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The Journal of Cog “Abc” Itebirid, Mayor
This journal was written as the fortress has entered its third year and elected me as Mayor on the third day of Granite. As we continued to strike the earth and forge the halls of our new Mountainhome, I must confess to the feeling of trepidation that crept into my bones after being given the reins to this fortress. The beginning of Spring has always been both a blessing and a curse in my eyes; the surface becomes lush and abundant - but with this bounty the new year also brings new horrors and tribulations for every dwarf…
Time moves quickly when you have been elected by general consensus to strategically lead a fortress of your fellow dwarves. The miracles, trials, and moments of suffering that I detail below will be broken up by the month. Specific dates will only be provided if I had the foresight to write them down. (If you’re wondering, yes I did actually keep a notepad…)
Granite 102
As I settled into my new role, I pondered what I wanted my long-lasting legacy of this fortress to be. Certainly my predecessors were Dwarves among dwarves, so to speak. Porkroll had supported our burgeoning industries and delivered unto the entire community master crafters and smiths. Valentina had quite literally struck the earth to bring the fortress out of our collective hearts and minds. I feared becoming the progenitor of destruction and famine. Would any endeavor I decided upon be fruitful? I did not know but I came to the conclusion I would first invest in public works across Roomtheaters, as any good leader should, by building bridges - both literally and metaphorically. A great number of bridges in fact.
A caravan of Elves arrived in the second week of Granite as bridge construction was nearing completion. At first, I doubted they would have anything great, Roomtheaters is small and elves are no great crafters of metal, but I had the broker meet with them. A fool I was! The Elves, normally a blight upon hardworking Dwarves, had brought an auspicious beast for purchase. I, of course, immediately gave them what they were asking for to save the creature and bring them into the fold - a pittance if anything.
I took the sale and freedom (through purchase) of Hex the Grizzly Bear as an omen of the year to come and immediately assigned her to be our War Bear and later entrusted her to the Militia Commander.
The remaining days of Granite were peaceful and unremarkable, save for the slight expansion of the tavern, The Craft of Posts.
Slate 102
Slate was marked by continued expansion. The month began with the construction of levers in The Craft of Posts and their linkage to the fortresses’ various bridges. Since many dwarves tend to listen to the bards there on their days off, it is an ideal location to ensure there is always at least one or two idle dwarves an arm’s length away from retracting a compromised bridge or sealing an area.
Additionally, the Chapel of Safety’s petition for further expansion into a temple was completed. A slightly audacious building, I authorized the construction of a 2x8 platinum floor since we discovered a bit more of it and 16 blocks for like 6000 zone wealth was worth it in my eyes after dumping like 6 statues and slabs in there and engraving everything but failing to meet the temple requirement.
Perhaps it was the display of excess wealth in the Temple that drew a new migrant later that week. As a Dwarf who does not believe in borders, I immediately accepted their petition to join. Please welcome al ustobot, dingo woman poet, to the fortress.
An additional 10 migrants from the Mountainhomes made their way to the fortress shortly after Al. This brought our population to 70 on the 12th of Slate.
The only other event of note as Slate drew to a close was the completion of the Mayoral room. By all accounts, it is more suitable for a Duke and a waste of space - but I have hope in my heart that I will not be re-elected again and it will be bequeathed to subsequent Mayors to make them happy.
Felsite 102
Felsite brought the appointment of a High Priest to the newly completed temple in the Chapel of Safety. A visitor dingo woman also brought a number of rumors from afar of Goblins marching upon a neighboring dwarf fortress. Many in the community were clamoring to go out on a raid in response to this, but I did not want to incite any deaths.
Hematite 102
The rumors of conflict on the horizon spurred me to create a new Squad during Hematite. You, dear reader, may wonder what I decided upon. A squad of Marksdwarves named Books of Meeting was established. (I completely forgot Marksdwarves squads are still tricky to get working/bugged until I noticed months later that they were not properly grabbing bolts…)
Hex, fortress mascot and warbear, kept getting into fights with wild horses that wandered into the pasture. In an effort to keep her alive and also prevent other wild animals or invaders from attacking our defenseless pastured animals, I have scheduled both squads to assign a single dwarf to guard duty when it is their month to train. This has cut down on wild horse fights significantly and, when the Captain of the Guard chased down a horse and cut its head off so viciously with a swing of their axe that the horse & its severed head landed in the river, provided hours of new songs for the Bards to recount in taverns worldwide.
Malachite 102
Malachite brought another 8 new migrants - bringing the population to 78. A human bard, presumably enamored with the dope ass bear we have, also requested to join - bringing the population to 79.
Malachite was the month a spark of inspiration struck me. My legacy would certainly be in Public Works for the fortress! I ordered the construction of four windmills upon the peak of the mountain (small hill really) we call home.
