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Author Topic: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - Appeasing Elves with Artifical Tree Towers  (Read 10464 times)

Salmeuk

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Original intro post, if you want to catch yourself up:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The following constraints should be followed, to keep things interesting:

a. The Exit Rule Every tower must have an exit to the surface, though this can be blocked with a raised bridge or doorway.
b. The Tunnel Rule Every tower must have an underground tunnel connecting it to at least one other tower, thus creating a network between the various outcroppings.
c. The Rule of Themes and Purposes Every tower must have some theme or purpose, or strive to be interesting or unique. Made from tough-to-source materials, aesthetically pleasing, the home of a guild of fine jewelers, the site of ritual sacrifice, etc etc
d. The Six-Tile Rule Every tower must be built at least 6 tiles from all other towers.


This has been done before, this tower challenge, but what will define this particular fortress is the selected map. While some of you may groan about FPS, others will acknowledge the amazing topography, numerous outcroppings, and easy access to precious metals and magma (and then also groan about FPS :P):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also of interest, the world map with factions (labels defined in spoiler text):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Current tower overview @ end of year 4, thanks to Mobbstar!

Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)

Please sign up now! We have decided that multiple years can be dedicated to a single tower, should you find you need just a little more time to complete your wonderment. or whatever. SO if you're the type to leave unfinished megaprojects scattered about in community fortresses, this might be your thing

===

Overseer list:

1. Salmeuk
2. Delphonso
3. SQMan
4. Salmeuk
5. Mobbstar
6. Metruption
7. Salmeuk? (Ongoing)
8.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2022, 05:12:08 pm by Salmeuk »
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Salmeuk

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Re: The Field of Towers - sign up to show off your construction abilities
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2021, 02:58:26 pm »

We arrived. Our goal here, on the edge of a seething volcano, surrounded by hostile goblins and dirty human villages? We're to build a fairground of sorts, an architectural park, you know, a sort of sculpture garden but on a larger scale. A MUCH larger scale. The royal family wants a royal theme park full of royal towers, full of gold and silver and everything a king, queen, or snotty princeling might enjoy.

One preoccupation of the royals was the sense of naturality. There was a notion the landscape should remain mostly untouched, excluding those various activities related to raising the various towers of delight, jeweled pagolas, statues of heroic proportion, or other follies of regal delight.

Quote
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.

In English, the term began as "a popular name for any costly structure considered to have shown folly in the builder", the OED's definition

|Spring|

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Our first year would be tough, but the plan was to build a simple a self-sustaining guild of masons and haulers, to expedite the visions of future architects.



Foundations were laid to the east of the caldera. The stone underneath was glossy obsidian, and must be the remains of an ancient lava flow. Obsidian is a wonderful material, and us dwarves know a secret method of sculpting blocks that allows for the usually fragile material to be of use in construction. It also holds a ridiculously sharp edge, and the production of wooden sword hafts was begun immediately.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Below the obsidian, olivine, gabbro and cobaltite was found. Inclusions of opals and other gems, as well.



Bedrooms were dug.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Some of the flooring was sandy, these would be the budget rooms.



|Summer|

This poet has the best name.



In total, I allowed three bards to stay and sing for us, though almost quadruple that have applied for the job.

Some singing and dancing:


A number of these dwarves worship some disturbing gods. We have six or so death cults with multiple members. Luckily, a huge diversity in deity means they are outnumbered by every other group.





|Autumn|


Mebzuth failed to outrun the magma, but with his sacrifice the forgefires began to glow.




Caverns were discovered, and plans were laid for deep farming and mining.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


|Winter|

Apparently, visiting workers can have strange moods:



Then he made this (yawn):



The peacocks were led into the tower today, and everything suddenly made sense.



The finished tower:



Modest, but complete. Entirely constructed from obsidian and cobaltite, and I managed to preserve the apricot tree for maximum beauty.

