User:Albedo

Okay, going to use this page as a log for my latest fortress. Which, with luck, will be the first of 5 I take to the end, without some fatal n00b oversight early, either by selecting a world without any challenges (no goblins) or traders (not even other dwarves) or without adequate resources (no flux, very little metal of any type), or just bad luck - namely, landing too close to waaay too much fun (for a beginner, anyway).

Edit - first of 6 now. This last effort locked up and would not load. Bonus. Try again, same map... I'll keep (some of) the prev comments in italics for comparison.

Edit again - make that first of 7. In my frustration, I embarked off-target, and missed the HFS block. Um... yeah...

I tend to micromanage, and don't play marathons each day, and don't have a powerful PC that can crank through dwarf-seasons in a few minutes - and what this means is that this will go slowly, compared to some others.

And so it begins... (pre-embark)

The site

The chosen site is 6x6, with sand over flux (chalk) in 4 of the northernmost tiles, and a savage good biome on 3 of the western most - the two southern most, and 1 extreme NW'ern - trees in these 7 blocks are scarce, at best. It's almost flat, but mostly obsidian (treeless). Magma Pipe just off center to NE, long UG river across the southern half of the map, brook across the northern half near the sand. In lower layers we have more obsidian, some granite (nice!), some gabbro (also nice!) and a lot of diorite (yawn.)

Starting Seven

Screened my original seven slightly, tossing out the first couple groups - no cat lovers, no real slackers, no serious over-indulgers or quitters. Very slightly diff than before, switching armor/weapon, and bumping the leather skill by 1.

The party now consists of the following:

• Catten Shelretthob - Leader/Security/Outdoorsdwarf: Ambush 6, Axe 6, Armor User 10, Appraise 6, Judge of Intent 6, Architect 6 (black bronze is not nearly as good as aluminum)
• Sazir Zonluk - Miner 10/Siege Engineer 10
• Stinthad Muthkatlensham - Mason 10/Stone Crafter 10
• Sazir Zonluk - Weaponsmith 10/Leatherworker 9 /Armor User 6 (likes steel, and tower-caps - will be our carpenter)
• Tirist Bufutmeng - Armoursmith 10/Cook 10 (also likes steel!)
• Vucar Zulbanthosbut - Mechanic 10/Brewer 10 (
• Ushat Lokumning - Gemsetter 10/Grower 10 (likes pigtail plants... meh.)

(Gone but not forgotten - previous leader Domas "don't call him 'Dumb-ass'" Shakethmomuz (aka dumbass shakethemuthuz) - Leader (liked dogs, and aluminum - would have been a dabbling metalsmith)

Great name, good preferences. Will be missed.)

(Any other personal preferences/likes are, well, pretty much dull and pointless. Squares. Trumpets. Siliceous ooze. Yay.)

(These skill mixes were chosen with an eye to several factors, including future possible moods, time-demands of skills, and when the skill would be needed in the fortress (sooner or later). I'm not perfectly happy with the mason/stonecraft combo, but for me, for my priorities and gamestyle, I like this mix far better than other, more conventional choices.)

The Leader/axedwarf will add in unskilled woodcutter, herbalist and animal trainer, and cover all the outdoor duties with a few wardogs in tow (until they're assigned elsewhere). The miner will do nothing else but mine, all hauling turned off until they're legendary (before Summmer mining in soil), and will be some early reserve military with those attributes. Almost everyone else will be furnace operators, to cover than as it comes up, and almost everyone except the cook will be a butcher/tanner, to cover those duties asap before anything rots (the cook will cook what's butchered, oddly enough). The Weaponsmith/Lthrwrkr will add Carpenter, and cover those duties as well for now - gotta make sure they maintain "Weaponsmith" as a profession, for any mood.

The mason/stonecrafter will have their hands full at first, and I know I'll sometimes wish they were two separate dwarfs (been there before with this mix), but after a few caravans stonecrafts will only take a few weeks out of the year, and at some point a mood will create a legendary one while this concentrates on mason. The Gemsetter is a long plan - personal pref.

