<!--quoteo(post=1675411:date=Apr 9 2008, 11:19 AM:name=Faskalia)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Faskalia @ Apr 9 2008, 11:19 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675411"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Also: What do elves accept as trade goods? They dont seem not to accept anything made of leather, wood, shell, bones and for some reason also nothing narrow <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" /> What gives?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> No animal products, no wood products. But, and this is the most annoying part, nothing covered with blood (presumably not ichor either). So used weapons are right out, and most clothes/armor you get from slain goblin ambushes. Goblins wear narrow clothing.
<!--quoteo(post=1675191:date=Apr 6 2008, 03:13 PM:name=SkulkBait)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SkulkBait @ Apr 6 2008, 03:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675191"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I just lost 8 dwarves to a giant cave swallow. It started outside, slaughtering some haulers, I ordered the military to the area, but they seemed more interested in sitting around in the barracks. Eventually the thing got inside somehow, my military still preferred the barracks. Luckily the cave swallow found its way to them.
Great, the cold hearted ######s are refusing to carry "Aban Strokeclasps", their now unconscious hero, 4 feet to a ######ing bed.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
maybe "Giant Cave Swallow" is the technical term for a <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/3/21/" target="_blank">Deep Crow</a>.
Also my adventurer is some sort of übermensch by now with really sweet armor. Should I take on the kobolds, goblins, elves, or finish what I started when I stole from the human shops?
locallyunsceneFeeder of TrollsJoin Date: 2002-12-25Member: 11528Members, Constellation
So I just finished reading about <a href="http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/" target="_blank">Boatmurdered</a>. Epic. Makes me want to play the game more then start a rotating ruler thread.
I knew this day would come. The other Giant Cave Swallow attacked.
I immediately dispatch the marksdwarves, but they are far away, it looks like the poor fisherdwarf is a goner. He makes toward the chasm, probably intending to jump in and spare himself the agony of being torn apart by a giant ######ing bird. I can't say I blame him. At the last minute he changes his mind and starts running in a direction that eventually allows the marksdwarf leader, Kadol Rithucker, to catch up. Kadol, having no armor to speak of, manages to get off one shot after being severely damaged by the cave swallow. But what a shot! He managed to take out both kidneys, the spleen, pancreas, right lower leg, lower body, and knock the thing unconscious. The fisherdwarf escaped with a broken arm.
Shortly afterward, my newly installed cage traps caught a goblin thief. Since some merchants had just arrived, and I doubt anyone wanted this thing in the World Famous Portalmaze Zoo, I decided to sell it off. Just as a dwarf started to move the cage though, the goblin fell out (clearly I did this wrong). It was instantly plugged full of arrows thanks to the caravan 's and my own marksdwarves being at practically point blank range. Several more goblin thieves showed up, but all were either mercilessly slaughtered or chased off. Aban Satdodok chased off all the ones that got away. It must have really pissed her off that she couldn't catch any of them because when the goblin ambush came she led the charge and killed 3 of them. I did lose 2 hammer dwarves to them though. And another to melancholy (well, soon enough anyway). The only other one besides Aban is still in bed recovering from his last sparring match with her.
In order to better our defenses, now that we've been noticed by the goblins, I have ordered the construction of a drawbridge to the main entrance, and the construction of a marksdwarf tower where our archery range currently resides.
The mayor has come out of his comma, though he is still in bed from a right-upper arm injury. He seems pretty happy now, though I'm pretty sure that his impending 76 day prison sentence will take care of that.
<!--quoteo(post=1675654:date=Apr 11 2008, 08:35 PM:name=SkulkBait)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SkulkBait @ Apr 11 2008, 08:35 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675654"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I knew this day would come. The other Giant Cave Swallow attacked.
I immediately dispatch the marksdwarves, but they are far away, it looks like the poor fisherdwarf is a goner. He makes toward the chasm, probably intending to jump in and spare himself the agony of being torn apart by a giant ######ing bird. I can't say I blame him. At the last minute he changes his mind and starts running in a direction that eventually allows the marksdwarf leader, Kadol Rithucker, to catch up. Kadol, having no armor to speak of, manages to get off one shot after being severely damaged by the cave swallow. But what a shot! He managed to take out both kidneys, the spleen, pancreas, right lower leg, lower body, and knock the thing unconscious. The fisherdwarf escaped with a broken arm.
