Bay 12 Games Forum

"Ha," yelled the recruit to his companions, "this is as easy as shootin' fish in a barrel!"

The first 25 bolts were expended quickly, and the dwarf had already advanced to Novice Marksdwarf.  As the 2nd stack bolts was used up, he dutifully started making his way back to the ammo stockpile to grab some more.

And then he died.

It just so happened that there was a pool of stagnant water, exactly 1 square in size, between him and the ammo stockpile.  The 1 x 1 pool of water contained exactly one sturgeon, which apparently jumped up and bit the poor dwarf's head off as he walked by.

So who's our only qualified metalsmith?  Uh-oh... it's the mayor.  Is he man enough (er... dwarf enough?) to punish himself?

Nope.  He orders our poor Soap Maker to be beaten by the Captain of the Guard.  The poor, poor soap maker... who has no skills or labor preferences whatsoever relating to nickel silver.  The soap maker who has been doing manual labor this entire time, since we've never manufactured any soap.

At least his injuries were minor  

One of my dwarves was out hunting in the field.  As he climbed a hill up to the next z-level, I received the following message, "Ambush!"  There were suddenly six goblins (lashers, speargoblins, etc...) right next to him.  They killed him and preceded to attack my fortress, where they were slaughtered by my marksdwarves and the visiting dwarven merchant guards.

I've had sieges before, but never seen an ambush until today.  My population is only 22 or so, and I have little wealth, so it definitely wasn't a typical siege.  Are ambushes a new feature?

[ February 06, 2008: Message edited by: RogerN ]

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"Aye, that's the spot," said a hushed, gruff voice.  "Dig there fer sure."

The two dwarves sat in a dark, hazy room.  Flickering torchlight barely pierced the thick clouds of pipe smoke.  Hunched over a rough stone table, their eyes seemed to glitter from the reflected glow of pipe embers.  A tattered parchment map was spread out on the table between them.

The other dwarf replied, "How do ya know there's adamantium there?"

Leaning close, the gruff dwarf lowered his voice even more as he spoke, "You know Melik?  Rumor has it that he's been dreaming again.  Lotsa dreams, and this is the spot."

"Oh come off it now," said the other dwarf, "surely you don't believe that garbage!"

The gruff dwarf's eyes widened in surprise.  He replied, "Don't believe Melik?  Just look at him!  He's livin' like a king now.  You can say he's crazy if you like, but he's struck adamantium three times.  Only this time, we can beat 'em to it!"

"I dunno," said the other dwarf, "that's pretty scant reason to risk our fortunes, not to mention our lives.  It's a fool's mission if you ask me."

Both dwarves sat in silence for a half a minute before the gruff one finally spoke up again.

"Alright, have it yer way.  We'll split it 60/40 like you wanted.  But I get to name the place!"

The other dwarf smiled.  "Now, my friend, we have a deal.  Let's talk provisions..."

They talked long into the night.  Fortunately for the gruff dwarf, he was never asked to elaborate much more on the content of the dreams, or rather, the nightmares.
----

Our prospector has informed us that this location offers magma, adamantium, chasms, underground rivers, flux material, iron, and sand.  We'll need to dig to find these things, of course.  The goal is to eventually strike it rich from adamantium!  Players are encouraged to post verbose diaries, including screenshots if possible.

So who wants to take a turn managing Greedhollow?

This is how it would work:

- Players must upload their fortress submissions by the deadline or they are disqualified.

- For each showcase, there will be a specific challenge.  Fortresses which do not meet the challenge are disqualified.  Example: no farm plots allowed.

- In order to qualify, fortresses much survive a minimum number of years (3?  4?  5?) and reach a minimum population (50?)

- There will be a panel of three judges.  Each judge will grade the fortresses in several key areas.  A score of 0 to 10 points is assigned in each key area.

- New judges will be chosen for each showcase.  If you're judging then you may not submit a fortress, and vice-versa.

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Scoring
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APPEARANCE: How does the fortress look?  Is it nicely organized, or are there random constructions and workshops strewn about a rough cavern floor?  What are the most pleasing rooms?

LAYOUT: Is the fortress layout efficient?  Does it make sense?  It is pleasant to live in, or are the living quarters placed right next to the catapult practice range?  Special consideration will be given to players who adhere to a specific theme (more below) or must deal with difficult terrain.

THEME AND CREATIVITY: Does the fortress adhere to a specific theme (e.g. only one z-level), and is it internally consistent?  Are all the hallways and rooms shaped similarly, or are things just thrown about?

WEALTH: How much wealth have the dwarves created?

DEFENSE: Is the fortress guarded well?  This category includes military might, elaborate traps, moats, walls, etc...

VARIETY: Does the fortress produce a variety of goods and services, or is it plump helmets and dwarven wine 24/7?

HAPPINESS: Are the dwarves happy?

And all that from a single hunter, mind you  

Unfortunately, though, the supply of meat seems to be drying up.  It's now been a full year since I've seen any wildlife at all.  Is it possible to hunt them all to extinction?  Has anyone else experienced a sudden lack of wildlife?

Unfortunately, though, several of my citizens continued their attempts to "Place item in tomb".  Forbidding the corpses didn't seem to help (until I figured out #2)

1. Does this option only apply to graveyards, not coffins?

2. After forbidding the corpses, I discovered why my dwarves continued to "Place item in tomb."  Several of the victims were torn into chunks, and there were odd body parts (i.e. severed heads) scattered around the area which I had missed.  My citizens kept trying to retrieve the heads and limbs of the victims.  Should the "dwarves ignore bodies" apply to body parts as well?

[ February 06, 2008: Message edited by: RogerN ]