In the wagon

Provisions chosen include:

(final numbers somewhat variable, depending on availabilities)

• 1 anvil
• 1 copper pick
• 4 dogs (not wardogs, just "dogs")
• 2 cats (to intentionally breed for leather, meat & bones)
• 1 each of every available fish/meat that costs 8 or less
• 11 turtle
• 2 cave lobster
• 11 plump helmet
• 49 alcohol

• 6 wine (first to make, and no one's favorite)
• 11 ale
• 2x 16 each beer & rum (of the 7 dwarves, 3 favor rum, 2 favor beer)

• 6 seeds for quarry bushes
• 4 seeds for plump helmets (more after they're eaten), cave wheat, pig tails & sweet pods
• 2 seeds for dimple cups
• 4 bauxite (there's sedimentary, but just in case, and for immediate fire-safe builds)
• 0/10 bituminous coal (not available - dammit!)
• 1 copper nugget
• 6 tetrahedrite (copper & silver)
• 3 cassiterite (to make bronze with the copper)
• 2 bismuthinite (for bismuth bronze, & for moods)
• 3 galena (for the silver)
• 5 wood (w/ 3 more from wagon)
• 4 leather (for a few quick bags for plant gathering/etc)

I intend to make my own axe for woodcutting and defense, out of bronze, plus a second pick. Bronze is about one third better in combat than copper and actually takes less fuel (2 bars:1 fuel!). Bismuth bronze I'll keep for moods, just in case. (I considered Sphalerite, for zinc, but none is available, so that decision is made for me.)

Strike the Earth! (mark III)

Day 1

01.01.01

"...ere the wolves get hungry. A new chapter of dwarven history begins at this place, Ferbomrek, "Beastwhips"...

Wow - a name with real balls. Maybe 3's the charm...

I've learned a trick or three, and landed centered right in the middle of where I want to dig, the northern sands - this will go much better than before.

I look (again) for the perfect spot to begin digging, my entrance for now, until I stabilize and then migrate back to the locale of the pipe. In the brook bed I can see obsidian and rhyolite alternating - large clusters, most probably, by their location on the map blocks. I try to take an educated guess to their exact extent of the low-value stone (a 20x40 oval, so not that hard), choose an entry point, and mark out some preliminary mining operations.

Here we go... again...

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I order the wagon deconstructed for the wood, mark the sites for a wood burner and smelter, but since the wagon landed only 15 tiles from the back door (only entrance for now) and there's no UG storage excavated yet, I send 4 off across the map to gather plants - get that program going early for a change. (The Weaponsmith/Cook gets designated "Carpenter", on the theory they'll have some amount of spare time on their hands.) There's nothing but camels and horses to worry about for now.

A white sand, obsidian, and alunite jumble. Not going for value or permanence right now, so sand is fine for everything but the dining hall, which I want as impressive as possible - center it there, where I can see obsidian on the surface, and see what we get around it...

1st week

A respectable kitchen/storage area about 6x12 carved out, inc. six 4-tile UG farm plots, now being planted w/ PH's, sweet pods and q-bushes. The plant gatherers have scored varying successes, and as they come back I put them to work hauling. Charcoal and bronze are ready and forge is being built. Four 3x4 workshop areas carved out, waiting for an occupant. Dwarves are balking at bringing food downstairs - something's off.

2nd Week

Day 14

Kitchen up and 2 lavish meals prepared, freeing 8 barrels. Whipvine, wild strawbs, and prickle berry all brewed in brewery and seeds planted. Also hide root, which I'm not overly excited about, but... Plump helmets, Sweet pods and Quarry bushes planted UG. Dining hall excavation begun. One schmuck still can't find a shrub to save his beard.

Forge, leather shop, mason, mechanics all finished w/ orders waiting.

Giant Eagle on the map, too, but on the other side of everything. If it doesn't bother me, I won't bother it... for now...

Herds of horses and camels, but two-humped, which doesn't help my one-humped mare.

2nd month - end of the beginning

01.02.01 Mining progresses, 2nd level workshops & storage just begun. Mason and mechanic have been busy, first defensive trap and hatches are up. 2nd miner is in training on sand for UG Towercap cavern. Many area blocks to clear for that, time to get started.