Shortly afterward, my newly installed cage traps caught a goblin thief. Since some merchants had just arrived, and I doubt anyone wanted this thing in the World Famous Portalmaze Zoo, I decided to sell it off. Just as a dwarf started to move the cage though, the goblin fell out (clearly I did this wrong). It was instantly plugged full of arrows thanks to the caravan 's and my own marksdwarves being at practically point blank range. Several more goblin thieves showed up, but all were either mercilessly slaughtered or chased off. Aban Satdodok chased off all the ones that got away. It must have really pissed her off that she couldn't catch any of them because when the goblin ambush came she led the charge and killed 3 of them. I did lose 2 hammer dwarves to them though. And another to melancholy (well, soon enough anyway). The only other one besides Aban is still in bed recovering from his last sparring match with her.
In order to better our defenses, now that we've been noticed by the goblins, I have ordered the construction of a drawbridge to the main entrance, and the construction of a marksdwarf tower where our archery range currently resides.
The mayor has come out of his comma, though he is still in bed from a right-upper arm injury. He seems pretty happy now, though I'm pretty sure that his impending 76 day prison sentence will take care of that.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> This actually makes a nice story. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
And as for the cage/prisoner thing, goblin thieves and -master thieves can (and will) escape if you try to move their cages, or throw the creature into a pit (or off a cliff, or into magma, or into a drowning chamber, or into a teethy pit filled with angry wardogs). Normal invader goblins, or even squadleaders, can't escape. And I'm not sure about ALL creatures or megabeasts, but at least most of them can't escape.
The injured Hammerdwarf, Zon Delerlames, is out of bed now, bringing the hammerdwarf squad back up to 2 members. He lost his lover and a friend recently (both hammerdwarves), and unlike most of the other dwarves in Portalmaze, he isn't getting used to tragedy, so he's quite unhappy. I gave the squad some down time to enjoy our fine statue garden and The World Famous Portalmaze Zoo (now with black bear), hopefully that will cheer him up.
The tower is complete. I have added a moat, drawbridge, underground tunnel to the main fortress, and barracks. It seems to work well. One of my gatherers tripped over a kobold somewhere on the far side of the stone pile, who ran away soon after a bolt grazed his cheek. I've given the marksdwarves some time off to practice.
A child has become the most recent of several possessions. Looks like she needs gems. Lucky for her, I did strike some rough gems while digging out the tunnel. With luck we might break this horrible string of possessions.
A dungeon master has arrived with 10-20 immigrants. Despite my distrust of nobles, I have decided that this one is usefull enough to assign real quarters, instead of the "special" noble quarters I had designed earlier. If he makes many demands however, that might change. Since he wants a tomb, I've decided to make one for our beloved founder Unib "Ringmirrors" Athelonul, legendary miner and partier.
With the arrival of spring, I've again ordered that every tree in sight be chopped down, and every plant gathered. Not that I really need it, I've got so much food that the bookkeeper has informed me that we now measure food supplies in units of "metric ######tons" (about 1000 in prepared food, 2000 total, 600 or so is booze.)
Kol Kerligmelbil's term as mayor has ended. Apparently he spent too much time recovering from wounds to do his job properly. Vabok Istbarkadol, the captain of the guard who gave him those wounds, has been elected in his place. An investigation has been launched to ensure that this sequence of events is just coincidence.
The Human caravan came by. Found out I had about 40,000 monies worth of crap in goods bins. They didn't have all that much that I actually wanted, so I only traded away all the bloody goblin clothing that was too narrow for anybody to wear anyway.
I've got another goblin master thief in a cage. For now hes just sitting on the animal stockpile.
Ah, I just love this game. There is always something new/interesting to discover.
Did you know, that deconstructing the trade depot underneath a caravans ass, will cause said caravans trade goods to be consider your property? Seems to work well, if you cannot afford that anvil with the first caravan.
