Print

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

Text and images. Old school is better.

23 (82.1%)

Live stream and video. Newfangled technology must be applied to everything!

5 (17.9%)

Total Members Voted: 28

Voting closed: January 19, 2012, 06:50:05 pm

[Ieb]

My expert advice on getting migrants inside:

First put a meeting zone in the entrance building. The migrants will walk there eventually. Alternatively, put up a new military squad, station it there(or right behind the fort entrance doors, or whatever we have these days keeping everything outside) and assign every new migrant to it. They immediately get over to walking to the stationed area. This is probably the better idea, since you might forget the meeting zone exists and some idiot of a dorf goes to hang out there because a front door was left unlocked/had been destroyed, gets their guts spilled out due to goblins and the whole fort goes insane since Bob Chucklefuck died. In case of specific disasters, read the following.

1) UNDEAD! CURSE THEM! If there's a bunch of zeds or skelks in the way, gather the migrant recruit squad together and then give the order to move. Zeds and skelks are the biggest threat to migrants who aren't given the orders to be recruits&attack, since then they'll just run like idiots until the skelk put a hoof through their head. A group of migrants can tear apart even a herd of skeletal reindeer, and with luck might not even get a single injury.

2) GOBLINS! CURSE THEM! Gobbos are a bigger threat to migrants than the skelks, because these guys come packing heat! Disable the big soldier squad of migrants, wait for the perfect moment(it can't be too late, the gobbos are likely to disperse and chase after individual migrants and then this step is useless), and start sending in the redshirt recruits after 'em. With luck, they'll survive long enough to distract the gobbo menace and allow at least a few migrants to get indoors. Try not to use the recruit option too early here either when ordering migrants to hussle, or they go aggro on the gobbos and then all your micromanagement hell is for nothing. Luckily you can take off the recruit status once they start heading indoors, although you MIGHT have to enable it again after opening the fort doors to get the idiots inside fast.

[Mormota]

I am sorry again everyone. I feel like I'm going insane IRL right now, just remove me from the turn list. Permanently.

[Reudh]

From the Diary of Reudh II

Erica, our new overseer, told me that I was to go on purely stonecrafting duty. I wonder why she was so happy to let me ease my work load?

[arcangelsd]

I contacted Arcangelsd about the control room issue, and even though he and none of his other acquaintances can recall which lever did what, they were able to determine which ones were linked to the specialized defensive measures Gizogin installed.

DETERMINE

*Pulls lever*
*Loud explosion is heard, followed by muzzled screams*
Arcangelsd: -It looks defensive...
Council of engineers: -Indeed.
Erica: -You are promoted
Everyone: YAY!

Also, judging for the amount of times that I'm mentioned, I'm an evil minion! YAY!

[ThatAussieGuy]

A torn scrap of paper, found in the hallway

-Entry 3,456-

After a cursory walk around the fort, it seems Mego screwed up the checkerboard design I supplied him with in a fascinating way due to a cup mark left on some of the blueprints.  Poor fool doesn't even realise the design isn't mine - I just tore the pages out of my new copy of the Aussie Book of Engineering Trickery.  Best four pieces of chestnut lumber and a half-pound of kitten meat I ever spent.

Oh, Kefka also went crazy and rigged up some levers rigged to mechanisms that could potentially kill the fort and Eric's going mad with power.

Excellent. 

I still don't understand how they get their own disguises so good though.  Maybe they get their Dwarf Costume Kits from a better brand than Arkme?  They really look just like the original guys, not to mention how genuine their faked deaths look.  Wonder where they're stashing the bodies....  Somebody's eventually going to notice I've just stuck the bodies of the guys I've been wandering around as under the carpets and in wardrobes in random bedrooms.

[Eric Blank]

I'm running again. Update should arrive sometime tonight. Joyous news and industry ahead, unless something profoundly !!FUN!! happens before I decide to hit the hay.

