Bay 12 Games Forum

Hey all,

It has been about a year since I last played DF. Probably more. The first new thing I noticed was the Mac port... awesome! This is almost as cool as z-levels.

I know I could probably pour through changelogs and such to figure this out, but I thought I might get more informative results here... I was wondering what are the big new features since .23 that I should look for when i start my first game? Obviously I could just play and find out, but I'd kind of like to plan a fort based on whatever feature I want to play with. LIke with z-Levels I played with building super-structures and waterfalls and the like. I believe my last fort was a 10+ story seaside (actually, in-sea) retirement resort built completely over the water with only a drawbridge connecting it to land. It even had a magma channel running into it from land, over teh water. Which was necessary to form the obsidian columns on which the whole thing rested. Eventually I used the magma to form an obsidian base through which I could tunnel to get at stone and resources under the seafloor.

So what kind of cool things can I do with .28?

 


 

erendor,

The main floor of my platform and land bridge to it (soon to be draw bridge!) are 1 level above sea level and at the same level of the magma. I already have magma under my platform, but I can't just cut it off because, AFAIK, magma cut off from its source will eventually harden. I wish I had the materials to pump magma up so I wouldn't be so limited by the little bit of magma that is on the highest level of the vent. As it is I'm spreading it a little thin. I might still have enough left to punch a hole in the sea for my miners, however. It just won't be neatly located under the center of the fortress. It'll be off to the side where it is most convenient to make a branch off the main magma channel.

For the fortress built over the sea... isn't there some limit to how much floor you can build away from a wall before it collapses?

So I'm finding the day to day life of a dwarf to be rather dull and perhaps a little too easy. And there's not much fun in merely accumulating wealth. I mean, how many bins full of flasks, toys, instruments, etc and you have??

Before I start with challenge builds in inhospitable areas and all that, I'd like to try some interesting engineering tasks and maybe some "artistic" things. So far of done the following:

1) 3 level high, 6 tile wide waterfall in a legendary dining room. The water was just recycled from a reservoir.
2) 10 level high "water tower" near a river (not very useful, but a good way to learn how to bring water up many levels and transfer/combine power.
3) I usually build a big dome around entrance with a glass ceiling. Not very challenging, but a good use for all that extra rock and glass (assuming I have magma)
4) Nice apartment buildings with wells in the lobby.

Anyone else have some fun projects? Preferably projects that have some game function. I'm not looking for blueprints. Just ideas.

Oh, sorry, It is just that i've only had relatively boring mining experiences so far. No pits, no chasms, no underground rivers, no unexpected magma (relied on exposed vents so far), no adamntine. I just assumed that none of it existed in the new DF.

I don't know what people have against outdoor farming. You only need to gather plants for a month or so before you have 3 or more diff types to start a small farm. I brew 80% of my plants anyway so I get plenty of seeds. As for outdoor animals disrupting farming... I like to build a large dome over my entrance. My current fort has 4 zlevel high walls surrounding a 20x20 space with a 8x8 clear glass skylight for the farms. (not sure that this is strictly necessary, but I like the idea of a glass skylight. There's 4 2x2 pillars supporting the roof, each with a staircase in them for roof access. And yes, I have a lot of novice/dabbling masons. :-)

Theres a nice macro-key program on the Wiki that makes building long sections of walls and floors really easy. It is almost better than having the ability to create walls/floors in large chunks. Having them as individual contructions makes building go a lot faster because you can have a dozen low-skill masons all working at once. Rather than one dwarf building a huge section. Just make sure to keep wood and valuable bars/blocks FAR AWAY from your construction area. The rewall macro just uses the closes material available. So keep a large pile of stone inside the dome (or whatever you're building so that is always the closest. Though it still isn't uncommon for me to build a wood wall accidentally.

I think building outside structures is part of the fun of the new DF. Don't be too stubborn to take some things outside.

For apartment buildings, there is one design that I think is just awesome that I saw in another thread here. It looks like this:

code:

---

#################
#   #   #   #   #
#  D#D  #  D#D  #
####X#######X####
#  D#D  #  D#D  #
#   #   #   #   #
#################
#   #   #   #   #
#  D#D  #  D#D  #
####X#######X####
#  D#D  #  D#D  #
#   #   #   #   #
#################
X = Up/Down stairs
# = Wall
D = Door

---

Stack these as high (or low) as you want. For the lobby level, you dig out the center 4 rooms and one of the rooms on the side to give access to the stairs. The lobby makes a nice little sculpture garden, BTW. Or put a well in the center.

For nobles, I use about the same square area, but only put four "houses" per level, surrounding a center staircase. Maybe put the king in a giant penthouse on the top/bottom floor. Leave room on the sides of the buildings because you may want to enlarge some of the residences. For example, I gave my clerk an office extruded out the side of the apartment building.