I also had a quite amusing moment. I chained my imprisoned dwarves directly to the front gates, together with my war dogs, to teach them that only the lowliest dwarf do not obey the nobles! Anyway: Goblin Siege came to my front door, the dogs broke loose and died in a wall of gobbo hammer beatings. Now it was 1 thirsty unarmed dwarf, chained to the wall vs 20+ hammer gobbos! But before I had the chance to watch him get grinded into a fine paste, the game paused and alarmed mean: " Stupid, production order violating dwarf, chained to the main entrance went berserk" (this is NOT his real name, but because of the main tileset I use my names have symbols in them so its hard for me to read out etc...)
It was kinda cute. He did not break loose from his chain, but instead waited patentially and filled with rage for the first gobbo to approach. Gobbo raises his mighty war hammer, RIP AND TEAR, gobba warhammer with attached arm flying half across the screen! Gobbo after gobbo came, arms flew and so did the brave prisoner defeat a whole siege alone and sent the goblins fleeing.
Overcome with joy he died from thirst 5 minutes later :X
Btw: Does someone know if building wells for prisoners works? Will they drink on their own, if the can reach the tile adjacent to the well or will they still wait for the good ol bucket?
In order to prevent the <a href="http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=14&t=000058" target="_blank">kinds of problems</a> that can occur when your mayor and your captain of the guard are the same person, I have promoted another guardsman to captain.
The string of possessions continues with an herbalist. We're up to 4 in a row. At least she found all the stuff she needed. The Limestone mug she created is pretty interesting:
I guess it has a picture of a limestone mug on it so you can tell that it is, in fact, a limestone mug.
--Update: Our string of possessions seems to have finally been broken as a mason withdrew from society and created an artifact limestone door. At least I get a legendary mason out of it.
Some research on the Wiki has led me to believe that my artificial pond will not support fish. Bummer. I'm currently trying to come up with other ideas for its use.
The old mayor, Kol Kerligmelbil, finally got out of bed. Its a shame that he didn't get to see our fortress additions, since he was dragged immediately to a jail cell to serve his 76 day sentence. Meanwhile, I've been keeping the refuse pile stocked with bones, so that when he gets out he can return to work as our legendary bone carver.
--Update: Didn't work out. Apparently nobody fed him or gave him water and so he died in prison.
After the recent successfully trading with the dwarven caravan Unib "Ringmirrors" Athelonul, fortress founder, legendary miner, and legendary partier, has also become a legendary trader. I have updated her tomb to include a selection of tastefully arranged statues, and locked her in her office to update the horribly inaccurate stock records.
Dakost Eribsinsot, Marksdwarf, has given birth to a boy. She has been carrying her daughter around while performing her normal marksdwarf duties, shooting one handed and whatnot. But now that she's carrying two infants it seems... irresponsible to keep her on active duty. Then again, as long as she can manage to shoot while carrying two infants, she should be reasonably safe in the tower should anything happen.
Our deforestation project, though so far unsuccessful in wiping out all tree-life near the fort, or pissing off the elves, has been successful in creating a incredible stockpile of wood and plants. We're now at nearly 4000 food and 500 logs, so I have canceled the deforestation order.
The tower has been increased to 5 or so Z-levels, and food and booze stockpiles have been installed.
<!--quoteo(post=1675730:date=Apr 13 2008, 11:53 PM:name=Faskalia)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Faskalia @ Apr 13 2008, 11:53 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675730"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ah, I just love this game. There is always something new/interesting to discover.
Did you know, that deconstructing the trade depot underneath a caravans ass, will cause said caravans trade goods to be consider your property? Seems to work well, if you cannot afford that anvil with the first caravan.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->You can also [s]eize goods in the trading screen for the same effect except you don't have to rebuild the depot... The merchants just check if they left with >= monies worth compared to what they arrived with, so even if a wild animal kills one of the mules the caravan owners'll get angry with you.
