Bay 12 Games Forum

Also, there's a million ways to please nobles using the results of strange moods. For example, you can stick a legendary weapon [in my case, a granite warhammer] into a weapon trap in the nobles room, and it'll count as furniture. My mayor's room was unsmoothed, with terrible furniture owing to the loss of my carpenters and my best mason. He saw that nice hammer trap and cheered right up.

I tried a Venice-style fort once, only I got too in-depth and tried to build it right on the ocean. There were some really weird things with ocean waves dumping water in totally-enclosed constructions, and it was twice the work because I had to mine the stone, then build it back up somewhere else. Took ages, and it didn't really go anywhere.

With the new cave system, however, a subterranean Venice-style fort based on an underground lake could be really cool.

My forts always start with a 5-tile-wide entrance hallway, terminating with my Trade Depot at the end, and with two smaller stairs off each side. Those stairs lead to my central staircase, a 5x5 square with the corners removed. I always dig my "workshop levels" closest to the surface, and as you go downward, you'll hit [in more or less the same order]-

-Farming/Dining/Cooking
-Hospital/Storage
-One intentionally empty level
-Lodging
-Empty again
-Nobles' rooms

After that, it's all based on what I want/need. Sometimes I construct towers for my prison, sometimes I just dig it really deep. My actual design tends toward straight hallways, with each workshop having a separate room with a door. Inefficient, perhaps, but I like the look, and it's served me fine. I never expand too far out from the main shaft, opting instead for multiple, smaller levels, making a sort of cube design.

My dwarves always have 2x2 bedrooms with a bed and a cabinet. My nobles' rooms are always more ornate, usually large circles going down one level for each room.

Can't really think of anything else to say about my design, save that I always have a room dedicated for a POW pit.

Something I learned early on-

Smoothing stone nets you some nice created wealth, which gives you a lot of migrants. I now avoid doing it til later.

As far as I know, Traders only do straight-up goods for goods.

Then again, I'm not too experienced with dwarven economy.

New fortress, new goals
Dig and build a shaft through caves
GOD DAMN IT, CRUNDLES

And, technically, it's also not a bug.  It's an insect.

Hey-ooooo!

Back in 40d, I embarked on this great 4x4 map. Sand, Magma pipe, underground river, nice high cliffs, and tons of trees. As I soon found out, it also had a cave, wherein dwelled a cyclops. Never having encountered one before, I checked up on a few things. He wasn't termed "Hostile", but "Resident". I was confused, checked up on more things, and found out that it was this cyclops from the legends of my world, who had chosen to settle down in that area.

A year went by, and I noticed that the cyclops had moved from out of the cave to about fifty tiles out of the mouth. She sat there for a long time, which caused problems- my trappers, woodcutters, and project builders kept getting terrified and interrupting their jobs. So I go, "Well, she's not really causing any problems, but she's got to go. I assembled a squad of six elite wrestlers, and sent them out to deal with her.

She killed five, and the remaining one fled for his life. The cyclops gave chase, followed him inside, into the dining room, where she killed him and everyone eating, and just stood there. I watched warily. She was content, now that she couldn't see any dwarves to kill, to sit on a dining-room chair and just chill. I built walls around the doors, and carved out a new dining room.

The cyclops sat there for eight years. I sort of just forgot about her. When I realized that I could have two dining rooms, I carved some fortifications in the old walls and had my marksdwarves deal with her. I was a little sad afterward.


Also, my tamed alligator. Nobody wanted to adopt poor Roldethdustik.