Chaosforge Forum

General => Play-By-Forum => Topic started by: Klear on February 05, 2012, 10:17

Title: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Klear on February 05, 2012, 10:17
Few days ago I resumed playing Dwarf Fortress (I stopped when I discovered DoomRL =) and I thought I'd ask if there are people interested in trying a succession fort. I have never tried that myself, and I'm not very advanced player (my current fort is the first one where I managed to get a solid magma-based steelworks). But I guess being unexperienced isn't such a big problem, since DF is always *fun* anyway...

So, is there anybody who would play?

Edit:

Year - Player - Dwarf
1 - RSO - Erib Tunnêcik, expedition leader
2 - Klear - Klearol Rulolon, chronicler
3 - RSO - Kulet Duradushrir, sheriff
4 - Matt_S - unknown
5 - Kamikaze14 - ?
6 - ? - ?

Potential players:
Deathwind, Kashi, raekuul, Matt_S
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: ParaSait on February 05, 2012, 12:33
I vaguely remember a few people were already doing this. But eh... I dunno, it might as well have been more than a year ago. They probably stopped.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Deathwind on February 05, 2012, 18:12
Sounds good as long as it doesn't turn into another Boatmurdered...

http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Introduction/
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Kashi on February 07, 2012, 21:40
Sounds good as long as it doesn't turn into another Boatmurdered...

http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Introduction/
Worst thing? That's what makes funny to play a succession.

I would join, but the dorfs would die in a few days under my management.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Klear on February 08, 2012, 02:10
I would join, but the dorfs would die in a few days under my management.

That's part of the fun, I think... still, we'll need more people willing to play.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Kashi on February 08, 2012, 10:55
That's part of the fun, I think... still, we'll need more people willing to play.
Well, if it's like Boatmurdered and it's year-long periods, I can give it a try. But woe if my time comes, because I will sacrifice the dorfs to Armok xD
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Game Hunter on February 10, 2012, 15:32
Hell, I'll put myself down as a potential. Been forever since I've played but it gives me the opportunity to record a game "in medias res" for my video stuff, and I doubt it's changed drastically enough for me to not know how to deal with the basics.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: raekuul on February 10, 2012, 20:00
I'll keep tabs on this, but I'm a complete and total newbie when it comes to dwarf fortress.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Matt_S on February 10, 2012, 20:28
I'm not very experienced with fortress mode, but I'd be willing to participate and create lots of "fun".  Hopefully the new DF version will come out soon...
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Matt_S on February 14, 2012, 15:15
I'm not very experienced with fortress mode, but I'd be willing to participate and create lots of "fun".  Hopefully the new DF version will come out soon...

Behold! (http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Kashi on February 14, 2012, 20:44
Behold! (http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/)
Well, waddaya think? Today, we get the new version... and I see that Phoebus already upgraded his tileset D:

God damn it, now I have to download it... AGAIN.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Klear on February 15, 2012, 06:14
Awesome! Designations across multiple Z-levels!

I'd like to play the succession fort in the new version, but it seems Dwarf Therapist doesn't work with it yet, and I'd rather wait for that.

In any case, there seems to be enough interest, so let's agree on the basics:

Does anybody have any preferences for:
- worldgen
- embark
- some voluntary limitations (i.e. no cage traps?)
- tileset/ASCII (BTW, does anybody know if it is necessary that all players share the same tileset?)
- time limit (in-game time and real life time)
- whatever else I didn't think of

I'd say it will be best for each player to play one in game year, and have one week (at most) to finish it. As for the other things, I don't really care. Maybe some kind of evil embark, to make it a little more fun...
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: RSO on February 15, 2012, 11:54
I'd be interested, if there's still room.

Worldgen: Preferably a large world so we can get the perfect embark site. I'm very picky.
Embark Site:
Look for somewhere:
-Flat and cold, with as little vegetation as possible. (Tundras and deserts have historically run faster than sites where there's a lot going on with the wildlife. They also tend to lack Carp, Giant Eagles, and Unicorns)
-With at least three soil layers for most of it
-And no aquifers
-Except for in a second biome in the same site, so we have a water source
-Evil!
Embark Supplies:
-Lose the anvil, we can buy one later.
-Lose the axes, it's much cheaper to just bring a bunch of logs
-Bring extra food
-Bring extra booze
Embark Dorfs:
-If we have seven definitely interested, we can each design a dwarf.
-I would like to have at least two miners.
Tileset: We don't need to all use the same tileset.
Time Limit: As suggested - one year game/one week real per player.
Mods: No mods. (Utilities like Dwarf Therapist are okay, of course, but no world-gen mods)

I would be happy to take the worldgen and first year, and get our food industry up and running while we wait for Dwarf Therapist to update. Dwarf Therapist is awesome, but I only need it after the second year.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Klear on February 18, 2012, 07:54
-If we have seven definitely interested, we can each design a dwarf.

I think it will be better if everybody just claims a dwarf when they take over. Accidents happen after all.

As for you handling the worldgen and first year, that's fine by me, since I hate starting new forts from scratch.

BTW, Dwarf Therapist seems to support the new version now, so nothing stands in the way. Start when you're ready, I'll take the second year and whoever else wants to reserve his place, just post in this topic and I'll update the original post with the list.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: raekuul on February 18, 2012, 08:34
Blah.

I tried running Fortress. This computer and the other one I have... neither one can run it reasonably well enough. I will be forced to be a spectator.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: RSO on February 18, 2012, 17:58
Running worldgen now. History takes a lot longer to generate than it did in older versions, for sure. Any last minute opinions on embark, or suggestions for a fortress name?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Game Hunter on February 18, 2012, 18:11
Any last minute opinions on embark, or suggestions for a fortress name?
You seem to be familiar with the game so just go with what you know. I don't really want to end up in TOO hostile of an environment but I imagine placement in terms of resources is top priority, regardless of how nasty the surrounding monsters are.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Matt_S on February 18, 2012, 18:12
Hmm, what words are available?  Would Doomrogue be a proper fortress name? Edit: Maybe Chaosforge?

EDIT: Oh, wait!  Are you on the 0.34.02 bugfix version released earlier today?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: RSO on February 18, 2012, 21:52
Hmm, what words are available?  Would Doomrogue be a proper fortress name? Edit: Maybe Chaosforge?

EDIT: Oh, wait!  Are you on the 0.34.02 bugfix version released earlier today?

Chaosforge it shall be. I think that's in the language. If not, I know Madnessforge is possible.

Also, thanks for the reminder. I was genning on 34_01, but checking today, I see that that version had some save-corrupting bugs. Restarting world gen on the newer version, and I'm going to cap history at 300 years so that it doesn't take forever.

[edit] Generated about 10 worlds with progressively harsher environments until I found a satisfactory embark site. This world is a total hell. Temperature is -25 across the entire continent and half the squares on the map are evil. Should be very Fun.

The dwarven language does not appear to have a word "Forge" in it, and Chaossmith just doesn't sound as good. Closest I can get is Chaosfountain, but I'll save a backup of the unembarked world in case people have a better idea. I don't mind starting over to get this all just right.

[edit 2]

Embarked. I'll have a journal of events soon.

With the changes to how Evil works in this version, I'm having some regrets about choosing an evil biome.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: RSO on February 19, 2012, 03:08
Fortress dead, summer of year one. Try again?

I have an autosave at the beginning of summer. I think I can go back in time and rescue the fort, if people don't mind savescumming. If not, I'll throw up the save of the world post-fortress destruction and someone can come try to reclaim it.

In the new version, apparently, corpses in evil biomes reanimate rather than there just being wandering zombies. This is using a very loose definition of corpse. If we try again, we should make sure to chasm all animals before they starve. It totally blindsided me when I butchered a starving water buffalo and its skin started attacking my fort.

I guess you could say that picking such a hostile biome was overconfidence of angelic proportions.

From the journal of Moldath Taronmorul:
Quote
Exile.

It was this or rot in a prison for the rest of my days. It wasn't my fault. I told everyone not to pull that lever unless the defenses broke. I told them to seal the door before pulling it, even then, but the idiot viscount didn't listen. Sixty dwarves dead, as well as the Prince himself, and then the Count says this whole mess is "my" fault for building the lever.

Some justice this is.

They'll come around. I found the six most promising prisoners in the pit for my little "exile." We'll build our own city, even grander than the capital.

And then the Count will come to see what I've built, and I'll have my revenge.

===

Our buffalo don't seem to mind the cold. No one but we dwarves do, anymore. I've kept myself busy drawing up a floorplan. We've all seen how congested the road gets in the capital, and that won't do.

*Detailed, but illegible, floorplans follow*

Isn't it marvelous? No dwarf will ever have to travel the Spine, save to get to and from their place of business. No more masons dragging stones down the highroad, asking others to clear out of the way.

