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Author Topic: My first volcano  (Read 14038 times)

Immortal-D

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #30 on: September 21, 2017, 06:13:11 pm »

Autosave is an Armok-send for sure, and I already removed the few wooden traps I brought with me.  I guess we'll see how it goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anvilmastered!  Where a single mining tunnel gets mistaken for a gulag :-[  While surveying the damage caused by Leurelilive and getting everyone back to work, I happen across something I'd only heard about in legends.


Closer to Overlord II than WoW

Soon as I can spare the production time, I am definitely gonna make a ton of Cage Traps and just toss them all across the map.  Speaking of the Forest Titan aftermath, my refuse stockpile is on fire! :D ... Wait what? :o


I'm not even gonna ask

Right then, moving right along.  I'm still working desperately to save that one Clothier Dwarf.  I have breached the Cavern lake directly, so far so good.


Pretty fancy bucket, actually

But he's not in the hospital!  I frantically search through my Units list, not discounting the possibility that his passing was passed over in a flood of messages.  Wait...


Score one for modern medicine

Yesh!  I finally managed to save a Dwarf.  That makes me like 1 for 3 now, but progress is progress.  I reclaim the few bits of Caravan which survived and begin work on the roofing projects.  A few months pass, and life is good.  A large number of Boars have become fat, and I'm sitting comfy at 350 food.  I also have enough booze variety that I don't bother making a complicated work order for my pig tails.  Instead, I set Farmer and Loom Workshops to continuously process plants, spin thread, weave cloth.  Life is actually pretty good, until...


See if you can spot the crazy one

Bleh, this makes 3/5 Possessions, the worst mood streak I have ever encountered.  Worse, this jerk is mumbling about cloth 3 separate times, which means he needs plant fiber, wool, and silk.  I had managed to find a few webs earlier, so I just hope he makes me a nice table.  The roofing project is going well at least.  The Fort is up to 126 Dwarves, with 20 of those being full time military, and only ~10 idlers.  I also rename the commander of my first military squad.  Upon inspection, I can see that I chose well.  This guy is a very Dwarfy Dwarf.


Glory to Soviet Mountainhome

He is lonely and bored after prolonged deployment, yet still felt pleasure about improving his combat abilities, and finds nature disturbing.  A true soldier, that one.  This also makes me realize that the head of my military is 162 years old and likely to drop dead any year now :'(  One problem at a time.  Thankfully, the Dwarven Caravan arrives to distract me, and I decide to make a showing of myself this year.


Dwarf bling at its' finest

I designate a maximum sized pasture for my new reindeer, and they immediately huddle in the only corner that has a glass roof.


I am going to raise a herd of reindeer if it kills me

They are all weak and skinny right now, hopefully they will regain their proper size.  The roofing continues at a good pace, despite a few mishaps.  Something caught my eye in the reindeer pasture though..


hhmmmm

HMMM

sigh

I patch the hole in my dining hall and get back to business.  Some of the migrants who perished during the Titan siege have started haunting the Fortress.  I get them sorted out, and discover this poor fellow.


Do not go quietly into that great good night

I think this is the Dwarf who died and had his tomb smashed by the Minotaur.  I bury him for a second time, and he is finally content.  Speaking of burials, there is a flashing in my refuse stockpiles!  Oh Armok, what now?


2Spooky4Me

False alarm

The Titan, despite being reduced to a bone pile, has retained his form, at least graphically.  I really hate that guy :(  On a lighter note, here is something that I recorded earlier but forgot to share.  Behold, the power of Macros.  16 bedrooms built in just a few seconds;


How cool is that?

The mood is finished!  Not only does he get possessed for no skill and make something useless, he also draws the results of the previous possessions to mock me.


There is nothing redeeming about this

Possesion number 4 gets me much the same results.


Admittedly, a troll necromancer looking for cooking supplies is kinda cool

I wrap up the year by digging but not connecting my greenhouse, turning a large chunk of volcanic sand into outdoor tile.  I'm torn between loving the downtime to focus on my infrastructure, and wishing more exciting things would happen to write about.  As the game autosaves into Spring, we'll see what the new year holds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I felt like I was really reaching for material this time.  With the game down to 40fps and a pause in the action allowing me to build stuff, it could be a while before I have anything worth writing about.  I often end up with ~1/4 of the pictures and recordings I make not being used, this time it was closer to half.  I am still not self sustaining, but if I can figure out how to extract seeds from the food-only plants, then I will be once the greenhouse is done.

