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[Amperzand]

Dorf'd? Well, if I'm not already, dorf me plz.

[Bigheaded]

Dorf'd? Well, if I'm not already, dorf me plz.

will do so tomorrow, got till then to give me a preference. Personally heading up a military squad so my name will (hopefully) have a large list of stuff i've killed eventually
Heck, unless you specify otherwise you can be my training partner.

Does increase chances of dying though, or you could save the fortress in it's hour of need!

[Amperzand]

Well, military works for me. I'd go for a mechanic, but I don't think you'll be making any weaponized megaprojects anytime soon.

[Northstar1989]

100% the correct file.

You weren't clear that you had played an entire season before your updates before.  So I was confused, because many things (such as the number of surviving Dwarves) changed *drastically* between your update and the last save.

If things are on the way downhill, you might want to revert to the Doctor's save (or even the one before his) and try again...

The reason why the FB is in the hospital is because the bridge is at z22, and the hospital is at z80. So either there is a second bridge (which is currently raised) or second hospital or someone's made a bit of an error here. In hindsight, the best move would have been to make a second hospital rather than retake the first hospital.

A second bridge?  You mean like this one?

Actually, looking at your edit, I see you found it...



That bridge has been there all along, and it was *raised* in the Doctor's save file (as seen here).  It looks like you accidentally lowered it somehow (the bridge is two tiles thick- so you can tell if it is up/down just by looking at it).  There are several Notes on the Notes Screen that identify what each of the levers there does...

The reason the FB's were able to get in was because somebody dug *around* the bridge, as you already noted...

I've played for a season, which is partly what the issue is. For a lot of the deaths have not been dealt with from engraving slabs/burial because every single coffin is full. I suspect if you play for an entire season you'll notice it takes a while for the slabs to be done and my guess is that you'll find a ghost in this period.

There were several empty coffins in the save file.  It wouldn't have been that hard to make more (and much quicker than engraving slabs).  And, while slabs were being engraved in the save file, it appeared to be more for decorative purposes than anything else- most of them were for dwarves who were already buried.

There also weren't many corpses lying around to begin with- although I'm still not sure what the Doctor did to kill the many Dwarves who were dead and *already* buried by the time he uploaded- in the save prior to his, there were absolutely no corpses whatsoever and everything was peaceful/secure with no way into the fort for invaders.  Remember the declaration of "No More Corpses Day"?

Booze was at "30" not 0, but it's close enough to 0 considering the size of the fort.

To be fair, i don't think any of the problems are particularly difficult. I shall reseal the caverns and take the hospital back at a later stage.
It's just with the military as it is dealing with a FB is rather beyond hope, but in 2 years i can probably sort it out.

And I see you managed to deal with the FB's that got inside, as witnessed by your later updates.  Please make sure to seal off the second entrance to the caverns before it causes us any more trouble!

Someone else will need to resolve the marksdwarf situation. Not my speciality, i couldn't even find where they train, unless they simply train on goblins (i've had success with archery targets a way back, not used them in years though).

Look around the fort.  Check the earlier posts on this thread.  There is an archery range in the fort- but my simply showing you a screenshot probably wouldn't do much to help you find it, since it's a relatively nondescript room.  The actual targets might have been removed at some point since my second turn (which is the last time I can *confirm* they were in the range).

I shall relocate the hospital and cancel the one at z80, as it makes no sense anyway, if there's 2 bridges, it makes more sense having the hospital inside both bridge defenses.

The hospital *IS* inside both bridge defenses- but as you pointed out, the lower bridge has been compromised by an alternate route being dug around it.  I suggest you take a more careful look at the fort's layout.  The hospital is where it is because it's close to the cistern- which as I pointed out before, needs refilling.

edit: just found the second bridge. Why you would put a lever on the ground level to deal with the caverns next to one for outside...

You're right- there probably would have been more sensible places for the lever (like in a central control room).  But, at the time the lever was built, there was a meeting hall next to the levers, and it was convenient place to ensure levers got pulled quickly...

