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[Taupe]

Ok i just got the save, I was away yesterday due to a severe case of the saturday. Not sure I'll have much time to play it in the next two days as I hadn't planned to get the save right away. I'll see what I can do.

Don't expect a full two years straight, I'll need to figure out where things are. Maybe a year. Rest assured, i have taken good notes of our priorities, namely finding gold, building temples, and moving everyone to some smaller bedrooms. And volcano sacrifices, let's not forget 'em.

More updates tomorrow.

[DoctorMcTaalik]

Ok i just got the save, I was away yesterday due to a severe case of the saturday. Not sure I'll have much time to play it in the next two days as I hadn't planned to get the save right away. I'll see what I can do.

Don't expect a full two years straight, I'll need to figure out where things are. Maybe a year. Rest assured, i have taken good notes of our priorities, namely finding gold, building temples, and moving everyone to some smaller bedrooms. And volcano sacrifices, let's not forget 'em.

More updates tomorrow.

And cavern expeditions. Can't forget those.

[Taupe]

3rd of Granite, 257: So it has come to this. I have been named Overseer of this fortress, after countless other dwarves refused the title. Makes you feel appreciated, to be the 7th best choice of the people. regardless, I shall do my best to carve this bubbling nation into the fully active society it deserves to be, burning and smoking with activity. Then our power shall rush down the slopes of this blazing mountain and engulf the surrounding land within our obsidian grasp....

This is, of course, all metaphorical. I am not to go anywhere near the volcano, let alone do something with it. Northstar blatantly insisted on that.

4th of Granite, 257: Ok, so I've started a new project. Hint, it involves throwing prisoners into the volcano. Our first objective is of course to obtain prisoners, meaning we need cages. Either trade them or craft 'em. Moldath has spoken to me in my sleep. she whispers her desire in my ear, and for long she has been begging for offerings, in vain. Soon she shall be answered to. While at it, I have decided to institute my title. I shall now be known as the Oracle of Flames.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I spend most of the week trying to figure out where the workshops are. I spent so much time alone meditating above the volcanic mouth that the fortress is alien to me, as if I was laying eyes on it for the first time. I decide to take a good look at our mines, and the caverns below. They are locked, and apparenlt filled with a giant lake, so i decide to leave them be. Instead i survey our mining strips, and realise we have a TON of gold and gems lying around, so i designate them all to be excavated. I decide to also include all that pretty yellow stone, because yellow is like gold and gold is friggin pimp. If i was to build a temple made of golden rock and giant golden dragon statues, that would be rather kickass.

(note: i've only played with dfhack so far so i have no actual clue how to ''click'' on workshop and lever.I can view them alright, but im unabe to activate a workshop to give it a task or press levers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I notice we have a lot of iddlers, so I decide to give them some jobs, by creating some stone stockpiles. I'll build them above the main workshop areas, so we have easy access to them. Maybe we already have stockpiles for that, but I didnt find em. I add pillars, because nothing says dwarven civilisation like pimping your granite dumps.

Meanwhile the mayor has imposed a ban on the import of quivers. Big deal. I notice we have quite a few cages already, but apparently not enough rock mechanisms. I order our manager to begin producing some more. And i send some workers outside to gather dead goblin things. A busy fortress is a growing fortress.

18th of granite: I find our lack of drinks and plants to be bothersome, I'll dispatch some peasants to the mountainside, so they can pick up cranberries. They are interupted by an elk, which our hunters proceed to murderise tenderly. I order some of our cages to be placed near the weapon traps, so that we may begin amassing prisoners. ( Also something about another layer of defense? )

The southern side of the mountain is to be levelled. When we have a nice surface, i shall have the masons wall it up. we'll use the new enclosed area for some aditionnal storage.

17th of felsite:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Urist the ranger claimed a Craftdwarfmanshoperoo. Let's hope he makes good use of it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Oh COME on Urist, that's not what I had in mind. This is a terrible artifact. It has legs and wants to kill us. I would have much preferred a bracelet.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I can hardly believe it! My blazing visions were right. Our great deity asked me to build random cages right there, and so I did. And there, less than a week after the cage is complete, it manages to trap the great invader, the One-Eyed beast Obin the cyclop. Who'se the fucking Oracle, huh? Moldath explicitely asked me for a worthy acrifice, and told me to build mechanism and use them for a cage at this exact spot. now lo and behold, delivered to us, a great sacrifice!

PRAISE BE TO THE VOLCANO GOD!

