I've recently been playing the hardest embark I can. After a bunch of advanced world gen shenanigans, I finally created the most terrifying world I could.
Goblins, reanimation, non-blood evil rain, dead dwarves, rare metals; it has almost every evil possible. The world lacks only two things: towers, which are sort of difficult to add in since they're mutually exclusive of glaciers and tundras, and thralling clouds, which I was too lazy to bother getting, although the parameters should be more than capable of getting them with a few tries. Oh, right, and the spot I chose also has an aquifer.
That evil wasn't enough for me. I've already done that kind of embark before, and "won," as in setting up a functional fortress. No, this time I've decided to embark with nothing other than an anvil and a copper nugget. To make sure no migrants arrive from the non-existent dwarven civ, I turned hermit mode on via DFhack.
After an initial month of terror, I was finally able to get my pick forged and dig in. I dug out a little starter fort to keep my dwarves slightly more sane while my miner breached the aquifer.
The surface was tacitly dug in to allow for the freezing method to be performed on the aquifer (which ended up being 4z deep); the big dark blue box is actually made mostly of ice block floor with a little conglomerate where I was running low.
The starter fort used to have workshops and stockpiles in it, but has since been deserted to favor more lavish quarters.
The surface is constantly a lovely blue, reminiscent of the horrid slush constantly raining from the sky. It causes minor bruising as well as fevers.
By the time I finally reached the caverns, all of my dwarves spare for one was stressed. I lost one in an attempt at speeding the aquifer breach (cave-in), so only six dwarves remained to conquer the caverns.
After even more toil and a lot of fleeing from various cavern monsters, I was able to set up fully safe cavern walls by the end of the second year. There were two incidents with a cave croc and giant cave toad attacking dwarves, which caused trauma and mild injuries, but the fort's now experienced miner was able to put them down with pulping blows to the head. The incidents actually saved the fort from starvation, as the caverns completely lack plump helmets.
Since then, starvation has been fully staved off by a huge amount of quarry bushes, and a stable farm industry has been created. With little else to do, I've made over 400 pieces of cloth, several hundred of which have been dyed.
A small tavern has also enabled socializing and resulted in the eventual marriage of two couples, both of which have had children, bringing the population up to 10.
The other main floor, intended to be a bedroom floor, also has some workshops in it. To alleviate stress, lavish rooms have been given to everybody. I am also fortunate to note that childbirth, romance, and drinking slime (problem with the old fort, people washed in their water source) have resulted in excellent personality changes, and all of the six adults have traits that make them less susceptible to stress.
I'm currently in the process of planning a long-term fortress to serve as a fully automated survival bunker, and believe that I have survived long enough to call the fort a success. Of course, I'll continue to play the fort, as the idea of a long term fortress is alluring to me.
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Topic: What's going on in your fort? (Read 5840979 times)