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[NW_Kohaku]

Yeah, you have to kill quite a bit more goblins or orcs or elves with traps to get them engraving things than you will if you set your marksdwarves up in a nice turret. 

In my first year or two, back when my trade depot was out in the open, the dwarven caravan guards butchered some unicorns and took out a goblin ambush or two... those generated quite a few engraving inspirations.

I think that if you actually make your engraver a soldier for a while, and get him actually killing someone (and since a high-level engraver has godly stat gain, you don't need much skill to make them lethal) then he'll be even more likely to endlessly tout his one kill, which was on a goblin that was already bleeding out ensure that the legends of your couragous dwarves in arms are forever recorded smiting your enemies in hundreds of locations throughout your fortress.

[NW_Kohaku]

Ah, recently, thanks to an overproductive textile industry, (and farm and cooking industry... I just purchased an entire dwarven caravan's stock, consisting largely of gold and steel items, plus a spectacular 10,000 db barrel that had an engraving of our queen's coronation on it in black diamonds, which is the most pimped-out barrel I've ever seen offered for trade, using only stacks of masterpiece quarry bush leaf roasts, which somehow managed to get values of 20,000 dbs apiece) I have two legendary clothiers, as well as legendary weavers (no legendary dyers yet, supply irregularities).  Because they are set to basically do nothing but eat, drink, sleep, and spit out masterpieces, I've been getting rather humorous engravings recently.

"Engraved on the wall is a masterfully designed image of 'Armani' Airguilds and a rope reed sock by 'Backpit' Emgashvabok.  'Armani' Airguilds is raising the rope reed sock. The artwork relates to the masterful rope reed right sock created by the dwarf 'Armani' Airguilds for the Town of Culmination at Listenedguild in the early summer of 205."

I love the notion that the image of a triumphant seemster is holding aloft his masterpiece sock like the friggin' highlander's victory pose with lightning raining down will be recorded for all time.  I mean, dude, that is some epic sock action going on, there.

[Alrenous]

I've had the same problem.
Apparently, HFS fixes this pretty good. I coincidentally held off from engraving bedrooms until after, and now I'm going to have to hold off intentionally.

Oddly, my latest serious fortress* is covered in jaguars and giant scorpions, which is a nice change from happy faces on all the walls.

*(not in a mountain)

[Urist Imiknorris]

There may be nothing to this, but I found my variety of engravings increased dramatically when I put my most creative dwarves on engraving duty rather than just picking any old ones. It's worth a shot.

This.

I had an engrever who was "firmly grounded in reality." He engraved NOTHING BUT pictures of my fort's founding. Except the one time where he engraved my first expedition leader's rise to expedition-leader-ness.

[NW_Kohaku]

What about the "artistic" stat?  I would imagine this would be important, as well.

[smjjames]

There may be nothing to this, but I found my variety of engravings increased dramatically when I put my most creative dwarves on engraving duty rather than just picking any old ones. It's worth a shot.

What about the "artistic" stat?  I would imagine this would be important, as well.

Yea, I've taken to making the dwarf with the highest imagination my engraver. No idea about the artistic stat, but it doesn't hurt and in fact, I think it may actually help.

As for the engraving stuff, yea I get tired of engravings of the founding of the fort, the rise of whoever to power and engravings of another engraving. Which happens even when the dwarf has a high imagination and/or artistic trait.

[NW_Kohaku]

Dwarf Therapist tells me I have a dwarf with 11 creativity and 77 artistic nature...

... Is there a utility that can let me hack my game so that I can make her an instant legendary engraver?  I kind of want to run an experiment.

[Schilcote]

I remember one time I decided to smooth and engrave the entire embark area. I ended up with my legendary engraver carving "a masterful rendition of a masterful rendition of a masterful rendition of a masterful rendition of an engraving of a circle in Limestone". The circle was engraved by some farmer I told to go and do it, I don't know what the legendary's connection to him was. The legendary engraver was cranking out a masterwork a second when I got bored and abandoned...

NW: Dwarf Companion. Get the second-newest EXE version.

[smjjames]

Uh, 11 creativity is on the low end, which makes the dwarf rooted in reality, I think. Some traits are flipped in the direction that they go on the scale for some reason, so take a look at their personality description to be sure.

You'd want one with as high creativity as possible which is what I go for first. I'm not sure how the artistic trait affects it, but higher artistic trait wouldn't hurt.

Edit: Missed what you said about trying an experiment, so... nm.

[Archbaron]

Yeah, like stated before, the trick is to build a coded history in your fortress. Rig political elections by stationing dwarves in the dining hall, or let a local animal group infest your fortress and maybe kill someone. Getting your dwarves riled up about something is the trick to getting diverse engravings.

[chaos985]

dwarven science.

using dwarf comapion, get 4 dwarfs.

Give them all the variations of min/max artisticness, and imagination. and legendary+5 skill at engraving.

lock them all in a 10x10 room(no wall sharing), and tell them to engrave everything.

come back later, and check how they all did.

[NW_Kohaku]

dwarven science.

using dwarf comapion, get 4 dwarfs.

Give them all the variations of min/max artisticness, and imagination. and legendary+5 skill at engraving.

lock them all in a 10x10 room(no wall sharing), and tell them to engrave everything.

come back later, and check how they all did.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I had in mind.

Hmm... I've been having trouble getting the exe version working, though... I guess I'll just have to try again.

[Schilcote]

Hmm... I've been having trouble getting the exe version working, though... I guess I'll just have to try again.

Make sure you got the second to latest version. The latest doesn't work.

[NW_Kohaku]

I guess that would be the problem, then, wouldn't it?

[nil]

Apparently, HFS fixes this pretty good. I coincidentally held off from engraving bedrooms until after, and now I'm going to have to hold off intentionally.

Yeah, except the engravings talk about the HFS being "released by careless miners" no matter what, even when you release them into a chamber where the entire fortress has gathered to watch your champions mercilessly butcher them without a single casualty.