=======

turn two is available. We have 24 dwarves and the fortress has plenty of room for interesting designs.

https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=15776
« Last Edit: December 09, 2021, 03:07:41 pm by Salmeuk »
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King Zultan

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2021, 03:41:31 am »

PTW
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

delphonso

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2021, 04:48:31 am »

Sal you son of a bitch....I'm in.

I'll take the next turn, if my laptop can handle it. Any objections to me capping the population for my turn?

Salmeuk

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2021, 10:18:53 am »

yay PLEASE DO limit popcap.. lets grow this one slowly since it has so many trees and z-levels. IIRC about 45 from entrance to cavern layer, making it awkward to haul to and fro.
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recon1o6

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2021, 10:41:28 am »

this looks curious

part of me wants to make an underground tower penetrating deep underground with several floating rocks around it and lit with jewels and magma. Think the one from overlord 2 but prettier

alas, there's other games to finish rn
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Urist McRecon cancels make exploding booze: Interrupted by bad idea
Urist McRecon cancels bad idea: missing raw files
Urist McRecon cancels add raw files: Interrupted by fortress mode
Urist McRecon cancels play fortress mode: Needs exploding booze
Urist McRecon cancels acquire exploding booze: No materials

brewer bob

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2021, 12:37:36 pm »

PTW

I love building towers in DF, so it's interesting to see what designs/methods others have. (Won't ask for a turn, though, cuz can't promise to deliver.)

Salmeuk

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2021, 02:06:00 pm »

it would be good to keep the turn list informal, so people can drop in as IRL permits.

I also foresee the event an overseer might want multiple years to complete their tower. that would be totally fine as long as the turn itself doesn't stretch to weeks :D I often think the 'one year per turn' is a bit overused in these kinds of games.
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delphonso

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2021, 02:49:20 am »

I've gotten started, but lost most of my morning in customer support hell.

The Field of Towers will have a stupid stupendous addition! I was torn between two ideas and decided on the more useful of the two.

I'm also on board for "I need two more months to finish my tower" sort of turns, especially with how tedious building can be and how vulnerable towers can be to invaders if not completely walled in. Multiple years - sure, I'd be excited to see the damn good tower that results from all that work!

SQman

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2021, 06:22:32 am »

I've built a few towers in my life, and I'm sure I could build one more. Put me in, coach!

One question: keeping in mind that the surface is for towers only, is building roads and such between towers permitted? It's for aesthetics only, but this in itself seems to be a part of the fort's theme.

Salmeuk

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2021, 11:02:39 am »

welcome! added to the list. RE, your question, I would say yes. I'll quote my vague previous statements on the matter.

Quote
2. Aboveground must ONLY be used for the construction of these towers, or accessories to the towers*.

*bridges, aesthetic protrusions, moats, within reason of course!!


I failed to write down "roads" despite definitely thinking "roads", when I wrote this. roads are totally fine because of their obvious utility. Perhaps we could take care to join them together at reasonable points?

The map lends itself to a western road exit, as that is the location of the flattest ground.

I've gotten started, but lost most of my morning in customer support hell.

The Field of Towers will have a stupid stupendous addition! I was torn between two ideas and decided on the more useful of the two.

I'm also on board for "I need two more months to finish my tower" sort of turns, especially with how tedious building can be and how vulnerable towers can be to invaders if not completely walled in. Multiple years - sure, I'd be excited to see the damn good tower that results from all that work!

Dwarven customer support would be something akin to a small room with a single chair, and written on a sign the words, "We are unavailable at the moment. Please take a seat and pull the lever at your earliest convenience." The lever, of course, catapults you through the window into the waiting volcano.

Hmm, one of our towers could probably be dedicated to a similar function...

I bet the difficult part of picking up this save will be moving workers and blocks to the proper building location.
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delphonso

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2021, 07:53:07 am »

-=  Fikuk Urdim  =-
     Turn 2: Urdim Fikuk

Ah yes, please to meet you. I understand you're in need of an overseer.
Well, I just so happen to be one of the best. Yes, I've heard all about your project. "The Tower of Fields" - quite a lovely title. I hope you don't mind, I prepared some blueprints even.

Oh? Sorry? What's that?

The Field of Towers?

Well, this is quite embarrassing. So you say that the project is, in fact, to create many towers. You see, I understood it as to create a tower full of...well...fields.

Well, no matter, my good dwarf! The plans will still work splendidly. Why don't you show me around this Field of Towers.

My oh my indeed, you seem to have some sort of bird jail.



Not really my sort of thing, but certainly won't complain. I suppose if you like peacocks, that room is a delight like no others! For everyone else - well it's smelly and depressing, to be blunt.

Ah, and what's this?



5 spears stuck in the soil? Clever, my good man, clever indeed! You're already up to six towers, then! But, of course, these won't do. We'll need to make something quite a bit bigger than a spear.

To work, my good fellows!



A travesty! Dig, you dwarves, dig! We must go deeper to reach higher, as I always say. Get to it!

Well well well! I do say, you run a tight ship around here! Just look:



The peacock training seems to be going quite well! They're perfectly synchronized! Astounding!

By jove! Lor has claimed the throne! Your majesty, if you had only given us some warning - an entire tower for yourself! Blast. Hopefully a humble temporary stead will suffice.



The Tower of Fields is coming along quite well. The front gate has even been erected. I place the lever in the most esteemed of all positions: right next to the kitchen.



Alright - it may not be the safest or cleanliest position - ignore that water coming down the stairs. I assure you, that's intentional.

Hmm... Worrying news from the taverns. Someone is whispering about the artifact contained here. In fact... I'm not even sure where that artifact is. No matter, it's barely ours.



No matter? No matter at all! Sodel is wandering with the look of a dwarf bewitched!



If all goes as poorly as possible, we'll at least have Sodel's new artifact. Now... to set up a glass furnace...

Ah... Your majesty - gauntlets are hard to come by. You see, the Field of Towers is blessed with copious gold and silver, but rarely a trace of the combat metals. Perhaps you'd prefer a pristine door? No, no, of course not. We'll see what we can do.

It seems we're completely out of bags. We may have had some, but in my...enthusiasm...I may have produced a few hundred seeds, and the bags are already occupied. Yet Solon screams for raw glass.

Someone was spotted walking toward the bird jail, muttering dark things to themselves about stealing The Lamentation of Notching. I was quite happy to give it to the miserable fellow, but it seems one of the many monster hunters in the fort decided to practice his spear work on him. Old chap looked like a pincushion by the end of it.



Well, that's that. A pity, but the raw glass never could be made - not enough bags, Sodel. I'm sorry.



Ah... It seems... Sodel immediately murdered the queen. Well. I can't say I'm relieved - that'd be too morbid, but I can't say I'm entirely displeased either. No, no. No use crying over spilled wine, the Tower of Fields is nearly complete! Some floors are even prepared for farming!



Curse my damnable luck! Four more buckets of water and we'd be done! And yet - just at the worst time, a Forgotten Beast in the form of a crocodile enters the caverns!? Seal them! Seal them up and seal my hopes with it!

I see we have about 70 doors in the fortress. I may be able to make this work still.

Behold, my fellow dwarves - the world's most secure well!


(Someone left a bucket in the 3rd door.)

Plenty of time to wall it off in case some miserable wretch comes flying in, looking to pilfer our beautiful towers!

And finally, It's done! It's perfection in tower form! 9 levels of farms! Two plots of 13 dwarfometers2 each! The Field of Towers shall never hunger while the Tower of Fields still stands!



-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This was quite a slow process on my little laptop, but we endured! It seems bringing water all the way from the cavern to the top of a tower was what some people would call "a bad idea". I built quite close to the peacock tower just to make it a bit quicker - there's plenty of real estate for bigger, grander projects. I had dwarves making blocks for quite a while, so the next overseer should have a bit of luck with that, as well as a good stockpile of stone.

Warning: a few dwarves were assigned to farming just to plant some of the fields to "finish" my turn before the end of the year. You'll certainly want to turn those labors off, or set some of the fields to fallow, because otherwise they're never going to do anything besides plant and harvest.

We are certainly good on food for a while.

I made a small atom smasher, and also a dormitory. The "fortress itself" is quite poorly set up - ideal for abandoning and building a new fort under a new tower somewhere else. Best of luck! Save is HERE!

These are the would-be-queen's quarters, now completely useless. Someone can surely put some use to those.

Salmeuk

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2021, 01:57:46 pm »

haha loved the commentary & voice. indeed -  the peacocks were honestly a last minute affair, and thus bird jail. I'm glad the avian dance routines were implemented in time for the presence of the queen herself.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)



5 spears stuck in the soil? Clever, my good man, clever indeed! You're already up to six towers, then! But, of course, these won't do. We'll need to make something quite a bit bigger than a spear.


this was particularly witty haha. it also.. reminded me of tarot cards and, say, Rider - Waite style symbolism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_of_Wands

No metals? oof. I kind of assumed we would at least get some bronze or something. no matter - our wealth will equip any future militaries.

gold star for managing to make your turn essentially a gigantic play on words, and also making this joke be something rather useful. .

I chose against naming a dwarf after myself, I tend to find it character breaking when, for instance, I suddenly realize my dwarf is female after 2 years of play. However I think we should allow dwarfings and perhaps burrowing assignments for certain dwarves, if anyone wishes!

I will play 4th year, unless we find another player while SQman plays

edit: that well is so secure, I totally agree.
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delphonso

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #13 on: December 14, 2021, 09:46:11 pm »

No metals? oof. I kind of assumed we would at least get some bronze or something. no matter - our wealth will equip any future militaries.

Considering the size of the map, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some metals out there somewhere - I didn't look particularly hard because the queen's mandate was overshadowed by a rush to try and make raw glass for Sodel, while also micromanaging the muddying of the tower. We may still have luck, though what's below the Two Towers is only gold and silver.

gold star for managing to make your turn essentially a gigantic play on words, and also making this joke be something rather useful.
...
I chose against naming a dwarf after myself, I tend to find it character breaking when, for instance, I suddenly realize my dwarf is female after 2 years of play. However I think we should allow dwarfings and perhaps burrowing assignments for certain dwarves, if anyone wishes!

Originally I wanted to make a tower upsidedown to the water in the caverns with a lofty name such as "Watertop" or something. Complete with furniture bolted to the ceiling. I decided that literally the second turn was too soon to try to subvert the entire idea of towers.

Yeah, I considered claiming a dwarf or two, but it's hard to pay attention to them when mostly I'm just screaming at them to build walls in a normal manner instead of...whatever the hell they prefer to do.

edit: that well is so secure, I totally agree.

I included that as a warning. That well is Chekov's gun - it'll be the cause of someone's death somewhere down the line, I guarantee it.

I expect someone to have a turn that can roughly translate to this.

Salmeuk

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Re: Fikuk Urdim, "The Field of Towers" - impress the royals, now with peacocks
« Reply #14 on: December 18, 2021, 12:09:16 pm »

Quote
Originally I wanted to make a tower upsidedown to the water in the caverns with a lofty name such as "Watertop" or something. Complete with furniture bolted to the ceiling. I decided that literally the second turn was too soon to try to subvert the entire idea of towers.

I do like the sound of this upside-down tower, but what was your plan re: bolting furniture to the ceiling? lol

All this talk of tarot cards inspires me to make some kind of tarot-based challenge or something. Really not sure what it would look like, though.

I pm'd SQman for next turn, otherwise - I will simply take the reigns
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