Good to have you back, Architect
Sadly, I have to agree with Skorpion's statement to a degree. I've considered abandoning and starting over several times already because as I play through this, I see no less than a dozen ways I could have performed better by this time.
There are two things stopping me. One is the characters - I'd hate to start over and not be able to write with these characters anymore. Zon and Asob are a great duo (they're very much like the Odd Couple, I've noticed) and I don't really want to start over with new characters.
Secondly, all things considered, starting over wouldn't really help. I have all of the pieces in place to sustain a fort suffering multiple demands for quite some time - have you seen the number of magma forges and smelters I have downstairs? Do you have any idea how many syrup/quarry bush/cheese roasts I have stashed away? Even the fort entrance, though not very dangerous, should be impregnable except against flying enemies, and I have several well-trained champions including two which I suspect are completely invincible thanks to a pair of artifact bucklers.
The reasons for failure so far were a combination of ignorance on my part, and sieges in autumn preventing the caravan from coming and reporting the loss of the first baron to the civ. The former has been covered already by all of your incredibly helpful tips, and the latter wasn't realized until last year - and now we have a solution, simply by shutting off sieges for a season.
All in all, I think the most rewarding thing for me is that even though the challenge isn't panning out,
you're all still reading. This thread has carried about the same number of views per posts as other more successful challenges in the story board, even through this current slow patch (good news on that point: I shouldn't have any more 60 hour/6 day weeks for a while, I'm very nearly finished with that huge project at work I was stuck with).
Now that I know what needs to be done for the next season, I can try that and see how long it takes for the next baron to arrive, and hopefully I don't find that I'm also too far from my civilization. Apologies for the dismally slow start, but I'm far from giving up yet.
Thank you all
immensely for your support. I'd have stopped caring long ago if not for the feedback I get from everyone.
@darkflagrance: I've noticed penalties for waiting. You start getting more mandates, and maybe it's just me but my consort seems to get more annoyed at other things when I make her wait. When I meet her demands right away, she doesn't seem to notice a lesser's pretentious living conditions, but this does appear on her thoughts when I make her wait. Maybe it was a fluke, I'd have to try it again to see if it's repeatable.
On the other hand, meeting a demand right away almost always seems to mean getting the same demand immediately after completing it the first time.