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[ed boy]

I've decided that, having played dwarf fortress for a while now, I should have a go at a megaproject. I have therefore decided to build a giant statue of armok spanning 70 Z levels. However, I'm currently in a bit of a pickle. I have the description that I want to fulfil:

His skin was adamantine, and his armour was platinum. His hair was gold, and his weapon and shield were ice filled with magma. His eyes were of fire and his breath was of magma.

I have a map with chasm,

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

clowns

, and a magma pipie. I plan to excavate the entire map before construction (leaving the bottom level covered to hide unsightly buildings). I have 72 Z-levels to play with, so I'm going to make a statue as a scale model of a human (one inch to one tile). I am going to have magma pumped up the legs, out the mouth and into the weapon and shield. The eyes are going to be star ruby windows with

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

!!clowns!!

behind if possible, magma if not (I've modded it suffeciently to allow the former). The shield will be made of ice with a design in glass floodgates on the front. The weapon with be made of ice with the leading edge/side being glass floodgates. Once a lever is pulled, the floodgates will open, bathing all below with magma. However, I have two details that I want to clarify before I start work.

What design should I put on the shield?
What weapon should I build?

[Retro]

Warning: With all that loose rock, your FPS will go in the shitter (even if you have the dwarves dump rocks in the clownpit, it'll still take forever). I'm currently excavating a huge area (though not nearly THAT huge, but still 50z in a rather wide shape) and I'm at 1FPS with only 1/3 or so dug out, dumping into my UG river chasm as fast as I can.

That being said! I find hammers are very destructively dwarfy, and picks are rather dwarfy in general (though with less emphasis on explicitly killing). As for shield, dunno.

[ed boy]

I'm avoiding lots of the framerate problems by also making it as a hermit challenge. so far my no-precision records are showing ten thousand stones uncovered and I'm getting around 30 FPS. I should eventually end up with around 1 million stones lying around, so I'm not too confident it will stay at that level.

Also, will forbidding/hiding the stone increase my FPS?

[The Architect]

I'm avoiding lots of the framerate problems by also making it as a hermit challenge. so far my no-precision records are showing ten thousand stones uncovered and I'm getting arounf 30 FPS. I should eventually end up with around 1 million stones lying around, so I'm not too confident it will stay at that level.

The solution to the stone problem is rather simple, and requires very little management (just get it going then leave it alone to clear an area of stone).

Build a 1x1 raiding drawbrige near a load of stone that needs to be eliminated, and use d+b+d to designate the huge piles of stone just a couple of tiles away for dumping. Set the drawbridge as a garbage zone, and hook up a lever right beside it. Then set 5-20 dwarves on Refuse Hauling only, and they'll clear out 1,000 stone or so in less than a season. Pull the lever to smash and fix your framerate.

[Gergination]

I'm avoiding lots of the framerate problems by also making it as a hermit challenge. so far my no-precision records are showing ten thousand stones uncovered and I'm getting arounf 30 FPS. I should eventually end up with around 1 million stones lying around, so I'm not too confident it will stay at that level.

The solution to the stone problem is rather simple, and requires very little management (just get it going then leave it alone to clear an area of stone).

Build a 1x1 raiding drawbrige near a load of stone that needs to be eliminated, and use d+b+d to designate the huge piles of stone just a couple of tiles away for dumping. Set the drawbridge as a garbage zone, and hook up a lever right beside it. Then set 5-20 dwarves on Refuse Hauling only, and they'll clear out 1,000 stone or so in less than a season. Pull the lever to smash and fix your framerate.

I'm confused as to how you can quote him saying it's a hermit challenge and then immediately suggesting an idea that requires 5-20 dwarves...

[The Architect]

I am simply offering him an alternate method of ending his fps problems. If he still wants to make it a hermit challenge when he no longer has the stated reason to do so (fps problems) then he is free to do so.

And there is no reason you couldn't do it with a hermit. It doesn't require 5-20 dwarves; that was an example. It will still quickly reduce your clutter, just less effectively of course.

Funny how there's always someone to force you to explain every detail on the forum.

[Lord Dakoth]

Funny how there's always someone to force you to explain every detail on the forum.

What exactly do you mean by "funny?"

[Count Dorku]

Funny how there's always someone to force you to explain every detail on the forum.

What exactly do you mean by "funny?"

My suspicion:
"When it happens to you instead of me."

[Sheb]

That's not a megaproject, that's a Gigaproject! (At least!).

I dunno how you'll get enough adamantine. and how you'll finish it with one dorf before he die of old age. (You do plan, on leveling him to get only masterful floodgate and such, right?)

For the design, I'd say a Plump Helmet. As an tribute to all the Engraver that survived an attack of clown and still didn't produce anything interesting because of RNGs... And for the WTF.

For the weapon, hammer or axes are must have. I suggest hammer, since the square side will allow for cooler magma drop than an axe's edge.

