Bay 12 Games Forum

If it's all three caverns, then above ground is the only play you'll have grass. Typically, from my experience, this happens when there is no water in the cavern. Though I have had it happen from time to time when there IS water, this is more rare [again, only from my experience.]

I don't think it's a bug, as if you were in a real cave that was bone dry, there probably wouldn't be a hell of a lot of plantlife around. If you want fungus, you'll have to embark elsewhere [far elsewhere, so you don't dip into the same area of caverns.]

When I make an embark like that, I look at it like this: *ahem.*


       The old dwarf, a begin of a hundred and eighty years, stood contemplatively, scratching a whitened beard and holding a smoke pipe, worn with age and filling the room with it's strong scent. Around him stood three others; His Second, another elder Dwarf not much younger than he, a century and a half about. The Captain of the Fortress Guard, arrayed for battle even though war hadn't graced their halls in many years. Finally, the third, was a younger dwarf, barely over a century, in rugged clothing with a pick hanging from his belt. This dwarf, Urist Valorhold, was to be the expedition leader of their latest colony. A brave soul, though perhaps not brave enough for what the Elder had in mind."
      "Crowgallow Glacier. A hellish place if'n I ever saw one, Lord." The Captain said, glancing down at several maps laid out on the table before them. A masterwork creation of oak, craftdwarfship of the highest quality. It was encrusted with jewels, rubies and sapphires along it's edges. It was adorned with hanging rings of silver and platinum. On the surface of the table, etched into the wood, was an image of Kadol, the dwarven god of jewels and mining.
      "Yes.. I never said it would be easy. Were that the case, I wouldn't be sending him." The Lord motioned to the Expedition Leader gruffly, who smiled. He was getting quite a cut for agreeing to go to Crowgallow. A Barony or more, depending on if the foothold could be established.
       "But why? There's dangers there, things that shouldn't even walk in the land o' the livin', Lord. Several towers have been reported being built, and the dead patrol them. Goblins have erected three settlements, and there are even reports or great Titanic beasts that roam the glacier. Why, Lord,  do we need to face such perils?" The Second said, glancing to the Expedition Leader.
        "Because we can." He grinned, and pulled his pick axe free, resting it against his shoulder. The Lord smiled through his thick beard, and nodded his whole hearted agreement.

Oh I don't mean to imply you were calling me a liar, just preemptively saying that I was telling the truth, haha. And yeah, I normally have a short history.. 125-250 years. This is because I'm aware that a longer history means more lag, and this laptop is a replacement 9-year old beast that struggles to run Minecraft, so the less lag the better. Perhaps if I ran a world with longer history-

Most of the way through that I realized what you were talking about. Disregard pretty much all of that, lol. Yeah, I guess previous wars and stuff would contribute. Though normally, the ones that migrate to my fort with previous weapon skills, havent done a whole lot of golbin- and troll-murdering. When I notice they have kill lists, I always check them out, and most of the time it's ''One badger in Cudgelclowns'' or whatever they killed from where ever they're from. I don't see how the world even has animals left, with some of my migrants. One was a Talented Hammerdwarf with something along the lines of 100+ animal kills.

Well for starters, I normally only start my military during the first migrant wave. After that it gets easy, because it's absurdly common for migrants to waltz into my fort already ''Competant'' in some weapon or another, sometimes higher. To the degree that I normally give military based purely on name alone. Why have ''Urist Goldwire'' the Legendary Axe Lord, when you could have ''Urist Cavecrusher'' the Legendary Mace Lord? Especially when their training seems to make little to no difference? As for per squad, I just fill them up as I get them, until they are full. I don't put a ''train for two months, rest for one'' limitation either, like I said, their in it to win it, so I DON'T take them off training.