<!--quoteo(post=1675777:date=Apr 14 2008, 02:38 PM:name=Align)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Align @ Apr 14 2008, 02:38 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675777"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You can also [s]eize goods in the trading screen for the same effect except you don't have to rebuild the depot... The merchants just check if they left with >= monies worth compared to what they arrived with, so even if a wild animal kills one of the mules the caravan owners'll get angry with you.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, that maybe. But with my method I can steal from dwarven caravans. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
I really don't get how anal the game's creators seem to be about adding some god damn graphics or a better interface. Yes yes, we are clearly all part of the little internet clique whereby judging a game by its graphics is considered taboo, but I shouldn't have to learn to <i>read the bloody matrix code</i> in order to enjoy what is otherwise an incredibly deep and (presumably) quite enjoyable game. The development team seem positively determined to keep the game confusing and unintuitive, perhaps as an IQ test to ward away the lesser beings who might otherwise sully their creation. I'm sure no-one would contract aids and die if they were to spend a few days coding, for instance, a simple arrow-key driven menu system for those of us without the bionic cyberbrain required to memorise each and every one of the several million buttons required to do anything at all in the game.
Nevertheless, i'm going to give this another try using the <a href="http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.htm" target="_blank">Mike Mayday</a> graphics pack. I'll let you know when I fail and give up again and go play Call of Duty.
*edit* Well that was quick. I started in the middle of a field, rather than next to a mountain I could dig into as the map seemed to suggest I would. So I tried using shift + , and . to move my view up and down some Z levels so I could start digging. But it wouldn't play. So I'm bored already. I seriously want to like this game, but I have a short attention span and the game seems to hate my keyboard. I'll try again later.
It's barely even Alpha, it's missing like half the planned features. Toady (the one-man army who is making the game) says there's no point in adding polish for stuff that might not even be in the full game, let alone remain the way they are from now up to then. I don't remember his motivation for putting off graphics specifically, though.
Also shift+. or , to move up/down, since that's where the <> are on the american keyboard, and spacebar to unpause.
<!--quoteo(post=1675796:date=Apr 14 2008, 06:42 PM:name=Nil_IQ)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nil_IQ @ Apr 14 2008, 06:42 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675796"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I really don't get how anal the game's creators seem to be about adding some god damn graphics or a better interface. Yes yes, we are clearly all part of the little internet clique whereby judging a game by its graphics is considered taboo, but I shouldn't have to learn to <i>read the bloody matrix code</i> in order to enjoy what is otherwise an incredibly deep and (presumably) quite enjoyable game. The development team seem positively determined to keep the game confusing and unintuitive, perhaps as an IQ test to ward away the lesser beings who might otherwise sully their creation. I'm sure no-one would contract aids and die if they were to spend a few days coding, for instance, a simple arrow-key driven menu system for those of us without the bionic cyberbrain required to memorise each and every one of the several million buttons required to do anything at all in the game.
Nevertheless, i'm going to give this another try using the <a href="http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.htm" target="_blank">Mike Mayday</a> graphics pack. I'll let you know when I fail and give up again and go play Call of Duty.
*edit* Well that was quick. I started in the middle of a field, rather than next to a mountain I could dig into as the map seemed to suggest I would. So I tried using shift + , and . to move my view up and down some Z levels so I could start digging. But it wouldn't play. So I'm bored already. I seriously want to like this game, but I have a short attention span and the game seems to hate my keyboard. I'll try again later.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Assuming you just dled the already integrated version just read the site again:
Note: the LEVEL_UP and LEVEL_DOWN keys have been changed to / and * on the keypad!! Remember this!
Yes, it's far from intuitive. It also has a million other flaws (that we love it in spite of). I couldn't care less about your issues, I want MINE fixed (like how stone clutters up all my stockpiles when I want them to hold ore or such). The interface doesn't bother me (anymore). Whose concerns weigh heavier?
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->What's the purpose of the tower, apart from being a phallic monument to Armok?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Its for defense. Fortifications work best when the enemy can't get near them, so you raise them up a few Z levels and station your marksdwarves behind them.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well that was quick. I started in the middle of a field, rather than next to a mountain I could dig into as the map seemed to suggest I would. So I tried using shift + , and . to move my view up and down some Z levels so I could start digging. But it wouldn't play. So I'm bored already. I seriously want to like this game, but I have a short attention span and the game seems to hate my keyboard. I'll try again later.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Methinks you're better off just leaving this one alone if your attention span is <i>that</i> short. Even after you figure out how most things work there are still long periods of waiting for dwarves to do things you asked them to do, or waiting for interesting things to happen.
