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[Elifre]

My last fortress was overrun by clowns, so I decided to play around with advanced world generation. Increased volcanos, much lower erosion, guaranteed massive amount of space above the magma sea (for candy and for possible forts under the third cavern), a Small Island, and so on. I found a good 8x10 embark site (wilderness, shallow / deep metals, soil, a stream, volcano, aquifers at the base of the volcano, flux, hot / warm weather, but no trees sadly), and set out to take a look...

Woah.

The volcano is 53 Urists high, and made of obsidian, gold, galena, tetrahedrite, and marble. It goes down to the magma sea (around 100 Urists below the surface), and is about two-thirds full of magma. The map itself goes down to about 190 Urists below the surface, making this a rather massive site. There's a ton of loam around for soil, some good sites for sand, and plenty of gemstones visible on the cliff faces. No sign of iron aboveground, but I'm hoping I can find some as I dig down.

I think I'll make my entrance in the hollow area of the volcano about twenty Urists above the magma with a massive obsidian bridge that retracts for nobles / goblins / migrants / insurance salesmen.



There's just one little issue...

The lovely stream at the base of the volcano is full of predatory fish, including (eep!) carp. It's also home to a couple families of hippos. Any ideas for how I can handle this in a creative and preferably dorfy (read magma) way?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 The entrance:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 My lovely farms:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 The workshop (still in progress):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

OMG CARP!

[bombzero]

Floodgates + MAGMA + innocent predatory creatures = Happy Dwarfs

[Elifre]

Also, does anyone have any suggestions for advanced world generation? I'm thinking of later creating an even dwarfier world later and could use some advice. I like islands, cliffs, volcanoes, brooks / rivers, and things that look neat, as well as reasonably easy access to steel. Candy I don't care much about, but I'd like to avoid the circus until I have a good military set up.

[Elifre]

I'm liking this fortress more and more as I play it. With the volcano, I'll have easy access to an environmentally friendly metal industry. Also with the volcano, I have the means to completely trash the environment. The main entrance is accessible only by crossing over a long obsidian bridge, which retracts and is set twenty Urists over the magma in said volcano. Eventually, I'll have absolutely no need to go outside, and using an airlock system of bridges, no exposure to sunlight.

I also have my alcohol farms set up, with the still, kitchen, and food storage areas being a goal for a little later. Given my lack of trees, my highest priority will need to be setting up at least a small tree farm so I can get a reliable source of beds in the future. Water is also going to be tricky, thanks to carp, but I figure a system like a bridge -> grate -> floodgate will work. The bridge keeps out swimming building destroyers, and the grate keeps out the fishies.

Finally, I've actually planned out (gasp!) my entrance this time, so now I have room for a siege breaker trap (capture megabeast, experiment on goblins, et cetera). I also have the trade depot up top, with a stockpile for finished goods and any other crap I want to sell, and the rest of my fortress is twenty levels down at the top of the magma.

Does anyone else have any ideas for my fortress? Also, how do I take and post screenshots?

[krenshala]

ALT+PRINT SCREEN saves a screen shot of the currently selected window to the clipboard (in Windows).  You can then paste that (CTRL+V) into MS Paint, or a real graphics editor (e.g., GIMP, Photoshop, etc) to crop out what you don't need, or resize the image if its insanely large.  Then you just need to make it available somewhere the rest of the Internet can see it.

[Elifre]

ALT+PRINT SCREEN saves a screen shot of the currently selected window to the clipboard (in Windows).  You can then paste that (CTRL+V) into MS Paint, or a real graphics editor (e.g., GIMP, Photoshop, etc) to crop out what you don't need, or resize the image if its insanely large.  Then you just need to make it available somewhere the rest of the Internet can see it.

Thanks. I added some screenshots, but the quality is a little bad. Is there a better uploading site than photobucket, or an alternative way of posting screenshots without using an uploading site?

[Loud Whispers]

Drop something bigger into the river. Preferably an FB, which will promptly murder all the carp, swim out the river, and dispense !FUN! at your gates.

[Elifre]

Drop something bigger into the river. Preferably an FB, which will promptly murder all the carp, swim out the river, and dispense !FUN! at your gates.

