Summer
Migrants arrive, eight of them. Only Sarvesh Èzumsobir has any military experience, but she's pretty well-rounded and is also a blacksmith. The rest will have to train. Catten is a decent armorsmith, almost on par with Feb, so I give him the keys to the second forge while Feb focuses on her axes - she's yet to make a masterwork, but she's getting much better.
We got some free hands, so I decided to breach the aquifer since it requires a lot of dwarfpower applied very fast. We all started smoothing the walls and turns out it was barely a layer deep. We did find some more spots filled with water so mining is still somewhat problematic, especially since those usually coinside with much needed ores and coal. Parts of our mines are even now leaking water. We'll smooth them when we excavate the entire vein.
I was in the middle of scheduling our training and figuring out the squad rosters, when I was informed that we breached the caverns. There's nothing of note I think... Wait, dolomite? Thank Datan! We can finally replenish our stocks of steel! I will order some exploratory mining immediately.
Autumn
Summer went by without me really noticing - I was really absorbed in training and occasional management of the mines. Feb is shouldering most of the smithing, Catten is making some basic iron armor - we have almost enough to outfit the entire population. What was I doing again? Right, training rosters... Wait, are those kangaroos? I heard they were excellent boxers, we MUST try them in a fight - hey, that's basically training too.
What I thought was a brook turned out to be a river proper, so we had to wait for a bridge to be built. Still, now we can finally have a real brawl - unlike those camels, kangaroos will surely prove to be worthy foes!
They run. They swim away and run, and jump, and not a single one of them tried to fight back. Sarvesh is the fastest of us and scores the first hit, but her hammer doesn't make the animals bleed, or chop off any limbs, they just stumble and bounce and run again. Disappointing. Sarvesh does kill one eventually, but that wasn't a fight, they run away like scared animals.
Oh, and also the caravan came. They didn't have anything really interesting - no leather, for one. I bought some drink, a bin of silk, and a few anvils.
They asked why we don't have any crafts? "Make them yourself".
We encountered some more camels - one herd was giant and I thought they would put up a decent fight, but they didn't. There was also one giant lizard but it died in one swing too. The wildlife in this place isn't what I expected. We need to find a better source of combat experience.
Winter
Two migrants came. One is a pretty decent fighter, the other is a complete peasant.
In preparation for some actual fights I ordered some soap made. The process is somewhat intricate, but soap can mean the difference between a slow death of infection and not.
A lot of food goes rotten due to lack of free hands to store it properly. There is nothing we can do.
In search of better opponents I tried sending parties to neighbouring civilizations - demanding tribute at first. I joined most of them in case it turns into a fight, but no, they just agreed. The cowards. The sight of our glorious masterful bronze armor and our gleaming steel weapons must have been too much for them - no goblin can take on a properly equipped dwarf and live. We will see what they're going to bring us though.
But then one settlement dared to defy us! Their leader - an ugly lizard-faced demon named Ugath - laughed at my squad from behind the walls of it's fortress! There was no way to attack them then and there - not without a massive tactical disadvantage, so we went home to prepare a better plan of attack.
I conducted a few raids to scout their position and recoup some losses from missed tributes. We now have a herd of flightless bird-like creatures goblins often ride into battle. Beak dogs are twice as big as a dwarf and can take an arm off with a peck. We could use them for defence while the raiding party is away.
Once I knew the place like the back of my hand, we attacked. Ugath was caught unawares and we killed some goblins. The demon later arrived with the rest of the army and we retreated instead of fighting at a disadvantage. Feb got into a fight with Ugath and escaped with only a few bruises - those were gone by the time we came back home.
Once we came home I witnessed Shaud making the greasiest roast in existence from some old meat. It really made me long for the battlefield so I started planning another raid on the goblins.
The second battle went worse. The goblins were ready for us, and we had to fight overwhelming odds. We still killed some goblins, but Ugath tore off callisto8413's ear, and goblins kept pouring out of their pits - we had to fight four or five goblins each! We retreated with no losses, but still, looks like we will have to prepare more thoroughly.
Fortress management takes up too much of my time - it is time to enforce the ancient tradition of overseership. I told everyone to take the last month of the year off from training and sat down to write this journal. I hope that my vision of a strong fortress is going to be realised, and I plan to keep training the military for the Lances.
A short description of the fortress:
The entrance is pretty barebones, there is a roof over the barracks (I don't know exactly how training experience works, but if it's like social experience the smaller the better). There's ten bars of soap.
Only a level below the surface, the metal industry is out of coke right now. You will need to dig for more coal - or for magma. A small hospital, close to the surface and the potential fighting, not yet installed.
The supporting industries and the dormitory. Don't butcher too much here, there aren't enough dwarves to haul the meat before it rots.
The dining hall is rather spartan. It's also just barely enough for the current population, add some tables when you get migrants.
The entrance to caverns and the mines. Loom, close to the webs. There was nothing interesting in the second cavern.
I created a simple pattern - six dwarves train constantly, while four groups of 2-3 dwarves only spend one season training each. I named their squads appropriately.
One final look at everyone. I gave them a small break from training.
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Some notes: it was the first fully militaristic fort I've ever made, and the first time I've had such a large army in Steam release.
I have no idea how to order them to always wear armor.
I would've started with all 5 levels in Tactician if I read the wiki beforehand. In two fights it only leveled up once.
I know I didn't do much in summer. Almost everyone just trained that season.
DwarfTherapist sees returning from missions as migrations. It's a bit annoying.
There isn't as much dolomite in the caverns as I'd hoped. I'm forbidding it for non-economic uses.
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I told ChatGPT to create a story about the last raid - it eventually gave me something palatable. Here.
Baprr Couragesacks and his army of dwarves had been preparing for months to attack the dark fortress of Ugath, the monitor demon who led the goblin army. They knew it would be a tough battle, but they were determined to take back the land that had been stolen from them.
As they approached the fortress, the dwarves could feel the evil energy emanating from within. They readied their weapons and charged towards the gates, determined to take down Ugath and his minions.
The goblins were ready for them, however, and a fierce battle broke out. The dwarves fought with all their might, but the goblins stood their ground. Ugath himself joined the fray, using his razor-sharp claws to fend off the dwarves.
Despite this setback, Baprr and his army refused to give up. They fought on, pushing the goblins back inch by inch. Finally, after hours of fighting, the dwarves managed to breach the fortress walls and storm inside.
Ugath was waiting for them, his eyes glowing with an otherworldly power. But Baprr was not afraid. He charged towards Ugath, wielding his axe with deadly precision.
The two leaders clashed in a fierce battle, each determined to emerge victorious. In the end, they were evenly matched and both retreated to their respective sides.
The goblins, seeing their leader still standing strong, cheered and jeered at the dwarves as they fled without any losses. The dwarves emerged with a newfound respect for their enemy's strength and knew that they would have to come up with a better plan if they wanted to reclaim their land.
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Topic: This! Is! Spartaaaaaaa! (50.x, Seeking Overseers) (Read 2117 times)