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40d:Stories/Mouthsmouldered and Logem Cattenromek

2009-08-17T11:22:39Z

Keturn: Dumbzeber at Bimbâsen, as told by Logem Cattenromek

= The Outpost Bimbâsen - the Dumbzeber saga =

From the Chronicles of Reg Shem.

== From the Journal of Logem Cattenromek, Undertaker ==

In the summer of 202, I arrived with a group of migrants in Bimbâsen. When we left the mountainhomes of Reg Shem, they told us it was a settlement of great potential. A wonderful place for a fresh start. We were a little concerned when we first looked at the map; could we Dwarves really be happy settling in the grasslands? But they told us that there was a magma pipe there, that it would provide unlimited energy for a smithing industry. That the column of igneous rock gave us a way to tunnel beneath the aquifer and mine untapped layers of the earth. And that with a nearby trading route, the humans would bring us all the longland beer a dwarf could ever want in exchange for our obsidian trinkets.

But on the journey there, my fellow migrants and I started exchanging rumors. The bits and pieces we put together painted a very different picture. Apparently this outpost had already failed once. The current leader, Zuglar Fikodbecor, was an axedwarf chosen to reclaim Bimbâsen after the inital settling party didn't report back. Nobody knew what happened to them, but travellers told us that a fire had swept the plains.

So it was no surprise when we started walking through the ash and burned shrubs. But I should have turned around as soon as I saw that charred dwarven skull.

Bimbâsen was a mess when we arrived. Fikodbecor's party hadn't finished cleaning up the remains of the first settling party, bones of dwarves and livestock alike were spread across the landscape. I'm not sure what they'd been doing since they got there, running around with their axes and crossbows. They didn't even have beds for themselves, let alone new immigrants. There were no trade goods, no trading post, and no plans to replace their nearly exhausted food supplies.

One thing they had done was connect the tunnels so we could get around without needing to surface. I would be grateful for that later.

The liason from Reg Shem arrived with the caravan a season or two later. We hurriedly threw together a trade depot. Fikodbecor, thinking of military strategy first and economics second, had us dig out a moat for it rather than find things for us to trade for much-needed food and drink, but we did manage to trade a few silk items that hadn't been burned in the earlier fire.

Then we saw the smoke. While our marksdwarves were occupied keeping the rhesus monkies away from the trading post, a fire imp started taking shots at a peasant and caught the grass on fire. Just enough of the undergrowth had grown back to support a new wildfire, and soon a wall of smoke and flame was sweeping across the landscape.

The peasant was lost, but it could have ended there, if only everyone had come inside. But the smoke created confusion, and some of the other dwarves ran into the flames to try to help their injured friends.

I was blissfully unaware of what happened next. Safely underground, surrounded by damp sand, I only heard the muffled crackle of burning brush as the fire swept overhead. I was later told the story by a woodcutter, who standing safely on the other side of the brook from the flames, saw the tragedy unfold.

It was Kumil Dasëludil, the liason from Reg Shem. He'd finally caught up with Fikodbecor, and was intent on getting on with business.

"Greetings from the mountainhomes!" said Dasëludil.

"Can we do this later?" the expedition leader replied. "I have a fire to deal with."

"Surely your people can handle that. Let us discuss your situation." The liason's back was to the flames, but Sodel and Lor, Fikodbecor's marksmen, were eyeing them with increasing alarm.

"Can't we do this inside?" asked Lor. "Where things aren't burning?"

"Since the expedition leader has no ''office''," the liason said stuffily, "we must conduct our business where we can, and I will not chase you through that sandy hole you call a mine in order to do so. Now, about your situation."

Fikodbecor's temper exploded. "My ''situation'' is that my dwarves are ''on fire'' because you sent ''untrained civilians'' to me to stumble through a field of tinder and fire imps! Now get out of my way!"

