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[leontas2007]

I was looking on a topic about some good reasons to abandon your fortress and there were many who said about FPS deaths. I look up for an answer but all the threads were only about how to avoid it.

It hasn't happen to me before, my fort has 100+ dwarfs and I have been sieges from goblins but I didn't see anything strange.
So what is FPS death?

[Henry47]

FPS death is when your fortresses runs so slowly that you become bored and quit. This happens because over time the game has to keep track of all the growing amount dwarfs and stuff that populates your fortresses, and since your computer only has so much processing power if you fortresses grows big enough it can make the game run very slowly.

The reason why its called FPS death is because the speed the game runs at is called FPS or frames per second, higher means the game runs faster. If you go into the init file you can set FPS to be displayed, which allows you to see what the current FPS is in your fortresses.

[PatrikLundell]

Expanding a little on Henry47's description, there isn't a physical FPS death limit, but rather a player tolerance limit which varies with the player and the interest in the current fortress. Most people find 20 to be really bad, and single digit FPS to be dead. Goatmaan is an exception in that he runs his mega fortress at something like 2 FPS.
An FPS of 20 means it takes 5 times as long to do the actions of given stretch of fortress time than at 100 FPS. However, most players pause to give orders, so the effect might not be quite that severe totally. On the other hand, one reason for a plummeting FPS is a large fortress, which tends to require the giving of more orders...

[leontas2007]

oh, I thought it was some kind of bug that kills your dwarfs. Well that's a shame, I haven't made a huge fortress before but still, if I ever become better at the game it will be sad to not be able to continue

[Evans]

there are things that help with low fps.

- not breaking caverns, or walling them out
- not producing useless items and tons of food stuff
- in MDF you can turn of temperature calculation for example
- slaughter extra pets. you dont need 20 different species grazing in your pasture.
- embarks 4x4 or smaller
- don't dig pit traps/wall off map too much
- cut down trees to prevent them from dropping leaves and fruits
- kill of your dwarfs, fix the dead list, atom smash items you don't need, retire and unretire etc etc

Etc etc.

On my last siege legends mode registered 15 attackers. In reality it was more like a 100.
They were constantly pathing and repathing bringing my fps to 4. Once they decided to break off the siege my fps mysteriously went up to 46!

Pathing and item calculations are really hardcore in this game.

[leontas2007]

well yes I had a siege too and the legend said that I only fought 3, but in reality I couldn't even count them.

[Reelya]

Also lay out industries based on flow-control and stockpile links to avoid needing to calculate paths.
You could make a series of overlapping burrows which lock down dwarves to their own specific work/rest/dining areas too.
Minecart routes might also be helpful for longer resource routes: they avoid needing path-finding at all, since you're basically predefining the path it will take.

[mikekchar]

It will never happen to me.  20 FPS is the *max* I can tolerate because otherwise I have no freaking idea what's going on :-).  I've played quite happily at 10 FPS on purpose.  I think I'm just a control freak...

[mirrizin]

I'll put up with 20 as long as I have something to play for. And I'll put up with single digits as long as I know that the cause is only temporary (say, a massive tantrum spiral, a single flying FB, or a thwarted forgotten mood, to bring up a few examples.

On the plus side, it means I don't have to constantly watch the game, which is something advantageous.

[Henry47]

I tend to give up on a fortress when the FPS gets down to about 5. I view FPS death as a sign that a fortress has been successful, too successful, something which tends to make me dig deep to find a way of out of ending the fortress that does not involve boredom.

[Skorpion]

The slowest I've ever given up on was about 0.5 FPS. Idiot I am, I linked a map#s river to all of the murky ponds, thinking I'd just refill them with it.
Instead, it just ate my computer.
I revisited it later after DF got an FPS boost update, and managed to dam the river to fix it, at about 5FPS.

40d was not a good time for FPS.

