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[Arkenstone]

Before I begin, I'd like to give a little backround to my game.  When I first started playing DF, I had an older computer and an FPS <20.  So you can understand why I haven't played any long term forts until now.  'Tis a shame too, my previously longest-lived fort (two years ) was in this really nice valley area, with lots of cliffs, and nothing the eye could see but chalk and magnetite, except for a several dozen clusters of aluminum and platinum.


But now I've got a brand-new laptop, which averages 175 with 40 dwarves!

I embarked on top of a human town, with the aquifer underneath intended to be a challange counteracting the benefits of the extra resources.  It hasn't, not by a long shot!  First off, I didn't need to bring any food and equipped a military expedition with bronze tools and weapons instead.  Second, I've got more wood than I'll ever need without cutting down a single tree! (Which I still do, just to spite the elves.) 

This fort is on vanilla, but messing with the world setup has given me a civ with nothing from the underground save silk.  But that's fine, I can do with just surface crops.

Also, the map compressor has had some trouble running on my 64-bit operating system, otherwise I'd give you some maps.

[Arkenstone]

1st Granite, 2011, Early Spring
   Arrived in the man-town, I forget its name...  Well, the manlings'll call it  Idennīr now, and like it!

   Met with the local Warlord, one Ote Ilidfamo, and he said he'd be "Happy to 'lend aid' to our 'expedition'"...  I doubt he understands the full gravity of the situation, but for now he's useful.


2nd Granite, 2011, Early Spring
   We toured the town today, and were disgusted with the butcher's shop— meat, just lying ABOVE GROUND, out in the open on tables!  Have to fix that, can't have our only food supply going rotten; we're not Elves, after all, so the town's population doesn't count.


14th Granite, 2011, Early Spring
   Offered to 'guard' the other merchant's stuff in exchange for the use of their shops, they were hesitant, but I think the sight our axes 'convinced' them well enough...


12th Slate, 2011, Mid-Spring
   A plauge of rats!  And not a single man here knows the pipes well enough to get them out, and we don't have the spare labor to make traps.  One was trampled underfoot; its blood shall now coat the front door and hopefully attract Armok's blessing.  (I heard a rumor once that members of the high priesthood must be baptized by fire, but personally I'd rather not be a ‼Priest‼.)

   Dare I to summon the fluffy yet adorably aloof menace to rid myself of this terrible virmin horde...?


28th Slate, 2011, Mid-Spring
   The holdings on the surface are doing well: half the town's been 'processed' by Meng Uzolrërith, the expedition's 'Doctor'.  Ote's been snooping around our campsite and the houses we've 'appropriated', but soon there will be nothing he can do to stop us...  Or Therset Arulama, the First Blanket.  Carp if I know what that means, probably something to do with the priesthood, as he's always hanging out in the humans' temple (really just a large pit).  Wouldn't it be nice if we 'helped them out' a bit by teaching them to swim...  It'd be simple enough to rig a gate in from the river, with maybe a drain into the aquifer as well.

   But we have neither the stone nor the labor necessary to do so; we must keep focused on the mission and not get side-tracked amusing ourselves.  I've designated an area for two rings of earth to be made where they can be dropped into the aquifer and hold back the water.  Let's hope that's all we need, otherwise the waterworks must be moved outside of town.


13th Felsite, 2011, Late Spring
   To think that one such as I would ever become a carpenter!  Well all I have to say for myself is that I couldn't stand to see so much wood wasted in flooring, especially when we needed more barrels!


3rd Malachite, 2011, Mid-Summer
   Finally got the stills up and running well.  Just in time too, some of the lads were complaining...  Not that's anything wrong with a good grumble, but there just can't be any distractions if we are to succeed here.  I'm sure though that morale will soar once we get a proper mead hall and permanent residences set up.