Lets put it this way, i don't remember which is which, it's fine anyway, damage is done.

Fortress-ending accidents like this (not noticing that the last player dug an alternate route into the caverns, or digging an alternate route into the caverns in the first place) is why we have reverts to earlier saves...

If necessary, and you can't deal with the aftermath of the FB's or manage to seal up the alternate entrance that bypasses the bridge on time, then I strongly suggest you consider reverting to one of the saves (The Doctor's or the one before).

Also, the FB can get in anyway, the 3 cage traps placed to prevent the second entrance is terrible, i'm unsure if you put it there, or what.
I.e, this area here, is where anything can simply bypass your bridge and wander straight up into the fort, except from the bridge at z22:


Might be easiest setting up a second bridge to block there also. I suspect the doctor wanted to get into the caverns for something and seeing it was unclear how to get past the bridge in the caverns, he just made a second entrance. Will probably have to deal with that sooner rather than later.

Ahh, I see.  Somebody (maybe the Doctor- maybe an even earlier overseer) must have recently carved that second entrance into the caverns (which is NOT secured).  It wasn't there earlier...

for a fortress which doesn't use the caverns, there is a LOT of corpses of troglodytes and crundles in the caverns. Which seems to confirm my theory the good doctor had some fun down there.

No, the FB's just slaughter the Crundles/Troglodytes for fun, actually.  I see from your later updates you figured that out.

From the military perspective: I will AVOID use of melee combat, but will make it possible that melee combat can be used with high skilled fighters to deal with threats such as the FB in the hospital. Seeing that's an area i can deal with.

As it is, i will seal off the fort at z22 until i'm at a stage where i can use melee to retake any other levels. I have placed a lever which deals with the bridge at Z22 at Z21. There's enough confusion on the surface with just 3 levers anyway.

If you seal the fortress off at Z=22 below the surface, then you will cut it off from its only source of water (the caverns) and leave it with nothing but a single block of ice (in one of the underground pastures- I'm sure you saw it) that was placed so as to begin ice-farming operations (which are a difficult enough engineering challenge that nobody's attempted it yet).

Long story short- I'm not sure what dunder-head carved out the additional entrance- but it needs to be sealed somewhere below the level of the cistern-pumps ASAP.


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

At z88/z89 there are stairs going up into the fort, even though there arn't any going back down, it's still enough to let them in! Considering this is on the main stairwell, this gives access to basically everything, going to remove the stairs, to enforce the use of the other entrance to the caverns.

You need to dig over to the lower z-level from the 1x3 stair-shaft you see to the right.  Have the masons replace all the tiles with walls/floors, such as to create a solid barrier to access into the fort.

Should work unless we get anything which can fly, which i can deal with as and when it happens. I have other worries till then.

We've already had *several* Forgotten Beasts which can fly.  And most are expert climbers.  Simply removing the stairs won't be enough.

To illustrate:


The red boxes is what i'm worried about. Whilst on the way to the caverns from the fort, there is no way down at "fort" and they have to head towards the cavern.
To get INTO the fort from the caverns, the up/down stairs in the red box need to be removed, as they are stairs heading UPWARDS. So they will simply be placed at the "up stairs" at z88 and able to access the fort.

Yet another one of the strange movement-rules of Dwarf Fortress.  Logically speaking, what you would expect is creatures coming from beneath to encounter a solid floor beneath the up-only stairs.  But apparently that's not the case.  So dig over there (from the 1x3 stairwell) and seal it off properly with walls/floors...

Lastly, that massive vortex design amusingly was just an arena as the doctor has placed a "cyclops in a box" (cage trap) at the centre.
Also worth noting, the ghost which is running around is actually the dead dwarf that's in the food stockpile, for whatever reason he was forbidden.
The cemetary has been extended and should be put to rest shortly

edit:

An arena, huh?  Still a pointless waste of Dwarven labor- and a number of Dwarves were starving to death just building it, due to lack of proper logistics (there should have been food/beverage stockpiles built within the vortex itself, due to its extreme distance from the rest of the fort).