All perishable items are safe UG. Expanding 2nd level for carcass stockpile/butcher/tanner/leather combo (under kitchen), additional mason/stonecraft shops to process all the stone, plant storage under the still/kitchen, and prepared meals under the dining hall.

01.02.14 Those who aren't asleep in the dirt where they were working are just waking up - that's ok for now. Have made some good meals, will have 5 beds ready for next cycle. About 500 tiles of UG towercap cavern carved out, doors & mechanisms ordered to be placed for flooding. Miner just made Master (17) and is diving into 2nd level excavation.

01.02.20 Master miner begins system for magma forges, just over 40 tiles long; we lock him in to help him concentrate.

22nd - He's done digging, but spends another full day smoothing and carving fortifications - might be superstitious, but it's going to happen anyway.

Month 2 - end of the beginning

Not much of interest - carving workshops and halls, finalizing storage, placing furniture. Barrier wall is just a shield facing the direction of the fire imps, but it's ~30 tiles wide. Exposed iron vein about 50 tiles away that is calling.

01.02.28 accounting

As Slate, month #2, comes to an end, we enter stage two, and take stock of achievements, landmarks and goals...

• 5 dwarves are "quite content", with 1 ecstatic, and 1 "just fine".
• Miner has just made High Master skill level, 2nd miner (Armourer/Cook) retired at Proficient.
• Buildings: Carpenter, Mechanic, Kitchen, Still, Butcher, Tanner, Leather, 2 magma smelters, 1 magma forge, Bowyer (just because the location was carved out and I had an idle dwarf). All constructed w/ obsidian blocks.
• Temp buildings placed - two Mason's workshops, kennel
• Dining Hall (3x3 for now), 2 tables, 2 chairs, 2 statues (all obsidian).
• Excavated: 7x7 plant storage, 7x7 barracks (w/ 5 beds!), 18 x 3 entry hall w/ 90 degree turn, 6 4-tile UG farm plots, 5 4-5 tile AG farm plots, barrel storage, plus ~700 tiles for Towercap farm (no flooding yet).
• ~40/130 perimeter wall completed
• 4 wardogs trained and attached to leader/outdoorsdwarf
• Created Wealth: just over 14,000 (almost twice last run at this point)

Created wealth is only accidental so far, mostly from architecture.

Time to get wealthy. Exploratory mining, steel armor, statues. Tap the UG river and flood the TC caverns.

Month 3 - the machine starts

Sent miner to find the underground river, shown on the rough map - 4 shafts spaced 12 tiles apart along that area block boundary, and nailed it on the second try! (Long sucker, too - 3 1/2 pages of unpleasantness, including 5 cave crocs.) Now, to set up some flood control, irrigate that area and get all that started... (Found some kimberlite, to explore later). Forges started on the iron that is just coming in. Some copper too, but obv much lower priority.

01.03.10 That was fast - too fast. The exposed vein was badly eroded - just over 40 ore, and that's at a 98% recovery rate. Weak.

Start drilling exploratory shafts in the chalk, on a grid 6 tiles apart, and also 6 deep - as deep as the chalk goes. Nothing but white - then SCORE! 6th chalk shaft, bituminous coal. And close to the forges, or close enough. And so my miner decides it's time to go drinking. Well, we found it, so we gear up for pig iron and steel production. No way charcoal was going to cut it in this desert.

Area around and above forges is clear of debris and ready for stockpiles of ores & flux.

Edit - while expanding access tunnels to the coal, found 5 native aluminum. Swank! Now, to shuffle those into the workshops where they can be forced onto the appropriate production lines...

End of Spring summmary

01.03.28

• Dwarves vary from ecstatic to "just fine".
• Miner is Grand Master rank, 3rd miner didn't get off the ground this season. Bah, wanted some improved attributes for this next push.
• Buildings: Added a Craftshop next to a Trade Depot, and a more permanent and handy mason's shop (yes, the 3rd). Total of 5 magma smelters surrounding the magma forge (half will support a second once I get it), plus 2 more waiting for obsidian blocks.
• ~95/130 perimeter wall completed; (doesn't look like it'll get finished before caravan arrival.)