19th Galena, 2011, Late Summer
   A kobold had the nerve to sneak in, and was spotted by one of our marksdwarves.  A half-dozen bolts should teach its kind a lesson, and Rakust Sherikast has been allowed to keep the ear she shot off as a trophy for her kill.


10th Limestone, 2011, Early Autumn
   Another thief.  This one I was in the process of tearing limb from limb with my bare hands, but the marksdwarves just *had* to come along and ruin my fun...


1st Timber, 2011, Late Autumn
   This should be interesting: the first levy is ready to drop, but a stupid manling's standing on it.  Oh well...

   Hmph.  The manling got out unscathed, but the same cannot be said for the miner; fortunatly he was not so wounded he couldn't walk himself to bed.  However, we haven't the plaster to make casts for him, and his only hope is the now-overdue caravan.


5th Moonstone, 2011, Early Winter
   A boon!  The winter's chill has frozen the exposed aquifer, which makes the task of taming it much easier!


15th Moonstone, 2011, Early Winter
   Another mining accedent.  I doubt the lone bag of plaster the caravan brought us is enough for both...

   The wounds are getting infected, for we have neither thread to close nor cloth to dress them.  I may need to order the construction of a burial chamber or two...  The walls of the human temple seems an apt enough place to put them, though they deserve to be interred in solid rock.


23rd Opal, 2011, Mid-Winter
   The first miner, one of the original seven, has succumed to infection.  I think it may be time to accept this first attempt to pierce the aquifer as a failure. We need to fortrify, need to finish reorginizing the town before the goblins start to arrive in their raiding parties. A trench must be dug, with a wooden paliside behind it.  As long as the entrane lies on the human side of town, then they should be able to handle any invaders.


21st Obsidian, 2011, Late Winter
   The third and probably shortest-lived thief of all.  It was somehow decapitated with a pick.  That gives me some ideas of how our final military will be organized...

   Two thieves this day!  Also, many of these would-be thieves seem to be carrying daggers forged from steel, bronze, or even silver!  Strange happinings indeed...  This one got away because some stupid buzzards won't leave us alone.


25th Obsidian, 2011, Late Winter
   Something weird happened today.  Time seemed to slow down, even stop, the way it does during a cave-in, a flood, or a great battle, but nothing obvious happened.  Very unusual, and ominous at that.

[Arkenstone]

1st Granite, 2012, Early Spring
   The first year is over, and we are still not fully settled; that shall be the goal for the first half of the new year.  Come winter, work shall begin on a new entrance to the underground.  The temple seems perfect for this task, as it has already exposed the first aquifer layer to the sky. It will only be a matter of digging out the frozen soil and setting up a wall to keep it dry.  But that is for later, right now all efforts must be spent in setting up a proper dwarven hold in this shanty town.  The wall's been started on, but it has quite a ways to go yet.  We've finally found some rope reeds, sadly I doubt it is in time for the second miner.


2nd Granite, 2012, Early Spring
   Goblins! I can smell them...  We haven't seen any yet, but the ache in my bones tells me they're out there, somewhere; watching, waiting...


3rd Granite, 2012, Early Spring
   Well, I was close: a kobold, this one was spotted by the *horribly cute rat-catcher* and ran at the unbearible sight of it.


11th Granite, 2012, Early Spring
   The second miner is dead, yet the first is not even buried.  I guess it is time to bury them both, and check to make sure that none are going mad with grief.  Wouldn't want any tantrums spiraling out of control...


28th Slate, 2012, Mid-Spring
   Many more migrants, but I not what to do with them.  We really have to get through this winter, lest insanity results from idleness (and the constant glare of the sun, many who live here have developed an unhealthy tan).

   We haven't the stone to make mechanisms for death-chambers, nor the spare picks for self-burials.  But there may be a way to stop any more migrants, and cap the settlement's population at its current level.


