It's Fortress Friday! This week, I finish my turn and control of the game
passes to @Moonworm@hexbear.net (please
confirm), with the following players waiting for a chance to leave their mark on
Dwarven history.
Dwarf Fortress saves are not stored in a single file. They are stored as named
directories containing over a thousand individual data files. In order to load
the game, you need to download a zipped archive of the save and place it in your
Dwarf Fortress save directory. This directory can be located in a number of
places depending on which OS you are using and what settings you have enabled.
If Portable mode is enabled (not default), the save directory will be
located in the same directory as dwarfort / dwarfort.exe. If you are using
Steam with the default locations, these are:
On Linux: ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Dwarf Fortress/save
On Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Dwarf Fortress\save
This directory might exist, even if Portable mode is turned off (default),
but in that case it will be ignored by the game. Instead, save files are stored
somewhere in your user directory.
On Linux: ~/.local/share/Bay 12 Games/Dwarf Fortress/save
On Windows: %AppData%\Roaming\Bay 12 Games\Dwarf Fortress\save
Extract the FFSeason1 directory from the archive and place it inside of the
appropriate save directory, then you should see it after starting the game.
:::
::: spoiler Stopping the clock
By using a combination of the "Autosave Frequency" (any setting as long as it is
not "Off") and "Pause after every autosave" options, you can cause the game to
pause at the exact moment the calendar ticks over to 1st Granite (the first day
of the year).
After the game pauses, you still have the opportunity to do a couple minor
things, like designating blueprint tiles to label hazards, noteworthy sources of
material, or leaving graffiti. You can also rename stockpiles and rooms,
etc. before writing the final save. You should avoid doing anything that will
substantially change the behavior of the fort or generate labor tasks (like
creating / removing stockpiles, changing which items are allowed to be stored in
stockpiles, enabling / disabling standing orders, creating new work orders, or
designating new rooms / meeting areas). Military schedules often change at the
start of a season (e.g. the "staggered training" preset). This is fine.
Any blueprints left are merely suggestions. The next player is free to ignore
them. If you wanted something built there, you should have microed your miners
better :P
:::
::: spoiler Exporting the save
When Dwarf Fortress creates auto-saves, or if you use the "save and continue
playing" feature, Dwarf Fortress will write these saves to an alternate
directory (e.g. autosave1 or pull the lever). When you finish your turn,
you need to use the "Save and return to title menu" option and choose "Save to
this timeline." You need to do this even though the game just created an
auto-save. This will write the save back to the FFSeason1 directory, which you can then
place in a zip archive and submit.
:::
::: spoiler Making your submission.
Save files can be e-mailed to fortress-friday@matapacos.dog ahead of time. Some
e-mail services (like Gmail) prohibit sending large enough attachments, but if
it works on your end, it should work on mine. Otherwise, the file may need to
be hosted using a third-party service. Dwarf Fortress File
Depot is the canonical service
for this (they have a category specifically for community games), but any
service which doesn't require me to create an account or jump through flaming
hoops is acceptable. Currently, the compressed save is about 50MB. It won't
get any smaller with time.
Alternately, submissions can be made as a reply to the following week's Fortress
Friday post, which will be posted in anticipation of a submission. This thread
will be posted and used to coordinate the game and get the proper files into the hands of
the next player regardless of if the anticipated turn was completed.
Whether or not the file was transferred in advance, The player who just
completed their turn should make a top-level comment in this thread describing
noteworthy events of their turn. You are encouraged (but not required) to
roleplay and continue to spin a fantasy narrative out of it, but you don't need
to write us a Tolkien novel - especially if you are pressed for time and have
other shit to worry about. This shouldn't feel like a homework assignment.
My initial submission will be excessive because I am also covering the results
of world-generation, the historical circumstances of the civilization we chose,
and the embark. Subsequent posts will mostly be focused on chronicling events
in Fortress Mode. You are absolutely not expected to export the world history
and spend hours dicking around in Legends Viewer spinning up backstories for
every minor goblin who gets turned into dog food.
:::
::: spoiler What if a turn is not completed / running late?
If you anticipate not being able to complete your turn, just let us know (the
sooner, the better) so we can make adjustments. Shit pops up. There are more
important things in life than a stupid game. We won't be mad at you.
In case Fortress Friday rolls around and there is no submission, Tentatively, I
think we give the player 24 hours to actually make their post before we start
openly contemplating passing to the next player, followed by another 24 hours to
find out which of the next players is actually available. So if there is no update by
mid-Saturday, we find another candidate, and if there is no word by mid-Sunday,
they are given the green light to play.
:::
::: spoiler What if a turn is completed early?
You can tease us (it's reassuring to know progress is being made), but hold on to your
spoilers until Fortress Friday. I think keeping this thing on a regular
schedule will do a lot to keep everybody looking forward to updates and keeping
things organized. If anticipation is eating away at you, try to fill in some
lore and backstory.
