Yes I know there are a ton of these. I'm sorry! Hey sports fans! My name is DreamingofRoses, but you can call me Rose. Or Dreaming. Or DoR. Or whatever floats your boat! :) It's nice to be here! I intended to introduce myself via a Morrowind with my favorite mods LP, but due to boredom and technical issues that's been put on hold. Anyways, I'm kind of a newb to DF, I mean I can set up a fortress and keep it running, but send some kobolds at it and tantrum spirals ahoy. So I'm putting myself to the test to see if I can learn to handle a fortress in hostile(ish) territory. I hope this is entertaining and somewhat informative for those of you who are interested in playing. Feel free to request to be "dwarfed", to give me advice, or to set me a challenge (I will accept and complete challenges given in the thread as long as they're achievable). Let's start with how I play my game. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most fantastic mod for DF ever: It is the Lazy Newb Pack. It can be found here and is SUCH a valuable tool. Not only does it simplify the different init file choices like whether or not you want aquifers and to allow invaders, but it also makes it easier to install graphics packs into DF and can update your save games with those image packs (my choice is Phoebus), it comes with pre-installed utilities/other mods and can be used to list all the different mods you have installed and also can set options for sound, for when to autosave and keeping track of the FPS. The GUI and the game are bundled together and installation is as simple as unzipping and extracting a file. One of the preinstalled mods is absolutely invaluable, but we'll get to that a little later. Next post-- World Generation, Embark, and "Which poor sods drew the short straws?"
In the beginning the world was created: (I would have made savagery higher and minerals scarcer, but I'm kind of a coward.) And it was good: And thus in the fifth year Onra Oru, The World of Forever, did see the embark of seven stupid intrepid souls from the Mountain Homes to the Euphoric Hills. (Did I mention I'm a coward? That's why I chose a site with good mineral occurance. Of course that blasted aquifer is going to end up flooding my fort eventually.) But who were these doomed heroes? Let us pause in our tale and greet them. The brave dwarfs of Zaneg Shorast, the Relics of Wire. And thus did these seven set out to found Cerolgovos, Lensleaves, for the glory of the Dwarves, Gods, and Monarch. Strike the Earth! Next post-- My First Fortress and Why I Love Mods.
Oh, I've heard lots of this game, but I can never be bothered to learn how to play it. I've heard of the stuff that can happen, though, the tantrum spirals and all. It sounds terribly amusing.
Welcome to your new home! .... It's freezing. EVERYTHING is coated in snow. Hrm. Freezing conditions, low supplies, a fort out in the middle of NOWHERE.... This couldn't end badly at all! Right? Anyways, the dwarves are set to work, since if they keep standing still they're going to freeze to death and the deforestation begins! Onul, our carpenter and resident woodcutter begins working like a demon while the two miners, Minkot and Mosus, begin delving into the earth. The farmers, Shorast L. (who will now be known as Shale 'cause two dwarves with the same name are going to mess me up) and Logem (our brave leader), begins gathering plants and two dwarves stand idle (THEY DON'T EVEN HELP WITH THE HAULING. Lazy jerks). Let's let them work while I show you the fantastic mod/utility/whatever you want to call it that will help any newbs to DF. This is Dwarf Therapist. A miracle for any DF player as it allows you edit the types of jobs that the dwarves do, making it really easy to assign mass jobs like plant gathering or mining if you have enough picks. It also shows you the skill level of each dwarf for each job. I have it set to glyph display, where the more lines there are, the more skilled that dwarf is in that job. When there's a solid 5 pointed star, that means the dwarf has legendary skill in that job. It also allows you to edit some of the information, like their nickname and profession name, as well as displaying their personality traits. All in all, I recommend it to anyone who plays, since it's an essential part of the way I play. Let's check back on our little guys and girls, shall we? Oh dear, nothing but silt anywhere you look. No rock as of yet so wood is going to be essential. But, we do have four farm plots by a water source (should it ever become necessary), a mason and carpenter work shop, a butchers, kitchen and still by the food stockpile and a craftdwarf's workshop. We even have a place hollowed out for refuse which will work just fine once I get a door in place. We also have a trade depot which is safe inside, but still accessable from the surface. I'm going to put in some fortifications (once I get stone!) on the surface and doors in the corridors leading to the craft areas and the kitchen/great hall. Here's an interesting trick I learned from the wiki: If you put a garbage dump (not a refuse stock pile but using the zone menu to designate a 1-square garbage dump) beside some of the workshops (in my case I put it between the mason's and the carpenter's) and designate wood and stone for dumping, you end up with a stockpile with infinite capacity for storage. Just make sure you reclaim your items, since after they're moved to the dump they're automatically forbidden. It makes space management a LOT easier, let me tell you, since if you get enough stone and wood, the stockpiles could take up hundreds of squares and there would still be unsightly stone EVERYWHERE. /Tangent. While channeling the dirt to make the trade depot a little more airy (the things I do to make the elves happy, I swear) it seems there were a couple of cave-ins and poor Onul caught the worst of it, and... well, just look. ... Please explain to me HOW there are clouds of boiling magma when we've been seeing nothing but silt... No, nevermind. It's dwarf physics. Anyways, it seems there was a slight altercation between Mosus and Onul, since Onul now has a grudge against the miner. Jeez, guys, you haven't even been there a month! Alright, now to dig out the living quarters in the second level, get the carpenter to start producing beds, barrels and buckets 'cause we're going to need that, and get the farmers planting food so we don't starve. Or eat. Eating's good too. -Sigh- Next Post-- The Second Level: Thank Armok the Water is Frozen.