Slaves to Armok I had graphics. My understanding is that the developer (singular, mind you) felt that he spent too much time on graphics and felt that having graphics before many gameplay elements were implemented was counterintuitive. So yes. ASCII is sufficient for his purposes.
As for the interface; yes, it's clumsier than one legged elephant playing a bassoon, and the lack of a sufficient manual certainly doesn't help. I can sympathize with you on that; the first time I played I got so frustrated that I put the game away and didn't touch it again for a month.
But if you do drum up the patience, it does have a few things going for it: you can pause at any time and look at the menus, you can scroll through those menus with the "secondary selector" key functions, and you can change the bindings in whatever way you see fit. I have a laptop without a numpad, so getting the default secondary selector keys (+ and - on the pad) necessary to scroll through the sidebar menus was a pain. So I changed those and a few other minor things, and I can now fly through the menus, only looking at them to build junk that I rarely ever build. And I thoroughly enjoy myself doing so.
locallyunsceneFeeder of TrollsJoin Date: 2002-12-25Member: 11528Members, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=1675796:date=Apr 14 2008, 12:42 PM:name=Nil_IQ)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nil_IQ @ Apr 14 2008, 12:42 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675796"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->*edit* Well that was quick. I started in the middle of a field, rather than next to a mountain I could dig into as the map seemed to suggest I would. So I tried using shift + , and . to move my view up and down some Z levels so I could start digging. But it wouldn't play. So I'm bored already. I seriously want to like this game, but I have a short attention span and the game seems to hate my keyboard. I'll try again later.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I did the exact same thing. I will try again, but I don't feel like it right now. Probably when I get bored with TF2.
Also, the absence of a manual means that hanging around in an IRC channel with other players is a really good idea. There's #ns-df on GameSurge. Low populations, but we don't mind questions.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Its for defense. Fortifications work best when the enemy can't get near them, so you raise them up a few Z levels and station your marksdwarves behind them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I just dug a trench around my outer walls for that purpose, but the tower is a good idea too.
<!--quoteo(post=1675910:date=Apr 15 2008, 10:31 PM:name=Gwahir)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gwahir @ Apr 15 2008, 10:31 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675910"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->We should organize a "Learn to play DF day." We'll all agree to be ready in #ns-df to answer any questions people have.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd have to pledge to myself to play the game for a longer stretch of time (or at least stay away from fullscreen applications so I can notice highlights), but I'm always willing to answer questions.
I've been thinking of writing a tutorial on the basics. With pictures. I'm relatively new to the game myself so it will probably be full of misinformation, but its better than nothing.
<!--quoteo(post=1675920:date=Apr 15 2008, 10:44 PM:name=SkulkBait)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SkulkBait @ Apr 15 2008, 10:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1675920"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I've been thinking of writing a tutorial on the basics. With pictures. I'm relatively new to the game myself so it will probably be full of misinformation, but its better than nothing.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds good: Stuff you should include:
the ini files, or how to turn off invasions etc.
farming, or how do I stop my dwarves from starving?
how to dig a well?
With these 3 settled a player should at least be able to survive <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Comments
No animal products, no wood products. But, and this is the most annoying part, nothing covered with blood (presumably not ichor either).
So used weapons are right out, and most clothes/armor you get from slain goblin ambushes. Goblins wear narrow clothing.
Great, the cold hearted ######s are refusing to carry "Aban Strokeclasps", their now unconscious hero, 4 feet to a ######ing bed.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
maybe "Giant Cave Swallow" is the technical term for a <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/3/21/" target="_blank">Deep Crow</a>.
perm link:
<img src="http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/6057/1207833853229rg8.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Also my adventurer is some sort of übermensch by now with really sweet armor. Should I take on the kobolds, goblins, elves, or finish what I started when I stole from the human shops?