:::
Rules
There are not many hard rules, but generally
You play for one year in-game time. Turns should begin and end on 1st Granite.
Avoid using blatant exploits (the game is built of cheese, so this is sort of
the pornography rule, "you know it when you see it.")
Try not to save-scum (Do save though. Crashes happen, and named "save and continue" saves won't
clutter the main save).
You are free to use DFHack, but do not use any of it's "Armok" (god-mode)
features. Also, try to keep it modest. The fort shouldn't fail
catastrophically if the next player doesn't have DFHack installed. Right now
the only DFHack feature enabled is seedwatch.
...
If any of you know personally of a minimal file upload server (free software,
not a service) that I can run on matapacos.dog, which allows me to generate
unique URLs which people can use to submit files directly, I am open to
suggestions. Searching for "file upload software" or even "open source file
upload server" is not very productive. There are millions of these things and
most of them do way too much or not exactly what I need. I'd love to just
hand out URLs which include a one-time-use auth key in them which allow players
to upload the files directly.
Moonworm [any] - 2day
Ready to rock and roll
8
PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them] - 2day
Hell yeah
3
PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them] - 3day
Prologue
The World of Wind
The Year is 201 in Teyo Ametha, "The World of Wind"
(site location circled in orange, center-left of the southern edge)
It is a time of hardship for the Dwarves. Only three notable pockets of Dwarven
civilization remain in the known world. The Glad Arches in a volcanic region
far to the north, The Unseen Cave out in the mountains to the east, and The
Emerald Rag located in the bitter cold of the extreme south. Combined, these
three isolated societies number 1650 Dwarves.
Other Dwarven civilizations once stood proudly alongside their bearded
brethren, but one-by-one, they had been claimed by misfortune. In late 59 to
early 60, a war known as the Conflict of Disembowelers found the Dwarves of The
Glazes of Sun placed under siege by a Goblin civilization known as The Misty
Nightmares. The Glazes of Sun were pushed back to the furthest extremes of the
known world, their final stronghold in the fortress of Oilsky. Some 95 souls
still call this place home. It might as well be a prison.
The Tapered Mirrors, a Dwarven society which once existed in the north, gained
worldwide notoriety when they managed to fend off a Dragon attack in 103, only
to succumb to the Forgotten Beast Hollowspray the Abyssal, who sacked the
fortress of Phrasebronze in 113. There are only two known survivors left in the
world. The ballads about the fortress annealed by dragon's fire don't bring the
same cheer to the taverns as they once did.
With the Dwarves up against the ropes, one might be forgiven for thinking this
is a doomed world, however not everyone has shared equally in this misfortune.
The Humans and the Elves have faired well, with several sprawling settlements in
the temperate lowlands, and the Dwarves, despite their setbacks, are not out for
the count quite yet. There is hope yet that the world will endure against the
omnipresent threat of Goblin raids and the debauchery of the necromancers.
The Emerald Rag
(sites in blue, friendly civilizations in green, enemies (at war) in orange,
Beardrenched in yellow, "other" sites in gray)
The Emerald Rag is a Dwarven civilization which has existed as long as recorded
history, located around the snow-whipped mountains of The Oily Land, a region in
the southwest. Its domains once spanned over 20 settlements, but ever since the
beginning of The Savage War in 88 the tide has turned. One after another, these
settlements have fallen into the hands of The Continental Boulders. A vile
force of darkness lead by the wicked Dwarf Necromancer, Momuz Laboredesteem.
Two centuries ago, Momuz was once the Mayor of Tribestockade, a fortress of The
Emerald Rag. Over the years he became obsessed with his own mortality and
sought to extend his life by any means. For twenty years, he used the
considerable resources at his disposal to establish a cult worshiping the God of
The Dead. After twenty years of prayer, his devotion was rewarded. Through an
act of divine intervention, a tablet was bestowed upon him inscribed with the
Secrets of Life and Death. Inscribed by none other than the divine hand of the
God of The Dead itself. With the power of immortality and an army of reanimated
soldiers at his command, he has lead The Continental Boulders for over a century
in pursuit of nothing less than world domination.
As the calendar flips over to year 201, about 540 Dwarves spread across eleven
remaining settlements of The Emerald Rag still stand tall against this immediate
threat. Other dangers loom as well - Titans and Forgotten Beasts still roam the
world, and The Misty Nightmares continue to grow in strength. Queen Mistem
Tradepraises commissions a party of seven to establish a foothold in The Forest
of Ropes, a densely wooded boreal forest surrounded by Humans and Elves, with
Goblins just beyond. So begins the tale of Beardrenched.
Beardrenched: Episode 1
Porkroll sits at the front of the wagon, stretching out a map. "I'm pretty sure
we're supposed to be coming up on a river soon. We're almost there." Doubledee
(the only member of the party with a skill point invested in reading) snatches
the map out of his hands. "You're holding it upside-down, you idiot. You
imbecile." They smack Porkroll in the back of the head. "The Sensitive
Diamond? We probably crossed that river miles ago!" In fairness, it is quite
difficult to tell the difference between a river and solid ground when
everything is frozen and blanketed in snow.