• ~100 drink (8 varieties!), ~60 food, not including the most valuable (forbidden for now) - this is better than when we landed.

• Created Wealth: just over 25,000 (half in architecture).

Mason is about to change to mugs, 100%. Remaining free labour will now be devoted to steel production, to impress the caravan.

Summer - month 4, Hematite

01.04.01 Time to get some wealth, gotta impress the merchants if we're going to grow.

Exploratory mining just started, planning to punch shafts down thru the center of each area block to see what's down there, layer by layer. Started first today after nap time... 5 of 7 down, inc. miner, mason, all strong/agile haulers.

01.04.15 - Pull the lever

A long delay while waiting for mechanisms - about 1000 tiles of cavern irrigated. No measuring system or safeguards, but not worried, it's separated from the main fortress by hard walls and an AG access, there water flow is small, and they can waddle to safety if things go overboard.

On the home front, my now-so-called-Adept Mason is not impressing me - lots of -well crafted- dreck for the merchants. Hope they bring a lot of ore stones with them.

01.04.20 Irrigation goes smoothly - now drying out, first saplings spotted already.

Month 5

01.05.01 I keep an eye on those imps - they'd have 30 tiles to the wall, and another dozen around it to the "compound". I'm thinkin' I'll wait until I get a kitten, set an ambush point. Camels, horses, a cougar, a giant eagle - not overly harsh, but enough to keep an eye out for.

A half-dozen sapling in the UG cavern - we'll see if that improves.

Not as chaotic as some games - everything seems proceeding steadily. 4 dwarfs on smelter/forge duty.

mid-summer

01.05.15 6 weeks until Fall. Several suits of plate (one exceptional!) and chain armor, couple greaves, couple leggings of varying quality. Only 2 aluminum have been moved - still hoping. Last of iron ore is moved, so maybe now...

~50k of armour puts me over 100k created wealth. So far.

01.05.17 2nd exceptional plate armour. Gotta love an armourer who loves steel. Nobody working - asleep, on break, drinking. My guys, I gotta love 'em.

Finally got the aluminum "dumped" into the Mason & Mech shops (which share a stair atm - not the original plan, and will wall that off.) We'll see what we get...

(Thought about saving 1 for moods, but it's early, and I can use the wealth more for now. We'll find more... I'm sure... how hard can it be?...)

01.05.25 Well, nothing exceptional, but Fine and Superior across the board.

GAH!

GAH! While worrying about unlocking those two, an enterprising lad decided to go collect copper - off by the vent. Zoomed over to him just in time to see him step out of the cloud of a point-blank fireblast - unscathed! By sheer luck, this was Tirist, my 2ndary miner, and so is Very Strong, Agile & Tough - attack! Altho' it squirms to the very edge of the vent, he strangles it - or something. And then another shows. However, he stuns this one, and it retreats - as does he! (Note - no more copper until we deal with this properly - war has been declared. Perhaps right after the Caravan.) We leave the corpse (and the dropped copper) there, for now, but will be back...

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(Below here is from previous attempt, aborted due to game lock - not Nemesis, oddly enough. No idea, wouldn't load.)

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Found several colorful but valueless stones immediately below the forge area, but several layers of olivine - and that means platinum, and my gabbro layers. And MUCH more exploration, but good to know.

I've previously sunk 2 exploratory shafts to the bottom, dead center in area blocks, one conveniently near my fortress, the other on the far side of the towercap excavation. Looks like maybe 6 layers of chalk, and 3 area blocks adjacent to the north - nice. With luck, I'll hit something coal-like sooner than later. Just as soon as my ace miner gets off break...

Struck petrified wood in my 3rd area block shaft - never actually seen that before. A completely meaningless change from generic colored rock.

