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Author Topic: The Saga of Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (spoilers + image heavy)  (Read 154575 times)

FoiledFencer

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #15 on: September 18, 2011, 09:57:49 am »

Bracing for the most epic tale in recent memory.
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"Lithrushâst Kúdlizat: Fetidfur, the slick notch, a grizzly bear leather loincloth. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is studded with zinc, decorated with grizzly bear leather and encircled with bands of grizzly bear leather. This object menaces with spikes of grizzly bear leather."

Madventurer

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #16 on: September 18, 2011, 10:57:23 am »

So are you sharing a save file for everyone?
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Then he made grudge wit about 20 other dwarfs (still don't know why - perhaps they were stealing his chair).

NRDL

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #17 on: September 18, 2011, 11:15:52 am »

Wow, a fort where there isn't a lot of procreation.  Cool.  I'm guessing the title is an allusion for the movie, "Children of Men"?  Posting to watch, you will continue this right?  And tell us if, by some miracle, more children are born. 
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DS

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #18 on: September 20, 2011, 10:53:55 am »

Sorry about the delay in posting updates and screenshots - between school and moving I haven't had any time to boot up DF at all. Soon I'll be settled in my new place, though, and I'll be able to post with some regularity. For now, I thought I'd give the thread a bump for exposure, and to answer some questions.

Firstly, I won't be posting a save file just yet, mainly because there are one or two main projects which I would rather finish before sharing it. It seems silly, I know, but rest assured, a save file will be posted, eventually.

Also, the title is indeed a reference to Children of Men. The fact that there were many children being born each year, only to suddenly stop for no apparent reason, seemed very reminiscent of that film (I haven't read the book). Maybe I should make a bug report...
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Finished: Weatherwires, the Last Mountainhome. A tragic mix of Children of Men, City of Ember, and, uh, magma.
Stymied: Correspondence from Syrupurns, a prematurely ended narrative, told through annual updates.
In Progress: Roomcarnage, a fortress clinging to life beneath a haunted glacier.

DS

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #19 on: September 22, 2011, 12:27:55 pm »

More screenshots!

A view of the southeast quadrant of the dome, which is mostly open air all the way to the cavern floor/underground lake. Several pillars are visible in this picture. Bear in mind that the placement of each one was dictated by the layout of the original cavern layer.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

For reference, here is the cavern at about the time when I began excavating. The outline of the dome's 'equator' is designated here, mostly for my own reference at the time.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Compare the previous picture to these, which show eight out of the nine guild locations present in the fortress. There are two per building, mostly occupying vertically opposite ends of the structures. Each guild 'controls' (in my mind, there's really no in-game effect) a communal guildhall, containing a table and chair assigned to each member dwarf. Each dwarf additionally has their own bedroom, which includes at least one chest and cabinet (more, if that dwarf has many possessions). Additionally, each guild has a leader, who has a separate suite of two or three rooms.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

When the dome was initially flooded (with magma), it took a while - a couple days of real time, if I recall correctly. When it was finished, I was amazed at just how much magma it took to fill the damn thing.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Then, I drained it into the second cavern layer. That took a while, too.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

When the fortress was still above-ground, the duke resided in quarters that had been carved out from the inside of the volcano's caldera. Each 'room' was merely a furnished ledge, exposed to the open air, connected to the other 'rooms' by seven z-levels of stairs. In these pictures, you can also see part of the caldera rim, as well as some of the lower parts of the old fort.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

An interesting note - during the founding decades of Weatherwires, many engravings were made of a legendary beast named Usu Wavedpearl the Murky Deer, the mountain titan. Usu - a gigantic theropod composed of crystal glass - attacked the fortress in the summer of 151. I thought it fitting that Kib Waxpaddled, leader of my marksdwarves, and mayor at that time, should deal with the beast, seeing how he had been demanding crystal glass items for some time now.

