeting square to stat up dwarves has it's own downside (tantrum spiral risk) so it's fine in my book. 
Traps are also fine for me.  They jam or need resetting anyway. 
Cross training is also fine for me.  I usually don't bother since it's too much work to do. 
Atom smashing shouldn't be used.  We have a magma pipe, use it. 
Quantum stockpiles... well, if you have too much stuff (eg. goblin clothing) we can just cut a deal with the traders and trade them at serious undervalue. 

###########################################################

Important

About the magma moat, if you're serious about making a magma moat, you need to note the door entrance to the moat I made.  Wall it off before pouring magma into the moat.