Bay 12 Games Forum

Personally we can just wrap this one up here. The trouble with reclaim is the fortress has been pretty much lost to FPS drain.

I actually had it up to just over 50FPS at once point unpaused this year. Killing everyone has been surprisingly beneficial. But for the purposes of the main plotline....yes, it's probably best that we call it on this fort once this year is over.

It's like leaving a gun on the mantelpiece, the magma superweapon has to be deployed by the final act.

All I can promise is that I'll do my best. I can't really control which of the three possible outcomes comes to pass. I don't know how long it'll take to get the Self Destruct system running, or even if it will start running again. I need to shut down one valve (bypassing the Shroud of Armok), and activate another (allowing magma flow directly to the Self Destruct. That *should* divert flow to the Self Destruct, although it may need one extra lever pull. Assuming nothing has broken. I've repaired the breach in the side of the main device...but the upper level has emptied and isn't refilling. Which means either 1. Damage to the pumpstack (which I can't fix) or 2. The reservoir is empty. The latter is likely: The Shroud has been running for two months continuously, and it was never intended to do so. This means I may need to seal New Townsbrush with a dwarf there to shut down the pumps until it refills, then repressurise the system. Or I can just leave it turned on and wait and see. Also keep in mind that we've obviously never run the Self Destruct before (except in other people's saves for lulz) so we don't know how well it will work.

Did I mention that there are goblins and trolls smashing stuff on the surface? Yeah. They're quite close to the stack. Hopefully they don't actually break it.

Update should come tomorrow or the day after.

I think 0.40 may be stable enough by the end of the turn, so Ardentdikes III may be started while Moltenchannels' reclaims are played out -- if there's a circus leak on Moltenchannels, then it's Ardentdikes III' job to dig down and defeat the clowns.

Sounds good to me. I've been a bit delayed with this turn: final coursework for the term has come up and bogged me down a bit. However from this weekend I've got two lovely weeks free, so I should be able to get this finally over and done with then. I have three possible options for ending this:

1. Levers are pulled, the 4 survivors in Count McDonald's tower escape the fortress and flee. McDuck is deemed "slightly more sealed, for now".
2. Levers are not pulled, 4 survivors in Count McDonald's tower escape and flee. McDuck is on verge of breakthrough, and reclaim is designed to allow for that.
3. Levers are not pulled. 4 survivors go down and pull them. NONE SURVIVE.

Edit: Whichever ending works, it should be possible to access the fortress through the trap corridor....and through the last unsealed breach. So the reclaim will not involve breaching our own walls.

Alright then. Update time. I've been a bit blindsided by crappiness and depression IRL so I haven't played as much as I'd like. Fortunately it looks like things are getting better, so I've been able to get back into playing the save. I won't do this one IC (I'll save that for the final final update when everyone's dead).

Date is currently 15th Felsite.

-I broke the shroud, and I think the magma reservoir is empty for now.Attempts to dig into the volcano have failed.
-I have since repaired the shroud
-Udib has decided that stacking things up is more important than mining through to the volcano. Mining is literally the only labor he has enabled.
-A small group of soldiers have holed up in McDonald's old tower and are trying to get a basic farm going. They will be our "survivors". Urist McKiwi V is (I hope) making for the levers once he realises that he's burrowed there. I'd hoped to get him up to the tower, but he didn't make it before the lockdown. So on his death his previously appointed successor will take up the mantle of Urist McKiwi VI.
-Massive goblin seige arrived a few days ago. No chance of mounting a defense. Unfortunately (for them) they chose to come in through the trap corridor. Much screaming and maiming and burning in magma and death was had by all.


Current summary:

1. We are still boned.
2. Udib is a lazy jerk who doesn't like killing everyone.
3. Our trap corridor is keeping the fortress secure for now, which is a good thing because I can't get the drawbridge closed.
4. Assuming I can get a basic farm going in the tower, we will have "survivors" to name and take into the next fort. One will be McKiwi VI, but I think there's 3 others and a ghost as well.
5. We've also got an insane vampire walled into a cell, but he's not going anywhere.
6. With luck, I will get the Shroud operational again and able to destroy the fortress by the end of the year. Otherwise...well...it's going to be a bit anticlimactic.


EDIT: Nevermind. The goblins have broken in through another tunnel I didn't know about (dammit NotQuiteThere, how many of those did you dig? I've lost count of how many breaches I've sealed so far). This may end sooner than I thought.

You could assign one dwarf to a burrow containing only the lever you know.

I did attempt that. It didn't work. The game is really bugging out. might try it again though just to see if I can get it running properly.

We just had a forgotten beast get in. A lone bowdwarf killed it with a sword on the first hit. Not a bad fight.

It's been nearly two months since I gave the orders for the levers to be pulled. One out of three have actually been pulled. The next one will either set the outside on fire, or flood the fortress. Our main dining room is a cloud of miasma. The caverns have mysteriously flooded, and threaten to flood the lower fortress (this isn't a good thing: the magma levers are down there). A peasant has been stuck on "Attend meeting" for no apparent reason all year. I keep finding more an more tunnels under the walls from the last turn. No wonder we died out: This place is about as insecure as it's possible to be.