===

We've arrived at last. The others think I'm mad. They say that the site our wagon sits above now looks no the same as the tundra we've been in all winter, but they don't understand. At this elevation, the stone will be thick enough to keep the water out before we hit sea-level, and the glacier at our backs is naturally defensible.

On this day, the age of Rorithzefon begins!

===

The soil here is uneven. Unsuitable for the grand dining room. It will need to be placed deeper.

===

Blueprints are set for the grand dining hall. The miners have barely had a moments rest.

Today, I had Limul slaughter one of our buffalo. They were looking lean and we couldn't spare the food to keep them alive. He tells me that their corpses started to stand up and fight back even after the heads were removed. We have agreed to keep this to ourselves. No reason to upset the others - or make them shun any of our already limited food supply.

Maybe those rumors of a curse weren't so overblown after all.

===

It came back. The skin of the buffalo started crawling into the fort. Limul was able to rip it apart, but everyone saw it. The secret's out, now. Hopefully they will understand the necessity of not discarding the meat.

===

It came back AGAIN. Even ripped and mangled, it tried to crawl into the fort. Everyone's shaken, but no one was hurt. I'm postponing work on the dining hall to dig a hole to bury those things in where they can't come back.

Etched on the wall of the lava chamber beneath the dining hall:
Quote
It's been a week. The scratching above has stopped. They've all turned, but they haven't found me here. They won't find me. Maybe I can filch some food, soon.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Matt_S on February 19, 2012, 10:02
Maybe evil biomes are too much fun for us?

I'd rather we didn't savescum, but reclaiming a first year fortress doesn't really seem legit either.  I think a fresh start would be a better idea (same embark or different one).
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: RSO on February 19, 2012, 14:18
I'll re-embark on the same site.

The evil biome is dangerous, but not insurmountable. Now that I know what it does and can plan for it, it won't be a problem (at least for the first year, he-he-he). We'll need to have a vegetarian fort, and once we get magma, magma all animals.

It seems appropriately Doomish. Stuff stays dead for about 30 seconds, then stands back up. It's like Dwarf Fortress on N!
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Klear on February 19, 2012, 14:19
I'd rather we didn't savescum, but reclaiming a first year fortress doesn't really seem legit either.  I think a fresh start would be a better idea (same embark or different one).

I concur. I'd rather avoid savescumming, if you don't mind starting over.

BTW, nice writeup! Crawling reanimated skin is really creepy. I think I'll start my own evil biome fort in the meantime so see this stuff in action.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: RSO on February 19, 2012, 15:27
It wasn't just the skin. The hair reanimated separately and attacked the fort as well, but that was less of an issue.

The truly horrifying part is that after the skin got reduced to a water buffalo skin (without a head) and a water buffalo head skin, the two started moving independently. There was no stopping it.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Klear on February 19, 2012, 15:33
That's awesome. I just have to embark on a glacier and pretend that there were Things buried there.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: RSO on February 19, 2012, 20:46
Year one survived.

Re-embarked on a new site (actually with a new world, since I couldn't find another good site). No nice writeup this time because I spent my creativity on the last one.

The fortress Rerithakam, "Chaosfortunes" has survived its first year. The food industry is established, though still requires micromanagement, particularly on the quarry bush side, since I haven't made bags yet. Two pack animals (water buffalo again) were quarantined before they could starve and reanimate. They're zombies now, but they're trapped and not dangerous. Maybe we can use them for target practice later.

I've asked the dwarven caravan to bring wood and booze (since booze comes with free barrels). I didn't have enough trading power to get us an anvil yet, but we won't need one for a while.

The save file is well above the 4MB limit for forum attachments. Where should I put it so that it can be picked up?

Operating tips:
-The main entrance is hotkeyed to F1.
-The bottom farm is for Plump Helmets, the middle is for Cave Wheat and Sweet Pods, and the top is for Quarry Bushes.
-The fortress follows a vertical layout: Farms make up the top two layers, then workshops and warehouses. Housing is many floors down to reduce noise. This vertical layout results in the shortest travel times.
-There is an aquifer somewhere on the western portion of the map. Be wary of digging in that direction.
-Leave room for a pump stack to bring magma in from the deeps.
-The massive room at z-level 125 is to be a dining hall.

Necrohazards and their disposal:
-A Necrohazard is anything which is likely to become undead. A standing army is not a viable solution to Necrohazards, as they will simply stand up again after being killed.
-The lever just inside the main entrance controls the drawbridge over the room just south of the trade depot's current location. This drawbridge serves as our Necrohazard Disposal System (NDS). Once the hazardous material is placed in the disposal system, pull the lever once to crush it. Pull the lever again after it has been crushed and inspect the remains. If any of the resulting paste looks like it might reanimate, repeat.
-Corpses are the iconic Necrohazard. If anything dies on site, designate the body for dumping immediately. It will be placed in the NDS for disposal.
-The more common necrohazard is un-adopted animals, whether brought by migrants or born on site.. Pets will be fed by their owners, but an animal with no owner will starve. Assign them to the Pasture activity zone under the NDS and dispose of them appropriately.

Recommended tasks for the near future:
-FOOD: Get some bags so the kitchens can start throwing out quarry bush roast. It's an amazing food source and an even better trade good. Any of the farms can be temporarily repurposed to produce cloth, but since cloth isn't in constant demand, I didn't see a reason to build cloth into the farm complex.
-SECURITY: Move the trade depot a bit farther out. I've laid down designations for a room slightly farther out, and a channel just inside. Build a drawbridge over that channel and pull it up. Except for the trade depot, the fortress should be sealed off to the outside at all times except to let migrants in and to trade.
-SECURITY: Establish a fortress guard. Do NOT do this before completing the above. Currently, our lack of army only chases off thieves rather than killing them. If we kill a thief, it will reanimate as something much worse.
-ECONOMY: Buy an anvil.
-ECONOMY: Construct more workshops. I've built the masons shops and clothier's shops as a model. It is most efficient to have the workshops one z-level off from the warehouse. When building room for furnaces, make sure to carve out a magma chamber as well. We'll get pumps running eventually.
-ECONOMY: Carve out large warehouses for finished goods and furniture.
-ADMINISTRATION: Appoint a bookkeeper
-ADMINISTRATION: Appoint a manager
-QUALITY OF LIFE: Carve out living quarters for our dwarves. I've never cared enough to make individual living arrangements, myself, but our dwarves would be happier if someone did.
-QUALITY OF LIFE: Carve out more areas for the hallcarvers to train Engraving skill on. Once they hit legendary, engrave the walls and floor of the grand dining room, then fill it with tables and chairs. A legendary dining room will offset the inevitable bad thoughts that come with living in such a hellish place.
-!!FUN!!: Continue the exploratory shaft to find the first Cavern layer.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Klear on February 20, 2012, 05:46
The save file is well above the 4MB limit for forum attachments. Where should I put it so that it can be picked up?

There's tons of free hosting sites. I was about to suggest megaupload, but that's shut down unfortunately =)

For now, I PMd you my email.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Motorheadbanger on February 20, 2012, 09:22
Use dropbox.com It's free and fast.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Matt_S on February 20, 2012, 09:24
Mediafire is pretty good, IMO.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Kashi on February 20, 2012, 12:00
Necrohazards and their disposal:

When in doubt, magma.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Malek Deneith on February 20, 2012, 13:15
Quote
A standing army is not a viable solution to Necrohazards
It's the only dwarfy solution to Necrohazards! It's not Dwarf Fortherss if you're not fighting off eldritch abominations every five minutes. :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: RSO on February 20, 2012, 14:16
Magma is the dwarfy solution to Necrohazards. Unfortunately, we don't have magma yet, so the atom smasher will have to do. Using an army for it is a zombie apocalypse waiting to happen. I think you're being very optimistic when you assume they'll stay dead for five minutes.

Download up at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8326635/region1_year2.rar (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8326635/region1_year2.rar). I'm not sure what my bandwidth cap is, but I hope it's enough!
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress succession fort?
Post by: Klear on February 23, 2012, 05:51
OK, I finally got to lodaing it up... I'll try to finish my run today or tomorrow.

In the meantime, is there anyone who would like to be the third?

Edit:

I only had time to play through one month, but I can post the beginning of the report. More of it tomorrow.



The Chaosfortunes Chronicle
by
Klearol Rulolon

1st Granite, 202

Even though I still count as one of the newcomers here in Chaosfortunes, having arrived in the early autumn, it already feels like home, even though it's little more than a cursed frozen hellhole. I spoke with Erib, the leader of this expedition, about the terrible state of records, and her reaction was a simple "take care of it". And just like that I became the first chronicler of this small outpost. Strangely enough, my new new responsibilities include those of a manager, which means I will have to "take care" of pretty much everything from now on. Well, why not? But first of all I need a private office. I'm writing this sitting on the floor of what will once be our great meeting hall.

