Bay 12 Games Forum

What I mean by that is, what things do you prioritize and in what order do you do them after embarking in your new area? what do you find is the most efficient way or order to do things so that the basic needs of the fortress are covered?

I understand it very likely doesn't matter so much what order you do things as you probably get it all under wraps by the time you're attacked or well before it.

I'm simply curious.

I do things in this order.

1. Dig out main hallway
2. 3x3 stairs spanning 8-12 z levels
3. Dig out area for farm and set it up
4. Dig out medium sized workshop rooms and set up the workshops
5. A few levels down dig out an area for the meeting hall, dormitory and food stockpile and set that all up.
6. Then I start attempting to dig out a huge area for my stockpiles. I think I make them too large.
7. Place 6-9 cage traps at the start of my main entrance.
8. Build a barracks near my dormitory and enlist a dwarf or two.
9. Dig down 5 or 6 levels and start carving out many small rooms for the new arrivals when they come.
10. Start digging for gems, ore and flux.

That's pretty much how I go about it.

What about you?

What I do is wait for my first and/or second migrant wave, turn off all work in the fort, make everyone a Mason and wall/roof up a small section of the cavern. Works best if you have traps/military ready or if you've explored the cavern a bit and know there aren't roaming predators waiting to snack on your dwarves while they seal off a small section of the cavern.

That's a great idea. I'm gonna try it on my next fortress.

Just out of pure curiosity.

By claim I mean make it safe to use as a tree farm etc.

If I walled off every entrance ( minus the entrance with a door from my stairwell ) to the large flat area of the cavern I'd like to use is it considered safe?

Can shit that will kill my dwarves still spawn in that sealed off area?

I had a forgotten beast spawn in my caves a few years back before I breached the cavern, is there still a chance one might spawn in my little area?

Thanks.

Eggs are one of my main sources of food along with plump helmets and whatever my hunter brings in.

I had 4 turkey hens and 1 gobbler. When the eggs I had in my box hatched I got like 20 babys. Had to slaughter the males because they started breeding even more when they grew into turkeys.

Quote from: UnexpectedSalad on January 15, 2012, 06:55:25 am

I've tryed most of the things listed there, a few have worked. But sadly my dreams of 140+ dwarfs are just that till I upgrade my PC.

Cheers though.

Just so you know, DF is single core. Anything more than that is a complete waste of resources if you're building it to play DF.

DF tends to lag alot anyway, regardless of your PC. Many forts are abandoned because the lag becomes too unbearable to play.

Thanks, I didn't know that. ( Building the PC for many other games however )

I will try some more of the things listed on the wiki again.

Quote from: UnexpectedSalad on January 15, 2012, 06:55:25 am

But sadly my dreams of 140+ dwarfs are just that till I upgrade my PC.

Cheers though.

You can try my mod, it was specially tailored to save FPS. If you dont like fighting just delete most of the creature_*.txt files ;p

Thanks. I'm downloading it now and gonna give it a try.