I'll give it another month. After that I'll cancel all labors and order them to dismantle the housing for the Shroud of Armok. It won't be as effective as the full purge function....but it should work well enough.


Edit: Also, they're still pushing the corpse-minecart. Apparently it actually killed off poor Meng.
Edit2: More madness. Second lever pulled. Exterior of fortress now on fire. Moving a squad up to the towers so they can watch.
Edit3: Dwarf (Sebastian2203) decides to go looking outside for new clothes on bodies. Decides carrying giant rock while doing so is excellent idea. Notices giant forest fire. Thinks "There must be socks in there!" and goes for it. Realises mistake, drops rock and dodges the flames. Runs ~5-10 metres then decides to have a nap. Gentlepersons, I think we have our Most Stupid Death of the Succession.
Edit4: Apparently all our dwarves are pathing through the caverns because someone opened up multiple routes through them without having a way to shut them off. I'm going to have to break the Shroud, I think.
Edit5: On the other hand, a child grew up, so that's one more chance to pull the damned lever. Come on, guys! Pull it!
Edit6: I'll update again later today. I think I broke the Shroud.
Edit7: I did...in the least lethal way possible. Update postponed for a bit because of coursework. It'll be a few days. Fire has gone out because of rain.

On Ardentdikes, McDuck murdered enough dwarves during rages that he became an enemy of our civ, even though he kept being voted as mayor. Even our one-dwarf blazing-fast death-storm Urist Tomesglades ran away scared from him. We had to confine him inside a small section of the fortress because he would have murdered the whole fort otherwise.

Quote from: melkorp on December 02, 2011, 11:26:23 am

You know what, migrant?  Why don't you hold on to this warrant and, you know, maybe slide it under the Mayor's door when you get a second.  Thanks, man.    Never open the door though, no matter what he says.  Hmm?  Well, because he's actually more of a mass-murdering, psycho enemy of our civilization than a mayor.  But his mandates are quite reasonable.  Politicians, am I right?  Ha ha ha!  Seriously, don't open that fucking door, migrant.

Yeah, I know that, but still. Sealing him in another dimension seems a little harsh. I mean, what's a little murdering between friends?

I just overwrote the old raws, so some stuff may be lingering. There's still some...oddities...showing up. Still, the FPS is reasonable.


So I'll get everything stable, then pull the levers and kill the fort. Should I then reclaim, or will we go on to Ardentdikes III?

Ah well. I'll do what I can. I've replaced the raws because I'm not using a texturepack. I'm going to engage the goblins and undead with long range weapons and magma artillery to kill as many as I can, then I will abandon and reclaim, then play one year (or until my reclaim team die). Already lost another soldier: bled to death while under attack by a zombie.

1st Granite

Urist McKiwi V sat in the ruins of McUrist's, near the tomb of the old Count. Around him, blood and decaying remains were smeared over the remains of a once opulent mountainhome. On his knee, there was a book. And that book was making him angry.

McKiwi read of the purpose of Moltenchannels as discovered by his predecessor, Urist McKiwi III. He read of the dwarf McDuck, imprisoned behind the very fabric of the universe itself. He read of the mission of Udib the Priest, and of the dark energies that had twisted this fortress over time. And then he realised what all that "cultist" business of the last few years had really been about. What a mess.

"McKiwi? Is that you?"

McKiwi shut the book with a loud thud. Before him, a frightened and sad looking axedwarf stood. "Zasit. Glad you made it. Anyone else left?"

"A few. The priest, a few cultists, and a handful of other soldiers. Some children, too."

"Children? How many?"

"A dozen, maybe"

McKiwi stood silently, for a moment.

"We can't stay here. It's suicide. We have to get them out of the fortress. Make for the old mountainhome, see if we can find somewhere new to settle."
"Agreed"

"No! We must stay!"

McKiwi turned to the figure who had appeared from the stairwell. "Udib Wastedlabor. Nice of you to join us. We were just leaving."

"But McDuck! We must-"

"With a handful of scared soldiers and a bunch of children? We have lost, Udib."

"No. We have not lost yet. Give me a week, and I will have a way. The old magmaworks will let us clear the outside, and then you can take the children away. I will seal this place as I sealed Ardentdikes....it will be weaker, but it should hold long enough. I will NOT LET HIM OUT!"
"Then why do the whole cult thing? Why the secrecy? I don't trust you, priest."

"I do not ask for trust. I ask for time."

A pause.
"Alright, Priest. One week for the plan, then we're burning the goblins and getting the hell out of here."


'They've broken through!'

"Ok, scratch that Priest. You've got maybe an hour. I'm heading for the levers, everyone else will hold them off long enough for your mumbo-jumbo."


Edit: THis place may be too much of a mess. We're fighting off the goblins and humans, but I can't get anyone down to the levers.
Edit2: Invaders all dead or captured. But I still can't reach the levers. It's been more than half a month. I hope to get things reasonably under control soon though. Quick poll: Should I trigger the magma flood? I've ordered the device primed, so once I can get someone to the levers it should take long to activate it. The question is more about the reclaim than anything.
Edit3: on the plus side, I'm up to nearly 60FPS.