3rd Felsite, 2012, Late Spring
   It took aproximatly TWENTY migrants FOUR DAYS to arrive!!!  The whole fortress needs a complete restructure, and it is now obvious that we can't wait for winter to get our industry up and running.  The fort must be built above ground, out of wood, and first on that list is the perimiter stockade.  I have much work ahead of me, and no more thime to write. (I'm pretty sure I'll need a therapist as well...)

   After a couple hours of planning, things are progressing more smoothly than ever before.


11th Felsite, 2012, Late Spring
   By Armok, I never thought I'd be happy te see an elf!  They've sent a caravan in to trade, and any cloth or thread they're carrying could be very useful to us!  The only problem is that almost all the human stuff we have to trade is made or decorated with wood.  Oh well, we can always just take what we need...

   In other news: Feb Shembekar, one of the latest migrants, has been running around like he's possessed or something...


16th Felsite, 2012, Late Spring
   Feb somehow compressed two logs and a mussel shell to fit in a single earring, which seems to have an image of itself on it.  I thought it was an aweful ugly thing, but the humans and elven traders thought it worth a pretty penny- shows how much they know!

   Feb can't remember a thing.


18th Felsite, 2012, Late Spring
   Trade with the elves was going well, but then broke down just because they were offered a man-sized breastplate with some clear glass on it.  To teach them a lesson, we took back all the stuff we gave them, in addition to whatever of theirs we thought was useful.


12th Malachite, 2012, Mid-Summer
   The Wall's almost done, and work's started on
covering the pit left by the first (failed) mining attempt.  The Entryway's a problem though, as we have no mechanisms with which to make traps.  I've set up a forge to melt down the human stuff we don't need to make some.


16th Malachite, 2012, Mid-Summer
   Good, my method of migrant prevention seems to be working.


16th Galena, 2012, Late Summer
   Some Humans have arrived to trade; whether with us or the town does not matter.


24th Galena, 2012, Late Summer
   Yet another kobold, but neither sight nor sound nor spoor of stool of gobbos...


25th Timber, 2012, Late Autumn
   A couple more thieves this month; they keep interrupting the construction of traps in the entryway.  On that issue, the Dwarven caravan this year brought stone good for mechanisms, so said trapworks should go up faster now.  There's not enough left over for any automatic pumps, but they shouldn't be neccessary; any water will freeze as soon as it's exposed to the open air.

   It might freeze a few dwarves with it, but that's no big deal.

   I've been thinking, and wondering what the heck to do AFTER the entrance has been made; I mean, just making the entrance is a worthy endeavor in its own right, but what's really the point of it all?  I suppose it'll just be a mine to start with, and then those mines can be converted into perminant residance halls for the laborers.  After that, who knows?


4th Moonstone, 2012, Early Winter
   The water table's frozen, and Rakust Sherikast with it.  It's sad, he was one of our best miners.  It's amazing how fast water can freeze; I remember that principle being used once in a death-trap.  I'll make something like that and dedicate it to him.  Eventually.


5th Moonstone, 2012, Early Winter
   Ok, now Domas Astebloram has been frozen too!  From now on, this mining operation shall be strictly controlled.  On the other hand, I now know how to `downsize' easily.

   THREE!  THREE Fatalities!  Now this is just getting rediculous...


3rd Opal, 2012, Mid-Winter
   Finally struck dry rock, in the form of crossing viens of lignite and limonite!  The fact that it lies under the human temple is mere coincidence, but it ensures that the temple remains standing.  The ores won't be mined though- too risky.


10th Opal, 2012, Mid-Winter
   One of the serfs has broken down because we don't have any rough gems.  Big deal, just wait a month and we should have plenty from our new mine shaft!


17th Opal, 2012, Mid-Winter
   See, only a week before we unearthed gems!  Does he care?  No.

   The good news is that the first shaft has been sunk, leaving my only serious question how thick to make the pillars.

   I'm now going to see if I can't mine TWO shafts in one season...


23rd Opal, 2012, Mid-Winter
   I guess not.