Also, you really plan on making him along human proportions? We're playing Dwarf Fortress, not Simcity!!! and don't forget the Silver Beard of Wisdom!!

As for the rock, I have the following suggestion:
1) Don't touch the topmost z-level.
2) Excavate the other z-level (You may want to dig your map in 2-3 step, to keep your FPS high
3) Channel all the edge, leaving only stairs between level and a support supporting the whole she-bang.
4) Link the support to a lever safely placed under an intact layer.
5) Pull it, the cave-in will destroy all the stones.
6) Profit!

(Now that I'm thinking of it, I'm almost sure that you don't need to let the topmost layer intact, just leaving floor should be enough to destroy the stones. I'm only 99.999% sure tough)

Oh, and if you stop playing hermit, be sure that all your dorfs are in safety.

P.S. And you may want to mod your dorfs with an insane speed ([SPEED:1]), [NO_EAT], [NO_SLEEP] and the like...

[ed boy]

I dunno how you'll get enough adamantine. and how you'll finish it with one dorf before he die of old age. (You do plan, on leveling him to get only masterful floodgate and such, right?)

Since the statue's going to be pecked out in full plate mail, the only adamantine will be on the face. I also modded the max ages for dwarves to be in the region of 15000.

Also, you really plan on making him along human proportions?

If you can find me a scale model of a dwarf (beard and all) I'll make him a dwarf, but I don't have one, so human it is.

Also, I had an idea for a potential trap i might incorporate into the entrace road, but I don't know if it would work or not, so can anyone tell me if it would before I go to all the trouble of making it? Here is a side view:

Code: [Select]

   _
 -> <-
M     W
Where M is a magma source, W is a water source, _ is a grate and -> and <- are pumps

The basic idea is that the power supply for the magma and water pumps is hooked up to a lever. Upon pulling the lever, the pumps start pumping. The water and magma form obsidian, which, being unsupported, falls, generating a cave-in and the accompanying dust, which travels through the gate, knocking them unconscious.

[Count Dorku]

Also, you really plan on making him along human proportions?

If you can find me a scale model of a dwarf (beard and all) I'll make him a dwarf, but I don't have one, so human it is.

You could try Warhammer models, if you don't mind the "scale model" being about an inch tall.

[AtomicPaperclip]

I dunno how you'll get enough adamantine. and how you'll finish it with one dorf before he die of old age. (You do plan, on leveling him to get only masterful floodgate and such, right?)

Since the statue's going to be pecked out in full plate mail, the only adamantine will be on the face. I also modded the max ages for dwarves to be in the region of 15000.

Also, you really plan on making him along human proportions?

If you can find me a scale model of a dwarf (beard and all) I'll make him a dwarf, but I don't have one, so human it is.

Also, I had an idea for a potential trap i might incorporate into the entrace road, but I don't know if it would work or not, so can anyone tell me if it would before I go to all the trouble of making it? Here is a side view:

Code: [Select]

   _
 -> <-
M     W
Where M is a magma source, W is a water source, _ is a grate and -> and <- are pumps

The basic idea is that the power supply for the magma and water pumps is hooked up to a lever. Upon pulling the lever, the pumps start pumping. The water and magma form obsidian, which, being unsupported, falls, generating a cave-in and the accompanying dust, which travels through the gate, knocking them unconscious.

That might work, but I'd put up just down stairs so they will go unconscious, fall down the down stairs, and be encased in obsidian.

[The Architect]

At the very least you need Cage Traps lining your corridor. As far as dust flung upwards knocking creatures above unconscious? That is extremely questionable. I have only observed creatures on levels where the cave-in takes place, lands or passes through be stunned or knocked unconscious.

My miners recently caused several cave-ins with ramps on the side of a mountain, but as they fled up the side of the mountain and entered another z-level before the dust touched them, none were harmed nor knocked unconscious. I believe they still contacted the dust on the level above, but the only way to know for sure would be to actually test your plan.

Alternately you could do this with the magma/water above, and an atom-smasher on repeat where they will be landing. Thus you'll have no problems with disposing of potentially lag-inducing clutter. Just leave channels along the sides of the path, and dig out the path after utilizing the trap as you would have dug it out where it was landing before.

This trap will be extremely messy due to the necessary 100frame lag between lever pull and activation, and you will have to do a lot of cleanup. You're better off setting up a traditional cave-in with a Supported floor, as Supports activate the instant the lever is pulled, allowing precision. Alternately a traditional flooding trap combined with a smasher would require zero maintenance. A few chained guard dogs at the exit will ensure no Trap_Avoid creatures interfere with your work.

The reason for smashers is that simply dipping everything in magma leaves a lot of cluttery mess, from melted metal to piles of iron and steel. If you want extra iron, it might be a positive thing.

[NegaDwarf]

I know how you do the eyes of Fire.

Everburning Lignite Bins. It'll be glorious. Smoke forever pouring out of the eye sockets.

[Supercharazad]

"...breah of magma"

Could be hard, mabye fire breath from a locked up dragon instead?