[Goatmaan]

Until reading this thread, I've never considered Anvillocked a mega fort. But I guess it is!!
Before anything else, it would NOT exist without Dwarf Therapist and DFHacks clean owned, period. Exclamation F'n point.
Started in January of 2015. Embark year 1072, current year 1112. 40th anniversary.
A 40.19 fort, 6*6 forested embark, with a 1z ridge on the far north and east. Fort entrance is 30 tiles from the east side, center. The main 1*3 downstairs are just 22 tiles from east side, center. This makes the map quite a 300+ tile walk. We clear cut the map twice, and paved about 3/4 it with granite blocks. Ran out of logs. Frantically UNpave map except for a 20 tile border, shift those block to flooring the new edge...trees are now easily "manageable" and 9. 10*10 binned granite stockpiles and 5 5*5, await the 147 masons to begin flooring. The 190*160 forest can quickly fall to 37 woodcutters.
The fort is contained in 16z levels, 112*85 a level.
300 6*6 bedrooms with 2 tile thick wall (personal palace, 1 item bed). 3 levels in use. 3 levels need the already made masterwork beds/doors placed. For the 600 haul jobs it'll create, ALL but farming will be shutdown, to get max idlers first.
Barracks are all 18*13, engraved, masterwork steel armour stands, 10 masterwork beds each.2 per block, 30 barracks/level. 2 levels.
16 catapults fire nonstop, training 30 seige ops. Ridding a mining training zlevel of rocks.
76 miners, 32 are not legendary.
Max total dwarf population reached 997. Max adult dwarfs 824.
Minimum FPS 2. (Slaughtering 239 got me back to 3)
Current population 803 adults, 123 children, 9 babes.  937 total population.
Current FPS 3. Am even seeing 4 now and then, despite z level mining ( not walled of), 77k booze and the rock pots for them, among other item counts, and I use bins, I don't atomsmash, and have not a single qsp. No minecarts, wheelbarrows abandoned years ago. Just dwarfs. Lots and lots of dwarfs.
A single game day takes 7 minutes. Not very !!fun!!. Yet 

Anvillocked's goal of 1000 adult dwarves eludes me still, and if we don't get more migrants, will be impossible.

   Goatmaan

   

[Reelya]

I'm wondering how automating resource transport via minecarts would affect your FPS goatman.

[Bumber]

Until reading this thread, I've never considered Anvillocked a mega fort. But I guess it is!!

Didn't I call you insane for it back in that one locked thread?

*Double checks*
Yep. Back when it was just 700 dwarves.

[Goatmaan]

Well I can say that not automated jobs don't hurt fps much or for long.
I'm pretty sure 300 by hand would outperform a minecart system, maybe less.
That's part of the reason for 300 unfinished bedrooms (hoping for migrants also)
Door/bed placement generates 600 jobs, if I "shut down" all production but farming before placement I can "probably" force 600+ idlers. The multiple 1*3 stairs are likely to kill many, but we'll see. I'm quite used to throwing up to 400 at the depot, so I don't think it'll crash.
Whatever the "bottom" is, I have yet to find it using dwarfs.

Bumber,
 After playing this fort this long, an unrecoverable crash seems unlikely. That leaves three endings for Anvillocked.
1. Without new migrants, the population will dwindle. If that begins to  happen, I'll be forced to admit defeat. Real possibility. Wont be happy but I'll post the save.
2. A good ol friend killing tantrum spiral.
 Remember all those miners? What about the woodcutters? The hunters ..
A 900+ dwarf spiral, the biggest ever seen? I'll be sure to "save" you a front row seat.
3. A brute force attack on hfs, with nothing between it and the surface but a lot of dwarfs, wearing a lot of *steel*, carrying a lot of *weapons*. Then they meet the civilians of Anvillocked.
That may finally crash it. I really hope not, as I've waited a fair bit for that fight.

Hmn...I was thinking it was "stark raving mad", but don't worry, one of those 3 ways Anvillocked's end draws nigh, then I'll be certified. 

  Goatmaan