1st Obsidian, 2012, Late Winter
   A stupid elk was wandering around in our fort and spooking civilians, so I rounded up some guys to hack it to bits.

[Arkenstone]

1st Granite, 2013, Early Spring
   Thus ends the second year.  The first goal set forth has been finished, albeit later than I wished.  Still, the long break gave me time to organize the settlement above, and ensure the fort's safety.  Now, the entryway is well-guarded with traps, and by next year it would take dozens of goblins to pierce through our defences.

   The same cannot necessarily be said for the underground.  The caverns have yet to be breached, but security down there may end up being harder than up here.  In order to handle the creatures of the deep, we must first create a militia.

   To do so we need both ore and coal, and that means re-evaluating the current mining strategy.  At first I just designated a large area to be completely cleared, but that is by no means efficient.  I shall henceforth dig only in shafts and tunnels unless I need a larger room or complex; the end result of that should look better anyways.

   I did some reorganizing today, and that hopefully will streamline things a bit.  Under the new system I've given myself the job of 'cooper'- something I would have never believed not three years ago!

   That ol' crazy serf finally gave up the ghost; couldn't he at least have saved us the trouble of burying him by crawling under a rock or something?



5st Granite, 2013, Early Spring
   Good news!  Our most talented Armourer has been possesed!  The fact that he won't remember how he made his artifact is sad, but he's experienced enough to keep on learning the old-fashioned way.

   Ok, so now he's muttering about himself in third person...  Or does the artifact he's about to make have the same name as him?

   He says he needs rough gems (which we have this time) but those we got are pretty cheap.  I'm giving the miners no more than ten days to find some better ones.


14th Granite, 2013, Early Spring
   No luck on finding better gems, oh well.


23rd Granite, 2013, Early Spring
   Ed‰m Lolokdumat made an iron mail shirt and named it after himself, that's the most useful artifact so far!

   The journal's taking up a lot of time and effort, and there's too much work to do already without adding to it...  I'll put it down for a while, until something more noteworthy happens.



20th Malachite, 2013, Mid-Summer
   Some elven peasant had the nerve to come up to me today and demand I don't cut down more than a hundred trees a year.  I agreed, if only because weren't cutting down that many anyways.  I've actually decided to cut down MORE trees this year, a grand total of ninety-nine if at all possible.

   After thinking about it, I've decided to log an entry at the end of each season, if only to keep this journal running.


28th Galena, 2013, End of Summer
   Goblins finally showed up, I wrote about that but a cat made shreds of that entry.  I'm not going to write it up again.


28th Timber, 2013, End of Autumn
   Much work reorganizing the food stocks this year.  A ton of buzzards flew in and messed things around; considering starting work on a keep before continuing work on the walls.  Some damn Elf following me for the past six months demanded I stop cutting down trees, even though I wasn't really cutting down any.  Then a human stopped by just to say hi.  I'm considering using the humans in town for target practice, but I'll hold off until we're better defended.  I'm having second thoughts about the second shaft through the aquifer, it however must be done.

   No immigrants so far, I think all those deaths from the flash-freezes have scared them off...


28th Obsidian, 2013, End of Year
   We lost only one dwarf to flash-freeze this time, but I fear it may all be for naught. The pit we dug has partially flooded, and we fear a leak of some sort has occured.  It may be that it is just meltwater from the snow; we'll know after a few pumps have been set up.

[Arkenstone]

17th Slate, 2014, The Coronation of Baron Inod Tobulum
   I, Tulon As‰nlogem, Gemsmith, manager, and bookkeeper of Idenn‹r, hereby take over as custodian of this journal.  Inod has delegated all of his duties of management to me, including writing down events as they occur.


28th Felsite, 2014, End of Spring
   This month some more dwarves arrived; from their ranks we were able to muster enough warriors to start a squad of elite gaurd.  They shall be trained on our captured goblins.

   The Baron's chambers are progressing along nicely, and are almost ready for him to move in.


