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Author Topic: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress & Adventure [DF 0.47.05]  (Read 64101 times)

brewer bob

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Waterlures:
A Capybara Man Fortress and Adventure

“Minbazkar, the Enchanted Dimensions. A world of many marvels and wonders. A world with an abundance of Gods both benevolent and malevolent. It is a world engulfed in turmoil and strife as the greater and lesser forces clash for power -- the conflicts leaving much of the North in ruins and covered in Darkness.

Our story, however, begins in the South among the citizens of the dwarf kingdom of Ustuth Ïdath, the Fence of Amusement. Despite being far from the ravaging wars, the life of the average citizen there is not a pleasant one: it is one full of toil and misery. None remember a time when things were different -- if such a time ever existed -- for the Unaging King, Såkzul Cudgeltapers, has ruled over the land with an iron fist since ages past. Oppressive edicts are regularly laid to crush the free will and spirit.

It has been an effective means, since all are too busy eking out a living from the scraps scrounged from the mud, that none dare dream of anything better lest they get distracted -- dreaming is for those who can afford it. However, Såkzul's grip isn't as tight as he would have his subjects believe: there is some dissent among the peasantry and even the nobility. Some of those nobles with enough power have defied the monarch's whims by removing unjust laws discreetly or helping the downtrodden.

It is in such a moment that our story begins: a small group of capybara men and their compatriots managed to attract the attention of a noble woman, who upon hearing their plight secured them passage with seven dwarf settlers headed west to old elf lands. They were to establish a new outpost for the glory of the Mountainhome there -- one of the few ways for lowly peasants to flee the oppressive yoke of the Unaging King.”




Welcome to Waterlures, a capybara man fortress and adventure!

What started off as a succession game has now turned into a mainly single-player game with the occasional adventurer turn handed out to community members. In this game we begin by following and guiding the lives of ten capybara men & women (plus their friends).

Our initial goal was to pair them up, get them married and have them produce offspring.

The capybaras build their homes on the surface, so there is no massive underground halls this time. They do mine for shallow metals, gems and such, but don't delve deep -- at least, not for the starters. Population growth is slow and much of the game time citizens just socialize and idle, with us following their daily lives and thoughts. This is a nice and peaceful fort... Until much later in the story, that is.

Feel free to comment, offer suggestions and if you want to be 'dorfed' (or 'capied' as we say here), just say so! You are also more than welcome to ask if you could have a turn as an adventurer at some point.

Enjoy your stay with the amazing capybara folk of Waterlures and the adventures they get into!

(Note1: The game is slightly modded with a couple of fixes/tweaks from Modest Mod and a few extra real-world animals from various mods, but there shouldn't be anything that alters actual gameplay.)
(Note2: Despite the fortress mode parts of Waterlures now being only single-player, this may change in the future. In fact, everything is subject to change -- nothing's written in stone here.)



List of Turns/Chapters:

Book I:
0. The World and Setup
1. brewer bob (Part I, Part II, Overview)
2. xkcd1963 -- skipped
3. AvolitionBrit (Report)
4. brewer bob (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Overview)
5. delphonso -- skipped
6. AvolitionBrit (Part I, TL;DR, Lore bits)
7. brewer bob (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, Overview)
8. Salmeuk (Part I, Part II)
9. brewer bob (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, Overview)
10. AvolitionBrit (SoA 361, I, II, III, IV, Lore Bits, V, VI)
11. brewer bob (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXII)
12. AvolitionBrit (I, II, III, IV)
13. brewer bob (I, II, III, IV, Lonecanyons, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX)
14. AvolitionBrit (I)
Book II:
15. brewer bob (I, II, III, Rabbitbowed, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI)
16. brewer bob (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV) -- current
17. ??



A backup of the entire thread until May 6th 2023 can be found on DFFD (many thanks to King Zultan!):
Here's the saved copy of the thread I promised, and I even kept it up to date as it has the latest update in it.



Spoiler: Original Post (click to show/hide)

brewer bob

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2022, 01:52:37 pm »

The World and Setup:



We'll be diving into the world of Minbazkar, the Enchanted Dimensions. The world size is somewhere between a small and medium map (dimensions: 64x128). I had problems generating all the stuff I wanted in a small one, and a medium was too big, so I chose this as a compromise.


It is currently the year 325 and we are living in the Age of Myth. There are more than enough megabeasts, titans and other monsters lurking in the wilds. While the northern parts of the world appear to be engulfed in turmoil  (probably in the beginnings of a necromancer apocalypse), the south seems to be relatively calm except for the occasional beast attack. We'll be concentrating on the south in our game.

