Bay 12 Games Forum

My cistern was running a bit low. I pulled the floodgate lever to refill it.  Then I got distracted by building hall on the surface.  Then I started watching Game of Thrones.

Now there is water welling up from, the, uh, well.  And pouring down the stairs in the fortress.  Naturally, the lever to close the floodgate is flooded.

Hokay.

I have embarked in a mountain/forest binome.  Unusally, it is completely flat--there are no hills whatsoever.  It is also quite cold--the river freezes and stays frozen for large portion of the year.  I am assuming I have embarked on a sort of plateau that becomes snow covered.  I have a few questions.

1.  I would like to set up an aquaduct to start a few surface farms.  I note that freezing water will deconstruct mechanisms/buildings.  If I build a screwpump over a river, and ensure that it does not run during the freezing period, will it still deconstruct?

2.  Will animals still forage for food if the pasture is snowed under?

So my fortress is pretty good.  I'm happy with it.  I have a good military, I have a project going on to flood some caverns to grow more food.  I am building a nice tower, and have a beautiful Great Hall, which includes a limestone and green glass dome to the outside world.

Unfortunately, my King died.  I don't know why.  There was no action, no fighting, he was just found dead.

What happens when a monarch dies?  Will there be no migrants?  Will I get another monarch?

That one forgotten beast killed off about fifty dwarves.  Through hand-to-hand combat and slaughter?  Oh no.  Most of them died of starvation and dehydration after being stuck in webbing for several months.

My poor war grizzly bear also succumbed to infection.

So, almost all of my fortress is webbed by a forgotten beast.  It appeared, then disappeared, so I forgot about it.  Then it got into the great ramp-way, a long ramp that extends from the magma forges to the main areas of the fort.  I sent my military after it.  It killed off about six or seven of my less experienced soldiers.

At the time, it was hanging out in a narrow passage that leads to a secondary barracks and stockpile.  My dwarves attacked one at a time, in single file, with predictably results.  My more experienced soldiers showed up, and began peppering it with bolts, and hacking away with swords.  Meanwhile, other dwarves were going after the gear of the fallen.  Eventually, the forgotten beast was wounded, with its legs mangled, and its front feet all but destroyed.  So, all it can do is spam web attacks.

End result, my military is stuck in the webbing of a creature that is too wounded to move forward and kill it.  Meanwhile, I have more than one hundred and fifty dwarves all stuck in the forgotten beast webbing, after they tried to retrieve assorted socks and bodies.  they are getting thirsty, too.

A couple of children have just gotten past the beast.  They are now fighting it--apparently, scratching, kicking, and biting. 

Any suggestions?  It's a nice fort-I'd hate to lose it in such an ignominious manner.

ETA:  Looks like the beast is healing.  Oh joy.  Fortunately, the ability of the beast to move means the military is having another crack at it.  I still am worried that half my fortress will starve due to being webbed.

As for strategy, MIRV --> mind control. Remember that you need at least a cruiser-sized ship to mind control.

MIRV's are great, but they require a fair bit of research on the missile track--about three levels of refinement, I think, just for nuclear missiles.

Post to watch.  This is one of my favourite games.

My preferences--demo/creative.  Mostly because I loves me some research.  We have to min-max a bit in order to get there.  Demo/creative makes life difficult in the beginning, but is an utter powerhouse in mid-to-late game.

Uni-creative is another possibility.  Requires fewer sacrifices than demo/creative.  Fast building means fast expansion.  No morale penalties.  The ineffectiveness of morale-raising structures is compensated by the massive bonus to building and farming.  Unfortunately, there is no compensation for research.

Another question--who do we not want to face (ahem, DARLOCKS, ahem).  We can always use an AI race protrait, making it impossible for the computer to use that race.