Bay 12 Games Forum

dfhack can in fact fix that, there was a discussion about it in the dfhack thread at some point. Unfortunately, there were no finished scripts (?), at least not in the release. Maybe a custom script flying around somewhere.

You can always try the embassy and force a siege.

I tried to force things with the embassy but it didn't work. I was able to force a siege with dfhack but even after killing all the invaders the siege status did not lift. I also tried cleaning out the unit list and clearing trees on the edge of the map (just a hunch) and neither worked. I will go check out the dfhack thread again though, thanks.

EDIT:

I've had a few neverending sieges before. Though in my case it was caused by units who were off-screen and unable to path onto the map, leaving them de-loaded but still sieging. I could see their equipment in the stock menu, though.

Is yours similar, or do you think there are there multiple types of bugs that result in a permanent siege?

I'm thinking its the first scenario. It occurred with a goblin siege and has persisted for years now. My stocks are so vast I don't know if I can track down potential invader equipment but I will try.

Count me in as an overseer and dorf. Can never get enough masterwork goodness.

I liked it and also thought this had meant the fortress met its end. Can I be dwarfed again? I ask only for a dwarf that drinks.

I'm here.  Thanks Mensrea, I probably would have missed my turn.  Firing up MWDF now.

No problem man.

Question time: should we save-scum if the game is irredeemable? I got us off to a noobish start and didn't leave Jerbot much to work with, and then he had some unfortunate incidents, resulting in what seems like the great dwarvish plump helmet famine.

I'm also quite disappointed to hear that my dorf has become melancholy. I was hoping for a berserker but I guess PTSD can go either way. I suggest locking him outside the fortress when the next siege comes as he should at least die with some dignity (in combat).

Journal of Mensrea, marksdwarf

17th of Felsite, year 71

I was once instructed to write down my thoughts when I was in a bad place. I was fat, angry and most of all, disenchanted with the daily prospect of having an unfulfilling life. When I was at the depths of my depression I was approached with an order from my superiors. Guide a team of dwarves into an unsettled swamp to expand the glory of the Attics of Harsness.

Well, I was never an imperialist and I was never a babysitter... so the prospect of all that didn't appeal to me.

Then something happened. I'm not sure where or how, but something about these intrepid dwarves made me feel alive again. I began to make friends and acquaintances. Saw the good in my brothers and sisters. Fought with them and would have died for them. Now for the first time in decades I am in love. I came here expecting death and misery but what I found was an opportunity to begin again and forget about the horrors of the past. I have even had the opportunity to put my abilities to some use for a good cause; the defense of my friends. My family. I even lost weight!


Something I saw the other day though... for a brief moment, it took me back to a dark time. At first I thought it was a dream.. I had awoken, or been awoken, abruptly, likely by the drakes crooning amongst each other. I ventured topside to check the entranceway for whatever may have disturbed them but then on my way back I spotted a lone dwarf. The dwarf was seemingly standing idle near a refuse patch when I moved closer, careful not disturb him. What he was doing was carefully examining the variety of bones protruding from the pile. The dwarfs eyes darted from pile to pile, spotting a piece here and there and expressing quizzical looks only to move on to another pile after some sort of realization set in. As if they were trying to put together a puzzle without touching the pieces. At the time I disregarded the behavior as merely unusual. Then today I remembered an incident at the mountainhome from almost a decade ago, when I was just a recruit in the fortress guard.

There had been a spate of grisly murders. Dwarves found clawed to death in their beds. Terrible wounds that cut flesh and bone and scored rock where something had flailed wildly with murderous rage. Reports of gaunt things fleeing the scenes of the crime... things little more than bone and claw. We were at a loss for leads when we were approached by an unusual dwarf privy to the arts of the arcane and the fel. The dwarf suggested that such was likely the work of a lich; a foul necromancer capable of twisting bone into a living form through some dark magic. The lich, she explained, was once a mortal being that had transplanted its soul into a vessel so that its life would be prolonged forever. The lich itself could not be easily destroyed but more worrisome were the revelations that it would be prone to creating these monstrous bone creatures to do its will.

The dwarf explained that lichs were known to frequent the garbage dumps and trash heaps of a fortress, slowly building and training an army of bone golems; sometimes secretly and sometimes openly in more progressive or tolerant fortresses. Regardless of the lichs apparent motives, one thing was sure. It valued power above all; power over its own life and the life of others. If its golem army was sizable or the fortress particularly weak then the lich would surely attempt to usurp the authorities and wage an unholy insurrection against its inhabitants. The case was not solved until months later, and then it came at the cost of over a dozen lives. I still remember the thing desperately fighting us after we had bashed apart its tormented servants... fighting us even after we cut off its Armok damn head.

