Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Kamudo]

Playing Fallout 3, I had traveled around the National Mall, and then got the sudden urge to start researching the mall. So, I came to the conclusion that The National Mall, and the Surrounding Area should totally be built in Dwarf Fortress. This seems like an ambitious project, far beyond myself, but it should be fun.

I'm going to attempt to build the National Mall in Dwarf Fortress. It's going to be scaled down somewhat, in the same manner that Fallout 3 Scaled it down. Several Buildings/attractions may sadly have to be cut. If you would like to refute my exclusion of the area, please convince me.

I'm going to be using Shukaro's Higher Learning Mod.

The fort shall be named DuradCos (BeardCake) cause it's... D.C.
The group is named The National Land.
The starting 7 are named after historical figures.

Included in this Mega Project:
Lincoln Memorial -Purely for looks
Reflecting Pool -Looks only -Completed construction
Washington Monument - Looks, dur
The Capitol Building - Possibly house a lot of the nobles/ nobles offices
Smithsonian - Put Dwarven Artifacts in here?
Museum of National History - Engravings... other crap?
Air and Space Museum - LOL. I don't know what to use it for. Dwarves can't fly. Maybe toss some Giant eagles and let them fly around.
National Aquarium - Put fish in it.
White house - Baron/Noble can live here.
Museum of American Dwarven History - Put a collection of dwarven items on display, such as a history of weapons gallery, have some coffins on display, etc
Nation Gallery of Art? - Idfk
National Archives - House important Dwarven... Things.
Jefferson Memorial - Purely for looks
Treasury Department - Stash coins in here
The Bureau Of Engravings and Printing - Mint coins, and have engravings here
Library of Congress - Filled with Libraries and books from the higher learning mod or some such.
Botanic Gardens - I can possibly work something out.

Not included in this project:
Holocaust Memorial Museum - (Dwarves don't really care about elves?)
Historical Post office - No.
National Theater - Also no.
Vietnam War Memorial - Unless I can think of a good reason, no.
Korean War Memorial - Dwarves never fought the Koreans.

Unsure:
FBI Building - Possible barracks/military building?
Justice Department - I don't know. D:
Supreme Court - Dwarven Justice/prison?
Union Station - A train station. Not sure.

Extra Additions:
Dwarven Apartments
Office buildings
Food processing plant (Kitchens, butcheries, etc)
Possible sewer system
Possible Metro system

Of course, I would want to construct everything, but I'd probably just start in the center of the Mall, and build around it.

Bonus points if I can build Metro stations + Tunnels.

Any thoughts, comments, etc?
I'm in several succession games, have a story fort, but I think I can make time for a mega project.

[nbonaparte]

I like it. I think the capitol building and smithsonian are insane megaprojects themselves, though. But the Mall, Lincoln memorial, reflecting pool, and washington monument wouldn't be too hard.

[Kamudo]

Yeah, I understand. I've been researching them.

I'd eventually like to build a replica of the whole area. But I think I'll start with mainly the monuments and historical buildings. My main issue when attempting Mega projects, is I always mess up on scale. Is there some way to like, plan out my project before hand? I don't own legos. D:

[nbonaparte]

Well, assuming that one tile is one story, the washington monument is about 55 z levels high, 5 tiles wide at the base, and 3 wide at the top of the main shaft (although that looks bad in DF. you may want to have it go straight up) , tapering in a pyramid at the top. Similar dimensions are available for the other monuments. Lay it out on graph paper, or in a CAD program, and there are virtual lego programs out there.

[Kamudo]

Oh alright. Thanks. I'll start looking for program. I was thinking the same thing too, about the Washington Monument. (Having it go straight up.) I'm gonna have to calculate where to change stones, but it shouldn't be hard. The monument was originally built in 1848 but was never finished, so they finished it in 1884 or something with another colored stone. So, I wanna add in that sorta detail.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The actual construction of the monument began in 1848 and was not completed until 1884, almost 30 years after the architect's death, due to lack of funds and the intervention of the Civil War. A difference in shading of the marble (visible approximately 150 feet up) clearly deliniates the initial construction from its resumption in 1876.