Half way to fall and the caravan soon thereafter, and still a long way from high gear. One Craftshop over-full of mugs, built a second and third adjacent to the Trade Depot - not enough bins, not enough wood in this desert. Towercap cavern expanded to about 600+ tiles, but that'll have to be put on hold just as soon as we can get 'er in gear. Created worth is under 35k, but that's meaningless until we try.

01.05.15 Mid-summer

Low on food, under 20 - hope the crops come in soon, or I'll have to open up the expensive meat sooner than planned. With the last of the expedition plump helmets brewed, drink is holding at around 50 (tho' I suspect it's under rather than over.)

01.05.19 It's always something. Now everyone is asleep except for one drinking, every last one, and 1 without a bed - what're the odds?

01.05.22 Back on the horse, and everything's hummin'. 3 magma smelters operational and manned - er, dwarfed - producing iron and coke. Zan, the legendary+ miner, just hit Mighty/Extremely Agile - he'll be doing a lot of the coal hauling, I just have this feeling.

On another front, the 3rd miner-trainee, Atis, the Mechanic/Brewer, just hit bauxite in the 4th center-block exploratory mine, so we're covered for magma if and when. Been at Skilled Miner for a while, Very Agile/Very Tough, so about to hand the pick off to the next trainee and put those attributes to good use. And then he hit a magnetite pocket! It's about a 90 tile walk from the forges, but it's there when those few dozen hematite run out. (Gotta plan what I'm going to make with those I have... a quick selection of steel weapons, and then plate and chain armour for the value.) Atis, the one non-sleeper from earlier, now takes this opportunity to fall asleep in the shaft he's digging, simply because I locked him in there. I am not impressed with his dedication.

01.05.25 Bituninous vein was about 10 dozen. I had missed it by 1 tile with my 2nd shaft - meh, but I found it, that's what counts.

01.05.28 - month end

At minimum 1 month, but probably 5-6 weeks until caravan. While digging connecting tunnels to remove the coal, Zan struck aluminum - only 5 nuggets, but got 5/5. (Legendary Miners rule - I think he missed only 1 of the 10 dozen coal.) My mason has been crappy, turning out drek regularly - not sure I want to turn him loose on that, but I may have no choice - that's close to 20,000 in value if the statues are decent. And found Tetrahedrite toward the bottom of that other shaft - nice bonus - silver practice weapons guaranteed.

Now, if I only had two months to make use of all this that I'm now finding before the caravan assessment...

Oh, and no migrants this season. No surprise there.

Galena, month 6

A half-dozen towercap sprouts in the caverns. Hopefully more dense as time goes on.

01.06.14 Half way thru the month, maybe 3 weeks until caravan. Steel industry only just now hitting pace. Ordering first weapons made, 1 each steel axe, spear, and hammer, and an obsidian shortsword when mason is free. Let's see if we can't attract some military in the first migrant wave.

3 aluminum nuggets are in a lockable mason's workshop, and the mason claims to be Talented - let's see him live up to that. 3 aluminum stone statues, coming up.

About 2 weeks behind desired schedule. Hoping to have armour, weapons and those aluminum statues all covered and in hand, and working on details like gauntlets for the armour users and finishing the AG compound wall. Bleh.

Have widened the entry hall to allow passage of the wagons, and 3 staggered rows of stone traps (so cages can be added up front later without removing all of them!). They're enough, but all for now. Cages will come with trading, not enough wood to spare to build any. For now, 100% focus on wealth, weaponry, and some throw-away workshops to lure desirable migrants. Bowshop, loom and clothier, and jeweler's shop, specifically. Maybe a glass furnace if there's time, make some early glass pumps for training - but I'd bet against it.

☼01.06.15☼

HOLY SANDBAG! I take it all back. A ☼masterpiece aluminum statue☼, right out of the gate. First masterpiece on site, even with one workshop cluttered with mugs. After producing those trinkets, plus 3 dozen real pieces with almost nothing better than +fine+, where did that come from? 12,000 dorfbux - that helps. Maybe the curve will even out here.

01.06.17 And the next two were *superior*, at 4k each, plus a superior obsidian shortsword. That'll do. Now - get back to making mugs! Time is running short, I can feel it...