The Bent Spears Matlokum
A dwarven civilization in the north, nestled in the Walls of Spray mountain range. We know not much about them.

The Sprayed Dungeons Tostrabosa
A civilizations of goblins living far to the north in tropical savannas.

The Tight Torments Gutunako
Another goblin civilization in the far north. It is unlikely that any of our capybaras have heard of them.

The Relieved Realms Sladaomon
A civilization of humans.

The Typhoon of Lusters Múya Loré
A civilization of elves from the northern tropical forests. This used to be the home of one our starting settlers (or so she claims).

The Just Union Takrugil
A human civilization from the shores of the Gulf of Liberation.

The Cunning Witch Smostoosta
A goblin civilization competing for territory with the Just Union.

The Cobalt Empires Botedur
Another human civilization from the north. A handful of our settlers have their family roots in this kingdom (hence their non-dwarven names).

The Growl of Pleating Ula Tefe
A dwindling civilization of elves that used to call the whole of the Perplexing Jungles their home. They have only a few sites left. Our outpost will be established at the border of their ancestral lands, so they'll hopefully become great trading partners and have lots of riches to offer us.

The Fence of Amusement Ustuth Ïdath
Our chosen civilization spanning the entirety of the Incidental Points mountain range. Easily the largest of the remaining dwarven civilizations, the Fence of Amusement has lived a peaceful existence for as long as anyone can remember. The kingdom has been ruled by an oppressive necromancer king for over two centuries.

The Hell of Miseries Gozru Uksox
Beyond the cold shrublands of the Full Fields lies the freezing tundras of the Blizzard of Brushes. The vile goblins of the Hell of Miseries make their home there, controlling most of the vast territory. So far, they have left our civilization alone and relations are peaceful. What unholy deals or pacts our king has made with them to keep the peace, none dare ask.



A scene from somewhere in the heights of the Incidental Points




On the map we can see the spread of our civilization (as of 15th Granite, 325). The fortress of Inkedwhims is our capital and around it are mainly hillocks. Our civilization has only two fortresses and no mountainhalls.

Quite close to our kingdom in the south lies Mutetorch, a necromancer tower. Further off, in the farthest reaches of the tundras, lies Closeterrors, a dark fortress and seat of power of the master of the Hell of Miseries.

But we need not worry about such evils, since Waterlures is out of their reach in the northwest of our main kingdom. Close to Waterlures is Morningwilt, the ruins of an elven forest retreat now occupied by a small group of humans. They are economically linked to us, meaning that we have regular dealings with them.

Our group of bold settlers consists of ten capybara men & women (half-and-half), a plump helmet man, a mandrill woman and a wombat man. Thirteen in total. We won't be getting any migrants, so I decided to add a few extras into the mix.



Our embark site lies on the shores of the Lakes of Saturnity, a temperate and joyous freshwater lake, surrounded by the Laconic Prairies, a temperate, untamed shrubland.




We should have everything we need in this area, and it would be fitting for a proper dwarven fortress. However, we're going to build our homes (mostly) on the surface in nice wooden cabins overlooking the lake. Heck, maybe we'll even build on the lake: it freezes during winter, so it'll be possible to build the Completely NecessaryTM supporting columns/pillars in the water. Houses on stilts -- now there's a thought!



The main deity of our group is Ôsed: a doe rabbit goddess. Most of our capybaras worship her.



Speaking of our group: they have chosen to call themselves Edosolmulobash, the Amazing Bath-Swine.



Their symbol is an image of a capybara and waves. The waves are raising the capybara. The capybara is laughing. It is aptly named The Washed Swamp-Pig.



And the name of their new home is Arellektad, Waterlures (but you knew that already, didn't you?).

Spoiler: Kasat Waxedtiles (click to show/hide)
Leading the Amazing Bath-Swine is Kasat Waxedtiles, a capybara woman peddler hailing originally from the Cobalt Empires. She is a shrewd businesswoman who finds fair-dealing foolish and cheats when it's profitable.

Spoiler: Yawo Cunningfur (click to show/hide)
The group's chief healer, or witch-doctor as they like to call her, is Yawo Cunningfur, a mandrill woman from the far off elf lands of the Typhoon of Lusters. She is an intimidating persona and angers quickly. She travels with her pet Masami, a hippo (Yawo likes hippos for their strength).

Spoiler: Zas Relicheavy (click to show/hide)
Responsible for the safety of the group is Zas Relicheavy, a capybara man (wanna-be) monster slayer. He is tough and dumb, but that doesn't really matter since Zas doesn't see any importance in knowledge attainment.

