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Author Topic: Archcrystal: 500 years in a fortress [SPOILERS] Finished  (Read 470108 times)

Sethatos

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Archcrystal: 500 years in a fortress [SPOILERS] Finished
« on: February 16, 2016, 03:34:42 pm »

Complete story in PDF form here: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16832

Family Tree of Archcrystal here: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=14549

Final save (Version 47.05) here: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16835

I have played my 40.24 fortress Archcrystal for 241 in-game years.I hadn't set out to play a fort this long (June 2015 to present). There were a few reasons I decided I wanted a multi century fort. The first one was Cave Dragons

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Within the first decade I had captured a breeding pair of Cave Dragons and I wanted an army of them. I thought 1000 years would simply take too long so I decided on 200 years. I figured the would be a good size by then.They make great war animals once they reach a certain size. Having them immune to fire really helps against fire beasts as they're also immune to smoke so they won't lose sight of their target. The second reason is I've never really had "generations" of dwarves in my fort before. So I put the population cap to 30 and the strict cap to 45 to get babies.In my first 30 dwarves, I only had one married couple.

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This is Bomrek Cradlecrafts the Waning Fence of Gales. I took this picture of him just before he died at the age of 170. He was the first Militia Commander of the Fort. With his wife Cerol Treatyrims the Dark Zeal, they birthed half the fort. Everyone in the fort now was born there and is descended from these two down through 5 generations. They are literally the Adam and Eve of the fortress. I accomplished this by getting one more married couple to migrate and then arranging marriages for their kids with the pre-honeymoon suites I had setup:

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After that I got them to intermarry between cousins. The second youngest son of Bomrek and Cerol, Melbil, became king "after a polite discussion with his rivals" about 100 years into the fort, so the family then became the "Royal Family" of The Dipped Spears. I was lucky that he didn't have any mandate likes, so I could keep the fort running at night.
Here's some stats of the fort throughout the years:

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A little background. The Fortress lies in an evil Jungle called the Jungle of Drying. It is non-re-animating, but has "Clouds of Wicked Soot" that roll in periodically and transform caravans and animals into husk zombies. For that reason I burrowed everyone inside from the get go with a Civilian Alert.

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There is a 4z level waterfall where the two rivers meet. The entrance to the fort is just north of here.

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I set up just simple workshop areas.

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That along with keeping the population cap under 50 kept the FPS up. As well as no mayor for mandates. Now I didn't want them just wandering around doing nothing, so I had them decorate - for over 2 centuries. Here's the decorating floor:

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All of the furniture is made of clear glass, and it's all been decorated with everything we could find. That goes the same for the finsihed goods, especially the large gems. Here are some highlights:

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As you can see we had a lot of Forgotten Beast Attacks

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The ones we couldn't butcher (Gem or Stone or whatever) we saved to do something fun with later

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Getting ready we're going to need power so I constructed an underground river from one of the cavern lakes and hooked it up to water wheels:

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No iron on this map but we had tons of Tetrahedrite and Sphalerite. But also got lucky with 3 very tall adantine spires.
Getting ready to build the real fort we've stockpiled thousands of clear glass blocks:

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At last after a 142 year reign King Melbil, last son of the founders Bomrek Cradlecrafts the Waning Fence of Gales and Cerol Treatyrims the Dark Zeal died of old age. His daughter Libash inherited the throne. And it's time to build the clear glass fort of Archcrystal. And we're building this fort in Hell.

***

It fell on Unib to dig through the last layer of the Adamantine pillar. The Mad Queen Libash wanted her see-through fort to be amongst the swirling horrors of the underworld. The military was ready. The Giant War Tigers would be used as bait along with an artifact statue. An Artifact door would hold the initial attack to the killing floor. At last the breach was made. Unib was killed instantly and the horde ascended:

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Up the spire they came towards the killing floor. They were almost there.

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At last they broke through the cinnabar doors and the Marksdwarves opened fire.

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The first few demons fell instantly the legendary aim of the elite marksdwarves, but more poured through the opening slaughtering the Giant War Tigers as they went.

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There were two different kind of webbing demons so no need to waste the melee dwarves or the cave dragons. The Cave dragons had waited over 2 centuries for this moment. They could wait a little longer. Besides they would be needed later.