A passing knifedwarf (part of a side project at the time; getting dwarves to be competent at using large daggers) by the name of Vabok Earthenfins killed the beast instead. The next year, I received this message:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In 152, a plains titan arrived and was slain. The incident passed without much notice (I was more concerned with the dumping of all magma-proof stone into the volcano). In the spring, I was notified that the world had passed into the Age of Heroes. And so, the dwarves of Weatherwires thrust the world out of myth, give it a swift kick in the pants past legend, and into the hands of heroes.

Concerning the fort itself:

I am currently sealing up the various side passages out of the dome, including the cavern layer itself. There will be various doors, operated by levers, which can seal the dome off completely. At that point, the lake can be drained (this is already in place), and allowed to dry. Then, the dwarves can be restricted to their burrows (safe inside the buildings, which are designed in such a way as to be entirely magma-sealed), and the dome can be flooded with magma once more.

This constitutes the last stretch of the second-to-last goal I had assigned myself with this fort. The final part will be to allow the fort to run its course, with the dwarves living out the rest of their natural lives, sealed away from the surface world forever. Hopefully the bug will break, and the dwarves will become fertile once more. If not... well, thus will end the tragedy and legend of Weatherwires.
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Finished: Weatherwires, the Last Mountainhome. A tragic mix of Children of Men, City of Ember, and, uh, magma.
Stymied: Correspondence from Syrupurns, a prematurely ended narrative, told through annual updates.
In Progress: Roomcarnage, a fortress clinging to life beneath a haunted glacier.

Tevish Szat

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #20 on: September 22, 2011, 04:36:36 pm »

As awesome as this may be, have you checked your d_init and save raws for the child cap?  try upping it... assuming you WANT there to be kids again.
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Tevish Szat likes books, computers, board games, and cats for their aloofness. When possible, he prefers to consume hamburgers and macaroni and cheese. He needs caffeine to get through the working day.

DS

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #21 on: September 22, 2011, 05:11:04 pm »

I have - changing the population and child caps have had no effect. Currently, they're so high as to be essentially meaningless. It would be fantastic for the dwarves to begin reproducing again, but at this point I'm resigned to watch the fort dwindle away.

Oddly, Dwarf Therapist always registers my population as one more than what it actually is. The extra dwarf is a child. Even more strangely, the child is visible in Stonesense, standing idly upon the bridge outside the fort. I've suspected for some time that these two bugs are somehow related.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2011, 05:51:29 pm by DS »
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Finished: Weatherwires, the Last Mountainhome. A tragic mix of Children of Men, City of Ember, and, uh, magma.
Stymied: Correspondence from Syrupurns, a prematurely ended narrative, told through annual updates.
In Progress: Roomcarnage, a fortress clinging to life beneath a haunted glacier.

Tevish Szat

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #22 on: September 22, 2011, 06:05:21 pm »

Sounds like the trapped-in-stasis dwarves from Battlefailed's cursed arena.  I believe they were freed by using a utility to teleport them to safety, after several failed hilarious attempts to perform an in-game rescue.  One even had a strange mood and started on it normally despite having been levitated for years, indicating that in some ways, being trapped like that DOES stop time.  Dunno how that would stop dwarves from breeding with one trapped child, but it might
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A medium-sized humanoid fond of fantasy and science-fiction.

Tevish Szat likes books, computers, board games, and cats for their aloofness. When possible, he prefers to consume hamburgers and macaroni and cheese. He needs caffeine to get through the working day.

DS

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #23 on: September 22, 2011, 06:18:58 pm »

Well, the dwarf appears to be alive only in Stonesense and Dwarf Therapist. In game, he appears as dead in the units menu. I'll check the Mods forum and see if there's a utility which might help, though.
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Finished: Weatherwires, the Last Mountainhome. A tragic mix of Children of Men, City of Ember, and, uh, magma.
Stymied: Correspondence from Syrupurns, a prematurely ended narrative, told through annual updates.
In Progress: Roomcarnage, a fortress clinging to life beneath a haunted glacier.