5th Granite, 202

I can't stand those damn zombified cows we keep in a pit near the entrance and nobody is brave enough to build doors that would close the pit. I tried to wall the pit off myself while waiting for my meager office to be build, but the doors that were to be placed there are in the way and I'm NOT going so close to the edge to remove them. At least I managed to erect one part of the wall.
Now that my office is done, I am finally able to see the state of our records, and the state is utter chaos. I have no idea if we even have enough to drink. Somebody just scribbled "290?" there. Looks like I have a lot of work in front of me, and so I declared that from now on I won't be hauling rocks and other things around and to my surprise everybody accepted it. Maybe it was a mistake to say that I need only a meager office...

9th Granite, 202

I still have to figure out the exact value of all we have accomplished here so far (not much, I imagine), but for the first time we have exact knowledge of our stockpiles and there's not a whole lot to eat or drink. The numbers aren't dangerously low, but we'll need a whole lot more booze and maybe some food as well.
Construction of our drawbridge keeps getting suspended, since the other mason we have here, while clearly my superior in terms of craft, insists on checking the state of the zombies with each trip to the workplace which invariably results in him abandoning work in horror. I've ordered the pit walled off, even if it means a nasty wall protruding from an otherwise smooth and straight hallway.

25th Granite, 202

Exactly one week ago, our cook Inod Deleretes started a party that is still going on. The reason for the party revealed itself right now, when she suddenly gave birth to little Adil, the first dwarf to be born in Chaosfortunes! The father is our armorer, Ustuth, who I count as a friend, though I may reconsider this friendship, since nobody bothered to invite me to the party.

25th Granite, continued

As if it wasn't enough news for one day, some migrants arrived just now, just as I was thinking that maybe we could afford to build a bedroom for everyone. The problem is, this migration wave more than doubled our population! There's no way we can get enough beds, so the old dormitory will have to suffice for everybody. Except me. Oh, and none of the migrants seem to be particularly good at anything. At least it's enough bodies to form a militia, when the time comes. Some of the migrants brought animals with them. Too bad. Into the crusher with them.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 23, 2012, 18:54
If there's no other takers, I could return for a second term.

[edit - addendum]
Quote
Chronicler Rulolon,

I received a complaint from one of our latest immigrants that her child's treasured pet was among the animals disposed of. I explained to her the imperative need for caution to prevent her pet from joining the walking dead, but she was adamant that her child deserved a chance to prove responsibility by feeding and caring for the animal.

While I cannot make any public statements to your defense, know that I support your caution. If I felt I could do so without causing a riot, I would enact an edict banning children from keeping pets. While it is only vital that strays and starving animals be disposed of, any animal whose stray/pet status is unclear, as well as any pet that is not properly cared for, should be terminated immediately. Given a chance, I'm sure some of these migrants would hide undead from us if it meant they could keep their "pets."

Erib Tunnecik
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 24, 2012, 02:46
If there's no other takers, I could return for a second term.

[edit - addendum]

I would much rather if other people joined, but if nobody else comes forth, you are of course welcome to play the third year.

Also, I didn't actually atomize any pets, just the strays, but one of the children that came this year did bring a pet goat kid, so I guess I'll atomize it just to make your post canon =) Hopefully it won't lead to too much fun.

Edit: Also, I guess we'll need an extensive pet cemetary here, just in case, something I never bothered with before... I hope that buried remains stay dead.

Edit 2: BTW, I didn't want to bother to install graphics even though previously I was always playing with mayday using the lazy newb pack... and what do you know? ASCII doesn't bother me at all. In fact, it looks almost the same as the tileset to me =)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 24, 2012, 05:09
I wrote that not knowing if you had or hadn't atomized any pets. Just because the game labels them as strays doesn't mean no dorf loves them, was all I meant!
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 24, 2012, 05:19
Well, I atomized a pet anyways =P. The kid was unhappy for a while, but got over it. A few legendary meals in a legendary dining room (and I haven't even started engraving it, it's just extremely large and mostly smooth) and now he's ecstatic.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 24, 2012, 23:40
Buried remains do not stay dead, btw. Atomize all corpses.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 25, 2012, 00:41
Well, that's good to know, since I have a failed mood armorer (if only we had the anvil... legendary armorer would be great) who's going to die any time now. I guess I'll remove the cemetery and start making slabs...
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 25, 2012, 03:16
Oh, crap. I didn't think of that! If I had, I would have sold off half our foodstock for an anvil.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 25, 2012, 09:57
I'm in the last month of second year and I have to stop playing for today, so I will post the save tomorrow, but I can post my report today, since the dwarf from whose perspective I'm writing will be... unable to write anything of value from now on. Details in the report.

The fort is still alive and... not exactly well, but it shouldn't be a big problem to get out of this mess. We just need some new beds, make some weapons and armour and pray for the best.

Oh, and I have a feeling I was VERY detailed and verbose with the report. I hope it's a good read. I'd like to hear what you think; whether I should continue like this when my turn comes next or be more brief. Here's the story, including what was posted earlier:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Deathwind on February 25, 2012, 18:35
i need to drop out, I'm moving and will be without reliable internet for a while.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Game Hunter on February 25, 2012, 18:37
I don't mind taking over the next year. Hopefully I don't screw everything up, not completely aware of all the subtleties in the mechanics like I used to be. Basically I'll just try to keep things alive.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 25, 2012, 21:36
Oh, Armok.

Do you know what happened to the miner? If she was killed secretly and left inside the fort, then we might have a vampire among us. Oh what Fun it is to live in a sinister biome!

Game Hunter can take the third year. If the fortress dies, we'll just reclaim it!
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 26, 2012, 02:17
I think *she* is the vampire. Some of her victims already reanimated to standard corpses, but she now goes by some strange name I haven't taken note of (since I don't suppose my dwarf would manage to ask it and live to tell the tale), but I'm confident she is the source of this tragedy. She might have been a vampire all along, which is scary, since she is one of the original dwarves.

Also I didn't catch the beginning of the murders, since the game doesn't add these deaths to announcement. I think it still even counts them among the number of dwarves living in the fortress. I found out only because I wanted to check if she is legendary engraver already and found she is missing from dwarf therapist. Cue in frantic search in the whole history of announcements and looking for her death. I was almost convinced I accidentally atomized her (wish I had!), when I found her rampaging through the bedroom. Later I noticed that sometimes something like "Urist McVictim cancels task: interrupted by a corpse" flashes for a sec and then disappears. And even later, I had "Udil Megiddoren has been missing for a week". I suppose similar announcements will pop up for her victims soon.

Luckily the bedroom is far from the other rooms because of noise (BTW, at least in the previous version, noise from workshops didn't matter to sleeping dwarves, only placing of furniture (including doors and such). Now the vampire and its zombie slaves are walled in the bedroom level, and there is also Klearol Rulolon the chronicler, locked in his room.

Not counting the dwarves, we've lost all our beds (but we still have some wood) and the route to the adamantium desposits (we can make a new one and immediately wall off the vampire from the other side. We have some adamantine strands, though we are low on fuel to make waffers.

Oh, and I was thinking that while adamantium armour for our militia is a no-brainer, it's a question what weapons to use against the undead. Adamantium is useless when making blunt weapons (we'd be better off with wooden axes), but on the other hand adamantium edged weapons would probably mean limbs flying all over the place, which is the last thing we want to deal with. Yet still, maybe the best way to take out the undead is to chop them into pieces and those pieces into smaller pieces until they stop reanimating. Well... I'll leave that to you.

BTW, maybe a good way to deal with goblins, when they start arriving, will be to create some relatively safe firing positions, kill one of them with, and let the undeath take care of the rest. Or we could maybe just release the undead cows we have stored. The only problem I see is that we don't have bones to carve bolts. We should develop some low-risk way to butcher animals.

I'll post the save in an hour or so. I just wanted to get this off my chest, since this fort is already way more fun than any I've played before. And we haven't had invaders yet either.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 26, 2012, 02:56
I don't think we can use the undead to fight off goblins, because then we'll just have undead goblins that never leave. You cannot weaponize the undead.

There might be a future in Degrinchination, though I'll have to check if doing so leaves corpses. If not, we'll just have to make lots and lots of cage traps. Thankfully, cages can be made out of glass, which we have an unlimited supply of once we can get our magma back.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 26, 2012, 04:13
I've written a bit more after all. Below are some more notes on the fortress and link to the save file. Good luck!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Ok, I think I've pretty much cleared all that mess. The dormitory level and most of the long exploratory shaft must remain off limits. Other than that the fortress should function the same as before the vampire attack.

I was planning on leaving my dwarf locked in his dormitory until spring and leave it up to you to save him in spring, but the other trapped dwarf prompted me to mount the rescue operation this year, since he was already starving and dehydrated, I think.

Hotkeys:
F1 - top level, entrance
F2 - former dormitory, overrun by undead
F3 - Dining room with control room to the north. There is only one lever so far, which controls the drawbridge.
F4 - Magma sea with adamantium deposits below. Don't be too greedy with it, or vampires will be the least of our troubles.