28th Galena, 2014, End of Summer
   The process of moving everything underground is doing well, but there is still plenty of clutter getting in the way.  The problem lies in the fact that the space needed for our above-ground fort is currently in use, and our second link through the aquifer cannot rightfully be considered completed until it is finished.  At least the foundation must be planned and completed, for in its foundation lie the stairs down below.


28th Timber, 2014, End of Autumn
   Excelent news!  The first tower is finally complete, and not a moment too soon.  Two squads of goblins, each commanded by an elf, tried to sneak up on the fortress.  They were discovered by several valiant men who gave their lives to raise the alarm, upon which the cowardly goblins fled.  While normally we would honor the bravery of the other races by crafting their bones into bolts that they might continue to serve in death, the men here in town insist we place them in crypts under the earth.  Eventually the human temple will recieve an upgrade, dwaven-style...

28th Obsidian, 2014, End of the Fourth Year
   Four years have passed since the first dwarves set foot here, in what was once a human town; now it is the foundation of a mighty fortress!  The first bulwark is already standing strong, and work is commencing on the walls.  All of it is made of jet, which (unlike some shoddy constructions) is properly quarried and masoned before being moved into position.  The mighty underground halls that result from our mining shall become the basis for a proper dwarven city- we're not building this above-ground fortress just to live in!

   However, many things are apparent about the peculiarities of the fortress besides the fact that much of it's on the surface.  The halls have developed what achetectural scolars call an "organic layout", which is to say that it wasn't all planned out.  This is a good thing, it seems, for the "natural beauty" of the thing is something even ignorant men and arrogent elves can respect.

   Of the few things the fortress needs is a better defence system.  The gateway is well-trapped, but even that might not be enouh if a Titan or a large enough horde of goblins shows up knocking on our doors!  The hardest problem will be building a way through which all traffic must pass to enter, and yet leave easy access to the ramparts.  In the end, I suppose, we cannot rely on anything but cold, hard, steel.  (And we still need to find a way to produce that!)

   An arena or a proving ground is something else we need, the caged goblins are really starting to pile up!

[Arkenstone]

I've been playing for a little under a week, and that's all I got so far.  The reason it sort of whittles of at the end is because I realized I was spending as much time writing as playing; now I've turned my attention towards megaconstruction and the journal's really an afterthought.  However, if anybody has an idea for my fortress, feel free to tell me.  The walls are pretty set as far as design goes, and so are the towers. (but I'm willing to have different types of tower in my fort!)  The Temple's gunna have a copper dome roof built over it, but I still have plenty of room left over inside the walls.

Place anything you want to see in my fort (spoiler'd) on this thread, and I'll work it in if I like it.

However, I cannot gaurantee how often I'll update this thread.

[oidip]

Step 1: Find Magma and pump to top of ramparts hold back with floodgate
Step 2: Gobbo seige
Step 3:
Step 4: PROFIT?

[Arkenstone]

You mean pull a boatmurdured?  It's been done before...  Besides, if I decide to do anything with magma, it'll be having Fun with the aquifer.

Then again, I may just decide to flood the map with both water and magma at the same time.  THAT kind of recreation could only get better if the elves decide to import some elephants!

[Arkenstone]

28th Felsite, 2015, End of Spring
   The first wall is almost complete, but it is not fully sealed; I expect them to be so at any time in the near future.  The second tower's foundation is finished, but I think that it (and most future towers for that matter) cannot feasibly meet the standards of the first.


17th Galena, 2015, Late Summer
   This month arrived the diplomat from the human lands, and it was none other than their Law-Giver himself!  I write letters hastily now to my collegues back in the Mountainhomes on what to make of this turn of events. [That means I'm asking you guys what to do with him and how.]

[Arkenstone]

This thread is old -yet it is still in my sig.  I'm thinking of going back to playing on it; how well do you think it will import to the newest version?  I forget what version it was genned on.....