But Dasëludil was unruffled, and an ultra-mighty dwarf can not be moved when he is unwilling. "I am referring to your economic situation, Mr. Fikodbecor. Reg Shem has high hopes for our outpost here at Bimbâsen. Your trading post was sadly empty, but perhaps you have something in development? A galena vein? Some platinum nuggets, perhaps?"

Fikodbecor saw a change of tactics was required. "Ah, most of our capital investment this quarter has been in infrastructure," he said. "This bridge, for example. Wide enough for any wagon and made of smooth alunite, I'm sure there's not another like it along this entire caravan route. If you'll just come this way," and with a note of panic creeping in to his voice, "''to the water?''"

Sodel and Lor took this as permission to break formation and they dashed for the brook, but it was too late. The smoke choked their lungs and they fell, along with their capitan and the liason, to be burned alive in the flames.

...

The rest of the expedition party took the loss of Fikodbecor and his squad pretty hard. We newer immigrants didn't really know them, but life looked no less bleak to us, with little food to go around and no alcohol to wash the taste of ash from our throats. We each responded in our own way. Zasit and Sazir each went stark raving mad, drowning themselves in our pool.

Mestthos the carpenter threw a tantrum and started smashing stuff up. Not a bad way to get the anger out -- I do it myself -- but the difference between he and I is that I didn't smash a bridge while standing on it. The drop into the moat cleared his head, but he couldn't swim.

Before long, it was just me, Cog Litastasol, and Iden Enshallikot. Iden had come out with Fikodbecor's reclamation party, but he wasn't good for much anymore. He refused to eat or drink, spending his days wandering the surface, staring up at the charred branches of the oak trees.

We could have left then, Cog and I. Followed the brook upstream until we got back to the mountains, back to land that doesn't burn. Maybe find a coal mine someplace. That's good, honest work. Don't need a magma pipe to run a forge. Never need to see another fire imp or magma man again.

But there was something we needed to take care of first. I couldn't leave them like that, their bones up there on the surface to soak in the rain and be picked at by birds. We'd build coffins and lay them to rest. Even that stupid, stupid lughead Dasëludil.

...

I've never been so hungry. I'm willing to eat anything. Rats, purring maggots, brussel sprouts... Cog and I actually found a barrel with some raw turtles left in it, but they're surprisingly hard to get out of their shells. If we ever make it out of this, I'm never making fun of a fishery worker again.

...

The bodies are starting to rot before I can get them in coffins. I'm setting up the site where the trading post was -- before Mestthos smashed it -- as a temporary graveyard. There's enough ventilation there that the miasma should dissapate fairly quickly.

...

I lost Cog today. He was on the surface while I was building a coffin. I think he was gathering the remains of one of the peasants when a fire imp got him. I wonder if it was Dumzeber. They say he's the one that burned out the first group of settlers here. "Mouthsmouldered" they call him.

I guess, now that it's just me and Iden, that makes me "expedition leader." May the goddess Ók preserve us.

...

Iden's dead. I'm not surprised. Or rather, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did out there. I had a betting pool going with the fire snakes. The one I call Larry won. I gave him five of my best obsidian chips.

...

Today I heard the strangest sound. I wondered if it was Dumzeber come for me at last. Turns out it was something entirely different. Have you ever heard a camel giving birth? To twins?

I think Larry and I are having camel veal for dinner tonight.

...

Felsite, year 203.

I think I'm almost finished. I built Dasëludil's coffin today. I'm not sure which bones are his anymore, but there's a place for him. But I still need more, at least for Cog and Iden, they weren't in the original count.

Wait, I think I hear something. Some''one''. Speaking dwarvish. Iden? Is that you? No, wait, Iden's gone...

''Immigrants''. Those poor, poor fools -- even after Dasëludil never reported back, they sent us more dwarves. Young hopefuls to this prosperous outpost Slingsprays.

I hope they brought a horse. And a chef.

40d Talk:Construction

2007-11-08T05:30:14Z

Keturn: contrast with features carved from native stone?