I immediately dispatch the marksdwarves, but they are far away, it looks like the poor fisherdwarf is a goner. He makes toward the chasm, probably intending to jump in and spare himself the agony of being torn apart by a giant ######ing bird. I can't say I blame him. At the last minute he changes his mind and starts running in a direction that eventually allows the marksdwarf leader, Kadol Rithucker, to catch up. Kadol, having no armor to speak of, manages to get off one shot after being severely damaged by the cave swallow. But what a shot! He managed to take out both kidneys, the spleen, pancreas, right lower leg, lower body, and knock the thing unconscious. The fisherdwarf escaped with a broken arm.
Shortly afterward, my newly installed cage traps caught a goblin thief. Since some merchants had just arrived, and I doubt anyone wanted this thing in the World Famous Portalmaze Zoo, I decided to sell it off. Just as a dwarf started to move the cage though, the goblin fell out (clearly I did this wrong). It was instantly plugged full of arrows thanks to the caravan 's and my own marksdwarves being at practically point blank range. Several more goblin thieves showed up, but all were either mercilessly slaughtered or chased off. Aban Satdodok chased off all the ones that got away. It must have really pissed her off that she couldn't catch any of them because when the goblin ambush came she led the charge and killed 3 of them. I did lose 2 hammer dwarves to them though. And another to melancholy (well, soon enough anyway). The only other one besides Aban is still in bed recovering from his last sparring match with her.
In order to better our defenses, now that we've been noticed by the goblins, I have ordered the construction of a drawbridge to the main entrance, and the construction of a marksdwarf tower where our archery range currently resides.
The mayor has come out of his comma, though he is still in bed from a right-upper arm injury. He seems pretty happy now, though I'm pretty sure that his impending 76 day prison sentence will take care of that.
I immediately dispatch the marksdwarves, but they are far away, it looks like the poor fisherdwarf is a goner. He makes toward the chasm, probably intending to jump in and spare himself the agony of being torn apart by a giant ######ing bird. I can't say I blame him. At the last minute he changes his mind and starts running in a direction that eventually allows the marksdwarf leader, Kadol Rithucker, to catch up. Kadol, having no armor to speak of, manages to get off one shot after being severely damaged by the cave swallow. But what a shot! He managed to take out both kidneys, the spleen, pancreas, right lower leg, lower body, and knock the thing unconscious. The fisherdwarf escaped with a broken arm.
Shortly afterward, my newly installed cage traps caught a goblin thief. Since some merchants had just arrived, and I doubt anyone wanted this thing in the World Famous Portalmaze Zoo, I decided to sell it off. Just as a dwarf started to move the cage though, the goblin fell out (clearly I did this wrong). It was instantly plugged full of arrows thanks to the caravan 's and my own marksdwarves being at practically point blank range. Several more goblin thieves showed up, but all were either mercilessly slaughtered or chased off. Aban Satdodok chased off all the ones that got away. It must have really pissed her off that she couldn't catch any of them because when the goblin ambush came she led the charge and killed 3 of them. I did lose 2 hammer dwarves to them though. And another to melancholy (well, soon enough anyway). The only other one besides Aban is still in bed recovering from his last sparring match with her.
In order to better our defenses, now that we've been noticed by the goblins, I have ordered the construction of a drawbridge to the main entrance, and the construction of a marksdwarf tower where our archery range currently resides.
The mayor has come out of his comma, though he is still in bed from a right-upper arm injury. He seems pretty happy now, though I'm pretty sure that his impending 76 day prison sentence will take care of that.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This actually makes a nice story. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
The tower is complete. I have added a moat, drawbridge, underground tunnel to the main fortress, and barracks. It seems to work well. One of my gatherers tripped over a kobold somewhere on the far side of the stone pile, who ran away soon after a bolt grazed his cheek. I've given the marksdwarves some time off to practice.
A child has become the most recent of several possessions. Looks like she needs gems. Lucky for her, I did strike some rough gems while digging out the tunnel. With luck we might break this horrible string of possessions.
A dungeon master has arrived with 10-20 immigrants. Despite my distrust of nobles, I have decided that this one is usefull enough to assign real quarters, instead of the "special" noble quarters I had designed earlier. If he makes many demands however, that might change. Since he wants a tomb, I've decided to make one for our beloved founder Unib "Ringmirrors" Athelonul, legendary miner and partier.