That looks fucking cool, I hope you turn this into a wonder of sorts.
How about not using weapon traps at all? You are next to a volcano, you have the opportunity to create far !!dorfier!! traps.
Although I definitely have plans to weaponize the volcano, there is still something primal satisfying about watching invaders get chopped to pieces by a spring-loaded axe 8)

Derpy Dev

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #31 on: September 21, 2017, 06:28:54 pm »

Admit it, you did this on purpose.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fleeting Frames

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #32 on: September 22, 2017, 01:07:34 pm »

Lots of humour in this post. Well written.

Though, uh, the images are kind of tiny. Even 5x5 tilesets have clearer text......Oops, didn't enable javascript. *enables* Now that's zooming in!

That's pretty fancy bucket indeed. Imported goods, I take? I'm not even sure, but now I want to import clear diamond buckets by the bucketful. (*Later sees trade screen and realizes it's probs a custom reaction*)

And yays for caverns.

Possessed dwarfs can be pretty crazy, jumping into a burning stockpile to get their items. Wait, I guess the fire burned out.

Your military commander should get to vacation for a month and maybe read a book.

I like to arrange the whole corpses of procedurals into a gallery of what the fort has slain.

My current favourite macro I have is for designating a designation or wall around a volcano. It's not useful, per se, but it is pretty cool.
Spoiler: volcano macro (click to show/hide)

I recall some players like crowns. Good for monarch or military commander for RP, I guess.

And, rising troll necromancer? I guess the they must have become a noble who became a necromancer, procrastinated building a tower ("I live forever anyway I can do it later"), and got kidnapped by a rising troll to become an immortal baby-making machine.

speciesunkn0wn

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #33 on: September 22, 2017, 02:30:07 pm »

Well. Go and see if my dorf has children, comrade! Name the oldest after him and set to train in the same squad. :D
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DF Veterans- n. - One who has lost one or more forts due to a stupid oversight.

Morality is relative,/Puppies are cheap,/Dwarves are zealots of,/A place that creeps and leaks,/where oversears send them to die,/so we may feast on their on their sorrow,/as we chew on their marrow
Just never forget,/That Bloodyhells is always a threat.

Immortal-D

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #34 on: September 23, 2017, 11:36:10 pm »

Admit it, you did this on purpose.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I can neither confirm nor deny creating a custom greeting for Dwarves who enter the bone yard.
Well. Go and see if my dorf has children, comrade! Name the oldest after him and set to train in the same squad. :D
With 9 children, is a safe bet that your legacy will live on.
Lots of humour in this post. Well written.
Glad you like it :)  I normally write my DF posts in a roleplay style.  This time, I'm trying to write in the same way that I think when I'm just playing normally.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anvilmastered!  Where the forest is incinerated at least once per year, and I can honestly say it is not my fault.  When we last left off, the Dwarves were using the relative to calm to full advantage; expanding the forging operations, finishing the pasture & volcano roof, and starting on the greenhouse.  My Horned Cave Turtles continue to multiply, but don't seem to grow up.  I unlock the doors of their pasture so I can butcher some of them.  I immediately realize that I never actually assigned the hatchlings back to said pasture, and they make a break for it.  Every blue dot here is a Horned Cave Turtle hatchling.


Tiny Freedom!

For those wondering; imagine a real life snapping turtle, but the size of a Galapagos Tortoise with a rhino horn on its' snout.  Oddly, not war trainable.  I'll have to arrange some pit fights to see how they perform.  The volcano roof is down to the last corner.  I shudder to think about the amount of bricks and hauling time I have spent on this thing when I'm only going to remove it in a few years.  I know it is for the best though.  I also appreciate the Tetris-like quality of the barf patches mixed with snow.


*Hums the theme song*

Speaking of tiny treasures.


Baby Reindeer!

I was worried about them since they never seemed to change out of the 'weak and skinny' phase, but as long as they are making calfs, I can work with it.  The renegade turtles have all been rounded up, and their butchery returns puts me at 1,000 food! :D  Only took me, what?  5&1/2 years to have a stable food supply.  Still, decaying food is both a challenge, and FPS booster.  As if sensing my happiness, a flock of Giant Buzzards spawns in.  They can't actually do anything, but it is still an ominous sign.