[Taupe]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After the Cyclop was captured, I told Urist of my grand vision regarding the beast, and he immediately became posessed, no doubt by the spirit of Moldath herself. The flames were shining in his eyes while he worked, producing a great figurine worth 3600 dwarfbucks. It depicts the rise of both a general and a queen. I ask urist who they are, and he replies, in a fiery, booming voice that is not his own:

''Those are the forebearers of your people, Oracle. A queen and a mighty warrior, who rose to the highest spheres of glory and honor, of wealth and renown. All that i asked of them were worthy offerings. In time, this fortress shall become legend, so long as grand gifts are hurled in the mouth of my daughter. Please me, and I shall nurture this citdel into a paragon of fortune and might. Displease me, and I shall engulf it in flames, so that from the ashes may rise something more worthy of my blessings.

Now go, for your task is done. for it was I that brough ill-fortune upon all those would-be overseers, delaying their reign so that you could be in charge in this very moment. But now, none shall doubt your visions, nor the justness of the demands that they convey. Another shall take your place, but you shall remain here as my voice. Meditate, and listen, for a time will come where you are to serve me again...''

The booming voice fades, and urist's eyes stop glowing. As the volcano spirit releases her grasp upon this mortal shell, Urist falls to the ground, shaken. He does not seem to remember anything about this encounter, nor does he have any memories of the last weeks. The only testament of his possession lies within my hand, a glowing figurine, a reminder of our deeds to be.

I order the figurine to be placed somewhere safe, and prepare to resign from my post as overseer. I shall return to the mountain top, and pray.



NOTES: I couldnt get the save within the first day of my mandate, and i'll be working tomorrow, leaving me with basically no more time to play. Instead of wasting time and waiting for tomorrow, I'm updating the savefile now. to my successors, a few things

1-The new room i dug was designed as a gem stockpile/gemcutter studio. Feel free to engrave it or repurpose it. We have tons of gems coming out of the mining complex at the moment, so queing some gemcutting jobs would give us a great deal of stuff to sell.
2-Make SURE that the Cyclop is sacrificed to the Volcano God, or else a terrible fate will befall us. MARK. MY. WORDS.
3-Our drink supplies are dangerously low. Please advise. We don't want a wave of soberness crashing down on us...
4-I started a new wall to the south. By finishing the wall, adding a new layer to it, and flattening the surface, we'd get some more safe space for farms, animals, and various other things...
5-Oh yeah, i forgot, the first day of summer brought forth something interesting...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Save file is HERE: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=9652

[DoctorMcTaalik]

I will start my turn tomorrow.

[Northstar1989]

I will start my turn tomorrow.

Alright, but don't forget that you only have 72 hours from when the save was uploaded to post your save.


Nice job Taupe, but, ummm, why are the drink supplies low?  We should have TONS of brewable plants coming out of the farms.  Did you send any brewing jobs to the Stills?  You can select workshops with the "Q" key...

DoctorMcTaalik, I *highly* advise pulling all the Dwarves inside the walls (there might still be some wandering around from Taupe's turn if the Gobbo's just arrived) and spending a bit of attention on the Kitchen Screen and food/drink management...  You might also want to update the save to the latest version of DwarfFortress (0.40.11, just remember to replace the raws with the new ones for Ironhand+DF) and finish filling the cistern if it wasn't done already...  The newest changes to the evaporation code make it MUCH easier to fill tall cisterns... (water will no longer evaporate if there is a full z-level of water beneath it)

Also, why has nobody made use of the bedroom on the Trade Depot level of the fortress?  Somebody emptied the 4 beds out of there a while ago, as well as the beds from the Northwest Tower, and nobody's re-purposed either for anything else (like as an office for a spoiled Noble, or emptied out the remaining cabinets and statue and used it as a workshop/stockpile room...)

Finally, as always, check the Notes screen when you load up the save file- there are a number of suggestions there that still haven't been touched upon, or have been carried out and can be deleted...


Regards,
Northstar

[Taupe]

We were at around 100 when i got the save. With hindsight, i realise this is either due to a lack of barrels, or our very low plant supplies not allowing for brewing. I had a few brewing jobs added to the queues to make sure any still i missed with my survey of the fort would be put to work regardless, but the dwarves never got to it, meaning they lacked something. I tried to gather some cranberries from the left cliffside, but then a cyclop attacked there and all my priorities regarding barrels went down the drain.

I was planning to restock using the next caravan. (either plant, seeds, or finished products) We should have a bunch of jewels to trade by then, even more if the new gem center is put into operation. there should be space for two workshops on either side of the northern room.

