Bay 12 Games Forum

This post is just about my questions, feel free to ask any other military topics in this thread as well, maybe we can keep this forum nice and tidy.

So relativally speaking, im a DF vet. Started to play back in the ole 2D era and the upgrade to version D was a delight. I mastered the new Z axis and farming, and from there on out never lost a fort until I got bored of it and started a new one.

That being said, it pains me deeply to say this.

I am now a noob.

Ill start off by describing my first 2010 fort. After the inital confusion of the farms reverting back to its old irrigation methods and managing to survive, I had a nice little fort going on. Was getting used to all the stone mixes on the map, the new hospital system, and just trying to get a handle on things to come. This went on perfectly for the next few years. Then I had a goblin snatcher pop up.

This is where the fun begins.

I start to scramble, in the last version it was years after the first kobold thief popped up before any sort of gobbo invaded my space. I try to press V, then A to the victim of this snatching and give permission to fight back.

A isnt working.

WHY ISNT A WORKING?!?

I press M in a desperate attempt to mass recruit all nearby dwarfs but I am barraged by this new screen that made me initally think I started a trade with somebody instead. It is at this point I bless armok that the world ceases to funtion while im working through this menu, or else every single baby and child on my map would be gone possibly eaten and trained by gobos by now.

Finally I figure out how to start my dwarven defense. I recruit a squad and then sit back happilly knowing the gobbo will soon be eating the fist of the nearist military member.

Nothing happens.

The gobbo escapes.

I begrudginlly go the the wiki in hopes of learning this new system, but apparantlly the experts over there were initally caught off guard and confused as well. But I still managed to find out I need to issue an attack order.

So much for free will in this game.

Fast forward half a year or so and I get another hit. A snatcher has picked his newest attack target. One of my legendary miners! Im ecstatic thinking that im about to kill my first 2010 gobbo and hastily recruit this legend into a squad by himself and then issue the kill order. This time im sure hes going to dig the gobbos skull in. right?

He promptly throws his pickaxe to the ground and starts trying to fondle the goblin to death. Gobbo escapes, player clueless, damned dwarf gets his bedroom demoted. Turns out that I punished him for something I should have done.

Uniforms. Freaking uniforms. I run back to the wiki with my tail between his legs and start learning everything there is so far known about this new military.

I learn how to properlly assign uniforms. And how to work with the scedule. Hell, I even learn how to make an evacuation plan for my civvies.

So another year goes by. I have a squad "training". (Even though I assigned them wooden training swords initially, my arsenal dwarf was off staring at a cat and cheese wall engraving or something. So unless my dwarves were learning how to dodge goblins to death I was still a bit confused.) I was rather confident I could hold off anything until my dwarves trained to hold off a proper seige.

My questions were answered a few months later when I get ambushed by a group of 7 goblins. I knew at this point that I was going to lose a few dwarves. I was ok with this. I was not okay with the massacre that followed.

So, with my act of foresite I declared defcon 1 and sent my civvies to the burrows (Dining hall). I had my 6 or so dodge experts guard the one entrance into my fort.

They hit the attackers and I thought I was doing good with the blood going everywhere. You witty readers are probably jumping ahead of me here, but for good reason.

They floated through my defenses. Not sailed, not eased, but floated. and then they hit the stairs.

http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-2116-failambush

Notice how im mass recruiting all 70 of my dwarves to hopefully suffocate the 7 gobbos that are attacking? Notice how its not working?

Welp, time to start a new fort. Which is where im at now.

Story time over, questions here.

1. I have my squad finally equipped with training swords, why are they only doing dodging demonstrations?

2. They only do the demonstrations when the commander is there, so its 99% of them waiting for demonstration, and 1% failing at said demonstration. Is there no 1v1 sparring for training anymore?

3. It seems that my recruits while WAITING for eduamcation in the art of not dying, they get hungry and thirsty and only go satisfy their needs before death. This causes them to be very unhappy and in one case, I had my commander throw a tantrum, and then beserk, And then had to be killed by the very class he was demonstrating for. Can I fix this?

4. I know that you can set the min and max dwarves for a certain month at a time, but the dwarves taking time off seems to be random. Is there an option for a month of the schedule in which I can have the whole squad take a day off?

5. Main question here, is most of this stuff here im asking bugs? Or am I just incompetent?

Thank you for reading this and feel free to post any other military inquiries you have as well.

For as long as their have been dwarves their have been dwarven dreams. And in those dreams there have been the desire to possess the largest and grandest palace in the tallest mountain. Unfortunatlly earlier dwarves also have had these desires, and short of mass regicide, a modern dwarf nowadays has little chance to fufill his dreams.

But there is one thing that modern dwarves have that old style kings and queens do not.

Science.

There will always be taller mountains. And logically, the best place and way to find these mountains is to go "up". Shortsighted royalty may be happy with what they have now, but there are certain dwarves that will do whatever it takes to reach their dreams.

These dwarves have come together and created a fortress, dubbed "Clubhall", this fortress has one sole purpose. To realize the hopes and desires of all those who have looked into the sky wanting more.

But how will they do it? They cant climb the sky, and even if they could there would be no way of getting supplies to this fabled place.

Thats where their dwarven science comes in. Why do all the work when you have machines that can do the work for you? Perhaps you could build a vessle larger than any water bound ship, larger than any land bound wagon, and then make it fly

A bold claim to be sure, if it weren't for the stuborness in all dwarven kind such a project would be scoffed at and forgotten. but no, it is possible, it has to be possible.

But first, to build such a vessel, a fortress capable of handling such a vast vehicle must be constructed. And that is where we find ourselves now.



Obviously such a creation cannot start on the ground. If we want it to fly we must construct in the sky. Thus a platform will need to be built to handle the construction of this megaship



The first half is nearly complete, there will be two multiple story platforms parallel to each other and horse collared so the ship can be built inbetween.



With that, we start construction of the second platform. This beast-ship will be built on both sides to increase building efficiency. And if the worst should happen, the building facility will not be harmed in the chaos.



With both platforms complete, construction starts on a way to connect them as do they not hinder the building process. Not an easy task, and the slightest mistake could cause the farthest half of the construction platform to plummet to the base of the mountain.



At last, the Construction platform is completed. Any ship built under its care will sure be blessed on their maiden voyage. And with the dwarves traveling into the unknown, they will gladly receive all the luck they can get.

Construction of the vessel has not started yet, as the design process is far from complete. The ship will be able to hold 50 dwarves, and all be taken care of nicely. This ship will be at least 3 stories tall and house an engine bay, crew quarters, a proper helm and various other amenities that a crewman could ever need.

Will dreams become reality? How will Armok treat those that dare to trespass in the sky where no dwarf has attempted to go?

Only time will tell.

(Will update once ship is complete. May take a while though, so hold on to your seats.)

Ive had trouble with jailers in other fortress's too. They never seem to do anything justice wise and even though in the justice screen, I have a few dwarves that need to be punished, but they never are.

Something im forgetting to do? I have the cages set as "Use for justice". Anything else?

Funny, just after you replied I got invaded.

My walls worked PERFECTLY and the attackers were soon slaughtered by my marksdwarves patrolling the top.

However, they managed to get into my courtyard and I had to lock the doors. I have to see to building a lever to retract the main bridge.

Thanks guys, you are absolutely right. I should have spent more time looking for previous threads.

Sorry for wasting your time.

[ May 27, 2008: Message edited by: Saladan0 ]