Those who want quality masonry or carpentry turn to Otu 'Quandale' Incensefaith, another capybara woman with roots in the Cobalt Empire. She claims to originally be a huntress, though she is more skilled with the knife than the bow. Otu has a pet: Tobul, a blue peacock.

Every settlement needs a good smith: Sodel 'Avolition' Clodcave, the oddest of the group, is the most qualified for the job. He is a plump helmet man, and not much else is known of him, since he can't speak -- an unfortunate side-effect of not having a mouth.
(Note: He is listed on the pet list since plump helmet men don't have CAN_SPEAK, I think.)

Continuing with the non-capybaras, we have Zefon 'Brewer Bob' Drunkenceilings, a wombat man who likes to think of himself as The Chronicler of this expedition. The others like to think of him as their brewer who keeps their caskets full of ale. Along Zefon's side can be found Ònul, his pet goat.
(Note to overseers: you are very much free to mess things up for this weirdo.)

Since the capybaras have lived among dwarves, it is no wonder that a miner is found among their ranks. Cadi 'Delphonso' Puzzlinbathe (also from the Cobalt Empires) is skilled with a pick and blessed with a good memory (and if you ask him he is an “expert” bone doctor and gelder). He is a very sociable character who enjoys the company of others -- as long as it doesn't involve commerce, which he sees as a vile obscenity. He has a pet peacock called Thine.

The rest of the capybaras are Zuglar Hoursilver (a cheese maker) and his wife Såkzul Agebronze (a herbalist), Kib Spearmobbed (a mechanic), Imush Gleamlanced (a trapper), Inod Tickedcrypts (a spinner) and Ubbul Dabblegalleys (a woodburner).

I gave all animal persons 'competent swimming' since I'm not sure if SWIMS_INNATE transfers properly to the animal person variant. Try not to drown them despite their ability to swim. Additionally, the capybara men have STRANGE_MOODS modded to them, so we should be able to get artifacts when (or if) our moodable citizens reach the twenty mark.

Also, since our settlers are brought in via Adventure Mode, I assigned them some preferences on my whims for the sake of flavor. You are free to suggest more preferences to individuals, and I'll add them as best as I can.


Regarding the embark area: there's a nice looking cliff of andesite and phyllite at the northern tip of the lake, while the top layers of the hills are a combination of clays and sands. The lake is surrounded by a forest with good lumber for our houses and lots of plum trees to give us fruit. Since we are not dwarves and mainly worship a nature deity, clear-cutting should be avoided (especially chopping down fruit trees). If we run low on wood, we can always ask caravans to bring more, right?



There's a nice and spacious ledge overlooking the lake. Enough space to build housing for at least our starting group. A vein of hematite (or of iron) can be seen in the andesite just northwest of the wagon.

Without further ado, let's get on with securing ourselves some lodgings ere the giant coyotes get hungry!

brewer bob

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2022, 01:53:10 pm »

Part I:
A Slow Start



“Are you sure you'll manage out here in the wilds?”, the tall dwarf said stroking his dark braided beard and continued “We could afford to stay here for a week or two helping set up the place. We're in no rush to Morningwilt.”

Kasat, a capybara woman, eyed nervously at the empty wine barrels in their wagon replying uneasily “No. No, there's no need for such, Mistêm. The gesture is much appreciated, but we are more than capable of fending for ourselves.” She waved her hand at the group of capybara men and other animal people behind her and around the wagon. They had just finished cleaning up the mess left by the seven dwarves feasting and drinking for several days, and they had pretty much no supplies left.

“Ah, I see... Well, I guess we'll start to make our way towards the forest retreat then. At least there we should be far from the reach of that oaf who calls himself king. It has been a pleasure traveling with y'all and getting to know you. I hope our paths will cross again,” Mistêm said straightening his pig tail cap. “If you ever need help, remember that Morningwilt is but a day's travel to the west. Just send us a message and we'll come help you.”

Right. And come and drink all of our booze and eat our food, Kasat thought.




Farewells were exchanged and the dwarves left for Morningwilt, while the animal people remained behind to build new homes for themselves.




Morningwilt is a forest retreat occupied by humans not far away from Waterlures. We're only economically linked to them, so we won't be able to actually request workers from there. A pity.



Since the capybaras were out of food -- thanks to the damn dwarves -- the first order of business was to send all spare hands to forage for supplies, while 'Delphonso' grabbed a pick and went off to dig a temporary home and storage into the dirt. The woodburner Ubbul began to fell trees for houses and other necessities, like beds.




