Bay 12 Games Forum

Glad the problem's fixed.  I just hope Darkrider2's having some fun with it, and that our story continues!

I would love being able to see the lay of the land, and then to see the structure of our fort and its parts as it evolves, even the first sheltering hall would be nice to peek at.


We elected our leader as we followed the wagon.  He was wounded and unconscious, but we could tell by the cut of his clothing that he had directly served our king and he looked as if he would heal.  He woke not long after.  He seems decisive and has been quick to make decisions.  For now I'm content to follow him.

We were traveling through near flatlands far off the roads when the wagon finally had enough.  A heavily chipped rear wheel cracked apart and the front axle split as the load shifted.  So we're here.

No honest stone beneath my feet, but I felt the tremble still, several large somethings were close and moving to the south.  Hard to see well in the sun, but they we had been trying to dodge ogres for the last third of the trip, so I shouted warning even though I wasn't sure.

Navok sent us into the side of a low hill nearby, and he's taking the chances outside to get the wood we need.  I think rather well of this leader, though if he keeps taking risks like that we may have to vote for his successor before long.

Quote from: Jimmy on March 24, 2010, 11:47:29 pm

Quote from: Kza on March 24, 2010, 09:58:59 pm

'Paula' Zuglarust, Clothier has created Ziksisberul, a Rope Reed Thong!

I am building this woman a legendary bedroom.

Should have used leather.

Is there any babelfish-style translation of dwarf to english?
Ziksisberul - in the dwarven language file Ziksis is "split"... and I am now rather curious what that thong name means, but berul is not to be found.

I found this under Mayday's mod.  Not sure if additional words were added in, or if you maybe just missed it or typoed? 

   [T_WORD:BASTION:berul]

Split-bastion, indeed.  And, for all someone else seems fond of leather, there are various fetishy things that can be/are done with rope, including bikini-like/thong-like bondage wraps and ties.

As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I think Retro beats me by a mile, since he has all 190 of his dwarves married, and they all have no less than grand bedrooms. 

All I can say in response is that my fortress is very space-efficient (although I will definitely start making better rooms for my dwarves in the future, and simply shut off the economy), and that I have a very nice zoo/statue garden/dining hall/waterfall room.

Please forgive the derailment *hides*


All glory, as well deserved, to the creator of Undergrotto, which is without equal and an incredible masterwork of engineering, creativity, and patience.  But to be a dwarf, and live and work as a dwarf, I don't see his philosophy shining through in the eyes of his dwarves the way yours promises too.  In fact, a closer look at the save suggests that his dwarves actually live under fairly normal (read tragic) conditions.

Highlights of why being a dwarf under your philosophy is a glorious thing:

"If someone starts with a preference for green glass, then I don't care what skills they have, they're best suited for working with green glass"

"Part of the challenge of the game is ensuring that no single one of your dwarves ever dies, and that they all get meaningful work"

"Anything less is just failing in your duties as a dwarven overseer/deity"

Versus Retro's fortress focused approach:

"The fort is, as you might guess, rather far from efficient – dwarves routinely walk 300-500 steps to the dining pod, or the stalactite apartments, or the ship, and gods forbid if they ever need to go outside."

As of the posted undergrotto save, there are 23 dead dwarves in undergrotto and 105 still alive.  So more than 1 out of every 6 dwarves to ever try and live there has died.  There are grand or better rooms for 190 married couples, as well as more rooms for the nobility, but there have never been even 130 dwarves that have lived within undergrotto at any point in its history, let alone 380 happily married dwarves and their children.

And actually, not all of the dwarves there at the time of the save are married.  8 are fully single and another 10 are lovers but not yet married.  There are only 5 underage dwarves across the whole fort.  Marriage and children seem to be very important to dwarves.  But of the married dwarves, 12 of them are widows or widowers.  And one of the dead is a baby who's mother and father are both alive to grieve, for all that they now have another, still living child which surely comforts them. So there are only 35 married couples where both members of the bond are alive, and one of those has a lost baby to grieve.  Thus of all the marriages that have existed in Undergrotto, just over 1 in 4 has been severed by death but left a living spouse behind to suffer from that.

I was not able to find anything as I looked at the living dwarves and their skills to suggest that an effort was made to match a dwarf's employment to their work preferences.  It would be amazing to see this - who does this?  I believe that level of attention and cooperation to each dwarf themself is incredibly rare.  But such a thing I think would mean a great deal to a dwarf for every moment of their life, even though we do not get to see hard coded proof of this in their thoughts.

