Print

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

[Helix]

Well, this is my first, tentative post on this forum.
I discovered Dwarf Fortress a few months ago, and after overcoming the learning cliff through stubborn refusal to accept the truth (and liberal use of the wiki), I have found myself playing nothing else. However, I have reached an impasse.

I have so far managed to create a stable, self sufficient fortress. I've even dabbled with modding.
It is now a school holiday, and as I have time to waste I have decided to take the final step of proving my Dwarven nature and create an extravagant front to reason and physics. It is time to construct a megaproject. What I lack, however, is inspiration.

Could you guys suggest a good first megaproject for a semi-noob?

[JAFANZ]

Well since it's a massive FRONT to Reason & Physics, build a NORK Skyscraper Fortress (build an above ground Megaproject, that actually consists of just the bits needed to make it appear there's a fortress there when viewed from the default angle in Stonesense, but when rotated 180 degrees (Enter twice IIRC), is actually just a hollow facade...

(Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke that occurred to me on reading your OP)


EDIT: This just occurred to me, have the entrance (to the depot you mention presumably) be via bridge, make sure that between the depot/facade & the bits the dwarves use is at least one more bridge, have the entire facade/depot supported by supports linked to a lever for additional Dorfiness.

[Helix]

Hey, that's actualy not such a bad idea! Perhaps a trade depot trap could be built into the facade to make sure no one actually finds the entrance to the fortress proper?

EDIT: Oh yeah, sorry about the typo. I'd best proofread before posting in the future.

[bumblepuppy]

What sort of biome is your current fortress on? If you have access to sand then you can go crazy with glass.

[Helix]

I was actually planning on starting a new fortress for this project. Hmm... I haven't mucked around with volcanoes in a while. Not since before I worked out how the textile industry worked. Heh, I tried making a green-glass only fortress. On an island. Without making bags. Strangely, it didn't work out as well as I hoped.

I'll gen a world and find a good site now.

[Helix]

Oh brilliant.
I embark on a scorching, inland volcano, which has my dwarves set down their wagon directly next to the magma. 'Great, no hauling stuff up a mountain!' I thought. But as is typical of dwarf fortress, a gravity defying chunk of ground, which had hung above that volcano for a thousand years decided that what it was doing was silly when it saw my dwarves directly below it, and collapsed.
As a result, one of my cats was crushed, and the donkey and my mason were tossed off into the volcano. Thanks Armok. Thanks a @#%*&$# lot!

EDIT: Also, one of my farmers now has pretty much every bone on her left side broken, and is comatose on the volcanoes rim. This embark has no surface water. It's like the game suddenly hates me now that I'm trying to do something ambitious.

FURTHER EDIT: One of my miners is pretty much in the same condition. At least he's being a real dwarf about it and is already back to work.

[OcelotTango]

Sounds like fun.

[Helix]

Yeah, tell me about it. Right now the farmer is on the verge of tantruming, on account of not getting food and drink. I think I'll make a rule whereby anyone who dies gets their corpse chucked into the volcano.
Unless they're awesome like Urist McBadassCripple who is keeping up with my other miner just fine, even without the use of an arm and a leg. 

[Argembarger]

That sounds like an awesome start to a fortress.

If you don't want to build your megaproject here, the least you should do is put your main entrance underneath where that chunk of rock fell from, then go up there and build a replacement chunk of rock held only by a support or something so you can drop it on invaders.

When Armok hands you lemons, you get some more and throw them at goblins.

[Helix]

That'd put my entrance directly next to the top of the volcano. I don't see how this could be a problem, so I'm starting construction now. I think I'll have my fortress curve around the volcano shaft. For convenience. And fun.

[Leeko]

Make a lava-based WMD. Those are my favorites. A lava cannon right over your entrance is always fun.

[Helix]

I could do it in such a way that the magma could be dumped back into the volcano after use.
Who says recycling can't be fun?

For a true f--k the world weapon, I'd have to pump the magma up from somewhere near the base of the volcano, otherwise I might exhaust my supply before the world is f--ked. I think it would be very dwarves to pump more magma up from the magma sea and make the volcano overflow. I'd just need some hatches to keep my dwarves from having too much fun. 'Course, someone might forget to pull the hatch lever...

[Xenos]

Orbital Magma Cannon.  Why just burn the world when you can burn the world with precision ;P

[Helix]

Could be interesting. The top of the volcano is the highest point on the map, with the rest of the ground sloping away. As it's in the centre of the map, the magma can be directed to any point without too much trouble. I'd still need to pump up additional magma, though.
Perhaps as the magma level drains, I could build a pump stack down the middle? Then the empty levels could be used as extra space for the fortress.

[Xenos]

Could be interesting. The top of the volcano is the highest point on the map, with the rest of the ground sloping away. As it's in the centre of the map, the magma can be directed to any point without too much trouble. I'd still need to pump up additional magma, though.
Perhaps as the magma level drains, I could build a pump stack down the middle? Then the empty levels could be used as extra space for the fortress.

the problem there is that you are losing the benefit of the volcano (the fact that it refills.)  why not just hollow out the slopes for space?