[Northstar1989]

We were at around 100 when i got the save. With hindsight, i realise this is either due to a lack of barrels, or our very low plant supplies not allowing for brewing. I had a few brewing jobs added to the queues to make sure any still i missed with my survey of the fort would be put to work regardless, but the dwarves never got to it, meaning they lacked something. I tried to gather some cranberries from the left cliffside, but then a cyclop attacked there and all my priorities regarding barrels went down the drain.

I was planning to restock using the next caravan. (either plant, seeds, or finished products) We should have a bunch of jewels to trade by then, even more if the new gem center is put into operation. there should be space for two workshops on either side of the northern room.

It's likely that the problem was lack of storage barrels.  But queuing jobs through the Manager doesn't always work- which is why you needed to go to the individual Stills... (there's one near the farms, for instance)

Earthenware Pots cannot be used to store liquids (including booze) unless glazed- which is why I advised previous overlords *NOT* to use precious stone for furniture or other items that can be made out of glass or clay.  Stone needs to be reserved primarily for use carving out large numbers of Stone Large Pots for booze storage- which is a task that is likely overseers since myself have largely neglected.


Now that we have a (limited) source of water, we also have potentially unlimited supplies of water, however.  It is possible to increase the water supply through controlled freeze/thaw cycles using the freezing temperatures (which will create a full block of ice even from 1/7 deep water) and lava (which will melt ice blocks through a 1 tile thick wall- generating a 7/7 deep tile of water regardless of the depth when it froze).  Just remember you need to have somewhere to drain the lava to after draining away a portion of the water underground for storage (though remember to leave some water behind to freeze again and seed the next batch of ice).  I like to think of it (from a roleplaying perspective) as collecting snowfall and melting it...

To seed the Ice Farm with the first water/ice, you will probably need to use Screw Pumps or have the Dwarves haul it up from the underground lake (or the cistern) to the Ice Farm (which needs to be on the surface) in buckets.  Beware though- I think that water freezes in buckets when carried outside for too long...

An unlimited supply of water (from an Ice Farm), plus an unlimited supply of lava (from the volcano), also equates to a potentially unlimited supply of Obsidian.  It is difficult to engineer, and there is a lot of potential for screw-up's, but a wise overseer could construct an Ice Farm to generate unlimited water, and an Obsidian Farm to utilize a portion of that water for stone-making.  Another portion of the water can be diverted to underground cisterns/reservoirs for drinking...


Finally, the piercing of the caverns combined with the discovery of water has given us the ability to generate potentially unlimited supplies of wood.  By establishing an underground Tree Farm on stone muddied with water generated from an Ice Farm (as described above), we can grow potentially unlimited numbers of underground trees.  The tricky part is hollowing out a space large and TALL enough for trees to grow to their full height, now that trees are multiple z-levels tall...

Trees do grow properly as of the 0.40.11 update.  But they grow VERY slowly compared to previous versions of DF, so expect a tree farm you establish now to not become productive for several years...


Establishing any and all of these production facilities (Ice Farms, and the Obsidian/Tree Farms they enable) should be on the to-do list of future overseers.  Rather than elaborate temples to (false) Dwarven gods, and silly sacrificial schemes to the volcano; establishing a renewable source of drinking water (through an Ice Farm) would have real, tangible benefits to our fortress...


Also, one last thing- gems should absolutely NOT BE EXPORTED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!  (Excepting Large Gems, which are inherently worthless except as trade goods).  Gems are inherently a limited resource, and are required for some Strange Moods (as such, some gems should ALWAYS be kept in reserve in case a Dwarf needs gems for an artifact- glass cannot be used in their place).  They are also highly useful for encrusting furniture to increase the value of our Dwarves' bedrooms... (although clay and green glass can, and should, also be used for decorations first).

The Magma Kilns and Magma Glass Furnaces can produce an unlimited supply of Earthenware and Green Glass trade goods to export in their place (there is no need to queue up many more such jobs though- we already have an embarrassingly large number of these trade goods sitting in the stockpiles and workshops from previous overseers...)


Regards,
Northstar

P.S.  I recommend renovating and re-purposing currently useless space, such as abandoned mineshaft tunnels, for these projects if possible.  There's no reason to have tons of empty mineshafts around, killing FPS when cats decide to path into them hunting vermin...  Put the space to good use or don't bother mining it...

[DoctorMcTaalik]

I was unable to play my turn due to unexpected time constraints that arose yesterday evening. Because this has happened twice now, and I don't see things improving in the foreseeable future, I am for the time being removing myself from the turn order.