With the arrival of spring, I've again ordered that every tree in sight be chopped down, and every plant gathered. Not that I really need it, I've got so much food that the bookkeeper has informed me that we now measure food supplies in units of "metric ######tons" (about 1000 in prepared food, 2000 total, 600 or so is booze.)
Kol Kerligmelbil's term as mayor has ended. Apparently he spent too much time recovering from wounds to do his job properly. Vabok Istbarkadol, the captain of the guard who gave him those wounds, has been elected in his place. An investigation has been launched to ensure that this sequence of events is just coincidence.
The Human caravan came by. Found out I had about 40,000 monies worth of crap in goods bins. They didn't have all that much that I actually wanted, so I only traded away all the bloody goblin clothing that was too narrow for anybody to wear anyway.
I've got another goblin master thief in a cage. For now hes just sitting on the animal stockpile.
Did you know, that deconstructing the trade depot underneath a caravans ass, will cause said caravans trade goods to be consider your property? Seems to work well, if you cannot afford that anvil with the first caravan.
I also had a quite amusing moment. I chained my imprisoned dwarves directly to the front gates, together with my war dogs, to teach them that only the lowliest dwarf do not obey the nobles! Anyway: Goblin Siege came to my front door, the dogs broke loose and died in a wall of gobbo hammer beatings. Now it was 1 thirsty unarmed dwarf, chained to the wall vs 20+ hammer gobbos! But before I had the chance to watch him get grinded into a fine paste, the game paused and alarmed mean: " Stupid, production order violating dwarf, chained to the main entrance went berserk" (this is NOT his real name, but because of the main tileset I use my names have symbols in them so its hard for me to read out etc...)
It was kinda cute. He did not break loose from his chain, but instead waited patentially and filled with rage for the first gobbo to approach. Gobbo raises his mighty war hammer, RIP AND TEAR, gobba warhammer with attached arm flying half across the screen! Gobbo after gobbo came, arms flew and so did the brave prisoner defeat a whole siege alone and sent the goblins fleeing.
Overcome with joy he died from thirst 5 minutes later :X
Btw: Does someone know if building wells for prisoners works? Will they drink on their own, if the can reach the tile adjacent to the well or will they still wait for the good ol bucket?
The string of possessions continues with an herbalist. We're up to 4 in a row. At least she found all the stuff she needed.
The Limestone mug she created is pretty interesting:
<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2283/2411740593_1afec3a284_o.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I guess it has a picture of a limestone mug on it so you can tell that it is, in fact, a limestone mug.
--Update: Our string of possessions seems to have finally been broken as a mason withdrew from society and created an artifact limestone door. At least I get a legendary mason out of it.
Some research on the Wiki has led me to believe that my artificial pond will not support fish. Bummer. I'm currently trying to come up with other ideas for its use.
The old mayor, Kol Kerligmelbil, finally got out of bed. Its a shame that he didn't get to see our fortress additions, since he was dragged immediately to a jail cell to serve his 76 day sentence. Meanwhile, I've been keeping the refuse pile stocked with bones, so that when he gets out he can return to work as our legendary bone carver.
--Update: Didn't work out. Apparently nobody fed him or gave him water and so he died in prison.
After the recent successfully trading with the dwarven caravan Unib "Ringmirrors" Athelonul, fortress founder, legendary miner, and legendary partier, has also become a legendary trader. I have updated her tomb to include a selection of tastefully arranged statues, and locked her in her office to update the horribly inaccurate stock records.
Dakost Eribsinsot, Marksdwarf, has given birth to a boy. She has been carrying her daughter around while performing her normal marksdwarf duties, shooting one handed and whatnot. But now that she's carrying two infants it seems... irresponsible to keep her on active duty. Then again, as long as she can manage to shoot while carrying two infants, she should be reasonably safe in the tower should anything happen.
Our deforestation project, though so far unsuccessful in wiping out all tree-life near the fort, or pissing off the elves, has been successful in creating a incredible stockpile of wood and plants. We're now at nearly 4000 food and 500 logs, so I have canceled the deforestation order.