Regards,
Northstar

[Bigheaded]

Time to take stock i believe and see how the fortress is getting along.

Let's begin with population, i think i started with around 80-100, but after the FB's had a field day until i worked out their evil plot, we went down to 50 odd, 1 migrant wave came in and looking at 49 able dwarves and 14 children/babies.



The Nobles are somehow all happy, which wasn't the case when i first joined as Sodel was extemely unamused no-one had given him a weapon rack and his tomb wasn't special enough for him.



We had a special creation as well, i believe in the success of the killing the FB's




Menaces of dog and pig leather? not entirely sure how that works, but "Sir Bigheaded the Barmy" is happy to give it a try.



I've added a small barracks area in, near to the surface. I realise there's some interesting looking barracks up the top but i decided a new build was needed. Any dwarves being lazy i'll probably chuck into the military, anyone else can remove from the "full" military. Would suggest keeping the "pairs of dwarves" in militaries sit. Think we needed some metal leggings, so got some slightly trained dwarves working on melting some useless metal objects probably purchased for that purpose (as they were already designated for melting) and working on that now.
Doesn't look like much but might engrave the walls and such to spruce it up a little. I've also given them orders which encourages more sparring.



Not seen any sign of goblins, which is a worrying sign, as where else will we get our !!FUN!!? and how will we train our marksdwarves?

Anyway, from the looks of things, it's going to be a rather less interesting second year than the first. Will update should some !!FUN!! arise.

edit:
This one amused me:


Those evil magma crabs are upto something i'm sure!

At this time of peace, my management of military matters apparently is no longer required! Sodel has decided to sideline me... i'll get him later... maybe. At least i can get on with training rather than faffing around in meetings, didn't want the job anyway


Oh yes, food/booze situation:

Food will last many many years. Booze is on the rise, just need to keep getting the plants to continue brewing, added some more farms to help cope with this. Might put one outside (but still inside fort) so i can grow some strawberries.

The Military situation should be 2x swordmasters/2x spearmasters by the end of my turn. If not, will be there soon. They'll deal with most things that get through.


Found the archery range. Got Sodel the Annoying to go train some more there. Might even become legendary in it soon, as he's not far off.
Also added a LARGE amount of hotkeys, with appropriate names, to help all future users.

Another Artifact, this time a weapon! Given it to the leader of the large military, seeing the other two are already a bit trained in what they do. Not sure a bronze warhammer is particularly effective anyway



Decided to leave the hospital where it is. Noticed someone got injured and only just realised i'd left the area restricted to avoid people dying to the FB that used to be there. Oops.

Also, drinks are now upto 700, so that's now very solid.
Lastly, another FB turned up. Appears to be flying or swimming, not entirely sure which. No water covering suggesting likely to be flying.

Somehow the mayor is unconcious at some stage during negotiations with the outpost liason, which is strange to say the least.

Dorf'd? Well, if I'm not already, dorf me plz.

Well, all i can say is, i hope to the gods that we don't lose your artifact or you may go on a rampage, and that might not be a good idea




We are now a Duchy, the duke being Sodel. Mayor is still Melek

[Bigheaded]

And is not going to plan!




I've added a few more marksdwarves, but they keep jumping into the fight, even though i order them into places which are nowhere near anywhere they can jump off.



Thankfully, in other areas we're going pretty well.


We seem to be fairly weak near the kilns, only 1 wall to "climb" and jump down from, thankfully, i trained military just in time!:


Even the Duke has come to help the defense!


About 5 down, about 80 to go!

[Bigheaded]

I think sodel has every intention of beating this siege alone!

He's upto 10 kills


Another forgotten beast has arrived and is roaming the depths, i suspect it'll have a fight with the other one, as they're both swimming around. The only other FB is still stuck in a tree, as he has been since the start of my turn and long before that!