As I near my population cap of 150, I pick out the strongest and toughest peasants (thank you Dwarf Therapist) to make the third military squad.  The first squad uses a spiked flail and round shield, mountain-brawler style.  Squad 2 is a traditional Marksdwarf unit.  For the third squad, I opt for a good old-fashioned battle axe, but with a kite shield.  Less berserk slashing, more 'immovable wall of death'.  I set their schedule, but a backlog at the forges means only a few pieces of gear have been made so far.  I like to imagine them all arriving, chatting idly while listening to the sounds of the bolt stockpile next door.


How about that weather, eh?

As Spring turns to Summer, I am slightly disappointed at the lack of Human Caravan.  I hope that 1 measly slaughter didn't scare them away for good :(  Then Nature reminds me that she has a score to settle, and this fight is far from over.


First the Minotaur, now a wind-controlling Harpy? #GreekMythology

She chases the cranes around for about a month, occasionally managing to grapple one midair.  My Dwarves are dutifully chasing her in turn, taking a potshot whenever she dips below the tree line.  Finally, one of the Marksdwarves is able to fracture a wing.  She plummets through the thick branches, and the Dwarves pounce.  Unable to use her blizzard powers from above, the Harpy monster is quickly vanquished.


There actually was a row of leafs connecting the trees, she fell hard

Back at the Fort, one of my Mace Dwarves gets Possessed.  This makes, what?  Like 6 or 7 possessions now?  I bet that the moment I stop keeping track is the moment my streak ends.  Unlike his predecessors, this Dwarf is rather sensible.  I guess that comes from being a soldier.  To that end, he crafts for me the most stereotypical high-fantasy clothing I have ever seen in Dwarf Fortress, and I freaking love it.


+3 Cloak of being a total badass.  Oh btw, Laconic: a person, speech, or style of writing using very few words

I give this to Speciesunkn0wn, though admittedly I don't know if artifact cloth is better than normal leather.  Before I know it, the Dwarven Caravan is here again.  At least my brethren at the Mountain Home know how to a treat a burgeoning Overseer.  They bring me 5 wagons, 3 pack animals, and a small army.


This goes on for another half a page

I buy a metric tonne of leather, cloth, and bags.  Also more reindeer and some mountain goats for variety.  The game informs me that a Dwarf has been found dehydrated.  I zoom to the location, and break my brain trying to figure out how this happened.


In between the bright lights (sun) and the far unlit unknown (bottom of the volcano?)

If you couldn't tell, this is one z-level above the base of the foundry, and the ceiling is directly above this.  Somehow, he got wedged between the wall and the ceiling, despite there being literally no open space once connected.  I dismantle the wall and the dorf falls into the volcano with nary a splash.  Such is life, I suppose.  While ordering a Slab for him, I learn that Memorial Slabs actually use the Stone Detailing skill, and not Stone Crafting as I originally thought.  Hunh.  The more you know, I guess.

Winter begins, and my period of tranquil building is abruptly halted.



:o

Fiend Spiders are bad news, possessing both paralyzing venom and webs.  I'm pretty sure they are [TRAP_AVOID] as well.  I seal the drawbridge and go back to monitoring the invaders.  The Fiend Spiders move slowly, first climbing a hill to figure out what happened to the volcano, then crawling their way along the edges of my mountain, sensing the tasty Dwarves within, yet unable to reach them.


*Sneak* *Sneak*

The game gives me a Common Sense roll in the form of 2 more ambushes being revealed, just in case I was getting any bright ideas.  They finally reach the front gate, where a flaw in my design is made known.


Can you spot the problem here?

I immediately brick up the entrance to the pasture.  Those of you with a faint constitution may wish to skip ahead, this ain't pretty.


On the plus side, I beat my old record for 'longest time I've kept a reindeer alive' by 4 months

While contemplating the latest deericide, the haulers inform me that my new Well Room is finished.