As the capybaras were busy at work, Yawo's pet hippo Masami began causing troubles at the current pasture. Previously Yawo had been reluctant to cooperate and kept on clinging to some old clothes, refusing to do any work. Now that she finally had joined the others in building the first house, it was the hippo's turn to be a nuisance.

We should have listened to the dwarves when they said that strange folk from elf lands are not suited for proper civilized life.

Fortunately Masami's tantrum was a short one, though several of the sheep got slightly spooked.



Spring flew by quickly. As summer arrived the capybaras had managed to do so little, yet so much: the first building was nearly completed, seeds had been sown underground in dwarven fashion, 'Delphonso' had dug a well into the aquifer, the wombat man chronicler brewer 'Bob' had replenished the booze stocks (in fact, far beyond what was needed), 'Quandale' was busy building furniture (and barrels for the booze!) non-stop, and that miserable witch-doctor monkey Yawo was continuing to stop working once in a while and distract from important work.



The food situation looked much better than before. There had been hardly any harvests yet, so much of the produce had been foraged. If there's one thing Yawo knew, it was what plants were edible and where to find them in abundance.

Since nobody was actually sure how much of what the capybaras had, Kasat decided to appoint Såkzul Agebronze to keep track of records, and at the same time she appointed Zuglar Hoursilver, the cheese maker, to organize the workforce more efficiently. Their offices would be housed in the almost finished building.



Once again time flew by as the capybaras and friends were busy at work. The first building was complete, a second one was nearing completion, as well as was the open lakeside shrine to Ôsed and trade depot pavilion. Construction on their roofs was under way when autumn arrived.

It was likely that the caravan from the Mountainhome would stop by at this place before continuing to Morningwilt. Good thing 'Delphonso' had just finished the depot in anticipation of its arrival.



...And soon the caravan arrived. However, there was no outpost liaison among it. Mighty curious indeed. At least the liaison wouldn't be taking a report of Waterlures back to the Mountainhome, so with luck it'll take some time before the Unaging King will hear of the capybara man settlement and make plans for it.

The capybaras didn't have much to trade, but they scrounged all the coins and what-not that they could find. Not that they really needed much from the caravan, but it's always good to trade for something. Or at least that was what Kasat, the leader and broker, said.



The merchants drove their wagons to the depot and began unloading their goods. Even though Kasat had a keen sense for good deals, the dwarven merchants were not an easy piece to chew. With what little the capybaras had to offer, she could only buy some cloth, leather and other necessities. A yak bull that Såkzul and Zuglar had set their eyes on was also bought, though Kasat grumbled about its price.

It was necessary to produce some goods for the next caravan, and work on craft houses began.




Timber was only halfway when snow began falling, covering the recently finished roof of the trade depot pavilion with a white dusting. Winter seems to arrive early at this place.



It is odd when the leaves fall after snow has fallen. The ways of the Rabbit in the Sky are truly mysterious.




With winter the lake froze. It was time to begin work on building supporting pillars for structures overhanging the water. 'Delphonso' was immediately busy at work with one of the stray cats following his every move on the slippery ice.




The year neared its end when finally the capybaras had time to catch some breath. There were multiple buildings still to be finished, but it could wait until the next year. The rest was much deserved, and 'Quandale' headed to the shrine of Ôsed to pray and meditate as late winter rain fell from the sky.

Spring was soon to arrive.

Salmeuk

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2022, 05:53:24 pm »

Quote
In case of disputes, my arbitrary judgment is final. Complaints will be ignored.

my body is ready. embark looks choice, and the worldbuilding has us set up to make waves in these Enchanted Dimensions.

Quote
Those who want quality masonry or carpentry turn to Otu 'Quandale' Incensefaith, another capybara woman with roots in the Cobalt Empire. She claims to originally be a huntress, though she is more skilled with the knife than the bow. Otu has a pet: Tobul, a blue peacock.

ah, yes. Tobul, come here, I need comfort in the form of your beautiful feathers.

Quote
The main deity of our group is Ôsed: a doe rabbit goddess. Most of our capybaras worship her.

And why shouldn't we worship that double-eared divine perfection that is the Holy Rabbit Above?

====

Quandale is relieved to arrive at Waterlures. A new home. One priority for the first year, assuming all other tasks are completed, is for Quandale to build some kind of pasture or enclosed area, so that Tobul (my peacock) and other livestock can roam freely without getting in everyone's way. 
« Last Edit: July 19, 2022, 05:57:03 pm by Salmeuk »
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xkcd1963

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2022, 07:17:31 pm »

I might take a turn pls *zips into coma*
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AvolitionBrit

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2022, 07:44:35 pm »

He will be a fungi, sign me up too please.
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delphonso

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2022, 07:53:12 pm »

Chuck me on the list as well, though I might need to bail if FPS doesn't comply.