Couple of them sneak into the fort, and currently only 1 dwarf is sorting em all out as they get in. The rest are napping or something.

[Amperzand]

Wow, a swordmaster? Here I was expecting a disposable melee grunt or something... Hah, well, I hope I die in a badass manner, rather than going the way of Tehsid or similar. Looking forward to seeing how the siege ends!

[Northstar1989]

Those evil magma crabs are upto something i'm sure!

Have you walled off the kilns from the volcano?  That's not only an open door for the Magma Crabs- it might be a way invading Trolls/Goblins could get into the fort...

Another Artifact, this time a weapon! Given it to the leader of the large military, seeing the other two are already a bit trained in what they do. Not sure a bronze warhammer is particularly effective anyway

Awesome!  Actually, bronze is one of the best materials for warhammers.  The ability of the metal to keep an edge hardly matters at all because warhammers don't have sharp edges- so the main factor becomes the density of the metal.  Therefore, silver (though very weak) makes the best normal warhammers.  Copper and bronze come in a close second- copper is denser, but bronze is a bit stronger.  Iron is actually the WORST material for blunt weaponry, and steel has high strength but low density- making it ineffective at pulping and against armored opponents.  The BEST warhammers are artifacts made of exotic materials like Gold, Platinum, and Slade which have very high density... (provided the military Dwarves have the strength to wield the heavier warhammers effectively- I suggest cross-training them on the water pumps when you get the chance...)


Overall, it sounds like things are going well.  Congrats on getting the fort to duchy status!  Keep up the hard work, and make sure to try and close off whatever way invaders are getting into the fortress after the fight is over!


Regards,
Northstar

P.S.  Was that Dwarf who was ripping apart the Goblin invaders using a steel spear wielding the Artifact Steel Spear that was made earlier?  If not, just imagine what could be done using that!

P.P.S.  Don't forget, you're not limited to just 2 years!  Because nobody's in line behind you, take as long as you want!  Just make sure to upload saves every couple years or so, and keep us updated!

[Bigheaded]

For some inexplicable reason, sodel himself is using the artifact steel spear. I suppose it is a fine thing for a duke... but not sure he can fire it out his crossbow though

I decided enough suicides, i'll be here for years if Sodel is going to have to kill them all alone (although i must admit he was doing a fine job!)
Time to open the gate and welcome them!



CHARGE!!!!



Fighting is getting a little rough!

Not entirely sure about amperzands choices in areas to hit, the EYELID? seems a bit precise, perhaps just showing off his skills! Before he cuts his head off anyway.



Success! One single goblin makes it out alive (either that or the rest fled when i opened the gates!)



Amusingly, Sir Bigheaded the Barmy, whilst in the thick of it, has no combat reports whatsoever! God dang i really am the lazy guy suggested in one of my first posts



By the way, this is NOT planned. I had no idea... (and literally rofl'd when i saw it)


Apparently not only are you a father... you're Timeless Bob's dad! (Whos apparently a female)

Anyway, Here's how the military did:


There are several dwarves whos kills include dwarves (the chief medical guy in particular, slightly worrying!) and one guy who killed a dog AND a dwarf! None of which were majorly involved in the defense.

Gonna collect that goblinite, or at the very least, the stuff which is nearby!
Also collect the suicidal brave marksdwarves corpses who stupidly threw themselves off the walls into goblins bought us time.

edit:
Here is a save "mid siege", just before i sent everyone out to clean up (must admit i wasn't 100% sure i'd win it, as i've not dealt with a siege in a while). Also lets you have a look around, for some reason the dwarves have just left the FB corpse right outside the hospital. Link: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=10197

Mop up operations going well.

apparently we are now "expert crundle trainers".

[Bigheaded]

Just realised what u meant when u said there was a hole there. There being in the freaking wall a massive gap so that goblins just simply had to jump down and wander in. Blocked that off and added an extra layer around the top, seeing the goblins were accurately shooting at the top level.