What to do:
We definitely need to build a well from the first cave and a hospital. So far all wounds proved immediately fatal (the vampire killed dwarfs in two hits - one to crack the skull, the second to bash their brains out. We'll definitely need some helmets if we are to clean the dormitory)
Speaking of which, we have one 9 dwarf squad without any weapons or equipment. We do have 4 anvils (I suppose it will be best to build a single forge and melt the rest for steel.) What we don't have is access to any fuel, but maybe there is a sedimentary layer somewhere in a different biome. I didn't get to prospecting for it.
Prepared food supplies are over 1500, we have only about 200 booze, but that's mostly because of barrel shortage. I'm not too good at managing these things, especially on a map with no trees.
Edit: Oh, and Klearol will need a new office to work... The one he currently owns in walled off in the danger zone.
Edit 2: One more thing - the undead cannot open doors and the vampire didn't knock down locked doors to Klearol's bedroom, though maybe he simply wasn't interested. I think that means we need doors everywhere! In every hallway, between all rooms, everwhere where possible. That should make it possible to contain any further outbreaks.

That's about it.

Here's the save:

http://www.mediafire.com/?gogvpjk502p83h0
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 26, 2012, 04:38
Aw crap!

I'm looking through the legends and Olernakuth, the original vampire that caused all this may not be the original vampire after all. The info begins with "Olernakuth was Udil Megiddoren's corpse, animated by unknown forces". And then it lists its four kills. I have a bad feeling that there may still be a vampire running around Chaosfortunes, so beware.

OK, going through the legends, I've uncovered the true vampire. I'm a little hesitant to post its name here, since it IS a kind of cheating, and spoiler tags work more like "READ THIS!" tags.

It appears that what happened during second year can repeat itself at any time, so that is a lot of fun, but maybe too much. I'll leave it up to you.

Edit: BTW, this vampire business basically makes DF into a detective story... maybe a good approach would be to split the fort into several burrows and if another murder takes place, we'll know that it must have been one of the dwarves assigned to that specific burrow. I don't know. Maybe we should just cheat, reveal the vampire and throw him to the undead cows.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 26, 2012, 05:31
Appointing a sheriff and getting him/her some suitable accommodations and playing through the detective story would be my first choice. Just designate a Meeting Area over the (new) dormitory so that dwarves watch where they're sleeping. The vampire will eventually get sloppy.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 26, 2012, 05:34
Hmmm... Game Hunter, you could write from the perspective of the new sheriff, saying that he's the only one convinced that the original vampire is still on the loose and take it from there. Or whatever suits you. What I really love about DF is that if you just describe what is happening in the fort without any embellishments, you'll still end up with an epic story.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 26, 2012, 06:31
Useful article: DF2012: Vampire (http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Vampire) on the wiki. Note that it is random which of these signs show up, because the rules for how vampires work are randomly generated in each world.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: S.K. Ren on February 26, 2012, 20:33
Why not promote vampirism? Create an elite faction of vampires and a giant dormitory for the food, I mean immigrants. You can spread vampirism by contaminating a water source with vampire blood }:D so make a special well and put it off limits except when you want to induct a new member to the Order of Armok, eternal servants of the blood god.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on February 27, 2012, 11:49
In another biome, I'd be all for that (well, no I wouldn't, but I wouldn't have a case to argue it). In this biome, deaths cause more-than-the-usual problems for the entire fort. I think that The Udil Megiddoren incident speaks for itself on that front. If you think you can run a fort with more than one Vampire in it in a biome like this, ask Game Hunter to keep the vampire alive in a box for you if he catches it, and then take year 4. Good luck with that; I'll start scheming up strategies to reclaim the ruin.

You cannot weaponize evil here. It's previously been a fundamental rule of Dwarf Fortress that anything that has stats can be used to kill goblins in entertaining ways. That is no longer true. The only thing that we can do to zombies is turn them back into corpses, and then the corpses turn back into zombies. It's a cycle we can't win. Any process that makes corpses as a byproduct of its function (whether that function is feeding vampires or killing goblins) is unacceptably dangerous to use.

I also don't think we're ever getting that old dormitory back without taking some drastic measures, like flooding it with lava.

The zombies are a serious and permanent threat. They're not like most early game DF threats like hunger that just become laughably trivial in the late game. No matter how long this fort lasts or how strong it becomes, it will always be one mistake away from becoming like Phobos Base. And it will only get easier to make those mistakes.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: S.K. Ren on February 27, 2012, 13:34
Corpse disposal is easy, just create a cremation room. Set it up to fill and drain lava and throw corpses in from the top, fill, drain and recover metals for reforging.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on February 27, 2012, 14:05
You are underestimating the speed with which the corpses reanimate. Also deaths caused by vampires and resultant zombies don't generate announcements, so the reaction time is further shortened by how fast the murder is noticed by the player. Also, all that corpse and bodypart disposal has to be done manually which would get old pretty fast, I think.

It certainly didn't help that the vampire decided to kill the dwarf when I only had just about a month to go and everything went smoothly, so I didn't pay too much attention to the fort at that time.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on March 01, 2012, 16:48
There's been a bug fix release since we began. AFAIK, saves are forwards-compatible, but not backwards. Do we want to upgrade to 0.34.04?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on March 02, 2012, 10:07
As long as it doesn't mess up the save, I can't hurt, can it?

BTW, Game Hunter, are you still up to the third year? I know I wouldn't with .996 available =)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Kashi on March 02, 2012, 10:52
Regarding the vampire issue, let's do the sensible thing when it's found: Entomb it and keep it as an anti-Fun security system. In the case that's not possible, and a fortress reclaim should be done, make a backup before, so a daring adventurer can loot investigate the place.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Game Hunter on March 02, 2012, 11:32
BTW, Game Hunter, are you still up to the third year? I know I wouldn't with .996 available =)
During the weekday I don't have much time, and the release of 0996 preventing me from doing anything at all in DF. I'll be able to invest plenty of time this weekend and I should (hopefully) have a completed year by Sunday night, if not earlier. I apologize for slowing things down: shouldn't be so bad next cycle.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on March 02, 2012, 12:33
That's even within the week limit, and I think release of new DoomRL version is good enough reason to be delayed. I just wanted to make sure you're taking the fort into account.

BTW, if there's anybody who'd like to have the year after that, please step forward. If there's nobody, I guess RSO can have another go.

@Kashi

If it was up to me, I'd throw him into magma. I like to roleplay my fortresses, doing what the dwarves would probably do (which is throw it into magma, whatever issue arises). Hell, from the dorf's POV, it would be sensible to throw anybody suspected of being a vampire into magma, though the way I've written my report, they (or at least the chronicler) don't know the vampire is still among them and if I only could keep my mouth shut, maybe you wouldn't too.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Game Hunter on March 04, 2012, 20:35
Okay, so, I didn't actually have time to play this weekend (lotta LPing other stuff and bugfixing). I WAS able to reacquaint myself with the flow of the game and the state of the fortress, as well as bone up on Klear's pretty thorough notes and journal. I think I have an idea of what to work on and such, so starting tomorrow I'll post daily journal updates: with any luck I can get through a season each day. Gonna try the detective role out, too (for as long as he'll last, ha).
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Game Hunter on March 06, 2012, 22:58
Quote from: Journal of Asmel Bothonudib, of the 203th year

3rd Granite
Finally, I've made a name for myself at Rerithakam! The whole village is panicking because of the "incident" and everyone wants answers: there are none to be found, yet. In order to establish some civility, and after Klearol Rulolon's resignation as chief planner, a village committee was formed from the few that can still sleep at night. Their first decision was to make me a full-blown sheriff! No doubt they heard of my work at the Violent Arena, but alas, those days seem so far away now. They're already begun setting up my suite, paid entirely by the village.

Still, I can't say I'm going to be living an easy life, by any means. People want to know what happened down there, and I've more or less been hired to figure out just that. My only lead is that they've made us aware that Udil Megiddoren, our of the very founders, was brutally murdered during the "incident". To be quite frank, journal, I am skeptical that anything here in this godsforsaken habitat stays murdered. They want me to go down and investigate the scene but I'm going to try and hold that off as long as possible...I dread to think of what still may be down there.

7th Granite
The committee decided to place food and drink directly in the dining hall. This would seem a very prudent decision, given the current party going on there. My own satisfaction comes from the ever-completing office just to the west of the dining hall: I asked specifically to be placed near the largest area of gathering, in order to keep an eye on everyone and judge their motives. Part of it, journal, is actually because I want to make sure I can go and enjoy myself whenever I have a panic attack. My dearest, Nish, has been my comfort throughout my stay here, but even she requires some reprieve after the "incident".

