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« on: September 09, 2017, 08:37:54 pm »
I was bored. This is not an official update yet
Another month passed. Much work was done, for time was running out.
A new dwarf had stumbled into the fortress's entrance. He was immediately sent to detox, after which he was questioned. Upon the guards realising him being an enginneer, he was sent down to the cavern layer to help with various projects. The newcomer, Cog was his name, started to collect rocks from the waste pile, and in a few weeks had purified a sizeable container of near-pure silicates, which were then used to make crude electronic components, for example transistors.
Two new monstrosities are erected near Gwolfki's hut: a massive stone and iron vat, and two smaller, carefully prepared sealed nickel vats and a labyrinth of nickel pipes. A mage is tasked with keeping the vat sterile and free of impurites at all times. A crude transformer using a magnetite core and cloth-wrapped coils is used to power a modified elctrolysis machine in the second vat.
The miner who discovered the machine in the air vents was swiftly cleaned and palced under quarantine, for safety.
A large chamber is excavated for the future storage of explosives.
Finally realising the great need of such infrastructure, the dwarves swiftly assemble a lot of machines for working metal, such as lathes, pillar drills, rifling and die drawing machines to name a few.
Since the fall of the demigod, the surface farms were wiped out, and food was running low, so a section of the cavern with cleaner air was walled of and more dirt piled in, and crops were planted.
Some of the nitric acid produced earlier was used in the production of primer, which now occupies pride of place in the new explosives chamber. In other chemistry news, the large stone and iron vat is finally being put to use. Several electrolysers are hijacked to produce hydrogen, which is mixed with coal and the special ingredient, a few gallons of heavy oil which was painstakingly created by a duo of mages over two weeks. By the end of the month, a sizeable amount of crude oil has been produced. Sulphuric acid is made in large quantities from sulphuric rocks, and this acid along with some flourite is mixed in the large nickel vat. A small but usable amount of flourine gas is produced and stored in large glass vials surrounded by straw.
Recruits who have received guns are quickly directed to a crash course in safetly and handling of firearms, their operation and construction.
In the 'labs', the semi-auto rifle prototype has been perfected, and the machine gun prototype doesn't explode as much now.
