Gnomoria (graphical DF-Less-Lite-Than-Towns-Like)

Hmm! I think I am at about 40 gnomes already, that might be why the immigration has slowed down. I did get 4 in the latest party, but prior to that I was getting 10-12 each time, so it might be a result of hitting that soft-cap, and/or basically reaching the max population for the overall value of my kingdom. I'm mostly fine with this population as I'm not being very ambitious about building or mining anyway. Basically the Gnomoria equivalent of turtling.

Though in the interval since that post, I've encountered my first mants (pfft, cakewalk) and the goblins have started showing up with bronze gear instead of copper. Which tells me that it's past time to delve deeper and more greedily to hit the next tier of metal so I can start upgrading my bronze gear. At the rate the goblins are showing up, bronze will be the new copper in no time - even my reserve militia squads are getting tricked out in the same gear my crack team of elite commandos is using. It's time to put our top men on this project. Top... men.

I lost my first game today. The Doomed Lands have fallen.

Massive repeated raids from Mants were the cause. A battle against 12 of them whittled down my defense force to only a handful of soldiers left. Then came the main invasion force of SIXTEEN FRIGGIN' MANTS. Even with traps set everywhere, we didn't stand a chance. They wiped out the remaining 30 gnomes and all my yaks, emus and everything else. The gnomish relatives will never know what happened to their loved ones as the sands of time fill in what was a once-proud kingdom of gnomes worth over 100,000. Let us have a moment of silence in their honor.

By the way I defer to Meserach at this point for knowledge. I had forgotten about that soft-cap and am longer fit to wear the elite Gnomoria crown whilst others have surpassed me so readily in Gnomoria experience. For me the game has been shelved for a while as I play a bunch of other things, though I'll always come back to this at some point. I think I'm waiting for a couple more updates that perhaps put in a bit more balance for sustaining a kingdom as opposed to the inevitable downfall against Mants.

After a break from Gnomoria I went back to tinker around and see what's been added.

For my first game back I disabled mants and gollems so I wouldn't hit a mantpocalypse. Instead zombies happened. I killed the zombie but she took down two or three gnomes. I was about to seal off the mines to curb attacks from the deep but my recently deceased jumped back up a minute later! With my most powerful gnomes dead and still wearing their armor they fucked up everyone. I guess I learned a lesson -- station guards at the mine entrance and make sure it's hella far from your town. Next time I'll just sacrifice a guard and seal everyone in the mine and mumble to myself this isn't a mine... it's a tomb!

Oddly enough I've never had a zombie outbreak. The virus animates any corpses that were infected with it in life, right?

BTW, if you update the game to a later version, I assume you have to start a new game to get the new features?

Yup!

Actually, no; the dev's been incredibly good about ensuring backwards compatibility.

Oh, cool. I haven't visited the hardy natives of The Venomous Twilight in probably a month or more, so I'll have to download the latest version and fire it up over the weekend to see what's new.

YESSSSSS

Well my latest foray into Goblin Fighting ended in total disaster. In Summer of the Fourth Year a large goblin force snuck through my one semi well defended entrance and killed 49 gnomes and 11 yaks in 4 minutes. At least 2/3 of the enemy force bled to death following the battle (I know this because my last gnome fell in a hole and was unreachable, though she promptly died of thirst). I was playing with the only enemies set to goblins and animals so I could focus on killing weird colored two-headed ogres and making them into wallets.

I managed two screens of the aftermath.

Gnomocaust-- pictured is the slaughter of wounded gnomes in the hospital by a Named Goblin (it was something like Shitface the Walking Genocide):


Poor Zindandle, last remaining gnome, must have been too scared and shaken to drink from the puddle she dehydrated to death in:


E: that pile of armor in the corner is due to a bug that keeps you from using, selling, or melting down any armor goblins leave on the ground in the corners of the map. It was a large part of my downfall, since armor is now a major factor in deciding enemy strength.