10th Granite
erith, one of our recently-established medical professioners, has suddenly raced to the workshops and taken over a craftsdwarf shop. I would be suspicious of this behavior if I had not already seen it dozens of times back at the Violent Arena: sometimes dwarves need to vent their frustrations, even if it may drive them to the brink of insantiy.

15th Granite
The damned project begun by erith is finished, and it's another stupid bracelet. I know of the other one that was fashioned here and I can't say I was impressed: looks like another for the pile.

More importantly, today I finally settled into my special quarters. Now that I have an official place to work, however, it means I'll have to start getting serious about this job of mine.

21th Granite
I've begun to keep track of fellow dwarven activity, plotting their whereabouts and jobs. Seems like this would be a job for our Chronicler but he's not quite as much a people person as I am, especially not since the "incident". He seems quite anxious in general, avoiding large crowds and keeps away from conversations in the dining hall. I suspect he knows something, but I know he isn't capable of that kind of murder. Once he's fully recovered from the "incident", I will try to get what information I can regarding that time.

No one's actually gone even near the old dormitory since then. Well, no one except for those who are set to continue harvesting adamantium. It's not that I don't empathize with the need to process all that is precious metal, but so help me Aspis they'll be the death of us if they're not careful around the mining shaft.

26th Granite
So much for all the tracking! Another wave of migrants has arrived at our doorstep, bringing our total population up to a bloated one hundred and three citizens. This will easily push my note-taking down a couple of weeks as I try to figure out what kinds of jobs these newcomers do and communicating with the village committee so that they know that I know who's taking care of what. Many, including the village committee, are getting quite restless and would like to be able to put the old beds to use. Now that more are among us, I have a feeling we'll have to force our way through.

----

2nd Slate
I've finally caught up on the various tasks that were assigned to the immigrants. With any luck, I can see if there are any irregularities in routines, possibly find someone unusually guilty of a certain crime.

Not that it should matter all that much, but after investigating one of the newcomers, I was told of a giant fire-breathing lark outside of Chaosfortunes. There's really no way inside of the fortress, but I suppose it's something to watch out for, lest any traders arrive to find a beast at our metaphorical doorstep.

8th Slate
The committee has decided to expand our production capabilities with the new population by setting up additional craftsdwarf shops: these will build stone crafts while our veterans continue to extract the adamantium strands. Keeping the dwarves busy is exactly what is necessary to keep them from remembering what has already happened. They've also set up some butcheries, though I'm unsure why: too often I've heard of beasts rising from the dead to claim their destroyers. Perhaps you think me crazy, journal, but I find that it's very difficult to desire meat that may bite back.

23rd Slate
Disaster strikes again! Ezum Kosothzatam's corpse was found in the main dormitory at 9:37 PM. Cause of death, according to medical examiner Bomrek Zimoddom, was loss of blood. He really wasn't kidding: there wasn't a speck of red in poor Ezum's face. He loved planting seeds every season, and it's a true waste to see someone do something like this to him. I hauled the corpse to the smasher myself: unfortunately we haven't the time to think of what to do with the body, not with the reanimation that seems to happen here.

The loss of blood is most curious, though. I can't any of a single dwarf who'd do something like THAT to their fellow kind: back at the Violent Arena we settled matters, even one-sided ones, with carnage and dismemberment. Something very mysterious is going on here...very mysterious indeed.

24st Slate
I investigated Rovod Uristubal, the dwarf who found the now-atomized Ezum. Quite frankly the man seems in better condition then I would expect after realizing there's a dead body where you're about to sleep. Still, he answered my questions thoroughly and graciously, and I sent him on his way. Surely there's a lot that can be said for his foresight to immediately summon myself and the makeshift doctors we have: I suppose it's part of the instinct of a ranger when dealing with a corpse around here. I pray that he and his wife manage to stay alive for the sake of their recently born son, Udil.

With no help in figuring out the crime, I've decided to stake out the "dormitory" for some time. Expect a long break between entries, journal.

And with that I'll need to stop for today, since I need to figure out Dwarf Therapist and set up all the new people. I should be able to get more done tomorrow, maybe start some daring excursions. (Ugh, really sorry for holding this up. I know there isn't anyone really "waiting in line" but I do want to apologize that I wasn't able to put in the time I thought I could.)

EDIT March 6: Well some interesting things happened, I'd say. Also, there's a corpse running loose in the shaft down towards the magma, and I need to figure out how to handle him. Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on March 07, 2012, 08:47
Great read! I can't wait to see what kinds of disasters lie ahead (we'll probably get invaded this winter, right?)

Where did that corpse come from? Did I leave somebody to starve there, or could it be another unreported victim of the vampire? (which would mean they don't only attack sleeping dwarves, scary)

I'd wall it off, unless it's very close to the magma. In that case there is only one good solution =)

BTW, I just realized that I probably forgot to carve memorial slabs for all the victims of the first vampire incident - you should do that if it's not done already, or there's gonna be ghosts all over the place soon. On the other hand, if the ghosts decided to haunt their murderer, they could help you find the vampire... not sure if that is the case though.

One last thing - while atom smashing all the corpses is a must for now, maybe we could make a haunted graveyard somewhere later, with small crypts closed off with grates where the corpses can reanimate and be contained. Once the graveyard fills up, we could hook the grates with a pressure plate at the entrance and seal it off, creating a new one elsewhere. It would involve a lot of dangerous micromanagement after each death, but that is already the case, and it would be great for flavour purposes/adventure mode. If nothing else, I propose we don't smash at least the corpses of nobles who require crypts.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Game Hunter on March 07, 2012, 09:20
Where did that corpse come from? Did I leave somebody to starve there, or could it be another unreported victim of the vampire? (which would mean they don't only attack sleeping dwarves, scary)
I can't double-check this at the moment, but I was pretty certain it had come from the old dormitory. Last I checked there were only four undead in that room when there should have been five, and there wasn't a population decrease (reported, anyway). There's also a pretty significant trail of vomit in the shaft, dunno if it's from dwarves puking as they went by the dorm or by the walking corpse. Either way, I'll have to wall it off or risk some militia on it. I have a metalsmith set up to make an axe, since there are some trees finally beginning to spout within the upper levels of the fort: maybe we could fahsion some adamantium weapons (the strand extraction is finally making progress!) for a few of the soldiers that showed up with skills.

BTW, I just realized that I probably forgot to carve memorial slabs for all the victims of the first vampire incident - you should do that if it's not done already, or there's gonna be ghosts all over the place soon. On the other hand, if the ghosts decided to haunt their murderer, they could help you find the vampire... not sure if that is the case though.
Oh geez, ghosts. I'll try to make those slabs ASAP.

Also of note (although no one in the fortress would know about it) is that the "lark" from early Slate is actually a Forgotten Beast: it's been making rather quick work of all the cave fishers and their reanimating limbs with its fire-breathing attack.

I really do want to try killing these reanimated corpses, but RSO knows best as to whether or not it's worth it. I bet adamantium weapons could be enough as long as the soldiers know to hack up every last body part. It'd be really nice if there was like, a way to purify them or something. Supposedly butchering prevents reanimation (which they suggest as a method of destroying the undead), just gotta make sure not to eat any meat that come from it. (Can you even butcher non-caged animals? Maybe you could cage the corpse and it'd count.)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on March 07, 2012, 09:49
Hmm.. the vomit (and perhaps the corpse as well) is probably the result of one of the dwarves left in the tunel fighting their way to their bedroom, as noted in the part of my report not from Klearol's POV. She fought with a child's corpse and killed it, but was hurt and nauseous. Then she stubbornly went up to the dormitory where IIRC according to legends killed the original zombie (the first vampire victim) before being killed.

If you want to try to fight the zombies, make sure you can seal it and the soldiers off if it gets really messy. I'd like to know if it's better to use blunt or edge weapons... but since the only metal we have is adamantium (which is useless for blunt weapons), there's not much choice. If you maybe you should try to catch the zombies inside cage traps instead.

Hmmm... flying fire-breathing megabeast. That sounds almost like an ideal zombie eradicator, if only there was a way to catch it once it is released outside.

And I think I never buthered a caged animal, only those running around. Don't know if it is possible, but from what RSO wrote, buthering seems to lead into multiple zombie bodyparts rampaging in the fortress - not good.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Game Hunter on March 09, 2012, 22:26
Quote from: Journal of Asmel Bothonudib, of the 203th year, continued
...

10th Felsite
There was no luck whatsoever in spotting any sort of criminal activity at the makeshift dormitory. It's hard to really call it one, what with our prized Leganlerteth on display right in the middle of the room. That someone would come in here and kill with that priceless artifact standing become him or her is unthinkable. I must find the culprit as soon as possible!