After a moment of quiet, the wagon slips sharply and a couple of the dwarves are
thrown to the ground. As they turn around, they see one of the wagon wheels has
been thrown from its axle. Things grow even quieter now. The only sounds are
the frosty wind weaving through the pine trees, broken by the occasional crunch
of snow or hooveclop of the caravan's livestock. "Well, we're here.
Wherever here is." The dwarves decide this is as good a place as any to
STRIKE THE EARTH!
The Dwarves waste no time surveying their surroundings. Oreb suits up in copper
armor, Porkroll begins cutting down some trees, Moonworm and Context grab their
picks and begin digging a burrow into the soil. Gay King Prince Charles takes
stock of the party's supplies and begins making lists of needed implements.
Before long, there is enough room to begin unloading the wagon.
The soil layer is composed mostly of silt, marbled with bands of sand. Not much
later, there is enough room for Booty to start sowing the subterranean crops
which will sustain the fledgling colony. Living in the dirt is no dignified
existence for a dwarf however. Dirt is for animals to shit and roll around in.
For the Humans to then manicure so they can eat fruits that they grow in the
shit. In giant fields of shit they waste their entire lives on. Dwarven
civilization is cut from stone, and so we must dig downward. We strike a light
aquifer. With no stone at our disposal, the damp walls are sealed off with
wooden blocks. On the other side, we emerge within a large deposit of chalk.
Praise Armok!
A surface dweller might ask, "Chalk? So What?" but Dwarves are keen geologists.
Chalk is a sedimentary stone, and like all sedimentary stones is created by
natural processes of erosion. It is also a flux stone, serving an essential
input in the production of steel. Also, being a layer originating from processes
of erosion, we are sure to find seams of lignite and bituminous coal - the
product of organic materials like wood becoming encased in stone and subject to
enormous pressure (spoiler alert).
Moonworm and Context work long hours digging a hearth out of the chalk. A
sizable hall flanked by bedrooms on the upper level and workshops below them.
The chalk extends seemingly forever, dotted with pockets of magnetite,
cassiterite, and various gemstones. No coke yet though.
With spring giving way to Summer and all the snow long gone, it is obvious the
river we were supposed to settle on is nowhere in sight. The only water
available exists in stagnant pools which are frozen for half of the year. The
surroundings are just an endless expanse of pine trees. If we ever run out of
food, it looks like there are enough wild potatoes to fall back on - if we
remember to pick them while they're in season. Wolverines periodically harass
our livestock, but the dogs seem fairly matched for them. Occasionally stoats
can be seen scurrying through the trees.
A group of migrants arrive at Beardrenched. 3 miners, a doctor, an animal
caretaker, and a couple of craftsdwarves. Pressed by water scarcity, we begin
digging exploratory tunnels downward from a storage basement. We know there is
a vast network of caverns somewhere beneath us - the natural habitat of
our beloved plump helmets. Maybe there we will find some water, or magma, or
even coal!
After digging downward for a while, instead of finding a cavern we found another
light aquifer. We expediently decided to use this aquifer to gradually
accumulate water so we can build a freshwater well. Upon digging the shaft
which would connect the well to our living space, the stone gives way revealing
the caverns we had initially been looking for. Nearby, a deep chasm leads
directly down to a second network of caverns.
The well is completed with some minor adjustments (going through two layers of
air) as the dwarves begin exploring the caverns. Tower-caps are cut down for
wood. Cave spider webs are collected to be spun into silk thread, and any
easily-reached gems are ripped out of the walls (there are still some low
hanging fruit). News of the discovery spreads quickly. One by one, a handful
of human monster hunters begin to arrive at Beardrenched, seeking adventure and
glory in the underground caverns. Before long, most of the upper caverns have
been surveyed. What lies beyond the deep chasm below remains a mystery.
Our liaison from the Mountainhome arrived as scheduled in mid-autumn with a
trade caravan. Unfortunately, this happened right as we were renovating the
fortress enterance, so we hastily constructed a trade depot out of wood on the
surface (its still there, btw). Seriously, I thought it would take this guy an
extra month to find this place. He must have stopped and gotten directions from
the elves.
7
PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them] - 3day
We exchange a bin full of chalk crafts for an assortment of textiles and
leatherworks. We requested that the caravan bring coke next year, as we still
haven't found any. In return, they requested cloth, offering to pay double for
it. At some point, a few extra dwarves must have arrived because there are a
couple extra unfamiliar faces around here.
For the rest of the year, construction in the fortress continues apace, building
bedrooms and furniture for the residents - 18 dwarves and 5 human monster
slayers.
The miners have just about given up hope of finding any fuel at all. They break
the news to Gay King Prince Charles in the year's final administrative meeting.