== contrast with features carved from native stone? ==

How are constructions different from the walls and other features carved out from the designation menu? Are they more vulnerable to being knocked over by trolls or tantruming axedwarves?
--[[User:Keturn|Keturn]] 00:30, 8 November 2007 (EST)

40d:Fortification

2007-11-08T05:22:40Z

Keturn: verified the ability of catapults to fire through fortifications in .33a

[[Category:Military]]

Fortifications are arrow slits used in the [[defense]] of your fortress. They are most commonly used along the outside walls of your fortress, so that [[Marksdwarf|marksdwarves]] and [[siege engine]]s can fire at enemies from within the mountain. They can be carved from cave walls or built like any other [[construction]].

== Carving ==
Damaged rock cannot be used for fortifications, meaning that the outermost tiles of mountain rock may need to be mined away to expose the solid rock behind it.

A fortified wall can only be one tile wide. What this means is that you need to hollow out a room directly behind the wall you want to fortify. It is smartest to set this room up as a [[barracks]], or to put an [[archery target]] in there. That way, off-duty soldiers will be milling about at all times, and they will be ready to fire upon anyone who gets too close to the fortress.

Once you have chosen the wall you want to carve, smooth the stone along its length using {{K|d}} -> {{K|s}}. After it has been smoothed, re-designate the same wall for fortifications using {{K|d}} -> {{K|a}}. Stone smoothing and fortification require a dwarf that does [[Stone detailing]].

After completion, marksdwarves, [[ballista]]s, and even [[catapult]]s will be able to fire through the fortifications. However, enemy ranged attackers can attack you from either side of the fortification, no matter which side was fortified.

Note: A fortified tile cannot contain [[gem]]s or [[ore]].

== Construction ==
Fortifications can also be constructed from [[block]]s, [[wood]] or [[stone]] using {{K|b}} -> {{K|C}} -> {{K|F}}. They must be built tile by tile as there is no way to build more than one at a time.{{ver|0.27.169.33a}} Construction of wooden fortifications require the [[Carpentry]] skill, while fortifications made of block or stone require the [[Masonry]] skill.

{{Buildings}}

40d:Channel

2007-11-04T09:54:35Z

Keturn: link to Digging

[[category:designations]]

A '''Channel''' is a method of digging mostly to aid the moving of liquids, such as [[water]] and [[magma]], from one point to another. While it is a convenient way to move liquids, it can be used for other creative purposes.

Building Channels will remove the [[floor]] of the current [[z-axis|Z-level]] AND mine the walls in the Z-level below. See the [[digging]] article for a more detailed explanation.

Dwarves can not walk across a channel (as there is nothing to support them). However, you can put a [[grate]] on top of a channel, and the dwarves will be supported. This seems to be requiered to dig a long narrow channel.

In leyman's terms: {{k|d}}igging an area will carve out a tunnel in the rock to crawl through, whereas c{{k|h}}annelling an area will remove the top of the tunnel as well, creating a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench Trench] of sorts.

40d Talk:Aquifer

2007-11-04T02:30:24Z

Keturn: Related threads

Toady mentioned somewhere that, at the moment, only subterrainian water sources can grow towercaps. He then explicitly mentioned underground rivers and lakes, but would an aquifer work as well? If so, given the scarcity of underground water sources, this would provide another bonus to having an aquifer.[[User:Thexor|Thexor]] 20:10, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

: I don't believe they count. AFAIK, it applies only to standing water. --[[User:JT|JT]]

== notes from nov1 version ==

this is a cleaned-up chat log from #bay12games on Nov 01 11:07 (PST). Pasting it here until the information works its way in to the wiki page.

<sinoth> VeryInky: you seem to be the aquifer expert. have you found a way to get around them without magma?

<VeryInky> [[Pump|Pumps]]. But pumps require stone. If you have access to stone, the aquifer shouldn't be that much of a problem. The key draining the aquifer square, then building floodgate.

<sinoth> so the aquifer has a finite amount of water in it, unlike brooks and rivers?