During my wait, I noticed a number of other events. Some of our masons have taken the liberty of engraving some of the walls, no doubt in order to prepare some memorial slabs for those lost at the "incident". It's a little surprising that the committee took as long as they did to begin work, but I suppose it was smart to let the grieving time pass before the memories really start to sink in. There were also some very scared dwarves coming from the mining shift. Perhaps I ought to explore a little downwards: it's quite possible that the deviant has taken to hiding in the depths.

13th Felsite
Great boulders below, I feel grateful merely to have survived that encounter! But I should explain: having passed the underwater reservoirs, I stumbled upon a very motionless corpse. Indeed, it was "alive" in the sense that it could move, but it did not but the slightest twiches in the wake of my presence. Apparently the adamantium gatherers have been passing this frequently, as I see the spattered vomit all around this particular area. There would appear to be no need to take specific action against this thing, but all the same, it is good that the committee is crafting an adamantium axe in order to cut down the various fungal trees growing near the surface. I can imagine it may come to good use in cutting down this abomination in due time.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that I recognize that which used to be a dwarf. One of the gatherers I spoke to regarding the matter called it "Ido", so surely he came from here. Supposedly there are no signs of breakout from the area of the "incident", so it couldn't have come from there. I am worried that we have another potential murder on our hands.

14th Felsite
Incidentally, the caravan has arrived today. Not that I expect anything from elves, but we may be lucky enough to scavenge some useful materials from them.

19th Felsite
Negotiations lasted long (apparently, as I cannot be bothered with our financial affairs) but word is that we've managed to secure a great deal of lumber from the foreigners. Finally, more beds can be made! I will, however, plead with the committee to keep the beds public matters, as it is paramount that the safety of our village remains as high as ever. With murderers walking around we have to resort to these kinds of measures, as difficult as they are.

24th Felsite
We are still finishing up the consequences of trading (namely, retrieving all of that wood... and there's plenty of it, thank Luskal), but things continue to speed up in the village. A couple of kobold thieves snuck into our supplies and tried to pilfer whatever they came for, but were impressively stopped by the might of our warriors. It has been a good long time since I've seen as a savage beating, as it used to be back at the Violent Arena. It didn't take long for the squad to lay those sickening creatures to rest, and their corpses were handled appropriately.

10th Hematite
With the elves gone and summer well on its way, Chaosfortunes is slowly returning to its peaceful and enjoyable culture. Drink has been a little low, but plenty is coming thanks to the extra storage fashioned from wooden barrels.

Our village committee, finding that safety has been restored, have designated Kel Rigothastel, one of the great founders of Chaosfortunes, to become our fine mayor. Construction has begun on his living quarters, which will make my own space seem quite pale. Still, I cannot say they could have picked a better candidate, given just how much he's already contributed to our earthly society.

15th Hematite
The memorials have finally been placed into the dining hall, as they were with Dastot Sobirber. Though my progress has thus been slow in finding any vengeance for these souls, I hope to someday allow them to rest and find their peace with the gods.

The elves had a REALLY nice supply of wood, managed to get enough public beds for a lot of people to be happy. The corpse in the mine shaft isn't one of the five in the old dorm, but he's not identified as murdered, either, so it could have well been another vampire attack that went unnoticed. As for the corpses in the dorm, I think they are moving through doors, but they don't seem to know how to climb stairs, so that might be what's preventing them from killing everyone.

Gonna wait until the summer caravan before trying my luck with an actual new dormitory and privatized bedding. Since the zombies don't even seem to be a huge problem stair-wise, I'm also considering a good deal of mining expansion. So yeah, in spite of the constant threat of death, I think we're starting to get some real headway!
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on March 10, 2012, 01:56
Sorry I haven't been checking regularly.

Butchering does not prevent reanimation, but it does weaken it. Meat does not reanimate - only body parts. To completely stop an animal from reanimating, butchering it and then quickly tanning the hide into leather is sufficient. There is no way to stop a dwarf from reanimating short of a drawbridge or magma.

Ways are being discussed for future versions to have zombies eventually stop being reanimated, but in the current version, they cannot be destroyed in combat.

If you must engage a zombie in combat, blunt weapons are best. Melt down an anvil for iron if you have to, but for the love of Armok, don't use an axe. Especially not an adamantite one.
Blunt weapons have the highest raw damage values. They do consistent damage even against things with no vulnerable anatomy, which is what zombies are. Piercing weapons have the lowest damage, but the highest piercing value, which means they're the most likely to damage internal organs like hearts and brains. Against living creatures, that's great, but zombies don't care. Bladed weapons have medium damage, but can sever limbs. That would be great most of the time, even against undead, but not in this biome. Even a severed finger will just be another enemy, and another hauling job. Keeping the corpses intact means that it only takes a single hauler to bring them to the atom smasher.

My recommendation is to build another atom smasher, bait the zombie into it, and then atom smash it without a fight. Something like this:
##########
#XXXXXXXX#
+XXXXXXXX+
##########

X = Drawbridge (raises north). When pulled up, it will be a 1-wide hallway with doors at both ends.
##########
#========#
+........+
##########

Once a zombie gets inside, lock both doors and drop the bridge. No fight, no blood, no loss of civilian life.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on March 10, 2012, 08:53
The undead can use stairs, so that won't help. I've had a dwarf chased by a zombie for several Z levels before it caught up with her. Try not to open the tunnel that's connected to the doomed dormitory.

Also, atom smashing everything seems a like like cheating to me. I'd prefer if we could only throw the zombies down to a pit they can't get out and then drop invading goblins on top of them =)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on March 10, 2012, 19:19
Also, atom smashing everything seems a like like cheating to me. I'd prefer if we could only throw the zombies down to a pit they can't get out and then drop invading goblins on top of them =)

I agree that it's cheating, but I don't see any other option. Zombies, in their present state, are unkillable in conventional combat. Beating them down and hauling them to an atom smasher/pit is risky, to say the least. I'm pretty sure that Hallcarver zombie still has her physical stats. Even if you beat them all down down, the risk that one of them will wake up and kill the haulers (and other surrounding dwarves) is too great.

There's way too many ways that this could go wrong, and any of them do go wrong, Chaosfortunes is dead. This might be my Angel of Max Carnage showing, but that's counting on way too much generosity from lady luck. Either leave it walled off, or dust off an nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

That said, it's your call, Game Hunter. We can always reclaim or find a new site if it all goes to the Circus.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on March 19, 2012, 05:43
How is it goiung, Game Hunter? Will you be able to finish your year?
I'd hate to see this game stopped. In case you won't be able to finish this week, somebody should probably take over, either from my last save, or preferably where you left off.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Game Hunter on March 19, 2012, 07:29
How is it goiung, Game Hunter? Will you be able to finish your year?
You should probably just restart my year without me. I haven't had time to sit down for some serious playing and I'm pretty sure I haven't been using dorf time very efficiently. Now I got even MORE stuff going on, so I don't think I'm going to be able to finish the year any time soon. Really, really sorry about wasting your time on this place, since it really is a nice scenario.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: Klear on March 19, 2012, 07:52
In that case - anybody new interested in being a sheriff looking for the vapire? (great experience in playing dwarf frotress in NOT required. I'm a living proof. Besides, we want to have fun, right?) In case nobody wants to join, RSO, are you still available?

On an unrelated note, are there some people lurking around and reading the story, or is it just players to themselves?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: RSO on March 21, 2012, 15:28
I'm still available. I'd like to give it a couple days for others to speak up, though.

Is it possible to change the thread title to alert people that there are still spots open?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes
Post by: thelaptop on March 21, 2012, 16:04
I'm around reading the story.  Keep 'em comin'.  =)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players!
Post by: RSO on March 23, 2012, 18:19
If no one else picks this up by tomorrow, I'll grab it for another round. I'll try to do an actual IC writeup this time.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players!
Post by: Klear on March 24, 2012, 05:01
Ok.. it will be great to see this moving again.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players!
Post by: RSO on March 24, 2012, 12:33
It says the file download link is invalid or deleted. Do you still have a copy laying around you can repost? I recently reformatted my HD and no longer have the archive.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players!
Post by: Klear on March 24, 2012, 12:55
Got it. Almost thought it's gone, but I've got it. I'll reupload in a minute.

Edit: And here it is:

http://www.mediafire.com/?pzv002v6klwhuaj (http://www.mediafire.com/?pzv002v6klwhuaj)

Chaosfortunes can live on.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players!
Post by: RSO on March 24, 2012, 15:06
Got it. Strike the Earth!

Quote
"I have gathered you here to make a somber announcement. Udil Megiddoren was murdered in her sleep. There is no other explanation. She went to bed, the pinnacle of health, and then joined the shambling dead before she awoke. The murderer must be found before he, or she, brings ruin to this entire fortress.