Gay King Prince Charles thinks in silence for a moment. Without fuel ores, the
only way we can power our furnaces is with magma or charcoal, and I don't see
any magma. For coking steel, magma won't even cut it - charcoal is the only
option. She breaths a deep sigh which condenses in the cool winter air. "We might have to go Isengard on this shit."
State of the Fortress
Population 23 - 18 Dwarves, 5 resident (not yet citizen) human monster slayers
Farming, Carpentry, Stoneworks, Metalurgical, Jewlery, and Tailoring industries
established to greater and lesser degrees.
Ores of iron and tin discovered
First cavern level discovered, almost completely explored. No water, no magma. A large
chasm leads to Cavern 2.
Large amounts of cave spider silk collected (roughly 200 units worth), in
addition to gems, tower caps and fungiwood
18 luxurious bedrooms + a communal dorm room. At this particular moment, you can tell which bedrooms belong to
a named player because they have stone cabinets in them.
NO COKE - must burn wood for coal. Magma would greatly reduce our reliance on
charcoal and enable things like infinite green-glass / earthenware production.
Breeding pairs of Turkey, Guineafowl, Sheep, Cow, Horse, Cat, Dog (as long as
the animals are straight, also this is un-fucking-believably lucky)
An indoor pasture for grazers!
Functional well fed from aquifer
40 iron, 20 tin bars available, 71 cloth, even more thread waiting to be made
into cloth (save some for sutures though)
2 bee hives, I guess we need jugs to harvest these
A handful of dimple cup dye
Just over 200 stone block constructions (mostly floor)
Recommendations
We have narrowly crossed the population threshold to become a hamlet (20), which
is when strange moods and small raids begin to happen. On the other hand, we
have blown past the wealth requirement (5000☼) with 19000☼ created wealth. This
will drive a lot of immigration in addition to drawing unwanted attention.
I suggest starting a second living space + workshops deeper down rather than
carving dozens of additional bedrooms near the surface. Closer to magma, and
ideally below a cavern lake so we can build some water wheels for power. This
may take more than one turn to accomplish. Surveying the lower caverns will
allow longer term plans to be made without worrying about unexpected entrances
for giant cave spiders appearing in the middle of where the tavern was supposed
to go.
Security is currently low. With the wrong roll (flying level 2 building
destroyer), a beast can break the stone door in the cavern and fly up the well.
A climber might be able to go down the well and then take the stairs. Any
type of level 2 building destroyer can do the same with the stone door at the
surface. We should build alternate trap entrances for unwelcome guests
(especially on the surface).
It is your choice whether to take the iron bars and start making armor, or if
you should burn considerably more wood to produce steel. There's plenty of
magnetite ore and there are DEFINITELY enough trees, but there are 3000 elves
less than a day to the north of us. We haven't met them yet. You will likely
receive their first diplomatic envoy in Spring.
We should at least try to get some bears from them, or some other creatures we
can toss into a moat. There's also a sliding scale between pissing them off and
causing them to send a raid (with steel weapons, the only concern would be their
trained war animals).
Likewise, we may receive our first diplomatic envoy from the Humans in Summer.
7
9to5 [any, comrade/them] - 2day
I only played about 15h of Dwarf Fortress (which was barley enough time to get a general idea of the game). Can I say I really like the look of the Fort ? Looks efficent...mine always looked kinda chaotic.
5
Doubledee [comrade/them] - 2day
Looks promising! I agree about moving lower, I think that might be a meta decision in the new siege paradigm, make them less likely to tunnel all that distance. But I have no idea if that would really work.
I'm curious how we will manage multi year projects. In previous games I stuck to manageable projects I can get done in a year but some things really cant be done that way.
I think we should prioritize clothing, I think that would be a reliable way to trade with the elves. Doesn't even have to be their size, I think it might be a kink thing but they love to buy tattered and dwarf sized clothing, as long as it's not leather. Maybe not silk either? In any case you need the industry eventually. And you can make books wih the by-products as well.
On defense, I think with some training it's not unrealistic to believe that a couple bolt throwers with wood or bone bolts fully loaded would be up to the task of repelling invaders. Especially unarmored but I think the volume of fire means they're likely to hurt even armored foes. But training might be an ordeal.
3
PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them] - 2day
The bolt throwers can probably clear out Hell itself, but only if they are constructed and supplied ahead of time :big-cool:
4
Oreb [comrade/them] - 2day
Oreb looks down at their armor, ‘Thank Armok we’ve found iron.’ There is hope.
The fortress is off to a great start! That indoor grazing pen and the ‘hopefully’ breeding animal pairs are a big deal. Really looking forward to watching both develop (or fail catastrophically). Overall layout is top notch and your write-ups are a great mix of role-playing and information.
Glory to The Emerald Rag!
3
context [fae/faer, fae/faer] - 2day
strike the earth!
i don't think mentions in the body of a post create a notification, only when it's in a comment. i didn't get one, at any rate.
