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Our uniform shall be blood (red)

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Danger room training shall be forbidden.

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Total Members Voted: 0

Voting closed: April 02, 2013, 10:22:42 am

[Urist McKiwi]

Oh yeah, I forgot about those. Some ghosts just won't go away..I think there's a few with 2-3 slabs already that keep on doodling their way around the fort. Makes for great tourism. So unless we find a way to rekill the dead-things-we-can't-just-shoot, it's just a case of ignoring them and hoping they don't cause much damage.

[Triaxx2]

So the cannon is three blocks away from being complete. And the undead are preventing it that. Sigh.

Midway through Timber, the brush finally catches into a big fire. It burns and chases the undead, but some manage to escape it, getting behind it. The smoke clears before the final three blocks can be placed, and the cannon remains unfinished. My tenure is coming to a close. I'm glad of this.

One of the children had to be put down. He had entered a strange mood, but we were unable to supply one of his demands. I'm not sure which one, before I was able to find out, he went berserk. An axedwarf split his skull. He'll be buried with honor. Or possibly thrown in the volcano. Must check for empty coffins.

Winter is upon us. The fire still rages. I hope some solution can be found for the undead.

[Urist McKiwi]

So the cannon is three blocks away from being complete. And the undead are preventing it that. Sigh.

Midway through Timber, the brush finally catches into a big fire. It burns and chases the undead, but some manage to escape it, getting behind it. The smoke clears before the final three blocks can be placed, and the cannon remains unfinished. My tenure is coming to a close. I'm glad of this.

One of the children had to be put down. He had entered a strange mood, but we were unable to supply one of his demands. I'm not sure which one, before I was able to find out, he went berserk. An axedwarf split his skull. He'll be buried with honor. Or possibly thrown in the volcano. Must check for empty coffins.

Winter is upon us. The fire still rages. I hope some solution can be found for the undead.

I'd say silver or copper bolts are the best bet to whittle down their numbers as best we can from our existing towers (you won't kill them all, but you'll get some at least). Or wait for the goblins to attack again. Or a flying FB coming through the passage to the surface that we have in one of the caverns (in which case everyone dies, but hopefully so do the undead). We've got a lot of spare metal to use on that stuff.

Coffins.....yeah......there may be a few coffins that are empty, but not set to be used for burial. But they'll be scattered throughout the entire fortress, so it's probably better to just extend one of the existing graveyards. There's a graveyard I had setup next to McUrist's General Hospital (and next to the original McUrist's restaurant) that might have some space.  Or do what I did at the more desperate times, and just find an empty space and fill it with corpses.

 I also ordered a bunch of coffins made last year, but they might not be finished yet, or I might have used them all.

Edit: Also, at some point I think I'm going to try counting the forest fires this place has had. I *know* it's at least 15-20...although some aren't mentioned in updates, I think it'd be interesting to see just how many we've had over time.

[Triaxx2]

Well, they've been shooting from the towers they see from, but you're right, they're not doing much good. I'll see if I can find some spare coffins.

[Wastedlabor]

A little heads up -- I'm going to be in Poland till ~ Oct 7, so if you don't see the post #1 updating it's just I'm away and busy.

[Triaxx2]

Sweet, Poland.

[Urist McKiwi]

Memo to Overseer
From: Urist McKiwi III, Dashing Swordsdwarf (and militia commander)

My lord Overseer.


I believe that I have a solution to our problem with regards to the undead, more specifically our inability to field archers in the right places to deal with the issue ballistically.
This is mostly due to the fact that our existing towers are not in convenient places for handling this new threat, and our civilian masons, being rather less dashing than myself, are unwilling or unable to even look upon the undead while undertaking construction work without being struck down by terror.

While I cannot pretend to understand such a lack of dashingness, although the number of deceased citizens among the undead horde is rather disturbing, the following may present a solution:

Take the section of the wall near the trap corridor (diagrams are for a 5X7 platform, but it's just for demonstration).

Code: [Select]

|=Wall R=Ramp

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We could build extra layers of walls up behind part of it, turning it into a solid "foundation" for a future tower, then put some upward ramps in place to allow my archers to climb on top:

Code: [Select]


|=Wall
R=Ramp
Numbers indicate order in which  horizontal rows of constructions should be built to maximise build speed without leaving gaps (since we can't build floors without undead cancellations)
 
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|||||||   3
||||||R   2
||||||R   1
||||||R   2
|||||||   3
|

Once the middle section is complete, we can build two rows at once without risking gaps in the structure.


Now, here's the clever bit.....because our masons construct walls from the sides.....they won't see the undead, because the existing wall is in the way!

At this stage, we can just send our archers and marksdwarves up there and wipe out everything nearby! Foolproof. And most dashing, if I may say so myself.

Although.......we might have to be careful building on top of this kind of "foundation", since the whole thing could well collapse if we pull the wrong bit out (I'm no architect, I'm a dashing swordsdwarf). On the other hand, it is easily expandable into a proper tower.....once the undead have been shot up enough that there's no longer line-of-sight issues to stop our builders from doing their jobs. At that stage, we can just build our stairs, walls and floors on top of that base, and we've got a brand new tower for my soldiers to use in future seiges.

Now....we could do this much cheaper by just putting ramps against the 1-thick wall, but the risk then is that soldiers on top of 1-thick walls are insanely vulnerable to ranged attacks, especially since if they dodge into the moat they're definitely going to die. Last year, my dwarves wiped out most of a seige that way over on the outer compound's wall. Most dashing, if I may say so. But since it's not a good idea to have that happen to our soldiers, I'd advise not even trying that, since the slower way is by far safer and superior.