Monument Info in spoiler. o.o

One of my main issues though, is what to put in some of the museums. Like, The National Gallery of Art, or the Hirshhorn Museum (When I add them.) I could always go ahead and do like engraving slabs or something. Same with the Air and space museum. O-o I'll figure something out. I could always attempt casting the building out of obsidian, or embark in a mountainous region, but then it would be harder to simulate the Potomac river and Tidal Basin between the Mall and Jefferson Memorial. Plus I'd want things to be grassy and such.

[barconis]

You might want to scale it down, like they did for Fallout 3, because otherwise that's too big to embark (about 2 miles ~= 22 tiles long at 10 feet/tile).

[Double A]

For points you can use ramps.

And barconis is right, in real life, the Washington Monument is fucking huge. I laid down on the ground right next to it and looked up, it took up most of my vision.

[Kamudo]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about scaling it down. I'm looking at a map of the Mall Area, and I could probably cut out a few useless building and reduce the size of the Reflecting Pool, and reduce the distance between the Washington Monument and the Capitol building.

If I did have the space though, I'd love to be able to build it all to scale.

So, for my embark location, I'm considering a relatively flat area, next to either a large river or the ocean.

I'd love to be able to incorporate important Dwarven history, relative to the history of Dwarf Fortress as a whole, but don't know how to do it as such. Like, fill the National Archive with crap that relates to important information about like Boatmurdered, Cacame, etc.

[Kamudo]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Above is a ROUGH diagram of what I have planned.

The buildings are all initialized, which if you understand the mall area at all, you will know what the initials stand for. I can't really scale it down further.

The unmarked squares are dwarven housing etc. The blue crap is water. Lines are roads. I'm going to be using this diagram in connection with a real map of the Mall to plan out buildings. The buildings themselves will be a bit more difficult to build, since the floor plans or building design stuff is probably illegal to own. o.o So, the buildings will be built roughly as well.

So, next I'm going to go about planning everything properly, and doing correct scaling, etc.

[Flying Carcass]

Well, with the air and space museum you could make something that looks like a plane/blimp/rocket/ect. with walls and floors n' stuff. Also, the last time I was there I remember there being an exhibit with physics-related stuff. Additionally, there was an exhibit with astronaut suits... the helmets are gold tinted... you could probably do something with that. Oh, and there was an imax theatre... waterfall theatre maybe?

And I like the idea of having giant eagles flying about! 

Oh, and don't forget the gift shops at the museums!

[Josephus]

You sir. Are the king.

[Kamudo]

Flying Carcass: Yeah, I could probably have like Windmills or pump stacks on display, And I could try and get them to specialize some clothing to represent space suits. Possibly make a really crude version of the wright brothers plane. I'll try to build a waterfall theater as well, but it might take some work. Who was it that built a Dwarven Airship? Maybe I could build a mini replica of that in the museum.

Oh yeah, gift shops.

If done correctly, it'd be a nice place to explore in adventurer mode too, collecting artifacts of the fallen D.C. Ruins.. But not too badly ruined, as in like Fallout. o.o

Josephus: Thank you. ^^ Any support is always appreciated.

[Trekkin]

The Justice Department could only be a diabolical series of ridiculously lethal hammer traps built in the shape of the 40d Hammerer, coupled with a reusable means of knocking dwarves unconscious with lots of 1x1x1 bridge-bottomed pits into the entrance linked to the most random decision-making method you can devise (I suggest a kitten walking over a closed-in area floored with pressure plates).

It is either the mind of the baron in mechanism form or the essence of dwarven justice.

Incidentally, dwarves do fly. Down. A museumoleum (museum-mausoleum) of failed attempts to fly by many species, as tested by a giant pit trap?

[Kamudo]

Hmm. That's not a bad idea. I'll consider adding it in. I really like the idea.

Should I abuse the speed 0 thing for this project or no?

[OcelotTango]

Mod in cloth items that are called books. Have dwarves embroider the "books" with images.