So I'm starting on the 3rd level of my fortress, and what do I see? That's right! It's an aquifer! And so far all I've found is sand and silt. Not a stone in sight. This might be a really short-lived fortress even by my standards.
As spring departs and summer rolls around the dwarves find themselves with new bedrooms! And a couple of new workshops up top as well as functioning farms. My plant plan usually goes: plump helmets for food, pig tails for cloth, and eventually cave wheat to be milled when we have a quern or a functioning water mill. Of course, everyone's tired from all that digging, building, and tree-chopping so they take a nap. On top of the booze/food instead of their rooms. (I missed the little 'Z's that flicker over their icons when they're sleeping, but rest assured, they are ALL asleep.) I just imagine the seven of them like extremely drunken children: each cuddling up with their favorite booze barrel like a stuffed toy. Anyway, during the digging I tried for a fourth level, z-132 (the number's on the left border and referring to them as first, second and third layer is getting confusing), but alas, that is the aquifer layer. (See previous post.) Well, at least I have a well for the hospital area now. Something else I saw was that there's actual stone under the water. Not just any stone but marble! I's gonna have a swank fortress y'all. Unfortunately I'm going to have to figure out a way to get to it. Alright, I think I've got... an idea! (I really need to start a gif stash for times like this.) Essentially the aquifer layer is a layer of soil or clay or stone that produces water. If you smooth the stone, it stops producing water and becomes a regular wall. Unfortunately that won't work on z-level 132 since that is all clay. But maybe I can collapse a layer of dirt down through 133 (the z-layer # goes down as you get deeper) and it will block the water in 132 so I can dig through it and down to the marble layer which is not (I believe) an aquifer level. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! It didn't fall after everything was channeled out. Dorf physics strikes again, y'all. I guess the dirt/grass must be composed of some sort of gravity-defying element since NOTHING IS HOLDING IT UP. Maybe the reasons the dwarves don't talk is because everything they eat has a lot of helium in it, so their voices are so high-pitched that the average human being can't hear it. I need a dog to play this game around to confirm this theory. And we have migrants! Who have children! Who in their right mind would bring a child to this place? Awwwwww. Out lab rat Dwarf count is up to 12 now. I won't post the description of every single migrant unless y'all want me to, so feel free to weigh in. While everyone's getting settled I assign everyone who can to chopping down trees, gathering plants I go back to examine the place where I wanted to collapse the soil, and start channeling out a little more on the under layer. As I'm working on that summer turns to fall and then to winter (I left the game running without realizing it) and we get some more migrants! Seven to be exact. The count is up to 19 now, and the fortress is thriving! After they got settled, I went back and lo! and behold, I managed to get the cave-in I wanted. Although, I probably should have built a mechanism to collapse it instead of having Minkot dig at it. Fortunately everything is frozen, and Minkot is not immediately drowned. Unfortunately, he's stuck down there... Maybe I can get him to mine his way out in a different area. AND THE MARBLE LAYER IS ALSO AN AQUIFER. THIS COULD NOT BE BETTER! ... ... ... O-oh dear Nirmok. The miners are dead. I didn't even know Mosus was missing until I got the notification at the bottom of the screen. Rest in peace Mosus and Minkot, the rest will probably be joining you shortly. Sorry I can't bury you. Please don't come back as ghosts. Please don't come back as ghosts. Well, I guess now I focus on building the wealth of the fortress so when the traders come we actually have something to trade. BECAUSE THE MINERS GOT LOST WITH THEIR PICKAXES SO WE'RE SCREWED. Y'all. It hasn't even been a full year in-game since embark and 2/7 of the original party are dead. From a mining accident. I suck at Dwarf Fortress. Fortunately, there are 17 victims pioneers left. Lensleaves MUST endure. Next Post-- Traders and new miners (Hopefully) : What to do about that STUPID AQUIFER. PS: These are the stocks of Lensleaves at the end of the year: Nice and precise, huh? Logem's the bookkeeper, but also the expedition leader and VERY BUSY. (And currently lacking an office)
Alright guys, I'm just popping in here to say that this is my first LP, so advice is more than welcome, it is fully desired Some good advice on what you think of my writing, of what to take screenshots of, how to format them, and the best way to present them would be the most helpful atm.