FPS is causing a slight issue, i don't think having 3 million bones is helping, or the fact it's 3 million bone amulets!

Also have 1 dwarf being very very unhappy, one other is possibly getting there. Think i need a hammerer as i think someone got hurt and that's what started it.


I'm now also stuck, as i've got a dwarf asking for shells in their mood and apparently anything caught in the cavern doesn't have a shell, all above ground water is frozen and there isn't very much of it either (i can't even find any!)
Things could end up getting very hairy.


May i do something about the FPS with DFhack? Just beginning with a "clean all" i removed about 10,000 contaminants like vomit from the map.
Also, removing a large amount of "crap" such as the billions of bones will probably help.
Otherwise it needs some extremely persistent people to clear up one heck of a lot of crap (the bones all over the caverns probably isn't helping either, as well as from the last few sieges)

[DoctorMcTaalik]

For some inexplicable reason, sodel himself is using the artifact steel spear. I suppose it is a fine thing for a duke... but not sure he can fire it out his crossbow though

I decided enough suicides, i'll be here for years if Sodel is going to have to kill them all alone (although i must admit he was doing a fine job!)
Time to open the gate and welcome them!



CHARGE!!!!



Fighting is getting a little rough!

Not entirely sure about amperzands choices in areas to hit, the EYELID? seems a bit precise, perhaps just showing off his skills! Before he cuts his head off anyway.



Success! One single goblin makes it out alive (either that or the rest fled when i opened the gates!)



Amusingly, Sir Bigheaded the Barmy, whilst in the thick of it, has no combat reports whatsoever! God dang i really am the lazy guy suggested in one of my first posts



By the way, this is NOT planned. I had no idea... (and literally rofl'd when i saw it)


Apparently not only are you a father... you're Timeless Bob's dad! (Whos apparently a female)

Anyway, Here's how the military did:


There are several dwarves whos kills include dwarves (the chief medical guy in particular, slightly worrying!) and one guy who killed a dog AND a dwarf! None of which were majorly involved in the defense.

Gonna collect that goblinite, or at the very least, the stuff which is nearby!
Also collect the suicidal brave marksdwarves corpses who stupidly threw themselves off the walls into goblins bought us time.

edit:
Here is a save "mid siege", just before i sent everyone out to clean up (must admit i wasn't 100% sure i'd win it, as i've not dealt with a siege in a while). Also lets you have a look around, for some reason the dwarves have just left the FB corpse right outside the hospital. Link: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=10197

Mop up operations going well.

apparently we are now "expert crundle trainers".

I decided to equip my dwarf with some artifacts in his pre-baron days to keep him happy. He's actually a decent marksdwarf, though I would avoid sending him into combat.

As for the bodies, a cyclops and a few trolls discovered a hole in the wall near the furnaces. The bloody events that followed are collectively dubbed the Battle of the Breach.

[Northstar1989]

As for the bodies, a cyclops and a few trolls discovered a hole in the wall near the furnaces. The bloody events that followed are collectively dubbed the Battle of the Breach.

You mean the hole that you carved in the wall yourself?  If my memory serves correctly (and checking the save file should confirm this) there were no holes in the walls near the furnaces until your reign.  SEVERAL new holes appeared during your turn- including not only the one on the volcano side, but also a couple that you apparently plugged up with walls or fortifications after digging them... (although you left a fortification at *ground-level*, which allows Goblins to accurately shoot inside the furnace room while being invulnerable to counter-fire from all but the most skilled Marksdwarves...)

Why exactly did you go digging those breaches, again?


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

apparently we are now "expert crundle trainers".

Awesome.  Soon we'll have fully-tamed Crundles, if you're responsible about making sure to butcher the older generations and the less tame individuals...

Just realised what u meant when u said there was a hole there. There being in the freaking wall a massive gap so that goblins just simply had to jump down and wander in. Blocked that off and added an extra layer around the top, seeing the goblins were accurately shooting at the top level.