PorkrollPosadist in games
Fortress Friday - Beardrenched: Episode 1
It's Fortress Friday! This week, I finish my turn and control of the game passes to @Moonworm@hexbear.net (please confirm), with the following players waiting for a chance to leave their mark on Dwarven history.
(Beginning Dec. 19) @Doubledee@hexbear.net
(Dec. 26) (possibly, we'll try to confirm one way or another next Friday) @gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net
(Jan. 2) (can move up a week) @booty@hexbear.net
(Jan. 9) @context@hexbear.net
(Jan. 16) @Oreb@hexbear.net
(Jan. 23) @Infamousblt@hexbear.net
(Jan. 30) First slot for new players, otherwise second turns begin from the top of the list (Porkroll, Moonworm...)
New players are welcome to apply in this thread. All players and spectators are encouraged to load up the save and see what's going on first hand.
Files
Season 1: generated world | Ep. 1 (current save)
How to play
::: spoiler Importing the save
Dwarf Fortress saves are not stored in a single file. They are stored as named directories containing over a thousand individual data files. In order to load the game, you need to download a zipped archive of the save and place it in your Dwarf Fortress
savedirectory. This directory can be located in a number of places depending on which OS you are using and what settings you have enabled.If Portable mode is enabled (not default), the save directory will be located in the same directory as
dwarfort/dwarfort.exe. If you are using Steam with the default locations, these are:On Linux:
~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Dwarf Fortress/saveOn Windows:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Dwarf Fortress\saveThis directory might exist, even if Portable mode is turned off (default), but in that case it will be ignored by the game. Instead, save files are stored somewhere in your user directory.
On Linux:
~/.local/share/Bay 12 Games/Dwarf Fortress/saveOn Windows:
%AppData%\Roaming\Bay 12 Games\Dwarf Fortress\saveExtract the
FFSeason1directory from the archive and place it inside of the appropriatesavedirectory, then you should see it after starting the game.:::
::: spoiler Stopping the clock
By using a combination of the "Autosave Frequency" (any setting as long as it is not "Off") and "Pause after every autosave" options, you can cause the game to pause at the exact moment the calendar ticks over to 1st Granite (the first day of the year).
After the game pauses, you still have the opportunity to do a couple minor things, like designating blueprint tiles to label hazards, noteworthy sources of material, or leaving graffiti. You can also rename stockpiles and rooms, etc. before writing the final save. You should avoid doing anything that will substantially change the behavior of the fort or generate labor tasks (like creating / removing stockpiles, changing which items are allowed to be stored in stockpiles, enabling / disabling standing orders, creating new work orders, or designating new rooms / meeting areas). Military schedules often change at the start of a season (e.g. the "staggered training" preset). This is fine.
Any blueprints left are merely suggestions. The next player is free to ignore them. If you wanted something built there, you should have microed your miners better :P
:::
::: spoiler Exporting the save
When Dwarf Fortress creates auto-saves, or if you use the "save and continue playing" feature, Dwarf Fortress will write these saves to an alternate directory (e.g.
autosave1orpull the lever). When you finish your turn, you need to use the "Save and return to title menu" option and choose "Save to this timeline." You need to do this even though the game just created an auto-save. This will write the save back to theFFSeason1directory, which you can then place in a zip archive and submit.:::
::: spoiler Making your submission.
Save files can be e-mailed to fortress-friday@matapacos.dog ahead of time. Some e-mail services (like Gmail) prohibit sending large enough attachments, but if it works on your end, it should work on mine. Otherwise, the file may need to be hosted using a third-party service. Dwarf Fortress File Depot is the canonical service for this (they have a category specifically for community games), but any service which doesn't require me to create an account or jump through flaming hoops is acceptable. Currently, the compressed save is about 50MB. It won't get any smaller with time.
Alternately, submissions can be made as a reply to the following week's Fortress Friday post, which will be posted in anticipation of a submission. This thread will be posted and used to coordinate the game and get the proper files into the hands of the next player regardless of if the anticipated turn was completed.
Whether or not the file was transferred in advance, The player who just completed their turn should make a top-level comment in this thread describing noteworthy events of their turn. You are encouraged (but not required) to roleplay and continue to spin a fantasy narrative out of it, but you don't need to write us a Tolkien novel - especially if you are pressed for time and have other shit to worry about. This shouldn't feel like a homework assignment.
My initial submission will be excessive because I am also covering the results of world-generation, the historical circumstances of the civilization we chose, and the embark. Subsequent posts will mostly be focused on chronicling events in Fortress Mode. You are absolutely not expected to export the world history and spend hours dicking around in Legends Viewer spinning up backstories for every minor goblin who gets turned into dog food.
:::
::: spoiler What if a turn is not completed / running late?
If you anticipate not being able to complete your turn, just let us know (the sooner, the better) so we can make adjustments. Shit pops up. There are more important things in life than a stupid game. We won't be mad at you.