I only regret that I had not gotten a better look at that dwarf.. I will have to report this to Jerbot. This could be very dangerous for the fortress.

You must be doing something horribly wrong. The fort is save and sound and everything is going smoothly. Maybe I should add more hidden fun features to the mod... 

Yeah, I'm not sure about that..I had two sieges before the one year mark on my masterwork fort. Maybe Grimmash just got lucky with a genned world that lacks an abundance of baddies. Of course, it was a fortress defense race (which you note on many occasions as not being balanced with the mod overall) so maybe the mod actually is balanced with fortress defense races?

1st of Hematite, year 70

Having thoroughly reconnoitered the surrounding area I instructed our group to pull our wagon up along the abandoned one left behind by the missing settlers. A couple of dwarves complained about the bones and desiccated carcasses of some drakes but at this point, I don't really care about some petty concerns like hygiene and sanitation. There are things lurking out there, and before this year is over I want a palisade wall separating us from them.


10th of Hematite, year 70

I instructed the lumberjack to cut down all the trees surrounding our embark site. Someone started making squeaking noises about pissing off the elves but we have bigger concerns than offending their better sensibilities. I also decided to put some of the laborers to work stripping all nearby vegetation of anything remotely edible. Who knows if we can get some farms up in this muck. I'm not taking any chances when it comes to our food supplies. The last thing we want in a prolonged siege is to be forced to eat rats and rotten plump helmet stems to get by. If seen that before, the sunken eyes and hollow cheeks of a dwarf reduced to emaciated madness. Miscarriages, beards falling off, beloved pets roasted in their skins out of desperation...


26th of Hematite, year 70

We are making progress, such as it is. Stockpiles have been designated for our essentials and the beginning of what hopefully will become a stalwart fortress is being established meters under our feet. Until I feel we are somewhat safe I will leave considerations pertaining to organization and efficiency out of our plans. Let some other dwarf worry about that once they have a fat belly, a woozy head, and no adders to swat away from their infants.


15th of Malachite, year 70

Whatever misgivings I have had about my comrades at the outset of our journey may have been premature. They are proving their mettle in this heat and humidity. We have worked almost nonstop since we parked the wagon, and we now have plenty of logs to begin our palisade. In addition, we have made good progress in excavating the muck to dig out the area for our mushroom patch. Once you dig deep enough, it seems, the mud gives way to some black volcanic sand. Its actually a refreshing change of scenery, the black gritty depth of the mire in contrast to an endless stretch of festering sun baked muck

23rd of Malachite, year 70

Construction on the palisade is well underway and progress is steady. At this point in time there is little to stand against us, more on account of our obscurity than anything else. Every once in a while an adder will frighten one of the workers but that is of little consideration in the grand scheme of things. I decided to wall in a large area which encompasses several ponds in the hopes that our fisherdwarves can provide us with some pond turtles or mudskippers or whatever the hell lurks in this foetid, stagnant water. Farms are being established as I write and our valuables are being relocated to safer premises underground.

We have had some difficulty with labor, though, and many dwarves have found themselves with jobs they have not been trained for. There are protests but most understand that there are no other alternatives until migrants start arriving, at which point they can be relieved of their temporary duties to attend to their specialties.


17th of Galena, year 70

We had finally managed to complete the palisade and had just begun work on the drawbridge when skulking filth was spotted just outside the walls! Fortunately, it had no way into our compound but through the drakes we posted at the entrance so it had to go skulk elsewhere.


23rd of Galena, year 70

Snakes, so many snakes...it's as if the swamp itself is trying to run us off. No matter, with the palisade complete we have graduated from shit caked encampment to festering swamp town. Hopefully, some migrants will show up soon, though the booze is almost gone and the water is too foul to drink, we could use extra farmhands and maybe some able bodied defenders.

These damn snakes, they are practically climbing up the walls..


17th of Limestone, year 70

After months of labor we have a complete palisade and a drawbridge rigged to a lever near the entrance to our mudhole. I am begining to worry about our profound lack of alcohol though, dwarves without booze are a sad sight, and liable to go berserk at the slightest offense. I try to brew what I can but we are having a hell of a time farming here and I'm constantly short plants. I fear that the food situation may be our first hurdle. I have to admit, I may have been overzealous in the construction of the palisade. If we starve or go thirsty there will be little worth defending.

