The World I Chose to use
-No mods.
-Custom Charset
-DF 31_04
-Pocket Island
Map:
Embark Location
Embark Dwarves
Embark Items
3 Cows
1 Bull
3 Picks
64 Various Meats
64 Various Drinks
1 Axe
3 Pig Tail Threads
3 Pig Tail Cloth
-Picture Lost-
Embark Name:
STRIKE THE EARTH
A quick picture of my starting area. The cliffs around this little valley area depicted are over 20 z-levels on three sides. I didn't think to export my map, otherwise I would have my pre-fortress embark listed there for everyone to see.
Player Logs
The first year has went by very quickly. I deliberatly started without any skills on any of my dwarves, mostly because I find it is much easier and cleaner to raise skills by myself than to rely on a preset list. Additionally, this allowed me to start with a good amount of livestock. I've discovered since the beginning of 31_01 that cows are quite capable of providing a LOT of food for a fortress over their lives. Three times a season you can milk them, and process the milk immediately into cheese which can be eaten. Additionally, a single bull can service any number of cows, allowing me to butcher the new bulls for a huge amount of meat every few months. Livestock, mixed with aboveground farming (which works currently, despite the minor visual bugs) can easily provide for a fortress, allowing me to centralize most of my fort near the surface (bar the Smiths) and avoid most of the troubles that caves give until I have a militia that can deal with the monsters down there.
My first actions were to designate jobs to my seven starter dwarves. Unlike my normal style of play (which only includes on miner) I decided to go with three this time. Of the remaining four pesants, one became a architecht/mason/carpenter, one became a milker/cheesemaker, one an Herbalist and famer, and one assigned to woodcutting. After a very little bit of investigating I noticed that I had a single dirt layer, more than enough for me to make proper, non-stone blocked farms a single z-level down from the surface with some channeling. I also designated a small moat to give all of my workers early protection should I run into hostile animals.
The area within my channeled area I quickly logged, giving me more than enough wood for beds and some basic furniture.
The next few months went by mostly uneventfully. I received migrants in early summer and mid-autumn. The Dwarven trade caravan arrived at the very end of autumn and stayed for the first two months of winter. One of the migrants, a miner, was killed in a cave-in while digging out the 11x2 block of 3x3 squares that will become the main workshop floor. I've also discovered that the location I picked for my fort is very wet, causing the portion of my fort built over a muddy pool to flood almost every month. I've been working on blocking it off, but work has been slow thanks to cancelations due to submersion.
In early Autumn I dug into the first rock layer in order to designate my first dining hall and food/drink storage, finding a large vein of garnerite crossing almost exactly where I wanted to dig. After that was finished work began on a small 3x3 staircase down to the adamantine pits. On the way I found a single cave system spanning 10z-levels. Fortuitously my staircase was located in one of its many walls and was easily able to seal up the stairs as we passed.
In midwinter I hit my first hint of Adamantine around my -109th z-level. Far higher up than I expected, and before I found the magma sea. It might be the very tip top of the vien (which would be very lucky), or it could be something more sinister. Time will tell in this case.
Though my eventual goal lies within that rock. There is no way my fort can withstand hell right now. For the time being I will ignore the Adamantine and work on getting my infrastructure built up, a military created, and proper weapons for all of my dwarves.
Currently I am in mid-winter. At the end of the first year I will be posting maps and saves for anyone who wishes to look at them.
Author
Topic: DF 2010: 300 Challenge thread (major spoilers!) Ends June 1st. (Read 4820 times)