Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

1) Players will turn in their fortress as-is, at no additional penalty

45 (60%)

2) Players will be given a short extension, dependant on how near they are, and how many players are unfinished

27 (36%)

3) Players will be disquallified from scoring

2 (2.7%)

4) Something else (please explain)

1 (1.3%)

Total Members Voted: 75

[Devin]

HAHAHA!  I died within a minute of starting, as somehow a dog wound up on fire, and then the entire settlement and all the dwarves.  Never actually seen the defeat screen before

Time to try again.

[Solifuge]

Alright, back!

The problem with rushing to start this thing is that I never got a proper Rules post on the first page. Ah well, such is life. Here's a quick summary for those new to DF Masters:

1) You must be using the standard, Vanilla (unmodified) DF 0.28.181.40d, though anything within 40d is okay to use. That includes the Orcs Mod, cat mouth-hand mod, etc. If it's not 100% Vanilla, entries will have to be disqualified, as the map won't open on any Judges' computers. Moreover, allowing mods would allow an easy way for people to cheat, and would ruin the competitive spirit of the game.

2) Similarly, you must not use external tools which can alter the world, the behaviors of an individual Dwarf (I.E Dwarf Foreman/Manager/Companion), etc. External Tools used to report information are allowed ONLY if there is no other way to get the information: for instance, viewing Tile Temperature, or Full Combat Text is permissible, but using a tool like Reveal to see stone layers is not, since you can uncover that information through exploratory mining. Tools used to to visualize your fortress, etc. are okay too, so long as they do not alter the game or reveal information you would otherwise be able to discover (Revealing Tiles, etc.)

3) For this challenge, the Conduct Caveat is that you cannot breach the Aquifer via the Magma Pipe. If your Fortress includes any stairs or ramps allowing passage through the Magma Pipe's Obsidian Cast, and through the aquifer layers, your map will be disqualified.

4) No Savescumming allowed. You may only Rollback your fortress to the last Spring, and only if it crumbles, or is otherwise made unplayable (completely flooded, completely lagged or bugged, or if you lose all tools, or your dwarves are all rendered armless. Again, in these cases you may only Rollback to the last nearest Spring, or restart the fortress from scratch. For this reason, you'd best set the game to autosave every Spring.

If your Fortress doesn't follow one of these rules, luckily it's early enough for you to restart without much lost progress.

As an aside, I will be participating this time around, if time permits! I won't compete, of course, but I'd like to see the trials and tribulations I'm putting you guys go through!

[Jim Groovester]

Nice bait and switch with the map, Solifuge, making us think that we're going to be starting on a mountain potentially full of iron and instead dropping us on a saltwater swamp with beak dogs and harpies. At least we have magma, and that makes everything easier.

[Solifuge]

Nice bait and switch with the map, Solifuge, making us think that we're going to be starting on a mountain potentially full of iron and instead dropping us on a saltwater swamp with beak dogs and harpies. At least we have magma, and that makes everything easier.

Honestly, most of last night was spent genning worlds and comparing possibilities, though I found an easy way to tweak Good/Evil in regions without altering the rest of the world or inhabitants! Also, I've done a lot of study into the many faces of Evil Subregions... some are populated by the undead, and others are populated by evil creatures. Sadly, they're mutually exclusive... I was hoping to get a map with no living plants, no potable water, and Skeletal Harpies/Beak Dogs.

In the end, I was torn between using an Undead-Creature-Populated Saltwater Marsh teeming with Skelegators, and situated over a Cave full of 8 Skeletal Trolls and a Skeletal Titan, or an Evil-Creature-Populated Saltwater Marsh situated over an exposed Magma Pipe set up for wildfires. I went with the latter to steer the challenge more towards "Survival" and farther from "Military". Besides, Beak-Dogs pack hunt, and Harpies fly, which makes both fairly unique and fearsome foes.

P.S. If folks want to try a more Combat-Oriented Challenge, I can definitely supply one next time. I've got an awesome idea in mind, to boot.

[Vieto]

nooooo!!! and I was just about to turn on my uber magma-forge system!!!

[Realmfighter]

nooooo!!! and I was just about to turn on my uber magma-forge system!!!

Wait, what?

[Solifuge]

The only thing I have noticed, no Bauxite...
Oh well I will be using the Aquifer as the Floodgates now...

There was no Bauxite available from the Parent Civ, sadly. Though using groundwater is still a fine idea, a true DF Master would know their stones well enough to be able to manufacture a set of Magma-Proof floodgates, and nearly Magma Pumps, just from starting minerals.

nooooo!!! and I was just about to turn on my uber magma-forge system!!!