Galena 102
The month of Galena saw the construction of what many would call the pinnacle of Dwarven engineering. In an effort to ensure good morale across the entire fortress, I approved the construction of a mist generator above the Craft of Posts and central stairway.
The windmills were connected from above to power it.
Everyone loves it.
Limestone 102
Another month, another group of migrants. 10 this time. The population stands at 89.
A trade caravan from the Mountainhomes arrived. Nothing of note was for sale, but I did purchase two hens and two gobblers for eggs. In two years time we may have a bountiful flock.
Hex was injured again by another wild horse - so she has been pastured in the Craft of Posts, where the mist and numerous passerbys can ensure she doesn’t die.
Sandstone 102
The Craftdwarves unionized and petitioned for a guildhall. I of course, an ardent supporter of the labor movement, begun construction on a guildhall immediately. Tis perhaps quaint compared to the ostentatious wealth displayed in the Temple or even in the Mayor’s room, but the Craftsdwarves were happy with it.
I constructed a room for Valentina, Captain of the Guard. Also perhaps better suited for a Duke - but she’s worth it.
Finally, I created a room for the new Dungeon Master as well as a Dungeon and future new barracks (the hospital deserves more space).
Timber 102
The start of Timber brought fear into my heart when the Giantess, Lecitala Sted Irol, arrived on the 8th.
Honestly it seemed like she just wanted to sight-see and I did not want to hunt an intelligent creature like her, but I only had a single cage trap placed near the windmills and she refused to walk near them…
When she begun chasing a poor child who was just wandering outside, I regretfully had to send a squad to intercept.
…A single axedwarf caught up with her and made shockingly short work of her before the rest of their squad arrived. Actually horrifying, I thought she would at least put up a fight…
Rest in Peace Lecitala Sted Irol, 8th Timber - 15th Timber.
Moonstone 102
Not much of note happened as Winter arrived. A human soldier petitioned to join the fort and of course, still believing in an open border policy until the first necromancer appears, I allowed him to join bringing the population to 90. Two dwarf children were born shortly after, bringing the total population to 92.
Opal 102
Nothing happened in Opal beyond the Bone Carver entering a trance and creating a masterpiece Horse Bone Weapon Rack. Someone will surely enjoy it…?
Obsidian 102
Obsidian brought the close of winter to the fortress. Another Human, this time a Lasher, petitioned to join for the purpose of soldiering. The population stands at 93.
A bunch of wild dingoes appeared and killed one of the pastured dogs. I kicked off the years’ end celebrations with a military wide Dingo Hunt.
Hex certainly had fun, although I have heard reports of the Militia Commander muttering about how “no one should have to see a grizzly bear treat a dingo like a chew toy” into their drinks at the tavern…
Results
- Population grew from 58 to 93 by years end. That’s 35 new dwarves, which is more than half of what we began the year with!
- We did not lose a single dwarf to death, disease, drowning, or beasts!
- We have two squads now and they are all armored/kitted out.
- The fortress has expanded significantly across all areas, except below.
- We’ve created a ton of wealth and the majority of the population is damn near ecstatic to be living in communist harmony.
Recommendations for the next Chair of the Dwarven Communist Party
- The Marksdwarf squad could probably be changed to a sword or spear squad and be even more effective. At last glance though, they may not be completely bugged as it does seem like the majority of them have raised their marksdwarf skills, but I did witness a dingo get beat to death with a crossbow instead of being fired upon - so…
- We need way more bedrooms. I did begin construction on more, but only finished a handful. I believe a number of dwarves remain without beds but thankfully the mist generator has prevented everyone but the children from being dangerously unhappy.
- The troglodytes remain below and have actually given birth so there are a number of them. I am confident the militia can easily take them, but did not break the seal.
- The corpses of the troglodytes in our refuse stockpile above keep depressing the children and should probably be tossed, since they will not be used for anything since troglodytes are sentient.
- I did start constructing some additional defenses for the pasture and main gate of the fortress (walls for what were supposed to be the epic marksdwarves to stand upon and fire from), but they remain unfinished. Do what you will.
- The Soap industry needs to be started, as it is the only thing holding the hospital back. There is an Ashery and Soap Maker workshop already built. Just needs lye or fat (dingoes maybe??)
- Be sure to choose a dwarf and give yourself a nickname!!
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Dig!
Save File: https://mega.nz/file/dztwBaZD#jPhpWZmF1R0YeLXToH9awBy2wK0K3ftR4rJ1M1044lI
Troglodytes are free experience the militia should definitely be unleashed on them.
The fact that a war bear has been acquired is almost prophetic for Hexbear.
What does map have? Does it have a river?
I’m surprised you got no strange moods. Someone is gonna get 3 next year.
There was at least one, it just was anticlimactic (a bone weapon rack, apparently)
Putting your weapons on a rack made out of bone is pretty metal.