Thus, Retro's incredible, awesome creation is an architectural marvel, an incredible display of focused patience and planning skill.  And I feel deep respect for him when I admire it.  But it is not a place of great dwarven joy and self actualization as seen through the eyes of a dwarf living there, nor does it make any claim to be.  It is what it is, and that is why, were I a dwarf, I would emigrate from any number of squares away to come to -your- fortress, where it sounds like a dwarf can become the best and most fulfilled dwarf he or she could possibly ever be.

I can't resist, and you welcomed journal entries, so... I can't resist!  This is not scheming, but so what.  Maybe it'll turn into that as the game goes on ;p

I was asleep when it began.  I'd recently immigrated to Dalzatiltast and my room was no bigger than my bed.  My little bed was one of perhaps twenty placed end to end in a small chamber hewn out at least fifty years before.  No place for my clothes or pick, so I wore and held everything that was mine.

Good thing too.  I woke hearing the cry of severing stone from nearby.  I'm new, but not so new I didn't know our work designations, and this chamber, this whole end of the Mountainhome was considered finished.

I knew it was trouble, and shouted so, but the enemy miners were incredibly fast.  As I finished my shout I heard the sound change as the new tunnel opened somewhere nearby, and then screams.  Dwarven screams of agony and rage, the squeal of dying dogs and dwarven infants.

The beds chamber was a blind corridor, the only exit long past the nearing sounds of terrible violence.

If you're a miner, there's always a way out.  The smell of bad water can seep through the pores in the stones, so I'd known since being given my bed that below this room, barely more than an arm's length away, was a stretch of sewer.

I'm not the fastest miner, and far slower than the enemy who breached our walls, but I swung with a will as my panicked roommates fled back and forth.  All who ran into the hall were shot down, and the sounds of violence from that corridor were quieting - a sure sign we were losing and the enemy would soon be within the room.

I dropped down into darkness, already trying to run before my feet splashed into the wet slime below.  Not sure if the enemy tried to follow me down or not.  I was turning corners and sprinting as fast as I could when I ran into another dwarf from the city.  He was a mason, and he was hastily sealing the sewer path with a rough stone wall under the direction of a small group of others.  As I wiped slime from my beard the leader asked if I could use my pick, and told me to keep up as our group ran onwards towards some rubble partially blocking the sewer ahead.

I think that harrassment was a bug.  He was stuck 'Conducting meeting' even when no dwarf in the fort had 'attending meeting'.  Oddly, though right after he got out of bed several different dwarves attended meetings with him, one in particular kept going back and continuing to attend a meeting with him, even though that dwarf was already ecstatic.  Bugs cannot defeat a strong storyline!  They will be subsumed and included!  I was wondering what the heck I was going to do if my narrator died though.  It was very likely, for a time over 80% of the dwarves were very unhappy or miserable and I watched my narrator throw at least 30 tantrums.  For a bit 1-3 dwarves were going insane or being killed from a tantrum-thrown fight every minute and I was thinking, wow, how do I end this?  What have I done?  And what do I do if my voice dies or gets so injured she can nolonger write?  Kamudo, I wish like mad I'd managed to save your narrator.  I should have stopped everything the moment that second set of dwarves died in ambush and just let everyone comfort each other.  That would have made all the differance I think.

Ahh, I'd like in.  I'm unsure if you want to know how to name dwarves, but you can from inside the program.  Open U(nits) and up and down arrow over the dwarf you want to pick, enter.  press V(iew) and then y(customize)  You can change their name and/or their profession name.

I'd prefer a female, and I don't care what her name is, so it's fine not to change hers.  I'd like her to be a miner/appraiser, unless you've already decided you wish to be broker, if so, then a miner/gemcutter.

I admit I made no effort to find that river either, other than the genuine valueable gem- and stone- seeking exploratory mining I did.  I tried to only make orders that I thought my narrator would have.  Thanks for enjoying the story, I love them too, and am eager to read how this progresses.  If I do get another turn (I'd like one someday, but understand if my style's to rough to follow so better not ;p) I don't even care if it's the same dwarf again - I can pick a different dwarf with different priorities and attitudes and make less perilious choices!