Bay 12 Games Forum

I had a revelation today.

In my forts, it seems like every single immigrant I get has 20 pets associated to him on the way to the fort. It's like they come traipsing through the forest, find an elf caravan along the way, and buy EVERY DAMNED ANIMAL THEY CAN before they arrive at my fort.

It'd be fine if they just brought the animals with them, and then let me decide what to do with them. But no. They name them. They love them. They squeeze them.

So today, when I was managing my fort, I had one wander into my atom smasher while I was clearing some rubble. It walked in with a hauler... so my brain suddenly decides to speak up to me, for once, and tells me to lock the doors against pets. The puppy gets stuck. Everyone else leaves.

And I told them to pull the lever on the way out.

Thusly, a puppy was gone. Then I got an idea. I could make an atom smasher at my fort's entrance, with a narrow 'doorway' in and out.. A sort of puppy filter. It could stop all the critters from wandering into my fort, but let the people pass.... Too bad I cannot just drop them into a 20 foot pit, and then butcher the corpses... But NO, they get attatched and want graves for the little fuzzballs.

Damned elf-tendencies, I tell you. They''re MEAT, toss'em on the fire! Be a dwarf, tell your friends that Fluffist MacDoggson tasted AWESOME with beer batter.

My current fort is an efficiency nightmare. I recruited most of the first (Real) wave due to being in very close proximity to goblins, but I then realised that most of the other migrants were skilled labourers. A year passes, and I work out that I have screwed myself over so hard by getting an uber industrial fortress running with only 4 haulers. Every single smelter, still, forge, ashery, masons shop, mechanic shop, carpenters shop, kitchen and clothier shop is *CLT*.

Another migrant wave arrives, and I DO THE SAME THING. For no discernable reason. I guess I didn't feel safe relying on 10 soldiers when I'm producing this much wealth.

Another year passes, everything is moving at the pace of a glacier, and the entire fort is bogged down in random crap, 500~ copper bars, 200 blue wafers, a billion plants which have not been stored in barrels (And the seeds. OH GOD THE SEEDS. Freaking military, dropping them everywhere), and millions of pieces of furniture.

Another migrant wave arrives, all of them are haulers, and the restoration process begins. Conservative estimates are 5 years (Factoring in another 2 migrant waves before the population cap is reached) before it re-establishes a semblance of efficiency.

tl;dr I underestimated my own ability to establish industry, and now I'm drowning in everything. I guess I'm stuck in some kind of production spiral.

Do not make the same mistake. Haulers are important, despite what people think. Skilled labour is good, but without the ever reliable guild of haulers, everything stagnates and players become very sad.

Quote from: Encased in burning magma on October 15, 2010, 01:07:30 pm

Quote from: darkrider2 on October 15, 2010, 12:46:07 pm

Quote from: RandomNumberGenerator on October 15, 2010, 12:29:23 pm

with the vast quantities of forgotten beast meat I obtain can produce upwards of 500 roasts a season, of which only 50 get eaten.

Stockpile it forever and create your own nuclear magma holocaust safety bunker. Then flood the world with magma. After 500 years turn off the pumps and drain the surface magma, then re-emerge from the bunker. Start civilization all over again, the dwarven way.

It would be wonderful if magma flows could affect neighbours.

I know, but it's still fun to imagine...

Quote from: RandomNumberGenerator on October 15, 2010, 12:29:23 pm

with the vast quantities of forgotten beast meat I obtain can produce upwards of 500 roasts a season, of which only 50 get eaten.

Stockpile it forever and create your own nuclear magma holocaust safety bunker. Then flood the world with magma. After 500 years turn off the pumps and drain the surface magma, then re-emerge from the bunker. Start civilization all over again, the dwarven way.

I approve.