<VeryInky> Unlimited. It's an infinite water source. It's been sort of fixed in the new version, so getting past the aquifer is much easier.

<sinoth> what changed to make it easier? don't see it on the dev_notes

<VeryInky> Non dirt squares no longer automatically refill. IN other words, it's now possible to make a wall and block the aquifer. So you can build deeper; wasn't possible before.

<sinoth> ah ok, thanks much :)

<VeryInky> It's none the less MUCH easier with magma. Dig channels until you reach the aquifer, then divert magma into it. It turns into solid obsidian and you can just continue on.

<sinoth> i wasn't aware you could build pumps solely with stone. don't you need the [[enormous corkscrew|screw thing]], made out of metal or wood?

<VeryInky> Requires a stone, but you can make the screw and pipes out of wood.
The problem is getting that stone. A stone.

== Unmarked Aquifer? ==

Is it possible to have an aquifer if it was not listed on the pick an area screen? Normally if you are going to enter an area with an aquifer, I have noticed that it shows you with a band of blue at the level that it is located, and the game asks if you are sure you want to settle there. In my case, there was no aquifer listed, and I received no warning, but I cannot go below a layer of yellow sand without hitting Damp Stone (actually it is Damp Loam)

The map does have a river, do you get Aquifer with a river automatically?

==Stone method==

Some maps have an aquifer that doesn't span all of the map's biomes, in which case the aquifer is easy to avoid by paying attention to where the different biomes are situated. Is that what this section is referring to, or can there really be "holes" in an aquifer? --[[User:Peristarkawan|Peristarkawan]] 02:46, 3 November 2007 (EDT)

== Related threads ==

More threads on aquifers:
* [http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=11&t=000852 aquifer pumping?]
* [http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=11&t=000865 How-to: Get past the aquifer with pumps]

40d:Aquifer

2007-11-04T02:27:38Z

Keturn: /* The Stone method */

An aquifer is a subterranean layer of water-bearing rock. Attempts to mine through them will result in the mined-out squares immediately filling with water, effectively halting excavation at or below their level. This, in conjunction with the fact that they are often located in areas rich in clay, loam, and sand, makes it difficult to find great quantities of stone in areas with aquifers, making for more challenging gameplay.

== Dealing with Aquifers ==

The challenges presented by an aquifer may be circumvented in several ways. Firstly, much more of your equipment will likely be made from wood, especially early on, so it may help to be in a heavily forested area. Once you've established your fortress a bit, you will also be able to trade for stone and metals if you run short.

It is also worth noting that it is by no means impossible to find stone on these maps, it is simply much rarer. It may help to create exploratory shafts searching for pockets of stone. Be aware that mining along the level immediately above the aquifer will result in patches of 'damp stone,' which will flood if mined out; these squares will flash with water when designating mining areas.

===The Stone method===
It is apparently possible on some maps to find patches of rock on the aquifers level these can be dug through to the level below with no ill effects. Perhaps your map includes several biomes and not all of them have aquifers. This method is the simplest method but relies on luck and some searching, and makes it hard to plan ahead since you dont know where the rock may be. Useful for newer players but more experienced players will probably find other methods easier.

===The Pump Method===
It is possible to pump the water out of an aquifer; though the supply is apparently unlimited it can be pumped out faster than the water seeps in, allowing for a fairly safe area on the z level. This method is somewhat dangerous since problems with your pumps can lead to drowning, however, it allows a larger area to be cleared than the ice method and can be done anywhere. It's also easier to plan around a series of pumps than hoping you'll hit rock on the way down.