23rd of Sandstone, year 70

The booze situation has not improved. We can barely keep up with demand, and just when I thought we could do at least that, migrants.. where I had once hoped for some trickle of new faces to help us grow, I now dread the thought of feeding and boozing up even more dwarves. I ordered the farms to be expanded and for more diverse crops to be grown. I also ordered a surface farm to be established to begin growing steeloaks. If I will achieve anything as overseer, it will be to see to the forts defense, both now and for the future.


28th of Sandstone, year 70

In desperation I ordered the miners to begin work on a cistern. I plan to tap into some nearby ponds to fill it initially and afterward keep it full with rainwater. We can place our well underground, this way no one will become dehydrated when we inevitably run out of booze.


10th of Timber, year 70

It seems that the academy didnt cover esoteric, scientific topics like water pressure, gravity, etcetera, as I have exercised some very poor judgement in the placement of our well. Turns out that since the well was situated on a level a dozen or so meters below the ponds water level...the pond the cistern draws its water from...anytime it rains water pushes up through the well and floods our makeshift meeting hall. Thankfully, the mason had a quick fix: wall in the existing well and place it one level up. The water pressure will not be sufficient to push the water up that high but we will still have a functioning well, just not as close to the workers meeting area as I had hoped.

27th of Timber, year 70

This is not shaping up to be a good month. Not only were several thieves spotted, but we have now lost at least 2 children to kidnappers. The kidnappers were not able to make it into the compound, no... their careless parents were nice enough to practically deliver the children to the skulking FILTH waiting just outside our walls. I would chastise the morons but I feel their grief will be sufficient punishment. Maybe I should console them regardless, tell them its okay, they'll get to see their precious little Urists as they lead the charge on our fort at the head of a goblin army in a few short years..

..oh yeah, some traders came, but we were too occupied with fending off snakes, enduring stale water, getting our children stolen and erecting the palisade to churn out stone dolls for them. We barely had enough time to lash some twigs together to make a trade depot. I hope they don't notice how few fucks we have to give.


[scribbled in the margins of the -diorite journal- are numerous illegible words, followed by a profanity laced tirade regarding goblins, followed by]

...and they made off with yet another child. We should have saved them the trouble and just sent the little shits to their warrens with a bagged lunch.


4th of Fuckall, year 70

The traders have finally decided to move on and brave heaping mounds of snow rather than stay in this stinkhole for one more night. Can't say I blame them.. I damn near hitched a ride out, but to shirk my duty at this point would amount to more than treason... it would surely lead to the death of my comrades. Kidnappings aside, things have been pleasant. Masons are currently churning out some cheap stone furniture as many dwarves are grumbling about a lack of tables and chairs... as if we don't have more pressing concerns...

To keep them busy I ordered them to stockpile all the stone we have dug up so far and to gather more food from the closest vegetation they can find. We simply cannot afford to run out of booze now, with so many grieving parents finding solace in the bottom of an empty muck root whiskey barrel.

I also ordered some cloistered cells to be dug out for bedrooms. Hopefully having some private place to rest will boost morale.

16th of Moonstone, year 70

Just when I thought our level of suffering was at its apex, things actually manage to get worse. A horde of Dark Stranglers was spotted just at the edge of the mire today, and I fear they have not come to harass the geese.


17th of Moonstone, year 70

As I suspected, the stranglers were no mere geese kickers. They have pressed forward and will be upon us soon. Rather than close the gates or hope the drakes can manage to fend them all off I have assembled as many dwarves as I can into a peoples militia. We have no weapons, no armor, and less hope, but if we can lure them into our narrow entranceway with our drakes at our sides I believe we can take them, or at the least make one hell of a last stand.

18th of Moonstone, year 70

It worked! At the cost of one dwarfs miserable life (10-18-70 never forget) we have managed to kill all the stranglers. Some bruises and scratches and one dead schmuck aside, things are looking well, and plenty of dwarves are glad to have revelled in some slaughter. I can only wonder, though, what lurking horrors have driven these dark stranglers to our gates. Such simple minded creatures have never managed to achieve so much as a ambush let alone a full blown siege. To celebrate this narrow victory I instructed our band to begin work on a laboratory... anti-climatic, yes, but according to our herbalists one does not simply make steel from steeloak, to do so is part of a complex process involving something they call !SCIENCE!. Whatever !SCIENCE! is, I figure should be left to the scientists... so I asked the dwarf called Jerbot to begin his work. Hopefully, he will figure out a way to extract the steel from these robust elven trees soon enough as the next batch of siegers may not be as easily repelled as the last.