I realize how bad this looks, especially given the fact that I am supposed to be administering this thread. I tried several times to get onto the forums last night, in order to announce my inability to play my turn, but all I  oils get we're "502 Bad Gateway" errors. It seems the website picked the least convenient time to go down.

Edmus, it is your turn. As always, you have 24 hours to obtain the save, and a total of 72 to play your turn. Good luck.

[Shadow Of Fate]

I tried several times to get onto the forums last night, in order to announce my inability to play my turn, but all I  oils get we're "502 Bad Gateway" errors. It seems the website picked the least convenient time to go down.

You are not alone in this. I couldn't access the forums last night, either. So yeah, they must have been down. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't found a good time to play my turn either due to my schedule. Things happen.

[Taupe]

Make it three, the forums were definitely down a large part of the evening.

that being said, I believe the various skips and time constrains we have experienced so far point to a common issue: The time period allocated for each turn is rather short, given the 2 years mandate of each overseer. Each new player must aquaint himself with the fortress before he truly starts to play his turn. We've seen many people unable to log in the required amount of time when their turn came up, which in turn lead to the next in line to be unable to play as well, since he wasnt expecting it, which create a domino chain of skips. Weekend turns can be especially deadly if the first planned guy decides he cant play.

I would suggest that we extend the playing time of each overseer to 4 days. This shouldnt open more possibilities for many of us, and in turn ensure that we don't just end up skipping 7 turns in a row. Seing how we've spent most of our time so far chasing after players rather than progressing, i dont think it'll hurt the fort that much to give it a try. If people complete their turn ahead of time, they can just upload the save early anyway.

[Northstar1989]

I wasn't able to access the forums either, so don't worry about it Shadow.  I'll put you as Delayed again.  How much further would you like to be bumped down the turn list?

Doctor, are you SURE you don't want to be added to the end of the turn list again?  After I put down some of the other people for their second turn, it will be quite a while until then...

I would suggest that we extend the playing time of each overseer to 4 days. This shouldnt open more possibilities for many of us, and in turn ensure that we don't just end up skipping 7 turns in a row. Seing how we've spent most of our time so far chasing after players rather than progressing, i dont think it'll hurt the fort that much to give it a try. If people complete their turn ahead of time, they can just upload the save early anyway.

3 days seems to be a little short, but 4 days is too long.  DoctorMcTaalik also wants to extend the turns a bit.  So I'm going with a compromise:

From now on, all players will have 36 hours to confirm download of a save, and 48 hours after that for their turn.  So, if they confirm the download immediately, they will have up to 84 hours for their turn, instead of 72 as previously.

Edmus, this means you have until 10:00 AM Central Time tomorrow morning (instead of this evening) to confirm download of the save, otherwise it's my 2nd turn.


Regards,
Northstar

[Shadow Of Fate]

I wasn't able to access the forums either, so don't worry about it Shadow.  I'll put you as Delayed again.  How much further would you like to be bumped down the turn list?

Well, I would like to be put back a couple weeks. My problem is I'm busy on the weekends, and on Tuesdays and Thursday I don't get out until 8 at night my time. So I need a Monday and/or a Wednesday to get good playing time in.

[DoctorMcTaalik]

I wasn't able to access the forums either, so don't worry about it Shadow.  I'll put you as Delayed again.  How much further would you like to be bumped down the turn list?

Doctor, are you SURE you don't want to be added to the end of the turn list again?  After I put down some of the other people for their second turn, it will be quite a while until then...

I would suggest that we extend the playing time of each overseer to 4 days. This shouldnt open more possibilities for many of us, and in turn ensure that we don't just end up skipping 7 turns in a row. Seing how we've spent most of our time so far chasing after players rather than progressing, i dont think it'll hurt the fort that much to give it a try. If people complete their turn ahead of time, they can just upload the save early anyway.

3 days seems to be a little short, but 4 days is too long.  DoctorMcTaalik also wants to extend the turns a bit.  So I'm going with a compromise:

From now on, all players will have 36 hours to confirm download of a save, and 48 hours after that for their turn.  So, if they confirm the download immediately, they will have up to 84 hours for their turn, instead of 72 as previously.

Edmus, this means you have until 10:00 AM Central Time tomorrow morning (instead of this evening) to confirm download of the save, otherwise it's my 2nd turn.


Regards,
Northstar

Alright, scratch that thing about me dropping out.

Regardless of whether or not I end up playing, I will continue to monitor the thread and assist Northstar.

[Northstar1989]

Alright everybody.  Take a look at the current turn order (which I just updated), and let me know if you have any issues with it.

Edmus, do you know if you're going to be able to take your turn?  We still haven't heard anything from you...


Regards,
Northstar