King Zultan

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2022, 03:34:05 am »

Sounds like an interesting fort, haven't seen one with animal people so I shall PTW.
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Cathar

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #8 on: July 20, 2022, 05:31:47 am »

When I read "Minbazkar", I thought for a moment you had take a save of my world. It's a happy coiscidence...or that name is not that  uncommon. Good luck to the rodent !

brewer bob

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #9 on: July 20, 2022, 06:36:22 am »

I might take a turn pls *zips into coma*

I added you to the list, but if you don't want a turn immediately after me, can move to a later point or remove it.

He will be a fungi, sign me up too please.

Done.

Chuck me on the list as well, though I might need to bail if FPS doesn't comply.

Hopefully the FPS will stay at a playable rate for you. If not, we'll think of some way for you to be able to participate!

When I read "Minbazkar", I thought for a moment you had take a save of my world. It's a happy coiscidence...or that name is not that  uncommon. Good luck to the rodent !

Haha, I secretly stole your save-- Nah, just kidding. It's actually the first time I got that name for a world, which is why I stuck with it.

I'm just about to start the game proper, so we'll see how it goes. Maybe we'll get wrecked by wildlife immediately after unpausing, but let's hope that doesn't happen.

delphonso

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #10 on: July 20, 2022, 07:20:49 am »

Just read it all in detail. Nice dump of info, I especially like that we have a mixed fortress from the different civs.

I send some respect your way for the great names you gave these guys. Cunningfur, Clodcave and Drunkenceilings are especially choice.

-------

Cadi would prefer to keep Thine by his side. It's a dwarven tradition to allow birds and small woodlanders to stick by a miner's side. Some say it's so they don't get lonely deep underground, but others point out how often the miners successfully flee a Cave Crocodile and how, coincidentally, their pets don't.


Good luck in-game. If FPS dies, I've enjoyed playing as sort of tourist adventurers in succession fortresses and reporting on my explorations (not in-save, because of retirement and unretire issues)

brewer bob

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2022, 05:25:59 pm »

The first part of my report is up.

I managed to get to spring, but I think I'll do a second year. There was practically no time for the capys to socialize with all the building going. The second year I'll use to finish the buildings that are under construction, and let our citizens socialize most of the time.

Took a bit longer today since I ran into slight problems with the mandrill woman. Seems like I'd forgotten to remove several tags from animal people that cause issues (animal people with those tags get stuck with items being hauled and refuse to drop them), namely CURIOUSBEAST_ITEM and CURIOUSBEAST_EATER. I've had the same problem before, but fortunately removing that doesn't require a new world, so the problem should be gone now.

Let's just hope it doesn't cause any issues later in the game (hasn't before, but you never know).

Salmeuk

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2022, 11:11:54 pm »

lovely .gif captures, those are. what are the tileset and color scheme of your current setup - ? .

Frozen lake. . seems exceedingly dangerous.

.

completely unrelated: are capybara people natural swimmers?

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brewer bob

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #13 on: July 21, 2022, 06:23:27 am »

lovely .gif captures, those are. what are the tileset and color scheme of your current setup - ? .

It's Alloy curses 12x12, so basically just square curses with a higher res. Can't remember what color scheme, but maybe "Natural" scheme with slight editing?

Frozen lake. . seems exceedingly dangerous.

Haha, so far it seems to be frozen for the whole winter. We'll soon see at what point it thaws in Granite, but somewhere before the 15th, since it was already unfrozen when I began the game.

completely unrelated: are capybara people natural swimmers?

They should be as capybaras have SWIMS_INNATE, but I'm not sure if it transfers properly to animal person variants. Because of that I gave animal people with said tag competent swimming for "free" (that is, added it with DFHack).

delphonso

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Re: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress (Succession Game)
« Reply #14 on: July 21, 2022, 06:43:52 am »

I think the swimming would have been fine, the only issue I've seen is that SWIMS_INNATE doesn't apply if you don't have legs, I think.

Nice update indeed!

As for romance and relationships...
Dwarves (even bath-swine like we have) don't gain relationships in temples and very very slowly do in taverns (paradoxically, the Socialize! activity is very anti-social.) If you want relationships, marriages and babies, the best way is a 2x2 plain meeting area. You'll have to close all the other locations at that time, as they'll seek that out in preference to the little meeting area. It works fast, just like many of your starting dwarves socialize very quickly around the wagon. It's...pretty dumb, so maybe we can make a story reason for such behavior. Nuzzling for warmth every winter for a few days in 'hibernation'.
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