A functioning hospital has a simple beauty all its' own

Just needs a few Traction Benches.  At least no Dwarf will die of infection; just magma, spider venom, ravenous coyotes, infection, wall/ceiling compression, and walking to your bedroom.  What I'm saying here is that it ain't easy being Dwarfy :-\  This does give me an idea though.  The area near where I breached the cavern lake has a fairly large, flat plain that I should be able to secure, and all the Fungiwood that comes with it.  I do just that, and begin assembling Ballista parts for my guests.  And then... another ambush?  This late?


Gotta admit, I did not see this coming

The Fiend Spiders had started retreating just as this goblin scouting party shows up.  Zooming takes me to the farthest Western edge of the map.  This should be interesting.


Seems that Fiend Spiders, for all their.. uh.. fiendishness, are actually quite fragile

The Goblins outnumber their opponents 6 to 1, and the spiders go down after just 3 pages of combat.  As the last of the spiders depart, I start working on a trap tunnel at the main entrance.  Goblins are most certainly not trap avoid, so with a bit of planning, I might be able to have my first proper battle.  The traps are laid and the militia assembled.  A lone goblin scouts out the traps for his comrades, unaware that a mass of 30 iron clad Dwarves await beyond the next door.


All those extra glass corkscrews for the pumps are getting put to good use

Say it with me now.


BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

The Dwarves pursue and easily cut down the second group, surrounding them one at a time.


SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

The Dwarves chase the survivors, and the final ambush group appears.  A couple of the melee fighters receive numerous but shallow cuts.  One of the Marksdwarves gets caught in the middle, and does not fare well.


Ummm, milk for the khorn flakes?

The greenskins are slain to the last, plus 2 captured as a bonus.  I lift the Burrow Alert, and the Dwarves swarm outside to begin the months-long process of cleaning up this mess.  Speciesunkn0wn got in a few hits, but spent most of the battle just trying to reach the battle, barfing all the way.  Now picture that with the Jingle Bells song :P  This does make me realize that I'm gonna need an outdoors training yard.  With that goal in mind, and the forges going full blast from all the surface ores, I think the time has finally come for a Mega Project.
Though probably not the one you are expecting

Fleeting Frames

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #35 on: September 24, 2017, 10:38:02 pm »

The incineration should be your fault. After all, you live on a volcano. Nonetheless....Forest burns and reindeers die.


Your food stocks may look fine, but I guess the meat will go in up to six months (if you use cooking to make it last longer). Also, really makes one appreciate graphics sets, though this only really works great for screens with larger dimensions if one wants to see around them.



The accidental tetris mural is nicee finding. Very random. For the weak and skinny reindeer, they need to train through extertion. I think combat with undead skin might be most reliable way.


Regarding non-standard weapons, one gamist aspect I appreciate with default set is how swords get progressively better as they get bigger in stats, provided one is big enough to wield them, and how one has to choose between ⛭steel shortswords⛭ and iron longswords for their swole dwarves (or iron two-handed swords for the swole humans). If you could just forge steel longer swords, it'd be pretty no-brainer, but this introduces reason to have both beyond body size.


On fur cloak artiact: One of the advantages of soldiers is no moodable skills, if they don't have picks in hand. I take it you don't groom dwarves for moods?



It doesn't look like your dwarf dehydrated inside a wall, but on top of it - it says "Basalt Block Floor" in the sideview menu. Pretty obvious they climbed up or got swapped with a domestic bird who did that.



The Great Fiend Spiders sounded quite dangerous, but surprisingly they weren't all that. A single trained brown recluse spiderman probably has nothing to fear from them. Maybe include some pick-and-crossbow dwarves in your military and thumb your nose at the mining/hunting labors. (Gifs are nice, too - presently I assemble the few I make in gimp, though. Though I do have recording stuff to convert videos into gifs stored away. )


And, hm, looking at the screenshot you may want to use an exploit to make your doors 3-wide: Doors deconstruct if you mine walls around them out, but they're fine if you deconstruct the walls.


That's a claustrophobic hospital design, what's with the bridges and mostly empty space rooms. Maybe add an adjoining graveyard on the other side of the stairwell?



You mentioned the corkscrews and ballista, and my mind immediatelly went to using corkscrews as ballista with minecarts. Somehow, I didn't expect the traps...

Also, note that not only are those not weapons, glass is also pretty fragile. You may want to t-look you traps over if you're on 43.05.