===The Ice Method===
There is a simple method of getting past an aquifer although it is restricted to a small shaft down, and not possible on all maps.
You will need:
*8 pieces of material suitable for crafting [[Wall|Walls]]
*1 [[Carpenter]] or [[Mason]] (depending on your building material of choice)
*1 [[Miner]]
*2 [[Grate|grates]]
*A map which freezes during winter

steps:
#Dig channels in a 5x5 square, but leave the middle square un-dug.
#Build 2 grates so you can access the undug central square
#Dig stairs down a level ensuring you build
#Dig channels underneath all the other channels and build another down stair on the un-channeled pillar
#Continue down in this way until you reach the water table
#Wait for the water to freeze
#Dig down the stair again the ice will prevent water from flooding the hole dig out the ice in a 3x3 area centered on the stairs, now build walls in the 8 squares bordering the stairs
#You can now dig down another square to rock below the aquifier
#This system can be expanded to allow for a bigger stairwell.

diagram:
*<tt>C</tt> - channel
*<tt>G</tt> - grate
*<tt>W</tt> - wall
*<tt>x</tt> - up/down stairs
*<tt>></tt> - down stair
*<tt>I</tt> - Ice/water

First level:
<pre>
CCGCC
CCGCC
CC>CC
CCCCC
CCCCC
</pre>
Intermidiate levels:
<pre>
CCCCC
CCCCC
CCxCC
CCCCC
CCCCC
</pre>
Aquifer level:
<pre>
IIIII
IWWWI
IWxWI
IWWWI
IIIII
</pre>

== Advantages of Aquifers ==

It's worth noting that the presence of an aquifer, while challenging, does offer some slight advantages. Firstly, much of the area underground but above the aquifer will be sand, clay, or loam, all of which can be planted in without requiring any kind of irrigation or flooding, allowing farming to get under way quicker and with less stress. Additionally, the presence of water 3-4 z-levels below ground anywhere on the map makes placing wells a simpler task, as well as ensuring easy access to subterranean water supplies.

40d:Bedroom

2007-11-04T02:19:20Z

Keturn: beds near workshops make for poor sleep.

A '''bedroom''' is a [[room]] defined from a [[bed]]. A dwarf will usually store their belongings in their bedroom when not carrying them. A dwarf will claim an unassigned bedroom after [[Sleep|sleeping]] in it, but they can be manually assigned. [[Marriage|Married]] dwarves will share a bedroom, even sleeping in the same bed; [[children]] will also share a bedroom with their mother until they grow up.

Once the economy starts, dwarves will get unhappy thoughts from not having a [[chest]] in their bedroom.

Military and bedroom-less dwarves have the option of sleeping in a [[barracks]]. Dwarves will sleep in a bed that is not defined as a bedroom if no alternative is available.

Dwarves' sleep will be disturbed if their bed is within four tiles of a workshop.<sup>[http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=11&t=000858 *]</sup> Noise travels across z-levels as well. Mining also causes noise that may disturb or interrupt the sleep of dwarves.

[[Category:Rooms]]

40d:Grate

2007-11-02T00:05:05Z

Keturn: grates vs bars

Grates can be place on the floor or wall. They allow the passage of [[fluid dynamics|liquids]], (assuming projectiles as well until proven otherwise). Dwarves treat grates as floors and can be walked on. To effectively use a grate a [[channel]] must be dug under it before placement. Grates can be constructed of, rock, wood and metals.

They are represented in game by a: #

They currently cannot be used to cover a large area - grates must be attached to firm ground, not only grates.

Grates can be linked to a [[lever]] to temporarily make the grate disappear. Liquids can pass through grates in either state, so this is only useful for solid objects (E.g. dwarves).

== Compared to Bars ==

Floor grates and wall grates are much like [[floor bars]] and [[vertical bars]]. Are they different? [http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=001394 Toady writes]:

<blockquote>
I don't think there's a meaningful distinction at this time [10/31/2007] (perhaps the grate does have that extra step to make the item). Later, I imagine larger items will fall through bars, and only small items will go through grates. Grates might also stop most vermin. Perhaps even small units could go through bars.
</blockquote>

[[Category:Furniture]]

40d Talk:Aquifer

2007-11-01T22:27:55Z

Keturn: notes from nov1 version