Assuming we have enough masons who are not cavorting around in the caverns or crying about crundles going wild, we can do this form of construction on any wall in the fortress that blocks line-of-sight to the undead. As such, we should be able to patch our defenses very quickly.

Your loyal servant

Urist McKiwi III, Dashing Swordsdwarf

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Ok, it's not a perfect idea, but it's the best I can think of to come up with a firing platform for our archers where we need a firing platform for our archers.
Alternatively, we could use the same method (construct walls behind walls) to make our outer wall 3-4 blocks thick, so we can station archers anywhere along it, then build fortifications to protect them (once the current siege is over).

[Triaxx2]

Memo to: Urist McKiwi III, Dashing Swordsdwarf (and militia commander)
From: Overseer

Your plan is indeed sound and the architects inform me that it's sound. I will attempt it, however, know that due to trees failing to block line of sight, this plan may take some time.

Overextended Overseer

---

Not sure what's with that, but it's taken forever to build anything where a tree is in place of the wall.

[Triaxx2]

Final report:

As winter draws to a close, I have taken the advice of the chief militia dwarf and expanded a section of wall to have the marksdwarves shoot from. While this has been done and a station order has been issued, I have seen none of them on the wall. I have filed a complaint to be delivered to the chief of the militia, and included it in my final reports, left on the desk for the next overseer. I will see to it that the new overseer has all my expertise. As such, I make this report:

The new south eastern tower base is in place. a ramp leads up to it for access by the militia, should they ever be convinced to use it.

The second disposal minecart is currently functional, but is stuck at the top of the ramp because each civilian that attempts to retrieve it becomes frightened of the undead and fails to complete the task. I am unsure of a solution, but if the undead can be removed by any means, the cart will become immediately functional.

Third, I have had to order a second child put down after he entered a strange mood, then became berserk after we were unable to provide the requisite materials. I am unsure which is the correct material in either case do to being preoccupied by the undead and other fortress maintenance tasks. I suggest watching for morale concerns.

Fourth, I have assigned all remaining trees on the island for cutting, including those currently underground. Too many trees warps time and causes things to slow down as dwarves attempt to circumnavigate them. I suggest that they be watched carefully and be pruned at least once per season to minimize this effect.

Fifth, now that the fire has burned it's course, it is clear that issues are being had with shooting undead due to the vast number of uncut trees outside the fortress. Cutting shooting lanes once the undead have been removed should be a top priority. As well as littering weapon traps outside the fortress. We have an abundance of sand, and magma. I recommend some number of serrated glass discs in each trap. While this will create larger numbers of undead, it will also make the individual pieces weaker.

Sixth, all steel manufacture, has been shut down. I received complaints of in sufficient steel bars, insufficient flux, and insufficient pig iron. Since metallurgy is not my specific field of expertise, I leave this to a future overseer who better understands the needs and ratios of materials necessary to construct further steel equipment.

Seventh, all dwarves save those designated as miners or militia commanders are currently designated as masons. I had not the time to restore normal jobs to those temporarily drafted.

Finally, this tenure has been the least stressful I have endured, in spite of the threat of undead, this was a relatively peaceful time in the fortress. But I forsee a dark time coming ahead.

---

The Save: Moltenchannels 1097

[Urist McKiwi]

The steel manufacturing was so more armor could be made for the militia. If it's kept going this long, which is actually quite amazing, there should be plenty for some nice leggings and greaves and stuff, whenever someone wants to make that kind of equipment. We'll need it, most probably. Good luck actually getting the militia to wear it though...

In terms of trees....well.....there's not much we can do, unless we want to pave over everything. They don't burn, and it takes a long time to cut them down.....at which point a seige will turn up and kill everyone outside the walls.

Stationing orders take a LONG time in this fortress. There's a lot of path-finding to be done, and our pathways are kinda convoluted. Plus the squad may need to resupply or something. They'll get there eventually though, so long as they're alive.

[Wastedlabor]

We are running out of overseers!

[bp920091]

Would you like me to take another turn?

The spontaneous fires started on my turn... Maybe they will stop on my turn as well.

I have improved my DF management skillset since i last acted as overseer of moltenchannels.

Perhaps i can do something about said zombie invasion... Minecart magma railguns anyone?

... i could also solve the tree problem permanently by collapsing all the outside terrain to the stone level. I dont even need to go outside to do it...

[Triaxx2]

Well, if you can manage it and catch the undead in the collapse without getting them into the fortress, that'd do the trick. And then we can build some proper defenses.

[CaptainArchmage]

Wait its my turn again? Or what?

The trouble with Moltenchannels is the FPS death. Its going to be running at 10-15 FPS unless I deal with upgrading or building a computer, and that's not going to happen in a matter of hours or days. If I can find a way to run Dwarf Fortress on a powerful computer (maybe), it could go faster.

Some people appear to be capable of running the fort at 40-50 FPS, which is good for something of this size.

If we want to speed up the game, it may be better to have Moltenchannels available on a networked DF Terminal on a very high spec computer.

[Urist McKiwi]

The FPS isn't that bad, as long as you've got 3-4 hours spare for each season and can remember what you're actually doing. I think that caving things in might make things worse though.

One solution to the problem of not having enough archers to make a difference might be to turn our hammerdwarves into cross-trained marksdwarves. They'll be able to melee pretty darned well if they've been training enough, and we can shoot things better.