I'm always expecting something with magma on a volcano, but you never use any :v

Immortal-D

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #36 on: October 11, 2017, 09:23:27 pm »

The incineration should be your fault. After all, you live on a volcano. Nonetheless....Forest burns and reindeers die.

That's a claustrophobic hospital design, what's with the bridges and mostly empty space rooms. Maybe add an adjoining graveyard on the other side of the stairwell?

I'm always expecting something with magma on a volcano, but you never use any :v
I just queued 3 Traction Benches for each hospital wing.  I might add a couple statues at some point.  As for exploiting magma, suffice to say I'm working on it.  I think you may be underestimating just how fast I'm actually moving.  As of the last chapter, I'm only ~4&1/2 years in.  Definitely in this for the long haul.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anvilmastered!  A Mega Project in the making, coming to you as a rare play-by-play.  Everybody loves them, but nobody ever documents how they get built *cough* Archcrystal  What?

Anyways.  Fresh off their first real battle victory, nature decides that I must actually fight for my Cavern.


It spits fire, because of course it does.  Everything in this land can shoot fire except me... for now

I wall-off the cavern since I don't need the fungiwood, and there were only a few scraps of silk to collect.  Months pass while the Dwarves work on phase 2 of the magma forge operation.  Eventually I notice that I had never set my military to Active/Training :-[  The schedule, labors, and equipment were all perfect, but they still only trained if they felt like it.  Now they grudgingly train full time, and I am rewarded with several Weapon Masters :)  I decide the time has finally come to establish myself as super wealthy.

One of the mods I run adds a simple but fun feature; archeology.  There are fossils, treasures, and other things long buried.  When processed, they can yield a variety of valuable loot, from gold coins to platinum crossbows.  If you ever need to jack up your wealth in a hurry, this is the way to do it.


All I need now is a squad of lashers wearing leather jackets and hats

One of my Smiths had claimed a magma forge earlier.  I completely ignored it, because I've had like 7 Possessions now.  Much to my surprise, this was actually a Fey mood! :D  She finishes in short order, and Anvilmastered now has a Legendary +2 Weaponsmith.  Maybe I got lucky and she made something good to boot.


... I am not proud of this :-[

Ahem.  Moving right along.  Despite her questionable choice of a signature weapon, I assign our new Weaponsmith her own forge and queue a bunch of Flails & Axes.  At +2, her rate of Masterworks seems to be about 1 in 5.  The path to all of our ores and metal bars is about 50 tiles (look, working around a volcano is a lot more difficult than you might think), so progress is slow.  But soon enough...



Just in time for the seasonal Great Fiend Spider siege.  My militia has been making excellent progress, but I know that what I am seeing outside is only a fraction of their forces.  The front gate is firmly shut as the spiders scuttle their way through the valley.


It is terrifying

The spiders make their way to the front entrance, perhaps hoping to exploit a hole in my roof like last time, but to no avail.  The pasture is completely sealed now, and the spiders can only scratch at the thick Dwarven glass.  I also get to see the exact path that my haulers took on their way back inside.  See if you can figure it out.


Hint- they moved diagonally

My food & booze are well over 1,000 Urists now, so I am content to wait out the siege, especially since I am fairly certain the spiders will leave after a reasonable amount of time...  Don't look at me like that.  Every Overseer has cowered behind his walls in the face of overwhelming odds at least once :-\  The Dwarves work diligently, but are still kinda nervous about the monster spider army just outside.  I'm somewhat micro-managing jobs during the siege, and happen across this adorable scene.  Two of the militia fell asleep in their training room, including one guy with his War Boar next to him.


The smelliest pillow ever

I receive notice that another ambush has been uncovered, more spiders.  Which is odd, since you should need visual contact for that.  I zoom to the location, and my blood runs cold.  Bottom right of the roof; that ramp is a corner piece, a diagonal slit leading directly to the forges.  Already, several spiders are homing in on the scent of exposed Dwarves.


Oh dear

I scramble to get a stairs and wall built in that corner from the inside.  The militia is stationed as well, and the entrance to the forges is soon crowded with masons, military, and war boars.


The calm before the storm

The breach is not sealed in time, and the first Fiend Spider squeezes through the gap, directly above the waiting militia.


In the heart of the Fortress, battle is joined

The troops have properly Dwarven equipment this time, and nearly a year and a half of training.  The Marksdwarves open fire, but I have not completely switched to metal bolts yet, and most of the shots bounce off the Spider's chitin.  However, it has no room to shoot webs here, and the melee Dwarves are armed to the teeth beard.


"Spider goo for the Blood God" just doesn't have the same ring to it

Of course, it wouldn't be Dwarven combat if they didn't give their enemies a taste (lol pun) of their own medicine.


At least 3 separate Dwarves tear into this monster like a fresh plump helmet

Even the war boars do their part; acting as another target and occasionally irritating the invaders.


*Oink oink* mother %#&*!

The militia takes down 3 Fiend Spiders, and the breach is sealed.  Victory! (kindof).  I check the units screen, and there are at least 70 of the monsters crawling around outside.  Ya know what?  3 kills is good for today, I can live with that.  To celebrate, I cordon a small section of the volcano with clear glass windows (Dwarves actually retain LoS), for future parties.


Soon, my lord Armok.  I promise you glory

As the year draws to a close, the Fiend Spiders start their retreat.  I take stock of my supplies, and grin when I see this;


10 masterwork-quality spiky ball of death, all equipped

It is the start of Dwarven year 261.  A full 5 years have passed since the Dwarves founded Anvilmastered on the slopes of a mighty volcano.  Our weapons & armor become increasingly powerful, our industries more efficient & connected.  And of course, our War Boars make the stinkiest most cuddly companions.  Here's to another 5 years, assuming I don't find yet another hole in my roof.  Seriously, that's 1 per siege now, not a great record :-\
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woo! Anvilmastered marches on.  Just for kicks, here are some of the pictures that I didn't use in this chapter.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fleeting Frames

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #37 on: October 11, 2017, 11:24:13 pm »

Uff...4˝? I'm definately misestimating something, I thought it was like half that.


That snail could be total disappointment (archer shoots it down and it splatters) or extremely dangerous (why not fight it on oh-so-flammable cave moss?)

Also lol@ "Everything expect me can shoot fire".

Probably quickest way to jack up wealth is to dig deep and make adamantine serrated discs. (Adamantine being 5 time more valuable than the next most valuable thing, after all.) On thin embarks, can do that in first spring, I guess.


Orichalcum hoe with pure hematite? Very modded. I take it is a tool to boost farming skill learn rates or yields?

But you need minecarts or wheelbarrows, jeez. 50 tiles? You could cross 16x16 embark with the dwarf time it takes you to produce weapons for 1 squad.



For spiders, it seems goblin bolts and arrows were effective. Maybe a few dwarves with crossbow and axe, as shields do nothing versus webs... ahahaha who am I kidding, you'll just get another firebreathing enemy and they'll be unable to block the fireballs without shield.

Should have checked with attempt to build a statue for seals, though it doesn't discover tree holes.At least sealed the breach.

Maximum Spin

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #38 on: October 12, 2017, 04:58:29 am »

Wait, one thing about your previous post, which I apparently never finished reading...
Can you spot the problem here?
I don't think I understand your tileset well enough to. What was the problem?
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Immortal-D

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #39 on: October 12, 2017, 07:19:54 pm »

Wait, one thing about your previous post, which I apparently never finished reading...
Can you spot the problem here?
I don't think I understand your tileset well enough to. What was the problem?
The triangles that you see outside are ramps, effectively the slopes of the mountain.  In the bottom of that picture, do you see how one spider appears darker and more shadowy than the others?  I constructed my bridge over a portion of the slopes, but never sealed that gap.  So when the bridge was raised, the spider was able to climb down inside the pasture.

Maximum Spin

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #40 on: October 12, 2017, 08:45:48 pm »

The triangles that you see outside are ramps, effectively the slopes of the mountain.  In the bottom of that picture, do you see how one spider appears darker and more shadowy than the others?  I constructed my bridge over a portion of the slopes, but never sealed that gap.  So when the bridge was raised, the spider was able to climb down inside the pasture.
Ah, so your pasture's underneath that. Okay, I see now.
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bloop_bleep

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #41 on: October 12, 2017, 10:12:00 pm »

Posting to watch.
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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #42 on: October 15, 2017, 09:07:32 pm »

Anvilmastered!  How crazy do you have to be to attempt a serious Megaproject, potentially months of hard work, in a region with no less than 6 hostile warring factions plus many hundreds of ravenous monstrosities & critters?  I guess we'll find out.

I finally start the new year with a spot of good news;



Sweet!

Alas, my new puppy is merely well-trained :(  Hopefully the next one will do better.  The forges are currently pumping out minecarts in preparation for the great strip-mining operation.  All of the initial tracks are in place, and I start reading about how to use Track Stops.  I decide to add a fourth Metalsmith's Forge, and am pleased to see a rare moment of non-stupid Dwarven cooperation.


I am a Dwarf and I'm digging a hole...

In the dead of a Winter, a vile force of darkness arrives!  Spiders ambush, so this is clearly something new.  Let's have a look.


One of these things is not like the other

Orcs, along with a squadron of Fiend Spider slaves.  I burrow the civilians and station my military at the open front gate.  We're as ready as we'll ever be.  The Orcs have other plans however, spending nearly a month just shuffling around the edge of the map.


This goes on for several weeks :-\

A few of the Fiend Spiders are finally sent ahead to scout.  The first barges through the doors, and literally eats the brain of a Dwarf who had been napping nearby.  This is the last thing it does, but still, I hate losing peasants due to carelessness.



Note the guy with the iron battleaxe is just popping the spider's feet like bubble wrap

A couple of Orcs are then sent ahead to assess the situation.


Nope! Nope nope nope

The Orc who didn't run away takes a few trap hits, and SpeciesUnknown takes it upon himself to chase the wounded Orc halfway across the map.



*Benny Hill theme song*

SpeciesUnknown delivers a boot to the leg, decides that is sufficient, then comes back inside to get a drink.  He rejoins the rest of the militia just in time to intercept the latest scout, a named (but alone) White Tigerman.


You can tell it's him because of all the vomit

I try to entice the horde by lifting the burrow restriction.  A few civvies head outside to collect wood, and the Orcs ever so slowly advance.  My FPS is steady at 25, they are just really freaking slow.  Another Possession (of course) does give me something cool.  I'll take this as a sign that I might actually survive long enough to build a Tavern.


Nothing witty here, just a really cool flute thing.  Hope I get to see it in action

The horde has advanced to the second major forest.  Even though I know I forbid everything in that part of the map, my apprentice leathercrafter still found himself on the wrong side of an Orc.



Which begs the question; Is there a right side?

We play this dance for several months, they advance and retreat, I lift the burrow for a week, and so on.  A small family of gargoyles migrated onto my map at some point.  I only know this because of the Orc who literally fell out of the sky, landing directly in front of the main gate.  Unable to fly, the gargoyle managed to crawl into the only cage trap within like 40 tiles.


You should see the other guy!

Not much to look at after tusseling with a Hammer Orc.  I'll probably use it for military training or volcano fuel.  The main force of invaders has just crested the hillside adjacent to my volcano.  At least one of them knows the better part of valor.


Also known as 'The Brave Sir Robin' maneuver

A few of the militia have strayed outside and caught sight of their foes.  I know there is no retreating now, and order everybody to attack.  On the slopes in front of Anvilmastered; bolts sing through the air from both sides, and combat is well and truly joined.  Say it with me now;


BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

The Dwarves have killed enough Orcs to actually force a retreat!  The day is ours!! :D  I think my favorite moment goes to this brave Dwarf, one of 2 souls lost today.  He had his spine crushed when a Fiend Spider nommed on his head, and didn't let that stop him.


Oh yeah?!  Well let's see how you like it!

Here is the aftermath.  There is so much stuff on the battlefield that I could not capture it in a picture.  "O" = dead Orc, "S" = dead Fiend Spider.  Off to the right you can see a couple of soldiers, and the remains of our second casualty.  All amidst a now literal mountain of bones, blood, and broken weapons.


Sweet Armok but that is brutal

3 of the troops got cut up pretty badly, but will make a full recovery.  One unfortunate Axe Dwarfette got her right hand bitten off by an Orc :(  I have seen Dwarves somehow manage a weapon and shield in one hand, so she might be able to keep fighting.  The first of the wounded gets dragged into bed, and his War Boar hops up on the traction bench next to him.


For some reason, this image made me giggle for far too long

I am now in the middle of Timber (November), 261.  I really really hope that the Dwarven Caravan simply did not arrive due to an active siege.  The last caravan (year 260) was destroyed, something I didn't realize until I found a Dwarven Baroness Consort buried in my necropolis.  I order a few engravings in my dining hall.  Most notable are a depiction of our Craftdwarfship, and a rendition of the Fort's symbol that I created upon embarking.




As usual, I am afforded but a moment's respite.


It's like the world is personally angered by the thought of me having any time to build stuff

A giant humanoid with a knobby trunk and deadly spittle?  LOL  :D ...  :) ...  :-[

Titan #2 takes up residence in a stairwell next to the volcano.  I knew I shouldn't have mined out that whole section of fortifications in one go.  I sic the militia on it, and for once the fight is clean.  A few punches, then bisection via steel battleaxe.  Winter of 261 begins, and the Fiend Spiders return.   Crrraaaaap!  I really thought I would get a break this year, what with the Orc siege lasting until just a couple of months ago.  My fortification wall is not complete, which means the Spiders have a wide-open path inside.  I create a new burrow, restricting everyone to the dining hall.  This plummets my FPS to 8.

The military is stationed in the front entrance.  To my surprise, the Fiend Spiders take slaves in turn.  Several Orcs make their way to the front gate.  Fortunately, the Orcs who manage to get themselves enslaved seem to be weenies.


REVENGE!

6 Orcs are cut down in the main hallway without a scratch to my Dwarves.  So far so good.  What the heck are the Fiend Spiders up to?  They don't have the smarts to hold back, so they should be coming right for me.


And on your right, you can see the secret volcano lair of the Dwarves.  *Ooh, ahh*

The Spiders have climbed the back stairwell leading up to my forges.  The doors are all locked, but I don't know if Fiend Spiders are building destroyers.  I dare not chase them directly though; experience has taught me that several dozen (at least) are still lurking, waiting to spring from ambush.  I have no intention of save scumming or otherwise cheating my way through this mistake.  I really hope there is going to be a next post and not merely an epitaph, cuz I need to think of something extremely clever if I am to survive here.
Insert dramatic theme music

Fleeting Frames

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #43 on: October 15, 2017, 11:42:15 pm »

Iron spiked flail...

Hm, it seems like it'd certainly be possible to use dfhack to boost the weight of decorated items, given weight is tracked per-item.

Not sure about edged attacks, though I know Max™ did a script to increase the attack velocity of artifacts for adventure mode.

Re:Forging carts

Strip-mining with minecarts can be fun to setup. I've built both weight shifts for almost dozen different carts as well as hatch-operated toggles on rampways to decide which quarry to haul from currently. One could theoretically combine the two to divide layers into sub-blocks.

Actual value of this is debatable, tho. At some point, one has enough haulers that it's better to use minecart tracks for walking with wheelbarrow than riding a minecart.

Re:Ambush


I wonder, does a great fiend spider crossbowman wear 7 shields?

Though seems the invaders suck at pathing. And spewing webs? It seems this wrestler had no chance to fling some.

The Ostuk should make a passable, if inferior, blunt weapon I guess, being made of metal ore.

Krimbur Spiderroar is one nice name for a coward, though.

Re:Aftermatch

The ramps make things blinky. I wonder, was that an init setting?

The Axe Dwarfette could ditch shield in favour of her very loyal boar, I guess.

The Hill Titan, for once, doesn't breathe fire. I'm a little surprised.

Re:The spidering 2

Mutual slave-taking? Unusual. Is it possible that only orcs OR spiders are item thieves?

Or maybe they aren't slaves.

Maybe they're full-blooded citizens who immgirated in or were born from immigrants. Human towns often get to be majority goblins in vanilla, and this is not because of human ethics on slaves.

Though it'd be smarter to stick together and not venture into the horror lair of doom one by one.

The spiders probably shouldn't be buildingdestroyers, given you had a group earlier who hanged out on map edge and refused to come in. Nonetheless, a stationary target is a doomed one. 

pikachu17

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Re: My first volcano
« Reply #44 on: October 20, 2017, 03:56:28 pm »

PTW
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