Bay 12 Games Forum

Can't you just hook the pressure plate up to a drawbridge instead of a floodgate?  Set for 5/7, it should shut the water off before the reservoir is full, and then open flow again 99 ticks after it drops below trigger.  Unless you were burning a lot of water fast, sloshing shouldn't have much impact either. A few extra open signals only means that you might not start filling again until 3/7 instead of 4/7.

Or am I misunderstanding the question?

He was our broker and the original expedition leader and in less than three years guided Roughstrike to a community of 100 beards.  All was well in the fortress, with the food situation well under control and multiple industries chugging along nicely.  Booze was never a problem, as a talented Brewer Rovod saw to that personally.  Aside from an early run in with the were-elk Leba Innahade which cost the fort a hunter and a herbalist, you had to concede he did a pretty good job.

He had just fully outfitted the hospital and supervised the completion of private bedrooms for everybody with plenty to spare.  Roughstrike had long outgrown the cramped twelve seat dining hall, but the new 11x21 Great Hall carved into a magnetite deposit had just started dishing out lavish roasts.

The curtain wall was up in the first year and the roof was well underway.  Snatchers and thieves were pretty constant and soon being supplemented by goblin ambushes, but with a dozen steel axes always training in the courtyard, the drawbridge was never raised, with Roughstrike welcoming all comers, though invaders found in that welcome a rough strike indeed.

That was the beginning of his fall.  The second migrant wave of the year 253 brought more strong backs to carry stone and ore, but it also brought the bewitchingly charming Melbil Paddletwisted.  Rovod's life was to serve Roughstrike, to keep thirsts slaked and the drawbridge lowered.  He had proven himself a capable leader and justifiably anticipated being named mayor.  It was not to be and it was for Melbil that the mayor's quarters were commissioned.

And then the bloodless body turned up.  No one cared too much, Zas was once a Fish Dissector but now spent most of her days carting stone from one pile to another.  But, no one wanted to be next.  Within the walls of the fortress was a cursed being, one that had somehow so profaned a deity that he was to sentenced to forever wander the earth with an unslakable thirst for blood.

It didn't take long to find him.  Despite the plentiful bedrooms, one dwarf had not claimed one.  One dwarf who was a former member of over a dozen different groups.  One dwarf who despite needing alcohol to get through the working day, had never even tasted Rovod's fine brewings.  The mayor.

Being overlooked for mayor was an insult, but knowing that the dwarfs he nurtured chose a creature of the night over him was too great an indignity to bear.  Oh he put up a brave front, claiming to be ecstatic with his modest quarters instead of the decent office that should have been his.  But then, with No Job pending, he walked past that infamous open drawbridge and discovered the ambush squad of goblin pikemen (pikegoblins?). He was struck down before the Axe Lords could do anything about it.

He will be missed.  You can tell by how far the happiness levels have dropped.  It was a lot, but I think the fort has weathered it without any tantrums.

Moral of the story?  Dang, I really gotta figure out how this civilian alert thing works.

Can you convict them of a crime and have them dragged to a chain?

Do I have room for a hunter, and if so, which of the dwarves should I get rid of, other than the two military dwarves?
(They are, at this time, inexpendable, although the same cannot be said for any of the other bastards.)

As has been pointed out, all sorts of approaches to embarking are viable, so I'll suggest that you do it and report back how awesome or FUN it turned out.  Having an embark hunter means a lot of Marksdwarf training before the first ambush appears. Also, pincushioned thieves. That's gotta be worth something.  I'm also going to suggest bringing a dedicated bonecarver to supply bolts through year 1.  Don't forget a butcher.

Bonus points, use a wood crossbow and make him your Sheriff for ineffectual beatings.

Even when hunting becomes less effective due to your fortress being surrounded by sieges or whatnot, you still have one highly trained Marksdwarf early in your fort's life cycle.

One other thing to keep in mind, that as awesome as free range meat is, you will still need agriculture of some sort. Meat isn't brewable and your fortress needs booze to survive.

Not every civ has access to bituminous coal or lignite but every civ has access to certain types of wood.

Great point.  I didn't understand about FOREIGN stuff and available resources until the one time I found I couldn't forge High Boots and started reading about why.  I guess I've been really lucky so far.

Having your woodcutter and carpenter be the same dwarf is a bottleneck. Don't forget to give someone a point in Appraiser.  Consider one point of Armorsmith or Weaponsmith for your Farmer and Brewer in case of Moods.

You haven't listed an anvil in the stuff you're bringing. Sure you can always trade for one, but anvils are nice to have on embark.  You'll need two picks for two miners. Don't forget that your first item of any sort that needs a container gets a container free.

I think the key part is to have a plan. You need to be flexible about it, but it's helpful to have an idea of what you want to do.  Top priorities are shelter, food and booze. Also at the early stages, you'd probably want beds and security. Security probably provided by curtain wall and drawbridge. Thieves will still sneak in, so you may want to supplement with traps, guard dogs, military, etc.  Will your fortress engage in trade?  What will you export?  If you want self-sufficiency, remember all the other needs your dwarfs have. Clothes wear out, so a sock making industry is nice, or you can just import all the latest fashions from the Mountainhome.

You should probably take advantage of the plentiful metals.

Final note, wealth attracts attention.  My first fort (started a few weeks ago so grain of salt with my advice since I too an newbish) was an island with only Dwarfs as neighbours. No thieves or ambushes or sieges. And then a minotaur came to visit. He was dispatched easily since I had a steel-clad militia that had been in constant training for a year and a half, but I have no idea what would have happened if I didn't have any defense plan.

I find one Mason can't keep up with the output of 1 Miner, let alone two.  Here's what I'm trying now for embark:

Miner 5
Furnace Operator 5 - Negotiator, Appraisal, Judge of Intent, Recordkeeper 1
Mason 5 - Weaponsmith 5
Carpenter 5 - Armorsmith 5
Dodger 5 - Teacher 3 - Woodcutter 1 - Axe 1
Armor Use 5 - Teacher 3 - Herbalist 1 - Axe 1
Grower 5 - Brewer 5

I bring 1 pick, 1 axe, 1 anvil, food, booze, a couple stones, some ore for smelting bronze, breeding pair of dogs, breeding pair of cats, 1 coke, a lot of coal.  After about a month of aboveground gathering, the woodcutter and herbalist go on full time military training schedules.  Furnace Operator doesn't seem particularly useful in Year 1, but I like the idea of the expedition leader being a founder.  Mechanic is probably a better choice.

When picking roles for the dwarfs, I assign the Creatives to smithing first.  The Miner is the most physically adept with spatial sense.  Then the expedition leader based on preferences for easiest mandates.