Here we go;

Journal of Erica, Head Stoneworker of Hellcannon

Granite 13th

    Work began on schedule. It’s amazing to see the entire fortress mobilize at once. I have 10 or so stoneworkers now and the new militia recruits are taking to the gear lying around the fort in heaps.

    The Master on the other hand has repeatedly ran down into the chamber with the power generators, claiming he intended to clean the blood off the walls of the water cisterns, but promptly ran back out, proclaiming that it was just too dangerous to go down there. He promptly turned around and tried again. I don’t know if he’s just retarded or actually insane. Perhaps he actually intends to sabotage the system…

Granite 20th

    We’ve began mining the mineral veins around an adamantine spire near the forges. Cassiterite, Galena and tetrahedrite, as well as skimming adamantine off the edges of the spire. This should go a long ways towards providing more appropriate blades for our soldiers.

I’ve come up with a plan for thinning the number of invaders the troops will have to deal with. It involves aquifers, ice, more aquifers, bridges lined with traps, and a large room for the militia to train and fight in, to which all entrances to the fortress shall lead. Excavation began immediately.

Slate 5th

    Migrants! There’s an opening in the skoxen lines, ever so small, that may permit at least a few of them inside before we have to close the gates. I wish we could rally the militia, but that would likely be disasterous.

    I’m not concerned with any of these fools running outside to grab anything off the surface: I forbid them touch anything, for fear of being fed directly to the undead hordes. Not that they’d come back alive to be punished, but I figured they needed a little reinforcement that outside=bad.

Slate 7th

    I’ve reviewed the migrants. All but three made it inside, and one is currently still alive on the surface. We signaled him to stand ready, but try to circle around the skoxen until they were far enough from the entrance to give him a chance to get inside. His two companions had no luck defeating the undead, merely managing to damage one, so I don’t expect much more from him unless he makes it inside.

    I actually had to replace Gizogin as Chief Medical Dwarf today. Not because she was doing a particularly bad job (or had any patients, for that matter), but because one of the migrants was a decently experienced diagnostician and wound dresser. Gizogin wasn’t quite pleased, but she’s still a member of the medical staff. And somehow still ecstatic. Probably the silver lining.

    I sent the guards out for a mop-up and rescue operation. Ieb’s the militia commander, but her squad consists of a bunch of lunatics with zero experience whatsoever. The Guard squad performed flawlessly though, and that poor fool is inside safe and sound. And on a tight military leash, as a member of the militia.

    In celebration, that Eternal Magnificent Bastard The Master, decided to throw a party. I whole-heartedly agree. Our population is now up to 70, and if all goes well may rise even higher. I don’t actually remember the last time anyone made it inside the fortress alive…

8th Felsite

    Work is moving at a reasonable pace. I don’t think we’ll finish everything on schedule, but exiting on a happy note should be trivial.

13th Felsite

    Whilst working diligently, the forge operators suddenly began screaming about a snowman or something. Apparently, there’s a forgotten beast in the form of a humanoid composed of snow watching them from atop the walls to the south of the magma forges. Just standing there, glaring at them. Everyone’s started calling him “One,” for whatever reason. The worst it’s done so far is drool silk not unlike that of a spider. He’s the only one we know of with access to that third cavern layer, so I gave the go-ahead to open up a path and kill it.

Once open, the troops charged, and the militia captain of the fresh migrant squad killed it with his bare hands. Impressive, considering how enormous it was and ignoring it’s actual material. They all got buried in snow, and thus became rather soggy when they returned to the forge area to warm up. The only injury was that the baby carried by one of the soldiers had her foot smashed and broken. Poor thing won’t stop wailing.

    Anyway, the slayer of the beast was bestowed it’s name and the title of Beast Slayer. My what a redundant sentence that is…


I suppose I ought to upload pics next time...

