Print

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

Yes

No

[Poindexterity]

start making metal barrels and bins just for the crap you wanna sell the elves.
also, no one else has even CONSIDERED bringing me a giant cougar.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the dandelion eaters.

[obeliab]

Don't bring anything of particular use...

Speak for yourself. One of my first elven caravans ever gave me a tamed giant desert scorpion.

True this.  First elvish caravan on a new fort just brought me a cougar and a giant eagle.

To traders: it's a minor pain to tick each item in a bin the first few times you do it, but it really doesn't take too long unless you're trading something like 50 binfuls of small crafts (and when has an elf come with enough useful items to require more than a bin or five of crafts?).  I do it for all the caravans now.

I dig elves.  Used to hate them until I learned about the crazy-awesome Tolkien ones.

[Drawde]

I don't have a problem with what the elves bring.  By the time they no longer bring anything worth trading for, so do the humans and dwarves.

[TheHaunted]

I've always felt that the elves were acceptable because they were annoying.  It provides a challenge if you're willing to peacefully deal with the environmental terrorists and gives your soldiers fighting experience, titles, and happiness when you decide to wage war upon them.  The fact that they come covered in wood makes them more hilarious then kobolds, at least the thieves and ambushes come armed with metal weaponry.  So until Toady comes up with another civilization that can be as strange as elves, I'll gladly accept the pointy-eared freaks.

[Mantonio]

I'm going go potentially face the wrath of the entire community here and say that I like Dwarf Fortress's Elfs. They're well balanced, nature lovers and tribal about it, arrogant but no metallurgy skills of their own. They make trees grow wood in the shape of weapons and armour. That's interesting. Although I do personally think Elf Retreats need a new type of super wood, so they're not completely underpowered in Fort / Adventure Mode.

I like Elfs. I like to keep them happy. I see no problem with it. Afterall, I don't like going out into possible Goblin ambushes to gather wood if I can help it. Regularly they bring me tonnes of the stuff! And animals to boot! And seeds and fruit for outdoor crops!

The iron will of the Dwarfs can withstand much, but alloys are stronger.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I've never received an elven diplomat ever. Elven caravans yes, but none of the pretentious requests to stop logging that I keep hearing about. What am I doing differently?

On topic, I don't mind them as long as they bring something I can't get otherwise (tame elephants being the last I remember).

[Malibu Stacey]

I'm going go potentially face the wrath of the entire community here and say that I like Dwarf Fortress's Elfs. They're well balanced, nature lovers and tribal about it, arrogant but no metallurgy skills of their own. They make trees grow wood in the shape of weapons and armour. That's interesting. Although I do personally think Elf Retreats need a new type of super wood, so they're not completely underpowered in Fort / Adventure Mode.

I like Elfs. I like to keep them happy. I see no problem with it. Afterall, I don't like going out into possible Goblin ambushes to gather wood if I can help it. Regularly they bring me tonnes of the stuff! And animals to boot! And seeds and fruit for outdoor crops!

Couldn't agree more. I only wish they were more diverse with the stuff they bring & that they had better weapons & some half-decent armour so they're more than just a Unicorn carcass factory when they do get pissed off at my fortress. Second your suggestion for "magical elf wood" with a decent stats (yes I know some mods already do this already).

Also diplomats & caravan guards being missing for elves is a pretty glaring bug (I fix it myself in the raws but still it's been around for 9 months & they're both 1 line quick fixes).

[Malibu Stacey]

I've never received an elven diplomat ever. Elven caravans yes, but none of the pretentious requests to stop logging that I keep hearing about. What am I doing differently?

You're playing with default vanilla raws. The diplomat entry has been missing since the release of 0.31.x See http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=3295

[Crazy Cow]

I embarked on a neutral glacier and forgot to bring any extra wood with me. The elves saved my butt with gifts of wood. Lots of wood. I now have enough beds for my hospital and my dormitory, plus a bit to make soap. I think I'll forget about the groundhogs they brought with them.

[Dutchling]

I use embark points for useful animals so I don't need elfs

[Malibu Stacey]

I use embark points for useful animals so I don't need elfs

You can embark with tame Elephants, Giant Scorpions, Giant Eagles, Grizzly/Black Bears etc without modding?

[thegoatgod_pan]

I like elves, why, you ask:

A. they bring booze.  Not groundhog blood, not large roach brain in a barrel--booze (and empty barrels)

B. they bring cloth, and they get killed by goblins=free cloth for ever!  In my present fortress there are 1233 units of cloth sitting outside, forbidden.  If I ever get a strange mood demanding plant cloth, I do not reinvent my farming industry, I unforbid it.

c. They bring giant tigers and enslaved tigermen when you are in the frozen north, polar bears and giant eagles when you are in a sweltering jungles.  A good fraction of my world gens Elves end up being the biome I didn't get as far as the fun fauna goes.

d. absurd demands!  Nothing is more annoying than the human "oh nice place you've got here, well I think I remember where all the traps are, guess I'll waste your valuable time again next year.  Elves have the decency to waste your time in character.

e. Pacifism--first elf caravan is a blessing, first winter is rough, booze runs low, then elves come, you take everything they brought, free, send them packing and next year they will be back as though nothing happened.

Basically, my point is, elves are a dwarf's best friend.  KILL ALL HUMANS!

[Maklak]

I accept the elfs, but I first and foremost care for my dwarfs. I trade with elfs, as they bring usefull and cheap stuff, especially wood. When we are talking about Dwarf-Elf relations I think "Acceptable" is just too warm a word.

Elfs irritated me once, when I tried to trade them some goblin trash. They got pissed and left, and upon closer inspecion three of the items I tried to trade them were decorated with wood. I wass irritated, that I wouldn't get their wood, booze, and cages. Oh well, I let them leave, and from now on they are only going to get undecorated rock mugs.

As for playing as elfs, I guess that is a very far (maning low priority) goal for Toady One. IMO they should get ironwood before they are playable. They should also be the best race at magic. Their mood and productiveness of creating wood products out of thin air should be connected to number of trees and other plants in the region to explain their need for trees. Overall they seem much less fun to play than dwarfs.

[Duntada Man]

Don't get me wrong, I love having them in the game. It's fun to have one group to aim irrational hatred towards.

[Lamphare]

i would 'accept' elves and their fondness of trees, if i embark with volcano.
otherwise, sooner or later i'll be falling enough trees to piss them off.