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Author Topic: Taming the Terror (spoilers)  (Read 15952 times)

Schmaven

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Recovery Complete, Surface Preparations Resume
« Reply #30 on: March 08, 2020, 03:48:47 pm »

The magma filled stairways have been drained, levers re-built and re-linked.  Now with doors to prevent future flooding!  Bins, clothes and other incinerated items restocked.  And the zombies have been put to rest.  FPS is hovering around 27 now.  Closing off old unused tunnels all over the map seems to have helped.  Due to almost exclusive Dwarven losses, and the lack of fresh migrants these past few years, re-filling the magma moat has been postponed. 
Spoiler: Improved Lever Room (click to show/hide)

The elephant population nearly tripled to 38, as the dwarves fell to 108.  But surface construction presses on.  Only the elven caravans still come to the fort.  And probably due to a lack of exports, no migrants have arrived in a few years.  Some stressed dwarves were sent out on a mission to demand tribute from another dwarven civilization.  They rejected our demand, but sent a trade caravan.  Hopefully trading 391,390 Urists of artifacts, meals, furniture, etc. in exchange for 33,637 Urists of metal items for the smelters will entice some migrants to come.
Spoiler: Surface Work (click to show/hide)

The above ground farms could probably be smaller, but once the surface is flooded with magma, it will be much more difficult to expand, so I went big.  So far it's just strawberries, sliver barbs (black dye), and potatoes to try and keep lavish meals rolling.
Spoiler: Surface Farming (click to show/hide)

In an effort to keep undead giant monarch butterflies, and undead mosquito people out of the above ground farms, obsidian production was ramped into high gear, depleting the cavern's water supply for the first time in 47 years.  It is re-filling, but not very quickly.  The supply pumps had to be turned off, since the reduced flow was evaporating before it could reach the magma chamber.
Spoiler: Cavern Water Supply (click to show/hide)

An elite marksdwarf with one of the fort's few steel armor sets was sacrificed to the cavern critters in the process of extending the pump stack 1-Z lower.  He survived a little over a month by running away from everything until he ran right into "Gamozothrol: An enormous undead dove with external ribs.  It has large mandibles and it has a bloated body.  Its jade feathers are patchy.  Beware its fire!"  A swift toggling off of refuse gathering, and all item hauling got the dozen or so haulers back into the fort before the last block of wall was finished.  The recovery of Scout Engigkeskal's and others' steel armor will have to be sometime after the surface work settles down and more dwarves are freed up.
Spoiler: Pump Stack Extension (click to show/hide)

The mysterious disappearance of the elite Bravo Knights was resolved.  It appears they were lost in the magma flood.

Due to the unanticipated success in the elephant breeding program, a few of them starved to death.  The dwarves were too busy preparing the surface for magma to keep them all fed.  The starved elephant calves were quickly dumped into the atom smasher before they turned to zombies.  It was later discovered that even young elephant calves are enormous.  If a drawbridge is lowered onto a creature 1,500,000 cm^3 or larger, the bridge is destroyed. Dwarf Therapist revealed that by age 2, all my calves exceed 2,000,000 cm^3.  Zombification chambers are now being prepared to thin some of the adult herd, while keeping them ready for the pit.  3 of the oldest war elephants are now assigned to cages in a long row of 1 x 2 halls with a cage trap at the entry.  So if they starve, they will either stay in their cage, or escape and get caught in the cage trap.  I'm fairly certain raising from the dead breaks them free of the cage they died in, but I have yet to see it for myself, so the cage trap may or may not be necessary.
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TheFlame52

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Re: Taming the Terror (spoilers)
« Reply #31 on: March 15, 2020, 12:13:38 pm »

This is a pretty damn entertaining fort.

Schmaven

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Migrants Needed
« Reply #32 on: March 22, 2020, 10:38:38 am »

This is a pretty damn entertaining fort.
Thanks, I'm glad I'm not the only one enjoying it :) 

The massive donations to the last caravan were a great success both in terms of more caravans arriving, and in finally getting migrants to arrive!  4 seasons in a row of 7-9 migrants have the population up to 123.  The soldiers can go back on active duty now.  You can never train too much for dealing with the undead rinocerous herds.

To try and keep from scaring away the merchants that have finally arrived, the giant ticks had to be pushed back off the bridges.  As it so happens, giant ticks are good at pushing dwarves off of bridges.  One of the soldiers was lucky and despite falling into the pit onto an upright spear trap, deflected 5 spears with his armor, and was missed by the others.  The combat log reports him standing up and saying, "I have improved my armor.  That was not satisfying."

Shortly after the dwarven caravan arrived, a second dwarf caravan showed up.  A statue was built to block the second caravan from attempting to dock with the first.  In previous years, when they both go for the same depot, 1 of them never makes it because the wagons of the first are in the way; the second caravan eventually leaves unhappy. 
Spoiler: 2 Caravans (click to show/hide)

Unfortunately the second caravan managed to scuttle the entirety of its contents right outside the depot, and the first stayed well into the second month of the next year.  The militia commander's elite squad of legendary mace lords were stationed by the depot just in case the merchants went hostile.  But in an ironic turn of events, it was the militia commander who threw a tantrum and attacked some nearby mace lords.  The stresses of being sent to kill mostly friendly dwarves turned zombie must have finally gotten to him.  Now harrowed and unable to function in the fort, the hospital room door was locked behind him as he rested one last time after brawling. 
Spoiler: Commander's Final Rest (click to show/hide)

The new commander ended up having to fight the old zombie commander naked, as all her new position's specific assigned artifact gear was in the hospital room, guarded by the old zombie commander.  Her upper spine and right shoulder are now inhibited, but she's the next most experienced mace lord; and after having to fight unarmed for her gear, she's earned the position.  Future promotions will now wait until the previous commander has been put to rest for good.

Five other dwarves were also found to be in need of urgent retirement and were sent to the newly constructed retirement facility while move orders could still be given.  Three were too far gone to obey orders and were isolated in the armory, their bedroom, or wherever else doors could be locked.
Spoiler: Dwarven Retirement (click to show/hide)

48 years after striking the earth, flux stone was finally discovered!  Some exploratory mining revealed the marble deposit to be 30 x 20 x 10-Z. 
Mining also revealed an aquifer at the very top of the deposit.
Spoiler: Marble Discovered (click to show/hide)

Fortifications managed to be carved into the map edge, buying time for the Z-level below to be carved out to drain the aquifer away from the work area and off the map. 

The fort's real hero: the designated refuse hauler with no other labors; the one who keeps the miasma at bay; the one who gets rid of skins and hair before they reanimate; the mortician was almost killed.  One of the corpses he picked up zombified on his way back to the atom smasher.  It was discovered that despite wearing a breastplate and gauntlets, lacking a mail shirt leaves the upper arm completely exposed.  An artery opening scratch to the unprotected upper arm caused him to lose grip of his finely-crafted grown willow crutch and fall down, taking many blows before the guards could get there.  On the plus side, the injuries left him without function of both his eyes, and he has been given a brand new masterful platinum crutch.  His last crutch had just 1 kill.  All platinum continues to be forged into crutches.

Reports of dead elephant calves being found keep coming up.  I can only imagine that over-crowding / lack of sufficient grazing area is leading to elephant on elephant violence.  The combat logs only go back as far as to show the calves skidding across the ground before slamming into an obstacle and dying.  The most recent rizen zombie elephant managed to kill 1 farmer and seriously injure 3 others before being put to rest again.  Metal armor assigned to all civilians has reduced casualties a lot, but despite only suffering bruises through his masterful bronze helm, the force of being gored in the head tore tendons in the upper spine and opened an artery.   
Spoiler: Elephant Zombie (click to show/hide)

Perhaps once the surface work has completed, and the pit fully operational, the negative population growth can be reversed.  Until then, successful trade seems to be the only method of attracting the much needed migrants workers.  Additional depots with wagon access control were constructed using 1 adamantine block, 1 platinum bar and 1 gold bar in each.  The fort smelted its first steel bar just 50 years after striking the earth on 151-12-17.  The spirits of the fort seem to approve of the recent development in steel production, as the fort's smelter, "Urdim Controlledtreaty" started being followed around by a Ghostly Metalcrafter moaning spirit just 5 days later.  However encouraging that might be, the spirit was still put to rest, memorialized next to the forges so that steel smelting can continue with fewer interruptions.  Upgrading to steel equipment is planned in case increasing exports draws goblin attention in addition to attracting more migrants.
Spoiler: Gearing up for Trade (click to show/hide)


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Schmaven

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Update: Year 56
« Reply #33 on: April 19, 2020, 04:58:06 pm »

The king demanded 3 quivers every month for a couple years, and managed to completely exhaust the fortress' entire stock of leather, leading to several failed moods.  There were also several announcements of executions that had failed due to a lack of weapon.  Trade caravans have not once brought a single bin of leather.  Some loose leather here and there, but only in small quantities.  These unreasonable demands and executions were taking a toll on the population and had to stop.  Using the justice system, I falsely convicted him of every unsolved crime on the list.  Once he was chained up, he was walled in.  Despite several migrant waves of 7 - 9, the population is currently only 133.

***
Edit: To explain the king's demands, he was an elite marksdwarf.  In the fall of 152, after another 2 dwarven caravans came with only tribute, but not to trade, it was announced:
After a polite discussion with local rivals, 'Sniper' Questedlabor has claimed the position of king of The Perplexing Works.
Which I imagine was probably a fairly threatening discussion, polite as it may be. 

His description showed him to have a fairly intimidating look.
His left ear is mangled beyond recognition.  His right ear is mangled beyond recognition.
His sideburns are clean-shaven.  His very long mustache is arranged in double braids.  His very long beard is neatly combed.  His hair is clean-shaven.  His lower left back teeth are gone.  His upper right back teeth are gone.  His lower front teeth are gone.  His upper front teeth are gone.  His cobalt eyes have large irises.  He has a deeply recessed chin.  His nose is gone.  His neck bears the marks of numerous old wounds, the chief among them a massive jagged scar.  His upper right arm bears a very short curving scar.  His right hand bears the marks of old wounds, including a massive jagged scar.  His left cheak bears a massive straight scar.
***

The other notable death was the ballista operator "Lucky to be Alive"  After being isolated with food, alcohol, a bed and a masonry shop (isolated for destroying the atom smasher lever twice) she was mauled by another retiree who went insane, starved, and turned to a zombie.  All able bodied dwarves were busy cutting trees & building roads and floors to prevent fire induced cave-ins from puncturing into the fort's upper levels again.
Spoiler: Surface Work (click to show/hide)

A human siege was repelled by the marksdwarves after causing sufficient casualties to cause them leave.  Their dead turning to zombies helped.  After the siege forces had retreated, the magma pump stack was diverted to begin flooding the surface.  Having continually run for 14 months so far, potential was found to increase magma flow to the surface.  A thin granite formation 1-Z below the magma surface is preventing 180° of direct magma drainage into the first pump of the pump stack.  Preparations have begun to increase available magma to the pump stack.
Spoiler: Lowest Pump (click to show/hide)

Another human siege arrived during the filling process.  Zoomed out a bit, you can also see the start of a forest fire, the single pump stack chugging away, and extra crossbow bolts.
Spoiler: Aerial Shot (click to show/hide)

As the fire spread to the other side of the moat, one of the burning trees that fell down breached the eastern part of the south-east corner.

The elephant herd saw 22 elephants come of age to be trained for war in the past 2 years with only 2 deaths.  Re-locating the elite Elephant Guard barracks closer to the herd has enabled many dwarves and elephants to be saved from the occasional zombie war elephant attack.  (The 2x2 stairway in the first image is the same one seen below, to the right of the pump helmet farm.)
Spoiler: Elephants (click to show/hide)

The first siege completely fought over magma was interesting.  Once the marksdwarves made their first kill, their zombie counterparts were very effective at knocking others into the magma.  The narrow perimeter path however seemed to just cause a bottleneck of confusion for the bulk of the invading force. 
Spoiler: Siege over Magma (click to show/hide)

« Last Edit: April 19, 2020, 05:17:36 pm by Schmaven »
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Schmaven

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Pit Rework Needed
« Reply #34 on: June 14, 2020, 09:02:41 am »

Looking into the details of the civilization screen, it shows the Urists worth of imports and exports from each civilization I have made contact with.  Looking at the human civilization I am at war with, I noticed this:

Exports to Sákrithakrul:          Terror
Offerings from Sákrithakrul:    Vengeance
Damn straight they're getting some terror! 

Unfortunately, reanimated goblins and humans do not behave like the undead wildlife that wander in on the surface.  While the undead rhinocerous herds are content to just wander about aimlessly, so long as they don't see a dwarf; the reanimated goblins and humans have been observed sprinting at ungodly speeds directly into the fort if there is a path.  Because of this, the zombie pit will need some major re-designing in order to function properly. 
Spoiler: Pit Renovations Begin (click to show/hide)

At least this time I don't have to flood the pit with magma.

The rare arrival of new migrants remains the biggest threat to the fortress.  It's a dangerous life here, so even without dwarves going insane and killing each other, the wildlife are constantly reducing the population.  A few petitions for guild halls happened almost immediately when the save was migrated to the new version, so hopefully once those are completed overall happiness will be improved.  To protect the sane, all dwarves get locked up to starve in the dungeons once they start throwing tantrums.  So it's always a tragedy when the military dwarves start to succumb to stress. 
Spoiler: Dungeons (click to show/hide)

Amugoslan Foggywinds, from the Sniper squad is one such dwarf, with 10 kills to her name.  Looking into her thoughts to see where things went wrong, it seems to just be the standard lack of decent meals, being unable to make merry, being away from people, seeing dead bodies, being haunted by the dead, etc.  One of her views however might soon come to pass: "...would just as soon have nature and the great outdoors burned to ashes and converted into a great mining pit (a strengthening after being caught in the rain in 154).  Another interesting find in the thoughts screen is "She is a hardened individual".  I'm not sure what that means, but maybe it has to do with her being "basically unbreakable, amazingly agile and absolutely inexhaustible"

The fortresses newly trained legendary weaponsmith also went insane and died.  A major loss as he had a preference for battle axes and I was really hoping for another nice artifact weapon.  That one was on me though.  He had claimed one of the magma forges just above the magma sea.  But because the magma sea is currently being moved to the surface, the magma levels dropped down to 3/7, which caused their mood to instantly fail as the forge became momentarily unpowered.  Those workshops have since been deconstructed.

Obsidian casting continues to be the main source of construction materials since all the other stone has been used up getting the masons trained to upgrade furniture to masterwork quality in an attempt to save some dwarves from getting too stressed out.  But the pump stacks tend to grow trees whenever they are not actively pumping.  And with the addition of powering up some mills, pumping magma to the surface, and a couple other things, the power plant needs to be expanded yet again.
Spoiler: Power Plant Expansion (click to show/hide)

Needless to say, the fort was again unprepared for the humans to lay siege to it.  Mechanics still working on the bridges, haulers all over the surface, and all marksdwarves loaded up with wooden bolts.  One of the non-stressed snipers with 23 kills to his name managed to inflict some grievous wounds, tearing spines, bruising organs, and severing a lip with just pomegranate wood bolts before he was surrounded by 8 humans and had to revert to melee with his iron crossbow.  He bit a spearman's tongue off, bashed him severely, then entered a martial trance, crushing hands and feet while taking bone chipping lashes until he passed out from exhaustion and was finished off by the lasher.  Rising quickly into a zombie, he got a few more devastating punches and kicks in before being again put down by that lasher. 

Once the bridges were up and invaders forced to wind past the bunker, they were again broken by their reanimated friends whose charges knocked many into the lava.  This has become the default method to turn away sieges for now.
Spoiler: Siege Breaks at Bunker (click to show/hide)
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Superdorf

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Re: Pit Rework Needed
« Reply #35 on: June 14, 2020, 09:21:54 am »

He bit a spearman's tongue off, bashed him severely, then entered a martial trance, crushing hands and feet while taking bone chipping lashes until he passed out from exhaustion and was finished off by the lasher.  Rising quickly into a zombie, he got a few more devastating punches and kicks in before being again put down by that lasher.

This made me very happy. Yes indeed. :))
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Falling angel met the rising ape, and the sound it made was

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IncompetentFortressMaker

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Re: Taming the Terror (spoilers)
« Reply #36 on: June 14, 2020, 10:41:12 am »

Zombies are apparently a trend here, I guess?

Schmaven

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Starting Over
« Reply #37 on: July 05, 2020, 12:21:13 am »

Zombies (a reanimating biome) are a good way to up the intensity of your fortress defense needs.  I've been enjoying the more combat focused play style lately.

I learned a LOT during this fort so far.  So much in fact, that it's time to start a new fort.  The pit needs to be substantially deepened, the ballistas need to be relocated, and all the industries can be optimized.  The engineering required to pull off the changes I want to make is probably more work than making another 50+ year fort would be.  Having FPS in the teens only compounds the struggle.  I suppose this could be considered FPS death.

I considered purposely ending the fort by creating an apocalypse of some kind.  But couldn't decide on how.  Plus I don't like to lose on purpose.  So I uploaded the save to the Dwarf Fortress File Depot and everybody is welcome to mess around with it. 
Potential sources of danger include:
Spoiler: Sky Bridges (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Caravan Entry (click to show/hide)

My next fort will definitely see a proper zombie pit system.  I'm also excited to try out some new ideas based on lessons learned here. 

One day when I remember how to use DFMA, I'll add the levels of interest here too, +6 to -22 and -38 to -43.  If you do come up with an ending, or even just have some ideas for it, I'd love to hear them. 
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TheFlame52

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Re: Taming the Terror (spoilers)
« Reply #38 on: July 05, 2020, 11:29:59 am »

Well, it was a fun ride while it lasted.

Superdorf

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Re: Taming the Terror (spoilers)
« Reply #39 on: July 05, 2020, 01:05:00 pm »

A magnificent ride! I look forward to its successor.
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Falling angel met the rising ape, and the sound it made was

klonk
tormenting the player is important
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Schmaven

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New Fort - Same Concept
« Reply #40 on: July 05, 2020, 07:27:04 pm »

A new group of 7 has struck the earth with a new thread:
This is essentially the rebirth of my last fort "Taming the Terror" where I fully intend on making a reanimating zombie trap to deal with any invading force.  Idea courtesy of Meng Lolorked.
Wouldn't it be awesome to keep all dead zombified animals near surface behind a drawbridge, provoke war with elves (or anyone else), and then release "your" zombies at any invading force that arrives?
That's a great idea!
...
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Schmaven

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Armok Vision!
« Reply #41 on: November 27, 2020, 05:54:31 pm »

So I just got Armok Vision working and figured this old fort needed a couple 3D images. 

Spoiler: Main Entrance (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Central Barracks (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: The Pit (click to show/hide)


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