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).

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. The party consists of the following:

• Leader/Security/Outdoorsdwarf: Ambush 6, Axe 6, Armor User 10, Appraise 6, Judge of Intent 6, Architect 6
• Miner 10/Siege Engineer 10
• Mason 10/Stone Crafter 10
• Armorsmith 10/Leatherworker 8 /Armor User 7
• Weaponsmith 10/Cook 10
• Mechanic 10/Brewer 10
• Gemsetter 10/Grower 10

(These mixes were chosen with an eye to several factors, including future possible moods, time-demands of skills, and when the skill would be needed (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.)

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)

• 8 seeds for plump helmets & quarry bushes
• 4 seeds for 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
• 1 leather bag (for immediate seed gathering/storage)
• 3 leather (for a few more quick bags)

I intend to make my own axe for woodcutting and defense, out of bronze. Bronze is about one third better in combat than copper and actually takes less fuel (2 bars:1 fuel!). Bismuth bronze is more valuable than bronze for very little more effort and no more cost - and rare-ish, so I'll keep some for moods, just in case. (I considered Sphalerite, for zinc, but none is available, so that decision is made for me.)

Strike the Earth!

Day 1

01.01.01

(RL Day two - I started yesterday, but, predictably, the game crashed, unrecoverable. So, after re-genning the world and re-embarking, we start over... not auspicious...)

"...ere the beasts get hungry. A new chapter of dwarven history begins at this place, Dunatish, "RoughnessBars"..."

I am (once again) underwhelmed by the name. But you get what you get...

I wanted to dive into the northern sand (which is about 4x faster to dig, that much faster to train miners, and is where the flux is), and I land about 110 tiles south of there, on the other side of an open pipe with 4 fire imps plus a magma man. This will take some hauling...

I look for the exact 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.

I order the wagon deconstructed for the wood, mark the sites for a wood burner and smelter, and a stone stockpile to get my copper and cassiterite ore (for bronze) moved to where it will soon become an axe. Wood too. And establish a Restricted "no go" zone around the pipe - don't need to get anyone torched in the first few days. We'll need a wall asap. (The Weaponsmith/Cook gets designated "Carpenter", on the theory they'll have some amount of spare time on their hands.)

For now, a ramp down (will become 3 wide by Fall for the caravan), a hall (that will get trapped) about a dozen tiles long, a 90 degree turn to a hall half that (where dogs will be waiting, with military if necessary), and then open an area for immediate storage of everything - we'll sort it out as we go, but right now, underground!

A white sand, obsidian, and alunite jumble. Not going for value, not for 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...

Day 10

01.01.10

One and a half weeks - woodburner is operational with 2 charcoal scheduled (one for smelting ore, one for forging axe), and the smelter is being designed. Slow going - the long walk back and forth to the landing site delays everything. Dogs (and cats, and the horse, and the camel!) had all been nosing waaay too close to the magma, so I ordered an emergency mason shop built above ground, and had a table set up asap. No one has taken a break yet, and I've ordered only alcohol brought in for now, hoping to keep the drinkers all in one spot after their last hauling job, but we'll see...

Below ground, the mason has just achieved Adept skill (10 days, not too shabby). The entry hall is mostly 2-tiles wide for better traffic flow, there are 3 empty 3x4 stalls (earmarked for carpentry, bowyer and mechanic, all near the entrance) and the first exploratory excavation of the kitchen areas has begun. Guessing soil/stone boundaries from the surface has been fairly accurate, and helped with the overall planning. The 6x7 Dining Hall has been designated within the pocket of obsidian, so I'll wait for a bit more skill in my miner before diving in there, to get the most out of that stone. First, farm plots...

Hmmm... was checking on animals, which had not yet all congregated around the table, and found there's a dead fire imp. Torn to pieces (5 by my count), strewn near the exposed pipe. And... yep. One of the dogs has a wound, a light grey front leg... <squints> ... I hope that's light grey... (never can tell...)

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... So the question is... do I want that fire imp carcass?... and the answer is... hell yes. But not quite yet - there's time before the season changes and wipes it clean, if I remember... need that wall up...

Day 17 - Strike the Keg!

01.01.17

6 of my 7 dwarfs are hitting the bottle, so it's time to take stock of where we are. In good shape, I think. Farm area is carved out, kitchen area (kitchen, still, farmer's workshop, storage, UG & AG farm plots, & inter-access) is laid out and miner was about to start on Dining Hall when this smoko struck (miner is long past Expert, Professional can't be far). 2 bronze bars waiting, temporary (conventionally fueled) forge is laid out with fuel waiting, will get built as soon as mass parch is quenched, and then the axe (finally!) gets made. MUCH later than projected, but the other 3 imps have calmed down, after threatening (within 20 tiles!) of AG work/entry area. <Ending day 2 of play, several hours scattered> Have moved 9 barrels, 5 of 6 seedbags, 3 leather, and the leather armor, crossbow & bolts UG. About a dozen ore to AG area. Still have about 3 dozen(!?) barrels waiting, plus a very few ore and wood - 1/3 done? At 110 tiles away, knew it would be a slow bitch.

(day 2 ended, several scattered hours throughout the day)