The tower has been increased to 5 or so Z-levels, and food and booze stockpiles have been installed.
Did you know, that deconstructing the trade depot underneath a caravans ass, will cause said caravans trade goods to be consider your property? Seems to work well, if you cannot afford that anvil with the first caravan.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->You can also [s]eize goods in the trading screen for the same effect except you don't have to rebuild the depot...
The merchants just check if they left with >= monies worth compared to what they arrived with, so even if a wild animal kills one of the mules the caravan owners'll get angry with you.
The merchants just check if they left with >= monies worth compared to what they arrived with, so even if a wild animal kills one of the mules the caravan owners'll get angry with you.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, that maybe. But with my method I can steal from dwarven caravans. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
failure the text is all .. and ,,, and ``` but nothing else.
stupid video driver updates.
Nevertheless, i'm going to give this another try using the <a href="http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.htm" target="_blank">Mike Mayday</a> graphics pack. I'll let you know when I fail and give up again and go play Call of Duty.
*edit* Well that was quick. I started in the middle of a field, rather than next to a mountain I could dig into as the map seemed to suggest I would. So I tried using shift + , and . to move my view up and down some Z levels so I could start digging. But it wouldn't play. So I'm bored already. I seriously want to like this game, but I have a short attention span and the game seems to hate my keyboard. I'll try again later.
I don't remember his motivation for putting off graphics specifically, though.
Also shift+. or , to move up/down, since that's where the <> are on the american keyboard, and spacebar to unpause.
Nevertheless, i'm going to give this another try using the <a href="http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.htm" target="_blank">Mike Mayday</a> graphics pack. I'll let you know when I fail and give up again and go play Call of Duty.
*edit* Well that was quick. I started in the middle of a field, rather than next to a mountain I could dig into as the map seemed to suggest I would. So I tried using shift + , and . to move my view up and down some Z levels so I could start digging. But it wouldn't play. So I'm bored already. I seriously want to like this game, but I have a short attention span and the game seems to hate my keyboard. I'll try again later.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Assuming you just dled the already integrated version just read the site again:
Note: the LEVEL_UP and LEVEL_DOWN keys have been changed to / and * on the keypad!! Remember this!
Its for defense. Fortifications work best when the enemy can't get near them, so you raise them up a few Z levels and station your marksdwarves behind them.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well that was quick. I started in the middle of a field, rather than next to a mountain I could dig into as the map seemed to suggest I would. So I tried using shift + , and . to move my view up and down some Z levels so I could start digging. But it wouldn't play. So I'm bored already. I seriously want to like this game, but I have a short attention span and the game seems to hate my keyboard. I'll try again later.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Methinks you're better off just leaving this one alone if your attention span is <i>that</i> short. Even after you figure out how most things work there are still long periods of waiting for dwarves to do things you asked them to do, or waiting for interesting things to happen.
As for the interface; yes, it's clumsier than one legged elephant playing a bassoon, and the lack of a sufficient manual certainly doesn't help. I can sympathize with you on that; the first time I played I got so frustrated that I put the game away and didn't touch it again for a month.
But if you do drum up the patience, it does have a few things going for it: you can pause at any time and look at the menus, you can scroll through those menus with the "secondary selector" key functions, and you can change the bindings in whatever way you see fit. I have a laptop without a numpad, so getting the default secondary selector keys (+ and - on the pad) necessary to scroll through the sidebar menus was a pain. So I changed those and a few other minor things, and I can now fly through the menus, only looking at them to build junk that I rarely ever build. And I thoroughly enjoy myself doing so.
I did the exact same thing. I will try again, but I don't feel like it right now. Probably when I get bored with TF2.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Its for defense. Fortifications work best when the enemy can't get near them, so you raise them up a few Z levels and station your marksdwarves behind them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I just dug a trench around my outer walls for that purpose, but the tower is a good idea too.
Every day is a "Learn to play DF day" !
Sounds good: Stuff you should include:
the ini files, or how to turn off invasions etc.
farming, or how do I stop my dwarves from starving?
how to dig a well?
With these 3 settled a player should at least be able to survive <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />