Bay 12 Games Forum

Alternative to windows behind fortifications (or a ditch) is putting it up a Z-level.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=79133.msg2053575#msg2053575

I used to build these at the exits of my tunnels running out and then up to the surface as a way to detect ambushers and snatchers sneaking around.  (My replacement for that is non-grazing animals pastured on grates in the tunnel ceiling.)

Life in Shadeswords has been a bit cyclical for the past few years.

Every spring the mayor changes (there have been repeats, but none of the teens have held the post for consecutive terms yet.) 
The latest one keeps asking for figurines to be made.  Annoying.

The supply of brass blocks builds up a bit, and then is drained down in the construction of Castle Brass.  (Though at this point the copper roof is being worked on while the last outer walls are being erected.  Next step is interior furnishings, fortification carving, and installing the garrison and nobles in fine comfort.)

Goblin ambushers turn up a few times a year - no sieges yet.  At this point when an ambush squad is detected entering a tunnel one of the militia squads is chosen at random to go destroy it.  So the goblins are being axed, speared, sworded, or hammered by turns.  I should give the marksdwarves a turn as well.

A child went insane from a failed mood (I did not notice the kid hung up in a craftdwarves' workshop until it was too late.  Once the child wandered into his room I locked him and left him there to starve.  Listed as missing still since no one has discovered the body.)  Other moods have resulted in a few interesting items such as an adamantine buckler, but nothing truly wonderful.  The fortress does have three legendary armorsmiths now and a few weaponsmiths as well.  Useful for the on-going upgrade from iron to steel for the garrison.

Ravens and buzzards have been buzzing around the works.  Practice for the marksdwarves.  Plus one entrance now has a low entry and some cave crocodiles posted there.  They will be supplemented by grizzly bears assuming the pair the elves traded the fortress prove fertile.

They'll sit for quite a while sometimes.  Maybe a squad will attack every so often.

My solution was putting up archery bunkers on the border of the embark.  If the humans don't have a elite archer or crossbow leader I can then snipe them from relative safety until they break and retreat.

My first fort died to an ettin.   

Came in and started chasing dwarves around.  Strangled a few, and that drew out more dwarves wanting the ever valuable *death socks*.  My criminally underequipped and undertrained militia fought it and wounded it so that it ran away and sulked on the edge of the embark for a while.  In the meantime I tried to get my wounded dwarves hauled inside and the other civilians back inside the walls.  After a while the ettin came back and started finishing off the wounded dwarves who had been left lying there for 2-3 weeks.

At this point I snapped, drafted my 35 remaining dwarves as recruits (no armor, some weapons) and attempted to get the ettin with a wave assault.  That resulted in more dwarf corpses littering the landscape and the beginnings of a tantrum spiral that finished off everything else.   

When I did a reclaim I left a hatch unlocked by accident - and the ettin charged into the fortress perimeter proper.  And was caught in a cage trap.  (I didn't know at the time that semi-mega beasts were vulnerable to those.)  Said ettin proceeded to be a pain even after being captured due to various failed schemes to get rid of it.  Eventually it was turned loose into a trap corridor along with a bunch of imprisoned goblins where upon a serrated disc decapitated one of the heads and it bled out.

I've been lucky so far in that my cave-ins and aquifer floodings have been local in scope and not fortress destroying.

Interesting device.  I just completed one that has two 2x1 retracting bridges in a 2x2 room.  Dumped 500 nickels in it and tested it on a squad.   

Impressive results in terms of Armor Use and physical stat improvements as well.  Combine this with using a Danger Room and a squad could be run up to Killer Dwarf in a very short period of time. 

A "civilian path" version would probably prove useful as well - keeps your reservists working up and with Armor User and stats increasing they will probably start moving faster as well.

Excellent.  Decimating the Clown Car with worn socks.

My dwarves salute you.

Work was proceeding apace in Shadeswords when fortress life got interesting.  Calovi Oyifoamiya Eluthaci the Desert Titan has arrived, beware his fire!  (I guess he doesn't want dwarven outposts despoiling his sandy wastes.)  A monstrous one-eyed rabbit of all things.  But remembering what happened to the outpost of Caerbannog nothing of the lepus sort was going to be underestimated.

An attempt to trap the approaching beast between gates in the approach tunnels failed.  The militia gathered inside the Inner Gate since that was the best place to hit the monster with multiple squads from different sides.  Civilians were sent from the area and various doors locked down once it was clear that the beast was going to enter the fortress.  (Militia at this point is three axe dwarves of about Level 3, three spear dwarves of about Level 3, and two 5-dwarf squads with crossbows who are Level 1-2 with a Level 3 leader.  All in iron armor at this point with steel helms and steel melee weapons.)

The titan exits the approach tunnel and crosses the open area to the Inner Gate.  He then stops just inside the gate to destroy the glass portal there.  Not willing to wait for this to complete the dwarves attempt to rush him there since the immediate melee will minimize time for fireballs to be hurled.

The fortress militia commander is the first dwarf through the door.  As she opens it the marksdwarves shoot a volley of bolts as covering fire.  A bolt catches the titan in a front leg, chipping the bone.  The militia commander hacks the beast in a front paw, but only tears the fat open.  She dodges the titan's attack and hits it again in the lower body, but once again only tearing fat and muscle.

A second crossbow bolt hits the titan in the other front leg chipping the bone.  The titan falls over and slams into the ground. 
(I figured that an organic titan could be brought down easier than one made of a hard inorganic, but seeing some Level 3 combat dwarves do so well initially was surprising.)

A spear dwarf stabs one of the front paws chipping the bone while the militia commander hacks at the other paw and fractures the bone there while also tearing a ligament.  Some more stabs and hacks hit limbs and the rabbit's shell causing minor damage.

At this point the titan hurls a ball of fire into its own location, apparently to drive the dwarves back.

The coupe de grace comes as a marksdwarf head-shots the rabbit and the iron bolt chips the skull and tears the brain.  The titan then expires on the doorstep of the Inner Gate and Shadeswords lives another day.  (Anyone for stew?)   

At this point early in its 3rd year the fortress is stable.  103 dwarves, with 28 of them children. (This was originally 35, but many are teens and are maturing into peasants and being put to work.)  The population is housed, the military has equipment and barracks, and the various industries are established and keeping up with demand.  Defenses against goblins and normal intruders are in place and considered sufficient.  Time now to train, upgrade equipment, and gather materials for a project.

New world generated and a new fortress begun.

Shadeswords has been established on a rise in the desert on the edge of a serene plain descending to the east.  Seven dwarves have become sixty-two in just over a year's time.  There is little indication of their presence on the surface.  A few small roofed in single story buildings and some stone floored platforms.  Further searching will discover a few small and narrow tunnel entrances on the edges of the hill and one descending stair out in the plain.

Beneath the surface much more has been achieved.  Dwarves scurry about shifting stones, ingots of metal, and barrels of food and drink.  Living quarters are still spartan, but many industries are up and running.  The sounds of weapons clashing comes from the barracks.  Traders have come, but unwelcome visitors are expected.  And there are still many preparations to be made for their welcome.

So far things have been quiet.  Magma and two caverns found.  Plus a wide variety of metal ores to smelt and build with.  Steel so far is precious due to relatively small amounts of flux stone and a general shortage of wood for charcoal.  So iron is getting heavy usage so far, or which there is plenty.