To that end, I am appointing Kulet Duradushrir as Sheriff of Chaosfortunes and head of this investigation. Furthermore, I am declaring martial law and granting the Sheriff absolute authority. Until the killer is found, you are to obey her implicitly." -Erib Tunnecik, speech made the morning of the 1st of Granite

---

From the diary of Kulet Duradushrir

"1st Granite: Did my name get picked out of a sock to pin the blame, or is Erib just that clueless? I'm sure if Erib and I had ever met, she would know that I don't know the first thing about detective work. Erib must be looking for a scapegoat to explain to the Queen when this fortress collapses. I hate politicians."

More as the story develops! (I've forgotten who the vampire is, so I won't be tempted to just cheat)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players!
Post by: RSO on March 24, 2012, 17:21
Apparently, a second vampire showed up in Chaosfortunes. This one was a little bit less careful, and has been executed. The investigation continues.

Quote
"2nd Granite: Now that the shock has worn off, I think I might be able to do some good here. I will be a better leader than Erib. I will not delegate. I will lead Chaosfortunes to prosperity. And maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get Erib exiled for incompetence.

I spoke to the brewers and farmers, and with their suggestions, I've rewritten some policies on the food process. I'm not sure if it was Erib's mistake or Klearol's, but our booze shortage was due to bureaucracy rather than any real reason. I hate politicians. It's fixed now, so we won't have to ration the alcohol.

I've also declared that dwarves are to spend their idle hours in the new dormitory rather than the dining hall. This comes with a ban on rowdy parties, but I think it's a necessary step to keep dwarves from being murdered in their sleep."

"4th Granite: Kumil Ingtakurdim asked me to help her name her new daughter. I think that means people are accepting my rule, but I froze and did not handle it gracefully."

"18th Granite: Still no leads, but no murders either."

"24th Granite: Migrants arrived, nearly doubling our village's population. When they heard about the martial law, they immediately demanded to be allowed to elect a mayor. This could go poorly, but at least we'll have a leader that isn't Erib."

"19th Felsite: Over a month now and nothing worth recording has happened, except for the order to construct chambers for when a mayor is eventually elected. The elvish caravan has arrived. If Erib's good for anything, it's bartering. She's already convinced the elves to part with their entire stock of wood and cloth in exchange for a bit of food. They also offered us a giant leopard in a cage, but she declined. It seems she and I can agree on some things."

"13th Hematite: The elves are on their way. They seemed really happy with the food, though I can't imagine why. They brought us cartloads of cloth and logs, and came out with a few armfuls of biscuits.

The gate is sealed again, and plans are under way to reclaim the lost dormitory."

"7th Malachite: Thank the gods thats over. There was another murder, right under everyone's nose. The victim, Muthkat Bernosign, killed a dog and another dwarf, Atil Uzolidith, before our militia could subdue them. Atir's corpse then re-awoke as it was being carried to the crusher, but stumbled into a cage trap before it could do any further harm. The caged corpse has been taken to the crusher. I suppose I will have to make a speech tomorrow expressing my condolences.

It happened in the middle of the dormitory. There must have been a dozen witnesses, at least. Hopefully I'll know soon who's responsible."

"9th Malachite: The elections finally happened. Atir Noramid was elected mayor. He was the only candidate in favor of continuing my martial law, and the murder under everyone's nose swung the polls at the last minute. He has appointed me Captain of the Guard, which is just a change of title from my job as Sheriff."

"10th Malachite: Two reports today, separate accounts, both claiming that our new Mayor, Atir Noramid, was seen with his teeth on Muthkat's neck on the 1st of Malachite. Vampiric Murder is a harsh charge. It's possible these two are just upset over the election, but I will follow up on this.

This might just be my lucky day. I hate politicians."

"13th Malachite: I interviewed our mayor today. I asked him about his family, but he kept changing his story. Even things that should be as concrete as his father's name changed. I offered him some ale, and he refused, claiming he wasn't thirsty, but his eyes were on my neck through the entire engagement.

He couldn't have been Udil's murderer, as he arrived just last Spring, but he is certainly Muthkat's. I'll arrange for him to be accidentally locked inside the crusher when it is activated. We cannot risk a corpse."

"20th Malachite: Atir Noramid is no more. I have posthumously convicted him of murder, and led the others to believe he is in hiding. I hope I have done the right thing. I think I have."

"27th Malachite: A new mayor has been elected. Kel Rigothastel. I like this one better."

More as the story develops.

[edit: and more!]

Quote
"4th Galena: Imust Thalaoltar the cook, one of our founders, was found dead in the dormatory today, drained of blood. Almost immediately, I received no less than seven reports accust Led Taronast of vampiric murder. Two from children and one particularly vengeful one from Chronicler Klearol himself. Led will be dealt with."

"9th Galena: I interviewed Led. He claims to have a very large family, able to recount at least forty names from memory. That alone would be suspicious, but when topics drifted to religion, he brought up gods I'd never heard of, including one 'Lene yonalisenama ifathaalu.' I did som research of my own and found it to be some kind of elvish sea-god, known for cursing tresspassers to its temples with vampirism. The vampires are then beholden to 'Her' forever, unable to hold any higher worship.

He also complained about the shortage of alcohol. Apparently he's neither checked our stocks nor bothered to inquire about it since the shortage ended several months ago. When I asked how he's holding up with that, he commented that he's been getting by on water. There is no water in Chaosfortunes.

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. GUIILTY.

I'll arrange for his disposal."

"21st Galena: Led avoided my trap. I think he might be wise to my suspicions. I will forgo sleep until he is dead.

A human caravan arrived, but I can't be bothered to deal with it. Erib has matters well in hand."

"9th Limestone: Led Taronast, if that is indeed his name, is finally dead. I pulled the lever myself, and now I can finally sleep."

If I recall correctly, Led was in fact the original vampire. Hopefully that means we're done with vampires.

[edit again]

I made an attempt to reclaim the dormitory. It was a complete disaster. Apparently, dwarves who want to sleep do not respect the "Forbidden" flag of beds, and so a bunch of tired dwarves ran into the old dormitory and got mauled by zombies. I sealed it off again.

Just winter to go, I'll try to clean up any remaining corpses and zombies that got out during that stupidity before the end of the year.

Quote
"16th Sandstone: Today, we begin reclaiming the old dormatory. Slowly and carefully."

"4th Timber: Outrageous. Behind my back, several dwarves attempted to take the beds from the old dormitory while the zombies were still inside. I panicked and sent in the militia to get them out safely. There are now twice as many zombies as before. I've ordered the old dormatory sealed off again."

"12th Timber: We're still tallying the dead and missing. At least fifteen so far. I cannot believe they would so foolishly disregard my order."

[Re-edit]

And finished. Nothing noteworthy happened after the 12th of timber. I've cleared out the zombies. My plans to retake the old dormitory were cut short by time. The machinery is somewhat elaborate, so I will just leave it as a Box Of Mystery Fun for the next person.

All things considered, the fortress is in great shape. All needs are accounted for and we have supplies to last through the year even if food production stops completely. Some of the soldiers are unhappy with the amount of action they saw and number of friends they lost in the first push to reclaim the dormitory, but it's not tantrum spiral territory.

Be vigilant against Necrohazards, and Chaosfortunes shall survive.

Download Chaosfortunes Year 4 here (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8326635/Chaosfortunes-year4.zip). Be sure to update to the latest version of Dwarf Fortresss before continuing.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players!
Post by: Klear on March 27, 2012, 04:21
Awesome writeup.. I love how the vampire got elected and immediately taken care of.

I guess I can take up the next year again, though I won't be able to play until the weekend, so if anyone else wants to join, sign up and you can take year 4. It shouldn't be too hard now that the vampires are gone, though I wonder when we'll get our new siege...
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players - year 4 open!
Post by: RSO on March 27, 2012, 17:06
I was a little surprised at how easy they were to track down. The telltale sign for both of them is that, despite an abundant supply of alcohol, one was "Needs alcohol to get through the working day, and has gone without a drink for far, far too long" and the other was "Needs alcohol to get through the working day, and is starting to work slowly due to its scarcity." When there's no water in the fort, any normal dwarf would have died of dehydration before getting to that level.

As for year four, there has never been a better time for new-ish player to pick up the fort. Necrohazards will be a constant concern, but we have food stocks to last an entire year, and if we get a siege, there's the option of closing the gates and waiting for someone else to deal with it.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players - year 4 open!
Post by: Matt_S on March 27, 2012, 17:30
I'll claim this year.  The little experience I have with fortress mode was quite a while ago, but as long as we have good food supplies I'll give it a shot.  I like to play slowly, so it may take a little while especially if something happens.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players - year 4 open!
Post by: RSO on March 27, 2012, 19:11
Awesome, good luck, have fun (http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Fun)! :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players - year 4 open!
Post by: Matt_S on March 27, 2012, 20:51
I've read your posts and I'm acquainting myself with the fortress's layout a bit before I set things into motion.  So, uhh, I see there's a lever in the overrun dormitories which doesn't have a note, and one safely outside the dorms.  There's also an atom smasher nearby, so I assume the accessible lever controls that.  An injured dwarf got adamantine sutures.  Actually at least two of them did.  There's also a ghost wandering about.  And I see there's a well pretty deep down.  Oh, and for some reason I haven't yet figured out, one of the cavern layers is apparently partially on fire.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes - Looking for players - year 4 open!
Post by: RSO on March 27, 2012, 21:09
Oh. Right.

