Print

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

[KenboCalrissian]

24th Moonstone, 210, Early Winter
-------------

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The first of the demons has been killed, though it was difficult to tell through all the smoke.  I sent our five marksdwarves into the fortified chamber to deal with Artum, since I was getting tired of seeing dwarves randomly cancel jobs even when they weren't under any immediate threat.  At first the marksdwarves just stood there... of course, they weren't carrying bolts, but there were bins full of bolts right at their feet, so... seriously, put two and two together!  Eventually, one bold dwarf with slightly more wits than a -Basalt door- picked up some bolts and shot the demon.  Litast Moltenlances wins today's "Usin' ur thinker" award.

We've actually dyed every strand of thread in the fort, believe it or not.  Silk clothing production is still going, albeit slowly, but at least it's keeping the dwarves busy.  And clothed.

I've designated an upgrade to the siege wall out front, but it's only temporary.  A staircase in the back will grant our builders easy access to the stone pile behind - but it could also grant goblins easy access to the fort, so I'm going to station a dog near it to make sure nothing gets in.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It seems we've run out of room in the commons, as I'm starting to see commoners sleeping in the barracks.  Shouldn't take too long to correct, I just need to get the miners down there to carve some narrow tombs - I mean, living spaces.

[Di]

Are you going to upload map? I don't understand from where smoke is coming to my dwarf's personal quarters.

[Quietust]

By late Spring or so, all of that smoke should be gone (since the charcoal will have burned away), so it should be safe to put Imush 'Di' back into his her special quarters.

[KenboCalrissian]

Di, there are fortifications in the wall.  The dwarf's room is adjacent to the demonic pit for reasons that will probably result in failure and disappointment.  Also, she might very well die when I execute my plan, though it remains to be seen whether I can pull it off in time for the next Duke/Duchess to arrive...

[The Architect]

Hey, I think I might have come up with a very dwarfy method for seeing all or most of the demons within the pit!

Bear with me here, as this requires the unfortunate sacrifice of some kittens or somesuch critters:

Step 1: Hollow out a room directly above the top of the demon pit, and place a support in a spot corresponding to an open space on the level below.

Step 2: Starting from that same room, dig a staircase upwards and hollow out the area above your first room, channeling out the floors surrounding the one over the support.

Step 3: Place animals in cages on spots surrounding the support on the first floor, and prepare shooting galleries accessed from outside as desired.

Step 4: Attach the support and cages individually to distant levers.

Step 5: Seal the room, completely, and thus seal the only exit from the room above simultaneously.

Step 6: Pull the lever! (the support lever), then release the animals as needed to reveal the occupants of the room!

Step 7: Save a few demons for me!

Your faithful servant,
~Archibold
(Thanks to Quietust, as always, for making the letters for me.)

P.S.: Don't share with anyone that Archibold can't write, or he'll have my head. He says that a warrior need not write his own legends or some crap like that, but he's still proud. ~Quietust

[Quietust]

Hey, I think I might have come up with a very dwarfy method for seeing all or most of the demons within the pit!

The following diagram should illustrate this more clearly:

Code: [Select]

Z+1
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓> ▓▓▓
▓▓ . ▓▓
▓▓▓ ▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
Z+0
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
O▓▓▓▓▓▓
╚O<‼.▓▓
▓▓‼I‼▓▓
▓▓.‼.▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
Z-1
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓≡...&▓
▓.&...▓
▓..≡..▓
▓...&.▓
▓.&.≡.▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

It's my understanding that other digging has been taking place immediately above the pit; hopefully, it would not interfere with this idea.

With sufficient planning, an even better option would be to carve out a large slab encompassing the entire top level of the pit and drop that in a cave-in, squishing all of the demons flat (and taking care to ensure that it doesn't punch through other floors that would let out any remaining demons).

[Urist McOverlord]

What about using Archibold's suggestion, but use the sacrificial animals to reveal the demons in such a way as to keep them penned in and helpless before our marksdwarves. Archibold, and myself, shall never decorate their maces with the blood of demons, but the fortress shall be safer. And besides, the marksdwarves need some chance at the honor of a true veteran.

Hasn't Archibold gotten enough from the whole single-handed siege slaying?

[The Architect]

use the sacrificial animals to reveal the demons in such a way as to keep them penned in and helpless before our marksdwarves.

Spoiler: Out of character, if you care. (click to show/hide)

That's the idea. Sorry that my writing isn't quite clear enough, but Quietust's diagram should help. Hopefully you'd have a larger area with more animals to release at your leisure. Demons are generally only revealed when they attack something, so you'd want to release an animal, shoot the demons that attacked it, and then release another to reveal more demons. They should be entirely helpless to escape throughout the process.

I didn't want to get too technical or restrict creativity, but I have my own ideas about the best way of setting up the fortifications and so on. I'm sure Kenbo will come up with something nice if he likes the general scheme

[KenboCalrissian]

With sufficient planning, an even better option would be to carve out a large slab encompassing the entire top level of the pit and drop that in a cave-in, squishing all of the demons flat (and taking care to ensure that it doesn't punch through other floors that would let out any remaining demons).

Boy, won't you be surprised when you see the map upload at the turn of spring!  That's exactly what I've been doing all this time.  See back to when I had the mining designations in the exact shape of the chamber below.  There's another step to this though...

[Quietust]

Boy, won't you be surprised when you see the map upload at the turn of spring!

Now that you've told me, I probably won't be particularly surprised.

[The Architect]

That's definitely the boring and undwarfy way to deal with it.

Unless you have Spirits of Fire, in which case it is the SUPREMELY DWARFY way to deal with it, because it won't work and Archibold gets to fight!

[skaltum]

bump

[Urist McOverlord]

Did this at long last die? 

[KenboCalrissian]

Apparently I have magic "bump" senses, because I actually haven't even so much as peeked at this thread until now, and see it's been bumped only yesterday

I blame Civ V, my new Xbox, and a whole mess of other games and such.  I've got a few loose ends to wrap up in real-life land, so perhaps by February I'll brush the dirt off this thing and give it another whirl.

[The Architect]

This is the first time I've looked at this thread, or the forums at all, since posting that comment here. Magic bump sense indeed!