I love this game but there's a change I really, REALLY wish they would make is an overall population spreadsheet so I can sort them, or at least look at all of them, without having to click each individually.

Also drawbridges.

This program allows you to sort gnomes via skill in spreadsheet type layouts.

As far as drawbridges, I think a feasible alternative is using hatches and mechanical doors, which can't be broken or forced open, as far a I know, though it takes a lot of time tinkering (doing research) to get those items. I've usually been wiped by that time unless I completely wall myself in, which is no fun!

Yup. I once had my entire five man military wiped out by one Mant scout who was then slaughtered by two goblins who murdered the rest of the town.

But thanks for the program, kick ass.

Otterloop I just turn off mants now in the advanced game creation settings. The only thing that makes them not miserable fuck-you-in-all-your-holes game breakers is walling yourself in and watching them slaughter goblins. I really hate goblins and will never wall myself in cuz how am I gonna kill 'em all if they can't get in? But then mants. So I turn 'em off. You still get a challenge with zombies and beetles fucking up your miners and platoons of two-headed ogres tanking incredible amounts of damage. The alpha is finally getting to the stage where Robobob is starting to fiddle with difficulty and item worth so hopefully mant armies won't mean insta-death.

Shake, I wall myself in by digging down a layer and expanding that out and making sure I have one path in and out. Usually with my back to a mountain so they can excavate.

I love the Gnomeextractor, now is there a sort of Gnome Mayor so you can see a break down of what jobs aren't being done and why? Or a Gnome Foreman so the metals and coal will be extracted automatically instead of having to track down and click all of them/.

I just looked that kinda stuff up a few days ago. This thread on the Gnomoria forum has a program that will "explore" all the ore on the map so you can see it without having mined an adjacent wall but that's too close to cheating for me. The other functions are even worse in regard to being a cheat. As much as the new item building system requires micromanaging, mining once you hit large caverns is still the largest pain in the ass for me.

As far as jobs go... there is no good method for checking on why they aren't being completed aside from manually verifying all the parts needed have been built or that there are no obstacles for completion. It becomes harder to manage the more gnomes you have -- more gnomes aren't always for the best. I only recently came to that conclusion and am now trying to make my kingdom run as smoothly as possible with under 20 gnomes and start stockpiling materials before I accept new gnomes. The immigrants I reject are made into squads put on guard duty without armor or weapons in The Goblin Zone and are quickly dispatched by those green shitbags.

pssst Otterloop

I think that is cheating too Shake. I wouldn't mind an in game item that does the same thing though!
I've had the problem with too many Gnomes, I usually start the game over if it gets too big because I'm frustrated.

The best solution would be to have to attract a Gnome Foreman with a nice enough room and high enough value that will ensure that all prerequisite items get built if you order an item built. That'd be a nice mid-level goal to shoot for I think.
And of course, my Gnome Mayor idea, click on him and he tells you who can't do their job and why.

Actually the best idea would be a tiered "Spore-like" system with different set of things to control as you rise up from a settlement to a city to a state to a country to a continent to a planet but I think that's a little outside the scope.

Yeah, the Foreman idea sounds like the advisers in Sim City. I think that kind of stuff might be out of reach for the single man dev team but it would be quite nice. A Mayor who improves overall workgnomeship and efficiency seems doable though. Good ideas. You should share them on the Gnomoria forum!

The Spore-type stuff does seem a bit out of scope for this kind of development and game.

My suggestion is to turn on level-only sight (E I think), and then build floors over caverns using whatever closest raw stone there is. Remove all ramps on that level that take you into a cavern above you to prevent enemy spawns from coming down. If you're systematic about it, you'll have a pretty solid attack-proof system as you keep building below your floored off cavern.

Wall off any caverns you've finished mining, as well.

Usually I don't go through caverns, I wall them off after seeing exposed ore, then I dig straight toward the ore and only the ore, then wall off the tunnel.