I like using !!SCIENCE!! to handle excess !!FUN!! like FB's. Hence retractable magma bridge. 
A FB capturing device that drops them into the carp-infested waters, though... sounds like I have some !!SCIENCE!! to do.

[C27]

You could just put an overhang over the river with a well in it, but it might be too far of a trip I guess.
Creatures can't swim through pumps, so you could use one for the beginning of an aqueduct.

[Elifre]

Creatures can't swim through pumps, so you could use one for the beginning of an aqueduct.

According to the wiki, the same thing is true of grates.

Anyway, I finally have the designations completed for an absolutely massive metal industry workshop. I'm only working on it a little bit at a time, but I have the tunnels needed to supply up to 12 smelters and 12 forges with magma. On the other side of the volcano I'll set up glass furnaces and kilns, but that's a project for later. I still have yet to find the first cavern layer, but that's probably going to take some time. Does anyone know how volcanoes interact with caverns, by the way?

[SirFellfire]

You could just put an overhang over the river with a well in it, but it might be too far of a trip I guess.
Creatures can't swim through pumps, so you could use one for the beginning of an aqueduct.

this is a neat idea, and i suggest you used it with the aid of some marksdorfs, since job interruptions and building shit to control fluids don't usually mix  and fighting near water is a thanks, no thanks

[Elifre]

My magma-based metal industry is almost ready to begin. I just need to get some mechanisms for levers and bridges, and it'll be ready. It's also linked to a device I call Project: Flood the World with Magma. I also have my kitchen and still set up, with plenty of room for expansion, and a number of obsidian crafts for buying the next caravan that comes around. It's not yet winter, so that'll be a little while.

I still haven't found iron or the first cavern layer, but I was able to confirm (accidentally) that the magma sea is about 100 Urists under the surface. Apparently you can't build obsidian floors that are connected to nothing but a bridge without them falling down. >.>

Hopefully there'll be some iron out here. Otherwise, my steel industry is going to be a little lacking, since I'll be forced to trade for it. If that's needed, though, at least I'm sitting on a massive pile of shinies. 

[Loud Whispers]

Wait, if you have access to magma, why don't you just dam the river, drown the carp in glorious air and be done with it?

[Elifre]

Wait, if you have access to magma, why don't you just dam the river, drown the carp in glorious air and be done with it?

Not quite dorfy enough. 
Also, I'd like to get a decent cistern of water before using the magma or other super weapon against the dreaded carp.

[FritzPL]

While looking at bridges at your entrance, an idea struck me - Unwelcome Guest Prototype Atom Smasher, shortly U.G.P.A.S.

It would look like this:

Code: [Select]


|.|
|.|_
|xx|
|xx|
|xx|
|xx|
|xx|
|xx|
|xx|
|.|
|.|

x = bridge, raisable to ->
A simple stone corridor, with a bridge in the middle of it. Note that 1 block wide corridor goes up to 2 block wide.

|.|
|.|_
|.=|
|.#|
|.#|
|.#|
|.#|
|.=|
|.|
|.|

=,# - bridge, raised to ->

How it looks after the bridge was raised.
Now, you have an elven "invasion", aka some lame wooden swordselves incoming. You dont wanna bother your badass dwarfs beating goblins to death using the children they just gave birth to, do you? That's where U.G.P.A.S. comes to use.
You put the one in a long, but narrow corridor, set up a lever with a Talented Cheesemaker right next to it and wait.
When they come, you wait for them to run up at 2/3rd of the bridge, or 1/2 of it, depends on the speed. Then you pull the lever... Whoa where did they went? And why is this wall painted red now?
But wait - if it was a bigger invasion, like a goblin one, some of them are going to stay behind - trolls, while strong, are not as agile as goblins. So, after you paint the wall in Goblin Red, don't lower the bridge back, but have Urist McAtomCrashTester still at the lever.
When the slower units come under the bridge and reach about half of it's length, pull the lever again.

Provoke elven/human merchants, feed the Leverer, repeat.

Spoiler: Ye olde meme (click to show/hide)

And it does look like this...
*puts a black sock on*
... is the dwarfy way.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZEEEE