The overseer of Amusedhames, Archibald, needed to find a replacement fast. It was his time to finally retire, so someone else could take the blame if something bad was to happen. The problem was, he didn't know anybody trustworthy who could take this burden off his shoulders. There was khalari, the local jeweler. There was also QuQuasar, a wannabe booze queen who wasn't even that good at brewing. And of course there was SQ, but...
"So... Are you actually a woman, or do you just shave your beard like a human?" Archibald decided to start with small talk this time, since it was probably his direct approach that had scared off all the other people he'd asked.
"Ah'm just a lost soul lookin' for a place fer myself in'nis here frontier town."
"A... a frontier town? It's a proper dwarven fortress; I made sure to give it a good start so it can rival the greatest fortresses when its time comes."
SQ didn't think much of Archibald's fake outrage. "Even a simple cowpoke like me could'a done a better job. Not like ah have anythin' against you; you just ain't a sheriff material."
"Oh, if you think you could lead the fortress better than I did, prove it instead of talking out of your ass!"
"Oh, ah will, ah will." SQ cleared her throat, then shouted from the top of her lungs: "Lis'sen y'all! This town's got a new sheriff!"---
And that's how it all started. Gotta be said, I'm not terribly impressed by what's been done here so far. I had a nice long stroll around this town to see what's going on.
It's a huge mess. The... dining hall is just a buncha tables and chairs thrown into a hole, but not enough to make it useful.
The dorms ain't something I would want to sleep in, and I'm not gonna be forcing anyone to. We need to have proper bedrooms.
Farming ain't getting done properly. Them fields are big, but they lay fallow. Not to mention we've got just a single cow, not a herd I'd like to see.
There's a huge pile of stuff just lying there, barely sorted. I'm gonna have to clean it up soon.
The only way down is through an unnecesarily long corridor.
Rock and gem stockpiles. These are a little better than what's going on upstairs, but it needs some attention too.
The only existing bedrooms are absolutely clossal. Only nobility and administration should have them that big. A cowgirl like me can do with a stack of hay, and other guys deserve at least a two-by-two room.
All metal we have access to right now is gold and zinc, nothing to make pickaxes out of. I'll have to begin expanding with just two miners to order around.
We're in no position to specialize the workforce. You know what they say, don't go brushing a cow when it's starving. Or something like that. Our cow is starving, so all those dedicated jewelers can get to freakin' work!
The bedrooms go first. The manager didn't even have an office, so I couldn't order the furniture to be made. Had to assign a table in the dining room for that.
The workshops near the wood stockpile need to go. A single carpenter's shop won't make furniture at any reasonable rate, so we have to make space for more of them.
We're also seriously lacking any kind of seeds, and there's nothing to drink. No idea how it came to this, but this problem is also a priority. I've ordered to brew as much of surface plants as we can fit in barrels, then we're gonna plant some by the entrance.
We grow radishes now. Those ain't plump helmets, but we've got enough seeds, and the wine is good.
Winter has come, and we still haven't finished the bedrooms. It would be nice to get some help in here. Carrying all those beds and cabinets isn't anyone's favorite job.
Oh, now I know why rock dor production was so sluggish. The furniture stockpile is upstairs, so folks need to haul heavy stuff through that damn long-ass corridor twice - once to get it to the stockpile, and once to instal it in place. Need to have a new stockpile done for rock furniture.
Food industry overhaul coming right up. We're gonna have everything in one room so that I don't have to run around looking for the right workshop to pin a notice to. There's gonna be a screw mill and a millstone in there too, but we don't need them now, and we can't really spare any work.
Enough of putting filthy beards in precious booze; now we're drinking like civilized folks we are. There was a small supply of potash, yet something as basic as mugs was missing completely.
Here are the plans of a new wood stockpile. The little pile and that single carpenter's shop are not enough even for the smallest of outposts. We're building a boom town here, for gods' sake.
Finally done! Now we all have a place to sleep, complete with a cabinet and a chest.
We've survived the winter, as weird as it seems. We still have no workers, and the children just keep drinking our rye beer, giving nothing back. My job is to rebuild the fortress from scratch, and that I will do!
---
No offense to Archibald, but the fort really is a clusterfuck. Weird choices all over the place, like the gigantic bedrooms. I think that if the next migrant wave isn't a big one, I'll spend the rest of my turn setting up basic facilities that were somehow missing in a 1.5 year old fort. Again, bedrooms.
In my last fort I had only two children arrive with migrants, and in the end the fort was over 200 people strong. I almost forgot how horrible it is when half of the fort's population is
unable unwilling to work.
One last thing: When I started it was mid-autumn 126. Should I play up to spring 128 to even things out?