Okay. Of the levers by the dormitory, only the one north of the stairs does anything - it controls the atom smasher. The two(?) other levers are there for dwarf-moving. Assign a workshop profile so only a particular dwarf can pull the lever and then assign a Pull-Repeat command to move a dwarf to the lever - that's how I executed the two vampires. You can see which lever is hooked up by examining it under "t" for building inventory - the lever with two mechanisms is hooked up to something, while a lever with only one mechanism is hooked up to nothing. The rest of it was an elaborate plain to bait the zombies into the atom smasher. It's probably best not to mess with it too much.
Adamntine sutures are something I'd love to have been able to avoid, but as soon as I created the hospital, dwarves grabbed all sorts of thread for it - adamantite included. It's a known bug that isn't fixed yet. Best solution would be to weave all adamantite thread into cloth or wafers ASAP.
There's a memorial hall to the left of the dining hall, but it doesn't yet have memorials for all the dwarves that died trying to sleep in the old dormitory. Memorializing the ghost (craftsdwarf's workshop: alt+s to engrave a slab) will put it to rest..
The well down there is because dwarves give their injured comrades water, and alcohol won't do, so in order to have a successful hospital, we need a source of water. I would advise walling off everything near the well, though. It's not currently secure against aquatic attack.
There was a forgotten beast made out of fire that attacked the cave fishman civilization down below. This actually worked out to our benefit because it destroyed a lot of the zombies that were down there, before being vanquished by the fish. I considered working this into the story somehow, but I can't think of any way that my dwarves would know about it.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Matt_S on March 28, 2012, 19:29
I'm starting this now.  Reports won't be in-character because I can't think of any creative ideas.

Report:
Spoiler: Granite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Slate (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Felsite (click to show/hide)
NOTE: I'm upgrading to 0.34.07
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: RSO on March 30, 2012, 23:11
It might be a good idea to make some ropes and set up a prison. I left the plump helmet field (southernmost farm) fallow for two seasons out of the year since we had an oversupply - all of the dwarves running in and out of the atomsmasher to throw away rotten plump helmets was making me nervous. You could set it to make pigtails for the summer if we need cloth, but I think I imported a lot from the elves. Quarry Bush Roast stacks having a value of 6000 is a little ridiculous.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Matt_S on March 30, 2012, 23:15
The sleeping quarters have been getting a bit crowded.  I'm thinking maybe I should add a second floor?

Elven Caravan!  What do we need, what should I sell, and why is the depot still full of stuff from before?

Report:
Spoiler: Granite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Slate (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Felsite (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: RSO on March 30, 2012, 23:58
A second floor of the sleeping quarters would be good, but make sure that the meeting Activity Zone ("i") spans both floors. People who are awake in the dormitory keep the sleeping dwarves safe from vampires.

As for what to trade: Quarry Bush Roast. A stack of high quality QBR goes for between 4000 and 6000. You can clean out the caravan for just two or three stacks, without making a dent in our food stocks. Just be sure to inspect each stack and make sure that there isn't any meat in them, or the elves will be angry.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Kamikaze14 on April 01, 2012, 16:40
As somebody who's just getting into the swing of DF, I'd love to get involved in this.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Klear on April 02, 2012, 03:45
Great! Shall I sign you up for year 5?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Kamikaze14 on April 02, 2012, 06:45
Yes please.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Klear on April 02, 2012, 06:53
Great. The more people the better.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Matt_S on April 03, 2012, 16:28
I apologize for the delay, real life kind of kicked in.

Report:
Spoiler: Granite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Slate (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Felsite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hematite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Malachite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Galena (click to show/hide)

Alright, I need some advice now.  The humans have a whole ton of shit, valued at about close to 50,000.  Should I just clean them out?  There's a whole lot of pages to go through if I wanted to buy selectively.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Klear on April 04, 2012, 02:58
We definitely need all the steel and iron we can get, including stuff that we can melt, if we can afford it. Also, I think I Klearol placed an order on screw trap components from the mountainhomes, so that we can make a lot of pumps and make all that magma useful (and fun). Has anybody made any attempt to build a pump stack so far? With magma, steelworking won't be so painful with our lack of trees (and iron).

Other than that, I have no idea what stuff we are lacking at the moment.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Matt_S on April 04, 2012, 19:57
Report:
Spoiler: Granite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Slate (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Felsite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hematite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Malachite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Galena (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Limestone (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sandstone (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: RSO on April 04, 2012, 21:01
19th of Limestone: I'm trying to atomsmash the zombies in the old dorms.  One is about to go down.

*Ducks for cover* Oh shiiiiiiiiiii-
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Matt_S on April 04, 2012, 21:11
Even with all the stuff in there forbidden, once I open up the doors there, everybody just has to see what's going on and try to get in there.

Report:
Spoiler: Granite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Slate (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Felsite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hematite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Malachite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Galena (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Limestone (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sandstone (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Timber (click to show/hide)

Fun has been overcome.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: RSO on April 07, 2012, 01:38
Nice!

I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I shouldn't have dug that pit in front of the drawbridge. My intent with that was to make it so that we could keep the gate shut whenever we're not actively dealing with traders (hence why the depot is outside the gate - we can close the gate as soon as we don't need to trade anymore). Since Bridges are vulnerable to creatures with the [BUILDINGDESTROYER] tag, like Trolls, I wanted a pit in front of it so that trolls wouldn't be able to reach it.

Now, though, I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to leave the pit out, and just have our gate double as an atomsmasher. We don't really have a safe means of dealing with zombies that are outside the fort.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Matt_S on April 07, 2012, 18:33
Report:
Spoiler: Granite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Slate (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Felsite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Hematite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Malachite (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Galena (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Limestone (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sandstone (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Timber (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Moonstone (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Opal (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Obsidian (click to show/hide)

YEAR COMPLETE!
Download year 5 (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2900761/Chaosfortunes%20year%205.zip)

A quick list of my accomplishments:
I added a second floor to the sleeping area.  But I had to patch up the floors on the first floor...
I cleared out three caravans worth of goods.  But a lot of that is still in the depot, which is now inaccessible...
I turned our fortress into a barony.  But our baron is now melancholy because I left him without a room...
I survived a 7 goblin ambush.  But three of them and some zombies are in the pit at the drawbridge... And I'm leaving the next person with a 14 speargoblin siege led by a hammergoblin on a giant bat...
I killed a lot of the zombies in the old dorms.  But... there's actually no negative side to this one.  There's a ghost, a locked up zombie arm, and one zombie still deep down in the giant staircase.
Our food supplies are still pretty good.
I have shirt and pants and shoe and sock creation on repeat because the kids really don't like having rotten clothing it seems.
The military is pretty barebones, but we have quite a few weapons and armor because of my caravan-clearing.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: RSO on April 08, 2012, 01:15
I survived a 7 goblin ambush.  But three of them and some zombies are in the pit at the drawbridge... And I'm leaving the next person with a 14 speargoblin siege led by a hammergoblin on a giant bat...

Hmm... it may be time to start discussing our options.

If we have to abandon Chaosfortunes, who would be in favor of reclaiming the same fort, and who would be in favor of re-embarking in a less apocalyptic biome?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Kamikaze14 on April 08, 2012, 16:42
/me crosses his arms.
Challenge accepted.

Can somebody give me the rundown on the unlabelled levers...and why one's linkage to something was suspended.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Matt_S on April 08, 2012, 21:38
The one with the linkage suspended was going to be hooked up to the bridge at the entrance before the invaders came.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Kamikaze14 on April 08, 2012, 22:27
Okay, called it a night at Galena but I did come up with a solution to our issues with hostiles.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Kamikaze14 on April 16, 2012, 17:08
Update: Had to reinstall Windows, so progress was slowed.  My save was backed up to a thumb drive but its location is unknown.  There's only a couple places it could have gone so I'll keep you posted, reverting to the posted save if need be.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Klear on April 18, 2012, 07:05
BTW, I'm losing interest in this if the reports are only reporting the stuff that happened without the dorf POV writing. I understand that not everybody has the time and patience to write out the story in a detailed way, but perhaps at laset some very brief summary of the year's events from the dorf POV wouldn't be so mcuh to ask? It doesn't have to list everything that happened. You could just write the most important events that the dwarf in question remembered and looked back at the end of the year?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Kamikaze14 on April 18, 2012, 20:22
I was going to do that once I had the whole year done.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress - Chaosfortunes: Year 4 (anyone can still join)
Post by: Klear on April 19, 2012, 01:31
Ok.. thanks.... carry on then =)