Bay 12 Games Forum

Flameheld, my most promising fortress to date, is caught in the midst of catastrophic tantrum spiral. While there is something glorious and satisfying about seeing all of the hard work I've put into this fort turn inwards and devour itself like some bearded ouroboros, I can't help but think that this rampant self-destruction is a bit of an overreaction. I mean, we all loved Urist McHauler (I guess) and it's very sad that he was torn apart by a wandering badger, but that could have happened to anyone.

I'll be honest, I don't quite know what to do now. It feels a bit...unfair? After wiping out two seiges and an ambush with my copper-clad, non-danger-roomed legendary fighters, a random badger is the one to bring everything down? Is this my fault? Did I screw up really bad somehow that one death sent everyone off the deep end? Do you think this is unbalanced, or is it a key part of dwarf fortress? And for the love of god, how do I keep this from happening again?

I suspect party-mania is behind a lot of this. It's hard to help that - the game is tedious enough without having to find jobs for everyone to keep them occupied 24/7 and breaking up the parties is hardly a better option. This is probably old hat to you DF vets, but the shock is still fresh for me and I need advice to ease the pain.

*puts on music, grabs popcorn and watches the chaos*

I think that's the best df story I've heard...ever.

Exceptional explanation, GC1CEO. Thanks.

I know exactly what you mean. I don't buy commercial games anymore because I've learned that they just sit around unplayed. A lot of times it feels like I grew up but video games didn't. Somehow, Dwarf Fortress is different.

My last fortress had a dwarf by the name of Something Nutsbust*, which was amusing until he created a legendary golden shoe, at which point it just got creepy.

*I hope that isn't too crude. I swear, the name generator did it though.

Okay, so elves aren't interested in sex or otherwise capable of producing children as quickly as others, which implies (along with other factors, such as the immortality itself) that they're not geared towards being a successful species.

Maybe, maybe not. If we look at the real world, it's the wealthier and more industrialized - which we often equate to "successful and advanced" - countries that have the slower population growth rates, while some of the more impoverished ones have the highest growth rates. Partly this is because in poor and/or rural areas children are economic assets that provide labor and income, while in wealthy and/or urban areas they represent a drain on money and resources instead. So, a look at population growth alone would lead one to conclude that Africa is more successful than Japan. If we were to judge by our own standards of success, the conclusion might be that the more successful a society, the less desirable children become. In other words, elves could be so content and involved in their own affairs that the investment required in raising a child becomes less desirable than the ability to tend their gardens or write poetry, or whatever it is Tolkien-esque elves do.

It's not a perfect comparison, what with patriarchy and capitalism and other sociological factors to consider, but it's evidence that success may be more complicated than the ability to out reproduce others. (It's also perfectly valid to argue that both Tolkien elves and countries like Japan are, in a biological perspective, stagnant and failing.)

Nevermind. Somehow all my metal goods got unmarked for melting. *sigh* Redesignated them and now it's working.

Update: Turns out it was actually a burrow issue, which I found out by searching the forums better than I apparently did the first time.

I have 85 charcoal bars. I can build with them, but when I try to use the smelter everything is in red. I have stuff to melt and armor to forge!