User:Albedo/GateScar

(...Linked from main user page...)

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, the hunt

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 a second one, but one'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 cheese from the dozen(!) milk I brought, and finished the 4-seat dining room, plus 2 extra chairs makes all the offices I need. Bookkeeping to high precision (max-1) finished. Also have dug 30 z-levels down, revealing the 1st cavern.

Somewhere in all this (not during the hunt), one dog lost a paw - some early encounter that I never saw. Well, that'll be the watch-dog chained to the entry (once I make time for a chain, which should be sooner than later).

Summer 250 - real politik

Tried to hit 50k created wealth for migrants, only made 47.2 - hope that's close enough.

Very calm for a savage biome, but have been keeping my nose down. No walls yet(!), but only a 1-tile entry w/ a hatch, and an underground Trade Depot with an entry that has a very limited line of sight - and several cage traps, just in case. The hippos and otters, some wild boars, a pride of lions that I was not prepared to trap, all came and went. Now giant parakeets.

Have decided to make this fortress about (at least) 2 things: 1) to explore the new political game, and 2) to grab some artifacts that no one else needs. There are a dozen tiny independent holdings, (size "< 10" and "~10"), within 2 days (some much closer), as a start, and more if I'm willing to march further. (Size 20 and 50 too, but that's later.)

To that end, am making bronze armor and trying to boost fortress worth, for more dwarf power and for more sacrificial emissaries for occupying new holdings.

Also there are 4 noticeable "alliances" nearby, large-ish clusters of allied holdings (size 20-1,000).

• The Bulbous Realm
• The Joyous Kingdom
• The Fresh Realm
• The Greatest Lions (elven)

The elves' capital city is a size 500 "fortress" less than a day's travel away. It holds a dozen artifacts and hundreds of books, clearly THE world center for such things. They are off to the east, and isolated, but they have 1 lone holding sitting near me. Hmmmm...

My own civilization is

The local necromancer's tower is listed as having a population "< 10" - I'm guessing they don't include undead in the census.

Week 1 - observations

Since I'm going in to this blind, I'm using saved games to test the waters, and take as many mulligans as I need to. No apologies, not going to re-start a new fortress each time I discover a new catastrophic blunder - and they'll come, no doubt. For example...

• Don't demand tribute from tiny, apparently isolated holdings of a large alliance. Unless you're looking for that particular war.

• Discovered that 2 unarmed and unarmored dwarves do not get much respect when demanding Tribute. Those same 2 dwarves, in bronze plate armor with steel weapons, find holdings much more agreeable to the concept. Interesting. Clearly it's the "strength" of the force that shows up, not the strength of the fortress that sends them.

• Also, 2 armed/armored dwarves seem to have a 100% success rate against Holdings of size "<10", while they are hit and miss against holdings size "~10". 3 equipped dwarves are batting 100% against size "~10".

• Tried to pull this off (in Spring) vs. the Necromancer - they came back empty handed, but a squad of undead showed up 1st day of Summer! (Obviously, I "erased" and rewrote that particular history line, ahem...)

• Time to conduct a raid (for Tribute, anyway) is greater than the travel time. Keeping rough track, will know more once have more data.

• Wiki states that you can dictate when the Tribute comes - but every Summer raid has resulted in "Winter Tribute", and earlier experimental Springs raids all resulted in "Autumn Tribute". Perhaps 2 seasons later is the default? Perhaps this can be changed after the 1st tribute caravan?

• Got a nearby size 50 elven holding that chose to become "economically linked" to me. But don't seem to be able to interact with it at all. Wiki seems to not be fully accurate re this, too.

• While looking for unclaimed artifacts (in holdings w/ no population - found 3 nearby so far, 1 real one and 2 more caches of books), found a couple snall "invisible" holdings, with no icon showing on the map.

• Un-equipped dwarves ~can~ recover uncontested artifacts (books, at least), but not always. Seems on occasion there is something there that challenges them, taking them prisoner. Or maybe it's a bug. More research needed.

• Dwarves that go on raids, even just unoccupied grab-and-go reclamation, return as "newly arrived", same as migrants, and take about a full dwarf-day to snap out of it and get back to work. Therefore, am making it a policy to have "full time" Raid teams, who are sent right back out the moment the full team returns. This seems to be working great, altho' on occasion one pushes in to the fortress for a drink or meal (no supplies are being carried - no leather for packs/water skins - need to correct that and observe.)

• Dwarf Therapist lists dwarves that have gone on a raid as belonging in the "migrant wave" according to when they last arrived from a raid. Annoying.

• Not able to re-assign noble positions while that dwarf is out on a Raid. Awkward that my broker is out, have no confirmation what anything is worth atm, among other headaches. To be rectified when they return in a couple days.

• Can't order any changes to Squads while your Militia Commander is out on a raid! Doh!