NRDL

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #24 on: September 23, 2011, 09:37:45 am »

A new type of ghost?  Visible only through psychic mediums, like DF Therapist?

In all seriousness, I hope your fort doesn't die a slow, sad death by lack of children.  That's not how a fort should end. 

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Girlinhat

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #25 on: September 23, 2011, 01:18:49 pm »

They're not all related or something, are they?  Or you didn't get too many babysnatchers that the childcap bugged?

Necro910

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #26 on: September 23, 2011, 01:24:06 pm »

That kid is very... odd. Circus, you could make a horror story out of this fort  :P

DS

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #27 on: September 23, 2011, 05:24:15 pm »

They're not all related or something, are they?  Or you didn't get too many babysnatchers that the childcap bugged?

No, the dwarves are all still fairly unrelated. Everyone in the fort is either an immigrant, or the child of immigrants. There are dwarves who still have no familial ties in the fort. There are dwarves who are lovers. There's even a married couple who has had children before.

It seems the strange child is named Zuglar Fountainclinches, of house Throwerlens. He doesn't appear on the units list (which in my past experiences has indicated child snatching), but he DOES appear in Dwarf Therapist, appearing just below his still-living brother.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Compare the population listed in DT to that which is listed in-game (one less than my last update, by the way):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Since I couldn't check out Zuglar's profile from the units menu, I had to get to it via his brother, Åblel. Oddly, unlike all of his dead siblings, the "z" for "zoom" lit up when Zuglar's name was highlighted...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

...but when I zoomed to his supposed position (the exterior fort entrance), there was nobody present. (Please excuse the weapon traps defending the entrance - I almost never use traps, but then, this is my first megaproject, so I don't feel too bad about it.)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So, I checked Stonesense, on a whim, and...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There he is. Just standing there. He's been like that since I first noticed, shortly after I noticed that there were no babies in the fort anymore. He's not the only one, either:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

None of those animals appear in game. They crowd the edges of the map, silently haunting me whenever I want to look at the fort in Stonesense. The entire situation is... bizarre, to say the least.
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Finished: Weatherwires, the Last Mountainhome. A tragic mix of Children of Men, City of Ember, and, uh, magma.
Stymied: Correspondence from Syrupurns, a prematurely ended narrative, told through annual updates.
In Progress: Roomcarnage, a fortress clinging to life beneath a haunted glacier.

Girlinhat

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #28 on: September 23, 2011, 05:31:08 pm »

I had this happen once before.  I have no idea what caused it, but it's certainly creepy...  I'm sure Toady could discover some bugfixes if he were inclined to look at the world save.

DS

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Re: Weatherwires: Children of Dwarves (slight spoilers)
« Reply #29 on: September 23, 2011, 06:24:23 pm »

27th Obsidian, 183, Late Winter

Tragedy has struck. Work on sealing the dome so it can be successfully flooded was progressing at a steady pace, until there was an accident concerning a wall being built without actually having any supports. Kol, the youngest dwarf, was caught in a cloud of dust following the cave-in - luckily for him, only his heart and guts were bruised. Dakost the carpenter, however, broke several bones, including his upper spine. Unable to draw breath, he suffocated minutes later.

Now there are 94.

UPDATE: I did a search through the gamelog, and found this:

Quote
A kidnapper has made off with the Dwarven child Zuglar `Throwerlens' Zefonakgos!

I can't be sure precisely WHEN this occured, although I suppose I could copy my save, abandon the fort, and check Legends mode. I just might do that.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2011, 06:42:28 pm by DS »
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Finished: Weatherwires, the Last Mountainhome. A tragic mix of Children of Men, City of Ember, and, uh, magma.
Stymied: Correspondence from Syrupurns, a prematurely ended narrative, told through annual updates.
In Progress: Roomcarnage, a fortress clinging to life beneath a haunted glacier.
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