Bay 12 Games Forum

Hmm... can minecarts hit flying creatures in mid-air? I could see a machine to the effect of punting a goblin high into the air with +Lead Minecart+ #1, and then have +Lead Minecart+ #2 launch perpendicular to it and hit it in mid-air (precise timing necessary), causing an abrupt course change, shattered bones and a drop into a magma pit. Just because.

Alternatively, perhaps we could use minecarts to try and hit naturally flying creatures, such as giant eagles. Take careful aim, and...
The *Platinum Minecart* hits the Giant Eagle in the upper body, shattering the bone!
The Giant Eagle slams into an obstacle!
The Giant Eagle's upper body skids along the ground, tearing the fat, bruising the muscle, fracturing the left false rib and bruising the heart!
Giant Eagle has bled to death.

It's just a shame dwarves aren't smart enough to do that yet...

I thought to post because whilst this is a semi-young fort (summer of year 4), and I've only had 8 moods so far (which I realise isn't a nice large statistical sample), 5 (!) of those have been possessions, and all of the possessions on a non-moodable non-crafter. Oh well, so much for !!SCIENCE!!
Unless I set the moody dwarves on fire... !!dwarves!!

Okey dokey, I haven't gone out of my way to do science as such (kinda hard to with moods...), but I believe I've noticed something about getting possessed vs. fey/secretive moods: a dwarf will always (and only?) be possessed if he has no moodable skills that aren't crafting skills.

Basically, if they've got weaponsmithing or something they'll get a weaponsmithing fey/secretive mood.
If they got say, woodcrafting, they'll get a crafting fey/secretive mood.
If they've got e.g. cheesemaking, they'll get a crafting possessed mood.

As it stands the wiki claims possessed moods are totally random, but in all the moods I've had so far (using v34.07), this seems to be the pattern - possessed is only for non-moodable non-crafting skills. I've no idea how fell or macabre moods fit in, I've never had a dwarf unhappy and mooded at the time.

This is just what I've noticed so far - those who get a crafting mood and are not crafters are always possessed, and are the only possessed. I might be suffering from pure fluke, so can anyone else debunk/back me up on this?

There is a 'modify' button y'know - it's in the top-right of your post. So you don't have to triple post.

@Garath: It's not as easy as it sounds, actually - mainly because the modded-in race is also a race that actually exists in the world (it's not adventurer-only), so fights are still tough. And as sadrice points out, high-power playing can be great fun!

I believe that the transembark magma pipelines were only ever a theory, so if pumps don't work (learn something new every day!) then I don't believe there is a way to make the pipeline work. Unless it's downhill all the way. (Which could be possible for some distance, by basically building a massive hill for it to go down. Ridiculous amount of effort though! )

All this talk about non-dwarf kings, and no-one mentioned Cacame?? Shame on you forums, shame on you.

Sure, I'll answer a few questions.

1. How often do you play? Is Dwarf Fortress a fairly consistent activity or do you go in spurts?

Definitely the latter, I tend to play somewhat infrequently, and usually find that I can't play during the post-major-release bugfixing cycle, because I'll always want to abandon what I've done so far and play with the new stuff, so I try to wait it out until it's all there.

2. Given that this is a strictly single-player game (succession games notwithstanding), how do you interact with other players?

The forums, though I'm something of a long-time lurker, short-time poster. This being my 7th post, I believe, I don't think I can provide a good answer to this question.

3. Do you ever play/discuss the game with friends in real life?

In passing at best. None of them are really that bothered about it.

4.Do you feel a sense of narrative—a "story unfolding" if you will—while playing or is that something to actively seek out?

Sort of. The best example is when I'm playing adventure mode, slaughtering all before me, I tend to construct narratives in my head based off the events, letting my mind do the bulk of storytelling and have the game provide only the framework of what's happening. I don't seek it out though, beyond deciding that 'I should go this necromancer's tower and probably die horribly' etc.

5. Do you augment your own playing experience in any way (graphic tilesets, outside music, etc.)?

I use a different ASCII tileset (although ASCII it still is), and a couple of 3rd party programs (Legends Viewer, etc.), but beyond that no.

6. Do you create and share your own DF stories/art?

Nope, can't write or draw for toffee.

7. How do you respond to stories/narratives/illustrations that other people have posted?

Usually with a chuckle at the insane-ness that is the DF community! This community is insane and brilliant and awesome.

8. Besides the fact that multiple fortresses can exist in the same generated world, do you feel a kind of historical cohesiveness between multiple games?

Sort of. As before, the game provides the skeleton and my mind provides everything else, so I get a nice sense of story out of it all, but not directly from the game.

9. What other interests do you have? Books/movies/games/fields of expertise?

Books (fantasy and sci-fi, largely) and games (board games and on the computer) are probably a couple of my favourite past times. I've done some programming and modding to a small degree as well. Oh, and I spend far too much time reading webcomics!