So, any realistic objections to using the aquifer and dodge-pit bridges to drown gobbos? Other than the difficulty in acquiring their gear at that point... Perhaps I could floor over what I've channeled into the aquifer and use pumps and drains to control the water...

[Spish]

^ Personally, I prefer pits that menace with automated spiky impalement mechanisms. Preferrably made of glass, in the name of all that is painful. I suppose you could combine it with flooding+draining system, in case any goblins happen to survive falling and having a giant piece of glass forced through their body several hundred times.

So I'm checking out our artifact stockpile...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fortuneimpales indeed. How in the hell did Ieb manage to make a fungiwood ring (decorated with fungiwood) worth 362400 dwarfbucks!? And why wasn't this mentioned? It's worth more than all the other artifacts in the fortress combined, and one-tenth of the fortress itself.

[Teneb]

Is my dwarf still alive? Or do I even have one?

[Vgray]

Any Masons/Stonecrafters decide to visit the fort?

[Gizogin]

^ Personally, I prefer pits that menace with automated spiky impalement mechanisms. Preferrably made of glass, in the name of all that is painful. I suppose you could combine it with flooding+draining system, in case any goblins happen to survive falling and having a giant piece of glass forced through their body several hundred times.

So I'm checking out our artifact stockpile...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fortuneimpales indeed. How in the hell did Ieb manage to make a fungiwood ring (decorated with fungiwood) worth 362400 dwarfbucks!? And why wasn't this mentioned? It's worth more than all the other artifacts in the fortress combined, and one-tenth of the fortress itself.

That would be entirely due to the adamantine used in its construction.  I may have been... not paying attention when that happened, because it's a complete waste.

Yeah, I'm not really bothered about the whole CMD thing.  I did exactly nothing as the chief medical dwarf.

[Eric Blank]

Is my dwarf still alive? Or do I even have one?

Your dwarf is a militia captain, in good health. He should be training his squad. Which reminds me that I need to rearrange the training schedules... Maybe include some patrol/station schedules? Probably a good idea.

Any Masons/Stonecrafters decide to visit the fort?

No, but that doesn't mean I didn't draft any into the stoneworking department. There are plenty of unnamed stoneworkers to go around.

[Vgray]

Any Masons/Stonecrafters decide to visit the fort?

No, but that doesn't mean I didn't draft any into the stoneworking department. There are plenty of unnamed stoneworkers to go around.
[/quote]

Ah. So does that mean I'll be dwarfed?

[Eric Blank]

Of course.

No update or play tonight; brain clobbered.

[Ieb]

Fortuneimpales indeed. How in the hell did Ieb manage to make a fungiwood ring (decorated with fungiwood) worth 362400 dwarfbucks!? And why wasn't this mentioned? It's worth more than all the other artifacts in the fortress combined, and one-tenth of the fortress itself.

What can I say? A lady likes to have some bling.

[Gizogin]

(This is partly because I just threw up the save with no story or flavor to go with it)

Journal of Gizogin, Rawmancer and ex-CMD:

Well, I'm no longer in charge of Hellcannon.  After almost two years at the helm, I decided to step down.  I held an election for my successor, which Erica won.  The hand-over went smoothly, and she's now in control of the fortress.  I felt that it would hardly be sporting to leave her with no instructions or notes or anything, so I gave her my journal from my term.  Naturally, the parts concerning the details of my traps were not included, because I need to keep something to myself.  Whether it'll be a bargaining chip or a hostage situation will be determined by circumstances, but I know that being the only one with the full knowledge of how it works can only be useful.

Erica relieved me of my duties as chief medical dwarf.  Apparently, there's some new immigrant with actual medical experience, or some such nonsense.  I can't really say I'm surprised, though.  Oh well, as long as I have my new office, nothing can ruin my mood.  Not even the harsh new military training.  You'd think that having only one arm would grant one at least a bit of leeway, but you'd be mistaken.  I don't know if I've said before or not, but firing a bow with only one hand is hard.