Yeah.  Somebody carved fortifications at ground-level all over the place, which allows Gobbo's to accurately shoot inside the fortress while being protected from Dwarven counter-fire.  You need to replace all fortifications accessible at ground-level with walls instead (there is also a fortification on the level of the furnace-rooms that needs to be replaced with a wall- otherwise Goblins can take potshots at Dwarves inside the furnace room, who won't be able to return fire...)

The walls should also be *at least two z-levels tall from the ground at all places.*  This prevents Titans from simply walking over them.  Note this needs to be 2 z-levels stacked vertically or with an overhang- nothing stops a Titan from simply walking up multiple 1 z-level steps like a staircase...

FPS is causing a slight issue, i don't think having 3 million bones is helping, or the fact it's 3 million bone amulets!

The bones should have been used for decorations and to make crossbow bolts.  Not sure why they were being made into amulets.  Don't throw them out- that would be a waste of Dwarven labor!  Instead, make sure to order up the maximum amount of metal bars and weapons/armor/cages/toys (all of which can be melted down in the Magma Smelter) from the next trade caravan, and build up the fortress metal stockpiles some more.  And if you're not doing so, work on training up some weapon/armorsmiths by churning out tons of leggings and breastplates and such- then melt down the lower quality products and start again until you have a bunch of Masterwork armor...

Also have 1 dwarf being very very unhappy, one other is possibly getting there. Think i need a hammerer as i think someone got hurt and that's what started it.

Hammerers are a bad idea (they just kill Dwarves who mess up export bans most of the time!)  Instead, build a prison.  This means setting up prison-cells (don't forget doors!), and designating each as a prison with a chain somewhere inside the cell...

I'm now also stuck, as i've got a dwarf asking for shells in their mood and apparently anything caught in the cavern doesn't have a shell, all above ground water is frozen and there isn't very much of it either (i can't even find any!)
Things could end up getting very hairy.

The only above-ground water is a single tile that was hauled up from the cavern-layer to start work on an Ice Farm.  Since it's not a Murky Pool or stream/brook/river, I'm pretty sure it won't spawn a fish population anyways...  I suggest walling off the Dwarf in his workshop with the strange mood, so if he goes berserk he won't be able to do any harm until a military squad can be assembled and the door opened to initiate combat.

Cave Lobsters apparently have shells, but I don't think they can actually be used for artifacts/crafting...

May i do something about the FPS with DFhack? Just beginning with a "clean all" i removed about 10,000 contaminants like vomit from the map.
Also, removing a large amount of "crap" such as the billions of bones will probably help.
Otherwise it needs some extremely persistent people to clear up one heck of a lot of crap (the bones all over the caverns probably isn't helping either, as well as from the last few sieges)

You have permission to clean up contaminants using DFHack, as they're a pain to clean up manually, and Dwarves seem too lazy to actually scrub down walls and floors most of the time.  The bones are a valuable resource, however (used not only for Strange Moods, but also to make an unending supply of Crossbow Bolts to pepper the Gobbo's with!), and should not be deleted.  The only thing you may use DfHack for is to remove the blood/vomit contaminants... (not even FB syndrome venom, if there's a way to distinguish)


Speaking of crossbows and Marksdwarves, it's almost certain that the Marksdwarves jumped off the walls at the attackers for either one of two reasons:

(1) They were not actually equipped with Crossbows AND ammunition.  It's important to check that Marksdwarves are equipped with both, otherwise they just treat their crossbows like bludgeoning melee weapons...

(2)  They were stationed somewhere with a direct line-of-sight at the Gobbos, rather than through fortifications.  This will typically cause undisciplined Marksdwarves to panic (and run off the walls), or veterans to enter a Martial Trance and jump off the walls at the enemy (like you saw).  You need to make sure to station them where there's no clear/short path between them and the enemy- like over by the fortifications/gatehouse above the main gate into the fortress.


Regards,
Northstar