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[jamesadelong]

Hi, this is both my first topic and post. As a result I hope to make this question both incisive and clear so as to be immortalised for my question asking capacity.

Anyway, my question is this: I have an issue in that I generate a map, set up my Dworfs good and proper, embark with awesome names in a lovely spot filled with woods and magma/lava and all the lovely things a good fort has, I get everything up and running but then I just stop. I get bored waiting for some major catastrophe and I tend to restart a few years in after I make a few silos worth of food, a ton of profit from the traders and the majority of my dwarfs ecstatic. It's to the point where I havn't seen a fortress die off. So I must ask, what are some clever intermediate goals that I could hook myself into that arn't the stupidly large mega-projects one would expect from an advanced player that's held off against the improbable odds that come after you've managed tear open the delicious box of HFS with it's lovely toy decorated with rings and arsenic spike that the cereal eating novice that is myself tends to swollow and choke to death on because I dug too dead with to few Dworfs, whilst at the same time as being more advanced then the core industries and concepts like an obsidian foundry? What do you do to keep yourself busy during the slump before the storm?

[Lexx]

Try founding your fort IN the caverns. I'm finding that pretty fun. Its good to bring 2 wardogs and someone with a weapon skill along for the odd early troll appearing. Just put your miners and woodcutters into a militia squad you can assemble when something pops up. Also try making the most expensive rooms you can make for your dwarfs. I like to try and make stacks of wells going 20 z levels deep made from precious metals and obsidian mechanisms. Or you could set up an arena for prisoners to fight in. That never gets old for me.

[jamesadelong]

I like the cavern idea. However the logistics would be interesting. You would probably use a number of checkpoints between it and the shaft to the surface, one hauler per export industry per checkpoint. Once you start, get your miner in position to carve out the stone in a larg enough area, your mason produces the walls around the edges and then an instant, shake and bake, cavern fort.

[Yoink]

I haven't tried it yet, but I hear the Fortress Defence mod bumps the 'catastrophes' foward a few years...

[Blade Master Model 42]

I haven't tried it, as I'm busy making one of those so called stupidly large mega-projects, but apparently, embarking without spending a single point (inclusing pre-spent ones) is a gas.

And by a gas, I mean a horrible, horrible test of your dwarven ingenuity and patience.

[zephyr_hound]

Try going somewhere where you DON'T have wood/magma/lovely things. I'm doing a story fort right now in the worst possible location (civ without iron, NO metal at embark site, eleven layer aquifer, terrifying etc) and it's just awesome. Imagine scraping up whatever trade goods you can each year to buy the caravan's chickens because that's three more precious copper bars if you smelt the cages, and that means you can make three more weapons for your soldiers... I was always one of the people who HAD to have a site with iron/flux/easy magma/no aquifer etc but I think I'm gonna change my philosophy now.

[Jelle]

I second the idea of settling in the caverns.

[Lexx]

One of the bonuses is if you get a flat open area you can set farms up without irrigating in the caves. Of course then your going to have to defend those farms from trolls and whatever else might want to destroy them. Also try doing it in a Tundra if you want the extra challenge.

Caves or bust!

[ragnarok97071]

Try going somewhere where you DON'T have wood/magma/lovely things. I'm doing a story fort right now in the worst possible location (civ without iron, NO metal at embark site, eleven layer aquifer, terrifying etc) and it's just awesome. Imagine scraping up whatever trade goods you can each year to buy the caravan's chickens because that's three more precious copper bars if you smelt the cages, and that means you can make three more weapons for your soldiers... I was always one of the people who HAD to have a site with iron/flux/easy magma/no aquifer etc but I think I'm gonna change my philosophy now.

Ah yes, the Nist Akath route.

Yeah, if you want extra challange, you can't go wrong with going to a harder location.

Also it gives you motivation to kick nature's ass if and when you survive.

[nenjin]

Yeah, I would say you've gotten your fill of "ideal" games. I haven't yet, but that's because I always run into a bug or quirk of the version that kills my motivation to continue on that fort.

Anyways, although I've never really seen the hordes of zombie elephants and zombie carp and other horrors that wait in the evil biomes even when I've embarked there.....try there. Try the frozen north. Try a desert. Try basically anything except a temperate forest wilderness built against a mountain.

I guess I'm just surprised. With an upcapped pop and invaders, I always have more fun than I personally want. Are you delimiting fun through the .ini?

[jamesadelong]

I have finished downloading the Fortress Defence mod and have just embarked on a terrifying tundra with my miners carving their way to start a new fortress in the caverns. And I am playing with an untouched InI. file. This should be Fun. Thanks so far. And I will keep you posted as to how my survival goes.

[whosayswhatnow]

Also savage+evil biomes on the same region square as a goblin fort (Don't embark on it or the goblins end up peaceful).  You will get zombie wildlife actively attacking you and mass raids of goblins partially due to the proximity, then make entrances into all 3 caverns and enjoy micromanaging your military between attacks.

Also, watching a goblin siege attacking your gates only to get pincered by zombie crocodiles is  hilarious.

[jamesadelong]

Good news! While I was clearing out the last few sections of the starting point inside the cavern with my miner I was alerted to the issues aboveground. A warewolf had taken up slaughtering my Dorfs as they emerged to ferry supplies down the main shaft. At the end of that little fiasco I was left with a miner and a mechanic. They cowered in the dark pits for a few more days trying to survive long enough for reinforcements but the mechanic was slain by a giant cave spider. The miner, having lost all meaning and hope in his life, began to strip off the scraps of armour he was wearing and began to walk calmly towards the hulk of legs and fangs, ending the short story of my first attempt at a Gulag work camp.

This is what I was looking for! I thank you all for the brilliant idea.
Everbody died today, and it was awesome!

[Evil the Cat]

How do you embark in the caverns? That sounds kind of fun, but I've never seen the option.

[whosayswhatnow]

Good news! While I was clearing out the last few sections of the starting point inside the cavern with my miner I was alerted to the issues aboveground. A warewolf had taken up slaughtering my Dorfs as they emerged to ferry supplies down the main shaft. At the end of that little fiasco I was left with a miner and a mechanic. They cowered in the dark pits for a few more days trying to survive long enough for reinforcements but the mechanic was slain by a giant cave spider. The miner, having lost all meaning and hope in his life, began to strip off the scraps of armour he was wearing and began to walk calmly towards the hulk of legs and fangs, ending the short story of my first attempt at a Gulag work camp.

This is what I was looking for! I thank you all for the brilliant idea.
Everbody died today, and it was awesome!

As we all keep saying:
Losing = Fun
Losing in hilarious and amusing ways = Even more fun.