Now, there's a bit of a catch. On this laptop, I have LNP. Lazy Newb Pack, which according to a previous thread I made asking if I was accidentally cheating or something, apparently ''fixes'' the military to where it's supposed to be, making Beards train faster. So typically by first siege, I won't be suprised if I have one or more Legendary dwarves, without having ever killed anything but a badger or two. HOWEVER. This is not the sole reason. Even in completely, pure, unmodded, Grade A, untouch Columbian Import vanilla DF, I do the same thing, with same results, it just takes a bit longer to actually reach Legendary. But the process remains unchanged. Same armor. Same training. Same dead goblins. It's one of the reasons I see no need for an exploit like the Danger Rooms, never have. And why I'm so confused why people have trouble with the military, making is so absurdly complicated and have 30 squads of 2 dwarves a piece. I can even make markdwarves and have them train no problem, but that's not what this topic is about, I don't even use them anymore.

Edit, for Ghost, or anyone, I guess: I'm as we speak making a new fortress, cause talking about DF always makes me play DF. If you want a play-by-play to prove I'm not lying or anything, send me a PM. I can give you updates on skype or something of how my military is doing and how I'm doing it.

Well, giving them steel wouldn't give them more armor or numbers, and NOT having a military would end the game way too fast, or a super unskilled military would have the complete opposite end of the spectrum going on from what's happening. And if I recall, I wouldn't be able to train goblins because once they're captured and the siege broken, they're more concerned with running away than fighting.

I embark on low-no minerals all the time. I can still get stuff from the caravans or the goblins that I smash apart. I never NEVER use danger rooms, I consider them an exploit, and I stopped using cage traps once I figured out the military. As for terrifying glaciers go, I love them simply because ICE CASTLE. Oh, and the walling in, again I like 'traditional' dwarven architecture, but I never really close the door anymore. I just position my military near the entrance so all comers have to pass by them first. I want MORE of what I already have. Double, triple, or quadriple sized sieges would be a start. Or! Even better; instead of having them always in a chest piece, helm, and shield... Maybe, as the sieges come, give them more armor and of better quality. Copper chest/head, then add copper gloves and boots, then greaves and shirt... then iron... then steel...

Oh, sweet glorious Armok. Could you imagine it? Bored Beards getting ready for a new day, then on the horizon, a dot.. then two, then three, then the rest. 50, 75, 100 goblins, riding glorious mounts, arrayed in the finest steel Ragetatters [or some other goblin settlement] could come up with, head to toe, with glorious weapons and armor with quality levels. An alarm is raised, the civilians retreat and the military slaps down their visors and picks up their own steel. Goblin Warmachines batter the walls while infantry slams the Dwarven front line, archers from both sides pepper the combantants. Goblin cavalry rides around and into the breaches, forcing me to diving my forces so that I can protect my citizens, almost costing me the battle. As I bash their death machines apart and watch the last goblin fall to the ground, my remainin Dwarves take up a long, hardy, and WELL EARNED cheer of victory! Many have fallen, and it will take a long while to clean the battlefield, and even longer to forget the scars, but the Goblins will NEVER forget their worst loss at the hands of the Faithful of Armok.

My my, I feel another Dragonwork coming on. If only.

Well, if you want a pool of water to be higher up, your best bet will probably be a pump stack, which you can look up on the wiki.You don't even really need beards to power it, if you connect it to a power source like a windmill or water wheel. Though, a 30 level well isn't all that bad. While 30 level up or down seems like alot, remember, it's equivalent to only 30 tiles wide on one level. To see how much distance it is in game, I guess you could que up a 1x10 floor construction, make 3 end to end, and ta-da, thats how deep your well is if it was laid on it's side.

I know that their status doesn't instantly get switched to berserk/melancholy/insane from artifact loss in the current version, but I don't know for sure whether they get a happiness penalty (which in turn could result in berserk, etc.).

Well, I want to say they do, slowly, as it's a happiness penalty. Again, not sure if it's masterwork or artifact, but I know crossbow bolts are bad about this. You shoot a goblin, the bolt breaks, ART DEFACEMENT. HNNNG. You shoot a goblin, the bolt sticks, he lives but flees, ART THEIVERY. HNNNNNNG.