In case Fortress Friday rolls around and there is no submission, Tentatively, I think we give the player 24 hours to actually make their post before we start openly contemplating passing to the next player, followed by another 24 hours to find out which of the next players is actually available. So if there is no update by mid-Saturday, we find another candidate, and if there is no word by mid-Sunday, they are given the green light to play.
:::
::: spoiler What if a turn is completed early?
You can tease us (it's reassuring to know progress is being made), but hold on to your spoilers until Fortress Friday. I think keeping this thing on a regular schedule will do a lot to keep everybody looking forward to updates and keeping things organized. If anticipation is eating away at you, try to fill in some lore and backstory.
:::
Rules
There are not many hard rules, but generally
You play for one year in-game time. Turns should begin and end on 1st Granite.
Avoid using blatant exploits (the game is built of cheese, so this is sort of the pornography rule, "you know it when you see it.")
Try not to save-scum (Do save though. Crashes happen, and named "save and continue" saves won't clutter the main save).
You are free to use DFHack, but do not use any of it's "Armok" (god-mode) features. Also, try to keep it modest. The fort shouldn't fail catastrophically if the next player doesn't have DFHack installed. Right now the only DFHack feature enabled is
seedwatch....
If any of you know personally of a minimal file upload server (free software, not a service) that I can run on matapacos.dog, which allows me to generate unique URLs which people can use to submit files directly, I am open to suggestions. Searching for "file upload software" or even "open source file upload server" is not very productive. There are millions of these things and most of them do way too much or not exactly what I need. I'd love to just hand out URLs which include a one-time-use auth key in them which allow players to upload the files directly.
Ready to rock and roll
Hell yeah
Prologue
The World of Wind
The Year is 201 in Teyo Ametha, "The World of Wind"
(site location circled in orange, center-left of the southern edge)
It is a time of hardship for the Dwarves. Only three notable pockets of Dwarven civilization remain in the known world. The Glad Arches in a volcanic region far to the north, The Unseen Cave out in the mountains to the east, and The Emerald Rag located in the bitter cold of the extreme south. Combined, these three isolated societies number 1650 Dwarves.
Other Dwarven civilizations once stood proudly alongside their bearded brethren, but one-by-one, they had been claimed by misfortune. In late 59 to early 60, a war known as the Conflict of Disembowelers found the Dwarves of The Glazes of Sun placed under siege by a Goblin civilization known as The Misty Nightmares. The Glazes of Sun were pushed back to the furthest extremes of the known world, their final stronghold in the fortress of Oilsky. Some 95 souls still call this place home. It might as well be a prison.
The Tapered Mirrors, a Dwarven society which once existed in the north, gained worldwide notoriety when they managed to fend off a Dragon attack in 103, only to succumb to the Forgotten Beast Hollowspray the Abyssal, who sacked the fortress of Phrasebronze in 113. There are only two known survivors left in the world. The ballads about the fortress annealed by dragon's fire don't bring the same cheer to the taverns as they once did.
With the Dwarves up against the ropes, one might be forgiven for thinking this is a doomed world, however not everyone has shared equally in this misfortune. The Humans and the Elves have faired well, with several sprawling settlements in the temperate lowlands, and the Dwarves, despite their setbacks, are not out for the count quite yet. There is hope yet that the world will endure against the omnipresent threat of Goblin raids and the debauchery of the necromancers.
The Emerald Rag
(sites in blue, friendly civilizations in green, enemies (at war) in orange, Beardrenched in yellow, "other" sites in gray)
The Emerald Rag is a Dwarven civilization which has existed as long as recorded history, located around the snow-whipped mountains of The Oily Land, a region in the southwest. Its domains once spanned over 20 settlements, but ever since the beginning of The Savage War in 88 the tide has turned. One after another, these settlements have fallen into the hands of The Continental Boulders. A vile force of darkness lead by the wicked Dwarf Necromancer, Momuz Laboredesteem.
Two centuries ago, Momuz was once the Mayor of Tribestockade, a fortress of The Emerald Rag. Over the years he became obsessed with his own mortality and sought to extend his life by any means. For twenty years, he used the considerable resources at his disposal to establish a cult worshiping the God of The Dead. After twenty years of prayer, his devotion was rewarded. Through an act of divine intervention, a tablet was bestowed upon him inscribed with the Secrets of Life and Death. Inscribed by none other than the divine hand of the God of The Dead itself. With the power of immortality and an army of reanimated soldiers at his command, he has lead The Continental Boulders for over a century in pursuit of nothing less than world domination.
As the calendar flips over to year 201, about 540 Dwarves spread across eleven remaining settlements of The Emerald Rag still stand tall against this immediate threat. Other dangers loom as well - Titans and Forgotten Beasts still roam the world, and The Misty Nightmares continue to grow in strength. Queen Mistem Tradepraises commissions a party of seven to establish a foothold in The Forest of Ropes, a densely wooded boreal forest surrounded by Humans and Elves, with Goblins just beyond. So begins the tale of Beardrenched.