After two years of fighting their sworn enemies, the goblins of The Fishy Kingdom, the real menace emerges: too many fuckin' gnomes! They just don't stop coming! Sometimes 20 at a time! The old established gnomes have their eyes set on finalizing the Bone Fortress (it's, uh, made of bones), which doesn't really have room for 60 gnomes and the farmland needed to feed them. After a year of using them as meat shields a new, more merciless and efficient method emerges.


They have water and apples so they don't starve or dehydrate. I have another method in mind for their disposal.
Is it effective?

And in the cleanup I get a bonus (briefly mentioned in the bottom of the last image)!


The most badass gnome with the most badass hammer -- The Starving of Pisses

60 gnomes? Did he increase the soft cap?

Yeah. I don't know what the limit is but it's a pain in the ass to deal with 60 gnomes. The most I've had at once is 62 with 21 immigrating in the last wave. After that I went on my campaign to try and curb newcomers.

He did, indeed, change all the formulae for calculating kingdom worth and gnome immigration based on it.

I don't know what changes the last update made but suddenly very few gnomes are arriving, at one point I got a notice that "0 gnomads" had arrived, and the waves of goblins still keep coming until they whittle my kingdom down to zero. Very frustrating.

As Mererach said, the way kingdom worth is calculated has changed. The quickest way to attract gnomes is with more or better armor and weaponry. Otherwise, a dining room set as great hall filled with well crafted statues, etc, and nice bedrooms or dormitories (not make of dirt) work pretty well for me.

Even before I get to the metal levels, let alone crafting metal things, I'm getting hit by two armed goblins at a time. I just no longer have time to set up my food network.

I make things a little easier on myself by disabling most enemies and making the enemies a little weaker in the advanced game setup options. Difficulty in the game is far from being balanced at this point so don't feel bad tweaking the options to make the enemies a little easier.

I've been playing this a few days, and generally enjoying it, but ran into the same problem twice. A gnome will aggro a bear, and then start ping-ponging back and forth between the bear and the bandage stockpile, and fight until he or she dies. Then my military forces will sally forth to defend the gnome, and again start ping-ponging as well until a few of them die, and the bear bleeds to death. I've tried things like managing the military by deselecting "defend gnomes," and clicking "avoid enemies" when I see a bear, but once the pattern has started, I can't figure out how to stop it. I realize deaths are part of the game, but it's frustrating when the deaths are due to gnomes poking a bear.

Any recommendations?

I haven't played in a while and the interface has likely changed, but are you setting up at least one military squad with the 'Respond to Attack Orders' setting and then clicking Attack on the bear? The squad should all attack at once rather than piecemeal. They also may just need better arms and armor; IIRC bears were pretty tough and could do a lot of damage early in the game if you're only wearing copper.

Your troops should only be going to the bandage stockpile if they're injured, and even then, only if they have "retreat if bleeding" ticked on their Military ---> Position orders. Generally you do want to keep that ticked, since it's a good idea for a gnome to attempt retreat to heal up if it is possible. However, in the early going, you might not have enough well-armored troops to provide cover while an injured gnome retreats, so you could try unticking it. Alternatively, include more gnomes in your military such that if people do have to retreat when injured, other military gnomes will prevent the bear giving chase.

Since your armor and weapons in the early game are terrible, it is best to use overwhelming force against invaders. Initially, I recommend getting five gnomes in your main military (pick ones from your first immigration wave with high Axe/Hammer/Sword skills) and another five with reasonably high "FIghting" skill to be your emergency militia. You'll want to have set up by Day 1 of Summer in the first year, after the first Gnomads arrive. If you don't have weapons for them (and you probably won't by that point), assign them to positions with the "Way of the Gnome" perk, so they'll do better in unarmed combat.

It is a good idea to induct ALL your gnomes into military squads, even if you don't want them fighting:

• Gnomes you want to keep out of combat should be assigned to squads with a formation with "avoid enemies" ticked. Give their positions the "militia" perk so they can still work, and the squad formation the "Keep Your Eyes Open" perk.
• Gnomes you want to call up to fight in emergencies should be assigned to squads with "Perform attack orders" ticked. Don't give these guys weapons in their uniform. Give their positions the "militia" perk so they can still work, but swap it to "Way of the Gnome" if you're pressed in an emergency (just remember to swap it back later so they can do jobs again). Give their squad formation the "Keep Your Eyes Open" perk too.
• Gnomes with your best available arms and armor should be assigned to squads with "Perform attack orders" and "defend gnomes" ticked. In the early going when they don't yet have weapons, give their positions the "Way of the Gnome" perk. Switch this later when you have weapons (I recommend "Guard" if you feel squishy and have shields for them). Accordingly these guys won't work at all, but that is fine - assign their squad to a training ground (or if you haven't built one yet, assign them to a guard area). Once they have weapons and/or shields, give their squad the "Shield Wall" or "The Best Defence" perk - until then, "Keep Your Eyes Open" for them too.

I have around one-quarter of my population at any given time as full-time military, doing nothing but eat, sleep, train and fight.

Ok, having written this post a few times, I think I can solve the problem. 1. Everyone except the standing army is set to avoid enemies. 2. The standing army is set to perform attack orders (I think defend gnomes might get them into fights I don't necessarily want). and 3. Overwhelming force in all cases, which probably means expanding my military a bit.

Really wish there was a "stand down" option for when gnomes start a fight I don't care about.

How does the ogre live? It won't be alive for much longer, but how did it even survive long enough to sustain these kind of injuries? Calling ogres tanks is an understatement.

It's just a flesh wound! Come here, I will bite your kneecaps off!

Been playing this again lately. I have not bothered to update, I'm still playing the release that is two releases behind current, because many of the changes did not sound fun to me and I already had an established kingdom I wanted to play out.

On what level down does IRON start appearing? I've got about 40 gnomes, with two military squads in all bronze and all my workers wearing copper helms/BPs and leather everything else. Goblins in bronze have started to appear, so I feel I should be moving to iron ASAP. I've mined to level 20, but have yet to find any iron.

I'm just walled in at the surface, with the occasional one block hole punched out when merchants and gnomads arrive or to take out roving goblin bands when they appear. I think I may want to start building a real surface fortress though, one with traps and elevated walkways for gnome archers to plink away from.

At least level -50, and quite possibly not in serious amounts until -70 or so. Although it does vary based on the precise map settings (and a certain amount of sheer randomness).

Holy crap, I need to delve deeper then. I'll probably just drive a shaft of alternating stairways down 30 levels to 50.

Once you are down that deep do you need to put food/beds/etc. down there for the miners? It seems like gnomes would get hungry and tired just walking down 50 flights of stiars and be pretty useless once they reached bottom.

This can be helpful, yes. Although better food (sandwiches are the best available) and better drink (beer) keeps gnomes satiated for longer, and the more fancy stuff in a gnome's private bedroom, the less frequently they need to sleep in it.

How the hell do you get enough copper weapons and armor early to defend yourself? Just dig twenty levels down and don't worry about darkness spawns? I get murdered by attacking goblins like clockwork in the first couple of days of summer.

Things may have changed in the more recent patches, but my answer to this is: you don't. Using your own mined copper on copper weapons and armor is a waste.

Instead, win early tussles with attacking goblins with unarmed gnomes in overwhelming force. Your entire population if you have to: makes sure they're set to the Way of the Gnome promotion.

How many goblins are you getting, anyway? And wearing what?

Honestly I find the combat situation to be the weakness in the game and I'm currently playing on peaceful mode. It's also possible to play with reduce enemy strength, number, and variety.

Even in previous fortresses where I did play with enemies I frequently just created a walled enclosure with "gnomelocks" using mechanical walls that I could set up to only allow armed squads to leave or gnomads to enter.

I was trying the I-guess-foolish of having 2 or 3 dudes with armor and weapons attack the one or two attacking goblins who have maybe one weapon. You know, what you'd expect to work!

I'll try dogpiling them instead.