User:Albedo/GateScar

The Uristid-19 syndrome is upon us, so another fortress. "GateScar" - great name.

Embark Profile

World has 7(!) Dwarven cultures, and the area has humans and elves plus gobbos and a tower. Target is a 2x2 site with a 2(!) rivers on it, 2 savage "hot" untamed wilds biomes (3 tiles woodland, 1 sparse), and below ground everything reported as being good - deep soil, clay, sand, flux, etc. Time to put on my big-dwarf pants, and strike the earth like Armok intended!

Starting 7

Some changes in my approach since the last time around.

• 1) "Bad Axe": Axe +4/Armor User +5/Discipline 1
• 2) "Dirty" Grower +5/Glassmaker 5 (likes no items!)
• 3) "Stoney" Mason +5/Stonecrafter +4/Judge of Intent +1* (likes Native Platinum, Maces)
• 4) "Cutter" Weaponsmith +5/Brewer +3/Appraise +1* (likes Battle Axes)
• 5) "Hardpan" Armorsmith +5/Cook +5
• 6) "Cagey" Mechanic +5/Carpenter +5
• 7) "Striker" Miner +5/Armor User +5

(* oops - see comments, immediately below)

Two mistakes, even before Embark: I had meant to give 1 dwarf the Appraiser/Judge of Intent pair to be Broker, but somehow cleverly gave Appraise and JoI to different dwarves. <sigh> And, second, neither of them are the dwarf who I want to learn social skills. Somehow (again, ahem), I missed the fact that the Dwarf I chose as the Grower had no Item preferences - otherwise he would have been planned as my leader from the start and given the Broker skills. Soooo... that will all have to be straightened out come the first Caravan.

On the plus side, if that's the worst mistake I make with this fortress, I'll take it and ask for another just like it!

(For my comments on these choices, see my home page)

Starting items

Leaning toward DIY...

• Basics:

• 1 Anvil
• 1 pick
• (no starting axe, will DIY that asap from bronze)

• Materials:

• 2 iron ore, 8 flux (= 8 steel: 1 axe, 1 spear, 6 helmets)
• 5 copper, 5 cassiterite (= 40 bronze, for other weapons/armor)
• a few of each rare ore for moods
• 2 dozen bituminous coal (= 150+ fuel)
• 2 petrified wood (early workshops, magma safe items)
• 2 cinnabar (heaviest stone, for 1st (temporary) workshop & early stone traps)
• 4 jet (lightest fire-safe stone, = 16 blocks for early workshops)
• a dozen sand (for bags, and early glass pump parts, if needed)

• Food & drink:

• 44 alchohol: 6 Dwarven Wine, & 11/11/16 other drinks (weighted for preference)
• ~130 plant/vegies (1/barrel)
• a dozen milk (to become cheese for $ meals)
• 3 (three) plump helmets (to become wine and seeds)
• 2 (yes, "two") each seeds: Cave Wheat, Pig Tail, Sweet Pods, Quarry Bush. No plump helmets (see previous). 1 (one) Dimple Cup seed. (Farmer 5 should at least :double/triple these the first round, and then it's all good.)

• misc:

• 3 plaster (for health care)
• 3 lye (for soap)

• Animals:

• 4 dogs (1 male)
• 2 cats
• 5 cavies (as watch/bait animals - they don't cost or eat much)

Strike the Earth!

Looking around, we see some giant otters in the distance and ubiquitous Carp in the rivers - ancient tales of past expeditions being wiped out by carp are hard to hear without laughing, so we put the otters on the "to do" list and get to work.

Miner starts down, carpenter gets to work on the wagon, and the other five each grab one handful of local plants, for thread (for medical supplies) and more booze later. We want to keep the trees we have nearby for food/booze, so we go down 2 levels to start. Turns out there's a light aquifer in the eastern half the 4 biome tiles, but 2 ramps and a short tunnel for traps gets the lower entry over some dry soil just west.

10 days in

Have dugout an irregular general work space, about 8x10, in the 2nd layer of sand, plus a few 3x4 rooms in stone below that. A smelter, forge, and mason's shop have turned out a bronze crossbow (bolts in production), floor hatch for the entry, and a 2-person dining hall. Also down 10 levels toward the caverns and beyond. But the main achievement is getting over 200 of my 300(!) items underground in a quantum stockpile, including most of the foodstuffs - whoof.

Food industry prep

2 weeks in, 1st day of 2nd month. In the last 4 days have dug out, built and planted some small farm plots (2 seeds go fast), and a butcher/kitchen/tanner/leatherworks cluster, each in their own room (for miasma/etc.) Am expanding the dining hall, in production. Have added a bronze axe to the arsenal, and am working on a quiver, then it's time to hunt some giant otter!

4 days later, butcher time

So, the hunt... actually not technically a DF "hunt", more a military action against some of the wildlife. It's now the 5th, ended up being almost a 3-day affair, turns out giant otters are really fast! Meanwhile, some hippos had wandered onto the map - they are not ~as~ fast, but still faster than my waddling dwarves. So, sent the axedwarf around to herd them toward some down-bluffs, while the crossbow user lurked out of sight - and the ambush worked! Almost got 2, but one fell, and that's enough. But it's too far from the kitchen for auto-butchering to kick in, so... we'll see...

Meanwhile, a new Farmers' workshop making cheest, and finished the 4-seat dining room, plus 2 extra chairs for all the offices I need. Bookkeeping to high precision (max-1) finished. Also have dug 30 z-levels down, the 1st cavern.

Somewhere in all this (not during the hunt), one dog lost a paw. Well, that'll be the watch-dog chained to the entry (once I make time for a chain, which should be sooner than later).