Beardrenched: Episode 1
Porkroll sits at the front of the wagon, stretching out a map. "I'm pretty sure we're supposed to be coming up on a river soon. We're almost there." Doubledee (the only member of the party with a skill point invested in reading) snatches the map out of his hands. "You're holding it upside-down, you idiot. You imbecile." They smack Porkroll in the back of the head. "The Sensitive Diamond? We probably crossed that river miles ago!" In fairness, it is quite difficult to tell the difference between a river and solid ground when everything is frozen and blanketed in snow.
After a moment of quiet, the wagon slips sharply and a couple of the dwarves are thrown to the ground. As they turn around, they see one of the wagon wheels has been thrown from its axle. Things grow even quieter now. The only sounds are the frosty wind weaving through the pine trees, broken by the occasional crunch of snow or hooveclop of the caravan's livestock. "Well, we're here. Wherever here is." The dwarves decide this is as good a place as any to STRIKE THE EARTH!
The Dwarves waste no time surveying their surroundings. Oreb suits up in copper armor, Porkroll begins cutting down some trees, Moonworm and Context grab their picks and begin digging a burrow into the soil. Gay King Prince Charles takes stock of the party's supplies and begins making lists of needed implements. Before long, there is enough room to begin unloading the wagon.
The soil layer is composed mostly of silt, marbled with bands of sand. Not much later, there is enough room for Booty to start sowing the subterranean crops which will sustain the fledgling colony. Living in the dirt is no dignified existence for a dwarf however. Dirt is for animals to shit and roll around in. For the Humans to then manicure so they can eat fruits that they grow in the shit. In giant fields of shit they waste their entire lives on. Dwarven civilization is cut from stone, and so we must dig downward. We strike a light aquifer. With no stone at our disposal, the damp walls are sealed off with wooden blocks. On the other side, we emerge within a large deposit of chalk. Praise Armok!
A surface dweller might ask, "Chalk? So What?" but Dwarves are keen geologists. Chalk is a sedimentary stone, and like all sedimentary stones is created by natural processes of erosion. It is also a flux stone, serving an essential input in the production of steel. Also, being a layer originating from processes of erosion, we are sure to find seams of lignite and bituminous coal - the product of organic materials like wood becoming encased in stone and subject to enormous pressure (spoiler alert).
Moonworm and Context work long hours digging a hearth out of the chalk. A sizable hall flanked by bedrooms on the upper level and workshops below them. The chalk extends seemingly forever, dotted with pockets of magnetite, cassiterite, and various gemstones. No coke yet though.
With spring giving way to Summer and all the snow long gone, it is obvious the river we were supposed to settle on is nowhere in sight. The only water available exists in stagnant pools which are frozen for half of the year. The surroundings are just an endless expanse of pine trees. If we ever run out of food, it looks like there are enough wild potatoes to fall back on - if we remember to pick them while they're in season. Wolverines periodically harass our livestock, but the dogs seem fairly matched for them. Occasionally stoats can be seen scurrying through the trees.
A group of migrants arrive at Beardrenched. 3 miners, a doctor, an animal caretaker, and a couple of craftsdwarves. Pressed by water scarcity, we begin digging exploratory tunnels downward from a storage basement. We know there is a vast network of caverns somewhere beneath us - the natural habitat of our beloved plump helmets. Maybe there we will find some water, or magma, or even coal!
After digging downward for a while, instead of finding a cavern we found another light aquifer. We expediently decided to use this aquifer to gradually accumulate water so we can build a freshwater well. Upon digging the shaft which would connect the well to our living space, the stone gives way revealing the caverns we had initially been looking for. Nearby, a deep chasm leads directly down to a second network of caverns.
The well is completed with some minor adjustments (going through two layers of air) as the dwarves begin exploring the caverns. Tower-caps are cut down for wood. Cave spider webs are collected to be spun into silk thread, and any easily-reached gems are ripped out of the walls (there are still some low hanging fruit). News of the discovery spreads quickly. One by one, a handful of human monster hunters begin to arrive at Beardrenched, seeking adventure and glory in the underground caverns. Before long, most of the upper caverns have been surveyed. What lies beyond the deep chasm below remains a mystery.
Our liaison from the Mountainhome arrived as scheduled in mid-autumn with a trade caravan. Unfortunately, this happened right as we were renovating the fortress enterance, so we hastily constructed a trade depot out of wood on the surface (its still there, btw). Seriously, I thought it would take this guy an extra month to find this place. He must have stopped and gotten directions from the elves.
We exchange a bin full of chalk crafts for an assortment of textiles and leatherworks. We requested that the caravan bring coke next year, as we still haven't found any. In return, they requested cloth, offering to pay double for it. At some point, a few extra dwarves must have arrived because there are a couple extra unfamiliar faces around here.