My bad on the delayed rules. Again, it's been 48 hours since I've slept, and I'm sick as a Dog. Still, better now then after you were 3 years in, aye?

[Vieto]

Indeed, that is true. Well, looks like I'll need to be further above ground than previously planned.

[Magua]

Is it too late to join up?

And, regarding the caveat, is it permissible to breach the aquifer by using magma, as long as it's not the original pipe's obsidian?

[Realmfighter]

Extremely late rules

Shit!

could you move back the deadline a day?

[Solifuge]

Is it too late to join up?

And, regarding the caveat, is it permissible to breach the aquifer by using magma, as long as it's not the original pipe's obsidian?

Magua, yes to both questions.  So long as you complete the Fortress by the deadline, people can join in whenever, and so long as you're not digging chutes down through the Obsidian Cast to get past the Aquifer, it's okay.

Extremely late rules

Shit!

could you move back the deadline a day?

If you think that one extra day is needed, I can be moderately flexible with the deadline for individuals... but you've got just about a full month to go yet. Besides, some people haven't even started yet, so you've got little reason to worry

[Jim Groovester]

In the end, I was torn between using an Undead-Creature-Populated Saltwater Marsh teeming with Skelegators, and situated over a Cave full of 8 Skeletal Trolls and a Skeletal Titan...

That sounds pretty awesome, actually.

Jim Groovester's Initial Thoughts, Spring, 100

Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

This embark is workable. There are some questionable inclusions, of course. The bituminous coal seems somewhat unnecessary when we have magma. The charcoal wouldn't even be necessary if we had an axe instead of an anvil, but what are you going to do. Complain, of course.

The skills are fine, for the most part. I would've preferred more specialization instead of the broad skills for each dwarf we have. And I don't like some of the pairings. Miner/Weaponsmith? Miner/Weaver/Clothesmaker/Furnace Operator? My miners will be mining, doing none of those other things. Woodcutter/Carpenter? My woodcutter will be spending all his time cutting wood, not making it into beds and such.

And I complained about this last time, but herbalism should be enabled on the woodcutter, not the grower!

Moving on, we have lots of garnierite to start with. Nickel is a magma-safe substance. This, with all the charcoal, and the magma, suggests some very interesting and creative aquifer solutions.

The first order of business is moving all the equipment in the wagon away from the magma pipe. With all that wood, booze, and bituminous coal, I may as well have started with a wagon full of dynamite. That is to say, it could be quite explosive.

Then I need to forge an axe to begin chopping down wood and for defense. This will be tricky: I could use the magma to smelt the magnetite and forge an iron axe with little trouble, but the native inhabitants probably will attack. Or I could smelt in the safety using the charcoal and bituminous coal. It might take longer, but it would be safer. But I balk at safety. Balk!

Then I need to make a wildfire machine for defense, for all the beak dogs and harpies. I've done this before; it should be easy. So easy I'm not going to bother telling you how to do it. Also, this is a competition and I want to lord my mastery of DF over you, so I'm going to remain tight-lipped about any of my brilliant machinations to defeat this map.

Then I need to breach the aquifer. There are several approaches. I can use pumps to clear enough space to put in walls. I can use magma to fill the aquifer in. I can use the flaming charcoal in a fireproof bin trick. Or I can collapse an aquifer tile to the bottom of a central stairway shaft and have a continuous waterfall and drain! Or maybe I'll have four entrances demonstrating all four approaches. Tons of potential to flood my fortress, but it will also be the most interesting.

I doubt I'll actually play this fort tonight, but those are my initial thoughts on how to proceed. The survival portion of this map should be relatively short, which means that the 'with style' portion will take up the rest of the time, so I need to think about what sort of cool projects I can do for a 5x5 saltwater marsh with a magma pipe in the center.


Solifuge, when does this round of DF masters end? It's a month, right? And how long is the in game time limit, or is there one?

[Quatch]

3) For this challenge, the Conduct Caveat is that you cannot breach the Aquifer via the Magma Pipe. If your Fortress includes any stairs or ramps allowing passage through the Magma Pipe's Obsidian Cast, and through the aquifer layers, your map will be disqualified.

*sigh*
Guess I won't be doing this one without at least one reset. I used 1 tile of 9 in my entry stairway in the cast.

[Realmfighter]

so, I've never pierced a aquifer.

shit.

how many Z levels is it?

[Vieto]

2 z-levels.

also, my dwarf was just injured by a magma man while killing it. Thankfully, the whole map wasn't set on fire. Well, time to make a quick fresh-water pool. Err, rather, once I make beds. My engineer is still capable enough to be fully active with-out beds.