10 days before Autumn - fortress is becoming a machine, just hope it's not too late to impress the merchants. The 3 statues have now been installed in the now-Royal dining room, everyone is ecstatic (literally, 7 for 7!), and the other two aluminum nuggets moved to the lockable mason's shop (as opposed to the three temporary ones each in their own obsidian fields, ahem.) AG statue garden on the horizon.

01.06.21 Last week of summer. Two axes (to get a decent one, they'll both get used), one spear and an exceptional hammer, and now the armorer has taken over the forge, where they'll park for a while. 4th smelter built, and 3-4 smelters working full time to provide all the steel he can use.

Exceptional plate armour, and two more superior - 42k. See, that's what happens when you choose an armourer who likes steel. (What 'til he gets around to making steel gauntlets!) 125 k? pffft. Passed 133k created wealth, and haven't even started on chain mail. (Okay, an unexpected 35k in aluminum statues didn't hurt, aluminum being about 10x the value of obsidian.) Everyone's going on a drink break... and I'm okay with that.

End of Summer summary

Wow. The difference between prepping and producing has been huge. I'm having trouble grokking the final numbers, so I'll break them down at the bottom...

• 7 dwarves ecstatic.
• Old Buildings: Carpenter, Mechanic, Kitchen, Still, Butcher, Leather, Mason, Crafts, Kennels, Tanner, Magma Smelter (the first of several), Magma Forge, Craftdwarf.
• New Buildings: 3 additional Magma Smelters, Bowyer, Loom, Clothier, permanent Butcher w/ carcass air-lock, accessible Trade Depot
• Temporary: AG: Wood Burner & Smelter, mason, AG butcher, 2 extra mason's, 2 additional craftdwarfs.
• farmplots - no change
• 4 wardogs attached to Leader/Outdoorsman
• Dining Hall - "Royal", 5x5 wxcavated, seats 5, inc. "meager office" for broker.
• Wall - no changes
• 3 rows of stone traps
• Towercap farm: est 600 tiles excavated so far. 16 sprouts visible so far, plus some plants(!?). Not "dense", but hella denser than the desert above it.
• ~100 drink, 14 food, not including the most valuable (forbidden for now) - this is acceptable with the caravan on the horizon.
• Created Wealth: ...(wait for it)...almost 160,000 (32k in architecture, 33k in furniture, 42k (so far) in armour (a new category), 6k in weapons (likewise), 26k "displayed" (also new), 21k in "other".)

And yet, with all the delays, I can't help but think it coulda been a lot more. Meh, we'll see what the caravan thinks... I count on the second week in Fall...

Autumn, month 7

Decided that, for the next week or so, until the caravan arrives, after I finish 1 chain armor of +fine+ or better, that I would make nothing but plate mail for the created wealth, faster and more than 2x more/steel used than shields or helms or etc, and finish the rest of the full suits after they leave. That magnetite will provide around 700-750 iron - I think that'll hold me, if/when I find more coal.

2 sets of puppies born back to back on the 2nd (typical window for first puppy births - expect the next six months and a couple days from now), 6 total, a 40% total population increase, and a representing an eventual 55% increase in the future fighting force! Far more importantly, 4 are females, promising even more. They'll be caged once I buy a cage from the traders.

01.07.06 Armourer sleeping (and actually in a bed!). Now trying to top 200k in wealth before caravan arrives - will be tight.

This works on another level, tho' - allows me some breathing room to smelt up some bismuth bronze, and make the two chains I've been ignoring for a brace of guard dogs for my entrance. (Don't expect thieves until the caravan shows, at the earliest - but it's now past time to address that oversight.)

3 Kittens, with 2 female - more good luck!

Oho! Platinum vein in the magnetite! Might be too late to produce anything with it... we'll see...

And the miner goes to sleep. He was going to be my Might/Very Agile platinum hauler. Meh, gotta roll with the little stuff. He's asleep along with 5 others - now I'm out of beds again - not supposed to work this way, schedules shoulda been staggered by now. pffft. Scheduled a 6th and 7th bed, put them on suspend until after the caravan.