For the rest of the year, construction in the fortress continues apace, building bedrooms and furniture for the residents - 18 dwarves and 5 human monster slayers.
The miners have just about given up hope of finding any fuel at all. They break the news to Gay King Prince Charles in the year's final administrative meeting. Gay King Prince Charles thinks in silence for a moment. Without fuel ores, the only way we can power our furnaces is with magma or charcoal, and I don't see any magma. For coking steel, magma won't even cut it - charcoal is the only option. She breaths a deep sigh which condenses in the cool winter air. "We might have to go Isengard on this shit."
State of the Fortress
Population 23 - 18 Dwarves, 5 resident (not yet citizen) human monster slayers
Farming, Carpentry, Stoneworks, Metalurgical, Jewlery, and Tailoring industries established to greater and lesser degrees.
Ores of iron and tin discovered
First cavern level discovered, almost completely explored. No water, no magma. A large chasm leads to Cavern 2.
Large amounts of cave spider silk collected (roughly 200 units worth), in addition to gems, tower caps and fungiwood
18 luxurious bedrooms + a communal dorm room. At this particular moment, you can tell which bedrooms belong to a named player because they have stone cabinets in them.
NO COKE - must burn wood for coal. Magma would greatly reduce our reliance on charcoal and enable things like infinite green-glass / earthenware production.
Breeding pairs of Turkey, Guineafowl, Sheep, Cow, Horse, Cat, Dog (as long as the animals are straight, also this is un-fucking-believably lucky)
An indoor pasture for grazers!
Functional well fed from aquifer
40 iron, 20 tin bars available, 71 cloth, even more thread waiting to be made into cloth (save some for sutures though)
2 bee hives, I guess we need jugs to harvest these
A handful of dimple cup dye
Just over 200 stone block constructions (mostly floor)
Recommendations
We have narrowly crossed the population threshold to become a hamlet (20), which is when strange moods and small raids begin to happen. On the other hand, we have blown past the wealth requirement (5000☼) with 19000☼ created wealth. This will drive a lot of immigration in addition to drawing unwanted attention.
I suggest starting a second living space + workshops deeper down rather than carving dozens of additional bedrooms near the surface. Closer to magma, and ideally below a cavern lake so we can build some water wheels for power. This may take more than one turn to accomplish. Surveying the lower caverns will allow longer term plans to be made without worrying about unexpected entrances for giant cave spiders appearing in the middle of where the tavern was supposed to go.
Security is currently low. With the wrong roll (flying level 2 building destroyer), a beast can break the stone door in the cavern and fly up the well. A climber might be able to go down the well and then take the stairs. Any type of level 2 building destroyer can do the same with the stone door at the surface. We should build alternate trap entrances for unwelcome guests (especially on the surface).
It is your choice whether to take the iron bars and start making armor, or if you should burn considerably more wood to produce steel. There's plenty of magnetite ore and there are DEFINITELY enough trees, but there are 3000 elves less than a day to the north of us. We haven't met them yet. You will likely receive their first diplomatic envoy in Spring.
We should at least try to get some bears from them, or some other creatures we can toss into a moat. There's also a sliding scale between pissing them off and causing them to send a raid (with steel weapons, the only concern would be their trained war animals).
Likewise, we may receive our first diplomatic envoy from the Humans in Summer.
I only played about 15h of Dwarf Fortress (which was barley enough time to get a general idea of the game). Can I say I really like the look of the Fort ? Looks efficent...mine always looked kinda chaotic.
Looks promising! I agree about moving lower, I think that might be a meta decision in the new siege paradigm, make them less likely to tunnel all that distance. But I have no idea if that would really work.
I'm curious how we will manage multi year projects. In previous games I stuck to manageable projects I can get done in a year but some things really cant be done that way.
I think we should prioritize clothing, I think that would be a reliable way to trade with the elves. Doesn't even have to be their size, I think it might be a kink thing but they love to buy tattered and dwarf sized clothing, as long as it's not leather. Maybe not silk either? In any case you need the industry eventually. And you can make books wih the by-products as well.
On defense, I think with some training it's not unrealistic to believe that a couple bolt throwers with wood or bone bolts fully loaded would be up to the task of repelling invaders. Especially unarmored but I think the volume of fire means they're likely to hurt even armored foes. But training might be an ordeal.
The bolt throwers can probably clear out Hell itself, but only if they are constructed and supplied ahead of time :big-cool:
Oreb looks down at their armor, ‘Thank Armok we’ve found iron.’ There is hope.
The fortress is off to a great start! That indoor grazing pen and the ‘hopefully’ breeding animal pairs are a big deal. Really looking forward to watching both develop (or fail catastrophically). Overall layout is top notch and your write-ups are a great mix of role-playing and information.
Glory to The Emerald Rag!
strike the earth!
i don't think mentions in the body of a post create a notification, only when it's in a comment. i didn't get one, at any rate.
thanks for the heads up!