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At last the horde was dead, having been relentlessly shot by the Marksdwarves while occupied with the Giant Tigers. One even survived.

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Down the Adamantine spire went the military. Only 20 dwarves but backed by over 50 Cave Dragons they hold the spire against the remaining demons down below while the others work quickly to construct the stairs of glass.

Next time... Invading Hell with an army of Cave Dragons.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: September 06, 2023, 04:12:17 pm by Sethatos »
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sirdanilot

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2016, 03:57:29 pm »

I would love to do something like this too, creating a fort with actual generation differences.  Then again my forts generally don't survive long enough.
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steel jackal

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2016, 05:08:31 pm »

mother of god this is amazing

usually i get bored after the first 20 years and start a new fort

i need to try doing something like this
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i am a dwarf and im digging a hole, diggy diggy hole

my art: http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/tylerrobotnik/

Kneenibble

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2016, 05:10:32 pm »

You're playing this game at a level I aspire to.  Applause.
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TheFlame52

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2016, 05:46:17 pm »

I was wondering why you managed to play 5 times as long as me in the same amount of time. Then I saw it was because you did it with 1/5 the dwarves.

Good job there, brother.

hun

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2016, 06:47:15 pm »

Good story, it's interesting to know how this finishes!

I have never tried intentionally invade hell. During a couple times of accidental !FUN! I had with demons, my military were killed without killing even a single creature..

Once in 40.24 I also tried to set up a "time-machine" fortress just to look at how the world evolves. However, after a while DF started to crush after 1-2h of uncontrollable game run, so I dropped the idea at around ~80 years.

Libash_Thunderhead

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2016, 07:01:14 pm »

My longest 40.24 fort lasted around 60 years before I got bored (read: fps death), I retired and unretired it but since then there had been bugs so I gave up eventually.

I also found some cave dragons but eventually I sealed the cavern to salvage fps...
I recall I cleared enough cavern creatures before I saw those cave dragons, sometimes I had to use dfhack because some creatures refused to leave the underground lake.
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Sethatos

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2016, 09:06:12 pm »

I was wondering why you managed to play 5 times as long as me in the same amount of time. Then I saw it was because you did it with 1/5 the dwarves.

Good job there, brother.

Thanks! And yeah, fps has always seemed to get in the way for me on my other forts, so I knew I had to limit the population to keep it reasonable. It basically broke down like this:

First 100 years: 40-50 fps
Second 100 years: 20-40 fps
Last 40: 15-20 fps

Being under 50 pop also meant no sieges even though the fort is right next to a Dark Fortress and a dozen goblin pits, but I always found the sieges get a bit repetitive. Besides its worth it to see things like the great great grandchild of your first militia commander charge into hell to avenge his uncle and cousin who were just ambushed by ash demon spiders. Much more fun. :)
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quekwoambojish

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #8 on: February 16, 2016, 09:50:01 pm »

PTW! Super intense :D

You must be itching to send those dragons into battle!! I know I would, 200 years SHEESH!
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mirrizin

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2016, 08:43:51 am »

I want to do this.
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mobucks

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2016, 10:36:09 am »

This is a real treat to see. Thankyou for sharing a rather rare playstyle; it is inspiring to many I am sure!
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Sethatos

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2016, 06:58:49 pm »

Last time the dwarves of Archcrystal drew the demon horde into a trap and killed the horrid creatures on their own terms. Now as they get ready to invade hell they'll soon find out that the demons have made a trap of their own...

***

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Doren Lashedgrooved, the longtime sheriff of Archcrystal, stood impatiently with his arms crossed at the bottom of the adamantine column waiting for the staircase down into hell to be completed. Moments before the Militia Commander, Thikut, provoked one of the winged ash spiders flying past below. Thikut was webbed and killed in an instant, and his nephew charged at the beast sharing the fate of the deceased Militia Commander before it was shot to death by a dozen steel bolts. That left 8 meatshields, calculated Doren, but no matter. The Cave Dragons would provide most of the cover for the sheriff’s squad of Elite Marksdwarves. Thikut was very old and wanted a warrior’s death. He got it.

Doren and his Marksdwarves of The Armored Roads were different from the reckless Axe and sword swinging berserkers of The Mountainous Castles. Doren’s squad was calm and methodical, made in his own image, efficient, cunning, and a touch cruel. They were the ones needed for this kind of work. And it now fell to Doren to lead the attack, but he would have anyway.

At last the stairs were finished just enough. The melee dwarves of the Mountainous castles raced down with a deafening warcry followed by their gigantic Cave Dragon companions. Meanwhile Doren waited with his crossbow squad calmly until the way was clear and then led them single file down the clear glass steps. His adamantine boots hit the alien stone ground with a muffled crash that kicked up a layer of ash into the air. The Cave Dragons had found a Demon unfortunately made of snow and were playfully tearing it to pieces, cheered on by the Axedwarves. Doren calmly walked forward, unfolded a portable chair and table several paces behind the crowd and sat down.

Doren took out a pen and paper and began writing margins and numbers, calculating and quantifying what had been killed, descriptions of the various demons and their capabilities. Meanwhile more cave dragons sprinted past his chair to join the others. He didn’t concern himself with the small skirmishes taking place, and remained documenting his work while his squad held its position and occasionally fired a few bolts here and there. Even the Mad Queen was striking at a stray Water Demon a number of yards away, cackling wildly with every thrust and parry.

Suddenly, Doren’s pen stopped its consistent scribbling. Something was wrong. He could sense something shift on the horizon – a hidden vibration, a low rumble. He readied his crossbow and told his squad to do the same. Quickly, over the horizon a new horder crested the ridge, at least 30 in number. They had been waiting until dwarves touched their ground to launch a second attack. Perhaps the demons weren’t so easily tricked. Fine, thought Doren. We shot them on our terms. He loaded his crossbow. Time to shoot them on theirs.

The fury of the demons crashed like an ocean wave against a cliffside of dragons and dwarves. Bolts sang through the air finding plenty of homes. Great billows of smoke rose from the searing crash of fireballs from the Burning Brutes against the cave dragons impervious scales.

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Doren once again could not help but remark how tough the cave dragons were. They took an astonishing amount of punishment from the demon onslaught before going down. It left time for the bolts or the odd spear or axe to find its target.

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The Mad Queen still laughed hysterically and waded through the chaos, swinging her axe with insane glee.

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Finally she bled to death from burns. They say, you can still hear her haunting laughter echo off the pits of hell.

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The dwarves at the top of the stairs saw the queen fall and quickly proclaimed her brother Ushrir the King.

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He had some mixed feelings on the proclamation.

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Doren and his squad maintained their composure, occasionally going upstairs for more ammunition. They relentlessly shot bolt after bolt at the gnashing crowd, until at last things grew still.

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One last Horned Banshee writhed on the ground trapped by the clenching jaws of the cave dragons. The sheriff slowly walked to the struggling demon and whispered, “Filth.” And he gave it a final kick to its head that collapsed it’s skull.

“This is our home now.” He said and flashed a wicked grin.

***

It was an amazing battle to watch. Wish I had filmed it, but oh well. I had thought there were less demons coming up the stairs than I had initially counted. A third of them had wandered over to the other edge of the map, and began to attack as soon as we had put boots on the ground in hell. Definitely a much tougher fight. All in all we lost 8 melee dwarves, one marksdwarf, and 20 Cave Dragons.

Next time, building a clear glass fortress in hell.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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TheFlame52

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2016, 07:06:23 pm »

Build a room with a bridge to seal it and a piece of artifact furniture inside. Let the demons go inside. Close the bridge, trapping the demons. No more will wander in off the map and your dwarves will be safe. That's how I built the Hell Bunker and later the Hell Bastion in Bastiongate.

khearn

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #13 on: February 18, 2016, 08:21:09 pm »

Nice narrative. I'm enjoying your tale.

The construction will go much faster if you make a stockpile down there for your blocks.
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Have them killed. Nothing solves a problem quite as effectively as simply having it killed.

kontako

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Re: Archcrystal: 241 years in a fortress [SPOILERS]
« Reply #14 on: February 19, 2016, 12:56:47 am »

Wow. ptw.

Thanks for sharing this. My longest fortress lasted ~50 years, but never came close to anything like this.
Really redefined the idea of a long running fortress, for me at least.
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"Confederacy of Businesses"?! By Armok's Blood! These Communist animals are CAPITALISTS!
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