1st of Granite, year 71

After a pleasantly mild yet boozeless winter spring is now upon upon us and with it the smells and sounds of the swamp..
I can only hope that this new year sees us well defended and swimming in an ocean of plump helmet wine, but I fear the adders and the stranglers may have something to say about that.

1st of Felsite, year 71

Yet more migrants have shown up, gods know why. What with the kidnappings, invasions, and adders, you'd think word would have gone out to stay the fuck away from this wretched swamp. I'm begining to wonder if our messages to the mountainhomes are even making it all the way there, or if the traders are being intercepted before they could report what they have seen here. Booze and food supplies were strained before, now with so many more empty stomachs I fear for the worst.

17th of Felsite, year 71

While the past months have been uneventful, a migrant here, a kidnapper there, it seems that now, at the end of my term, Armok has decided to make me pay for every snobby noble I ever tripped down some stairs. Yet another army of stranglers was spotted. Reports are just coming in but from the sounds of it a dwarf meandering around where he shouldn't have been was jumped and killed. They will be upon us soon enough, and we will have one less drake to defend us. It seems the mire is no place for open wounds, as the trauma the creature endured in fending off the last siege had become infected, inevitably resulting in its demise. Rest in peace, noble beast.


[the following is a crude sketch of the beast, as depicted by Mensrea]

28th of Felsite, year 71

Well, its officially the last day of my term as overseer. At least I say it is... summer is nearly upon us, as are the stranglers, and I have no intention of presiding over some slaughter. If I die, I die fighting in the muck, next to my brothers and sisters and the drakes. I was lucky enough to at least witness the discovery of the "herbalist lab" which, according to Jerbot, will be where all future !SCIENCE! regarding steeloaks will be conducted. Whoever draws the short straw will have that to their advantage. Though I am usually in favor of taking threats head on, with morale being as it is this may be time to pull up the bridge and slap together some steel weapons and armor to give our best warriors. More deaths could result in hot tempers, and surely a mutiny. That's not my concern now, though, and even if they choose otherwise, I can't say that we didn't have a good run.



Armok save us all.

__________________________________________________________________________________
Had a hell of a first year. I have never been sieged not just once but twice like that so quickly. The wildlife made starting out a pain due to the dwarves constantly being scared away from the tasks at hand, and then once I finally had things walled in morale plummeted from 3 kidnappings. I definitely intended to do better but I'm afraid all I really managed was to build some defenses. Not that the defenses will help against more sophisticated enemies; if we turtle they will just knock the damn walls down.

Food/booze was an issue and I'm almost certain that was due to the slow start. I had to re-assign a lot of labor to get the wall up fast, and then re-assign again to get the bridge, mechanisms and levers made. Immigrants are pouring in now and I'm not sure why given all the carnage. I don't have the save or the ingame pictures on my workstation so I will post those later, probably around 6 pm or so.

Again, I apologize for taking so long. I pretty much pushed it til the last day.. now I know why so many community forts seem to take so long. Life seems to be content quietly lurking in a dark corner until there is a deadline to meet, at which point it pounces and makes sure you are sufficiently overwhelmed as to be late. I only dorfed Jerbot and Grimmash and that wasn't until the very end of my term.

Jerbot is up next and buddy, I wish you luck, cause you will need it. You have a siege to deal with right away and the dorfs are already pretty agitated so I would suggest continuing with the bedroom project to make them happy/keep them from going apeshit.

I also seemed to have got the date wrong initially, likely due to the failed/accident embark. Maybe this should have been another drunk fortress?

I will take turn 2.

As for questions, I hope i can figure things out, but I'll ask if i get stuck.

Also, can you dwarf me as a metal worker of some kind? Thats the industry I intend to focus on during my year, if I can.

Done and done. We didn't have a metal worker though, so I just dorfed you as the researcher as he is who I would assign the smith profession to anyway. You should have a good run if you like working with metal, as we already have the foundation of that sweet renewable steel in place.

By the way, and I apologize for not mentioning earlier, I left digging invaders on. I'm pretty sure a dfhack thing needs to be ran for it to work though. I'm kinda interested in seeing how that would work out because almost all the forts I have ever built would have been easy to destroy if they could have been dug into, and frost giants can break walls with it on. I will bring up a poll as to whether it should be employed or not, or whether that should be up to individual overseers.

I also didn't employ child labor for my turn, but I would personally be okay with other people using the little rascals for something productive, whats left of them anyway...