After starting several fortresses to learn the basics, I decided it was time to start using magma. I embarked with a volcano in the southeastern-most tile, and hit Play Now! Using an early version of my gallery design I got my dwarves inside and working. Once my dwarves finished mining out the necessary areas I had them start on mining a tunnel to the volcano. My plan was to mine a straight, one tile wide tunnel to carry the magma to my fortress. Fortunately my miner out ran the magma. Now I had some time for other projects since the magma had 3 full embark squares to travel before I could use it. This was before I learned about alternative stone storage options, and had rather large stone stockpiles. So I decided to make a small pyramid about 30 squares to each side. I drafted all my idlers into masonry, and got started. The first level of walls and ramps was finished, and the second was under way when I had my first experience with a Goblin Snatcher. I hadn't even begun to figure out the military yet, but I had read recently that high skilled miners do decent damage with a pick. So I drafted the miners who were all mining at the bottom of my fortress into a makeshift military. Unfortunately the goblin snatched a baby from one of my conscripted masons, and being so close to the northern edge of the map got away before my miners even got to the upper levels of my fortress. Sad, but the magma had finally reached my work area so I dedicated the new workshops in memoriam of the abducted child. Unfortunately the workshops seemed to be missing something too. The magma wasn't deep enough yet to provide consistent power. Guess which dwarf decided to have a strange mood. The one with a high skill in weaponsmithing of course. Luckily he just got depressed and I walled him into a hallway to prevent complications. It was then that another snatcher was announced. He was in one of the bedrooms with a sleeping dwarf. Sweet, my miners are close by and the snatcher is deep enough for me to get the entrance closed in time. After setting the kill command, events took a bizarre left turn. The dwarf in the bedroom woke up, then proceeded to beat the goblin for the next 20 real-time minutes. The makeshift militia just stood outside his bedroom, and listened to the thuds of the unconscious goblin being beaten and tossed around the room. Eventually the baby left the room, and soon after the goblin bled to death from his wounds. Disturbing, but at least I didn't lose any dwarves.
The magma tunnel eventually fills up. I throw the switch on the floodgate to prevent over filling, and commence smelting ore and making metal items. Things go well for a while, the pyramid is slowly gaining levels, and a goblin ambush is captured by my layers of brand new metal cage traps with the only deaths being the traders. I decide to baptize the captured goblins with magma in retribution for the traders. I order up the necessary parts out of iron for my first ever screw pump, and begin construction of two upside-down U shaped walls at the mouth of the volcano. The walls are placed so magma can be pumped into one leg of the U and flow out the other. Shortly after construction begins I get more ambushers. Several casualties this time before my cage traps take care of things. I double the number of conscripted masons because I really want these bastards dead now. Construction finishes and I fire up the pump for manual operation. As you may have guessed, my U was a bit too narrow and along with killing the goblins I also managed to flood the pump operator with magma too. I consider abandoning at this point. Practically everything I've touched has gone wrong in some way, but I do want to finish that pyramid so I keep playing.
A third ambush party is discovered, at the site of the pyramid, where I don't have any cage traps. The conscripted masons are quickly slaughtered or scattered, and while their goblin pals are chasing the runners a goblin archer and two mace goblins climb to the top of the unfinished pyramid. Where they have an excellent view of my main stone stockpile. I grab my makeshift militia again, and bump up their numbers with some woodcutters and an animal trainer. I had figured out war animals shortly after the bedroom incident, and every militia member was assigned several war dogs. In a rare turn of good luck, all but one of the runners led their chasers into cage traps. Three of the militia catch up to the goblin who was chasing the unlucky runner, and manage to kill him while he is slowly killing the runner. The runner bleeds to death, but the military gets their first kill unscathed. In an act of pure genius, the rest of the military approach the trio a top the pyramid one by one. Where they are immediately surrounded by the mace goblins and struck down. The goblin archer is too busy killing my haulers and their pets to help. After witnessing the strategic genius of the dwarven military and killing 7 out of 10 of them the mace goblins decide to make a swift retreat. After running out of bolts the goblin archer follows. Directly in line with their path of retreat are the last three surviving members of the military. The three who had just gotten their first kill. Two of the dwarves tackled one mace goblin while the other went one-on-one with the other. The goblin archer just kept running. The outnumbered goblin went down quickly, and the other went down even faster after the other two dwarves finished the first. In total their were 18 dwarf casualties from that attack, 15 killed outright and three more died later from injuries. After that I was determined to finish that damned pyramid no matter what.
I rearranged construction so the masons could continue work without fear of goblins, and more importantly so the goblins couldn't use it as their own private shooting gallery. I had a much diminished workforce though, and it took some time and quality bedroom furnishings to stave off unhappiness. Construction continued slowly. Time passed, and the 10th z-level of the pyramid was half-way completed. A goblin siege arrives, but the entrance is sealed, and I have stopped caring about the outside world. The goblins are in the southwestern corner of the map, and the slope of the volcano leads directly to them. I choose out a miner and send them to mine out two key portions of the volcano's lip. The goblins appear to be unaware that a small side entrance has been opened and a miner is outside with a job to do. The miner finishes the job, and skips over the flowing magma to get back inside. The magma slowly pours down the mountain, and the goblins slowly advance towards it. The goblins are only 3 z-levels and about 10 squares away from the edge of the magma flow. A forest fire breaks out and the goblins conduct a partial retreat to reassess the situation, but it is already too late. The magma reaches them, and their fiery death screams can be heard throughout the land. With the dwarven deaths avenged, I come to the decision to leave the pyramid as is. The Unfinished Pyramid will never be completed, but I will always remember it. It will act as a monument to the lessons I learned during it's construction.
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Topic: The Story of the Unfinished Pyramid (Read 964 times)