Agreed. I was like
when I saw it in the elf caravan. quickest I’ve ever sold a bunch of excess cloth although the rest of my playthrough was basically “oh god Hex is fighting another horse?? she’s gonna die!!”
There is a river right near the entrance of the fortress, see the bridge pic. I was initially going to make a mist generator for the entire central stairway & fortress below via channeling the river and a bunch of grates every z-level, but I didn’t wanna tank the FPS and also have to worry about accidentally flooding everything by forgetting to drain it off the side of the map. A waterwheel probably would’ve also been better for power but I love having a bunch of windmills powering anything for the first like 20-30 levels built atop a hill/mountain.
There were actually like 2-3, including the bone rack, just nothing notable like weapons or armor. Erush Vzolfeb made a masterpiece (or maybe artifact, I only wrote down that they made something) clay figurine during Slate. I believe the other thing was a toy or relatively useless craft as well. Nothing was sold/given away so they all should be in some stockpile or otherwise in the hands of some dwarf (for example the artifact copper bed I stuck in the Mayor/Future Duke’s room since I figured it would be best used for whoever has the highest room quality need at the time rather than sitting in the stockpile).
Is the tavern open for business? What is currently being done with the artifacts produced?
This fort is much neater than anything I make lmao. I’ve taken lately to making my fortresses feel more like towns, I don’t make a specific district for housing, instead I scatter the housing throughout the fortress. I like to spread out temples and guild halls too for the town-like feel of it all. I’m now worried about how much I’ll be judged for making anything I add intentionally disorganised and with that home-ey lived-in feel lol.
harshly and relentlessly. as i’m sure you recall, the original boatmurdered was famous in part for how neatly organised the fort was and how consistent the architectural design of the fort remained from player to player. :p
It’s going to get particularly interesting if it survives any length of time because some mistakes become rather permanent.
The tavern as it stood on Granite 1, Year 103 last night when I closed out of it didn’t have any rentable rooms. It is open to visitors and had 1-2 human/dingo-people visitors at essentially all times after I built the mist generator. I was not particularly worried about theft because Hex is pastured right in the entrance hallway to the tavern (and I even considered chaining a war dog in the tavern as well but there hasn’t been any crimes requiring it yet)
I didn’t touch any of the artifacts unless they were furniture that could be used to improve the quality of a room. The artifact copper bed Porkroll made in his year is currently in the room assigned to the mayor. I believe an artifact cabinet or table is also in the room or perhaps in the Captain of the Guard’s room.
SAME lol. Most of my forts use one 20x20 ‘everything but refuse’ stockpile and a single workshop nearby of each type; meanwhile this fortress has at least 15 different stockpiles spread out across different z-levels and like at least 2 of each craft workshop. It has actually inspired me to get better at stockpile management because wow, I knew instinctively that having individual fuel, metal bar, and stone stockpiles right next to the smelter/smithy would result in them sitting down and doing an entire workorder at once rather than take 2 months because they have to travel up 10 z-levels to the central stockpile and bring back a single bar of iron for the next sword, but I didn’t want to believe it (mainly because setting stockpiles is a pain in the ass imo). Same thing with the apartments Porkroll built - holy shit I dunno why I’ve always done 5x3 rooms for EVERY dwarf on a single z-level and lamented quickly running out of space when it is much easier to just build an u/d staircase in the middle of two unoccupied z-levels and just mine out the apartments from there.
I had the same fear for like the first hour or two I played which is largely why I think I focused more on building bridges/the mist generator and building out the petitioned zones instead of mining further down, as I would’ve normally certainly established some sort of funky farm in the cavern that dwarves would’ve been running back and forth between without any defense - but I think if no one (yet) has berated me for using the platinum for the chapel floor and then building a 7x8 room for the mayor, you should be perfectly fine going for a more natural kind of fortress with disorganized areas and unfinished rooms!!
I use both together. Central stockpile to mass store everything then smaller stockpiles that TAKE from the central stockpile and nowhere else so that the central pile is always where things are put before they get transferred to the smaller piles. The smaller piles then get filled from the central pile until they’re full. I don’t use many though, only for certain stuff that’s usually out of the way compared to the main port, like when I have a volcano map the metal industrial area is usually quite far from everything else.
Hmmm I’m a fan of keeping the caverns open 100% of the time. Right now in my current fort I managed to embark with two war elephants somehow. They have been guarding the cavern entrance the whole time. I’ve only had one forgotten beast spawn and the 5 man militia handled that fine but they do all have fully steel multilayered equip with leather as well.
Really the question is what kind of story any given mayor wants to produce. Someone’s gonna do something stupid just to spice it up.
In addition to making workshop tasks complete faster, it allows EVERY free dwarf to move these things around concurrently. It saves a ton of time.
I’m in the same boat as @Awoo@hexbear.net as far as doing a generalized stockpile and having others pull from it, but I don’t usually make it one-way. I also handle stone and wood separately. I make individual stone stockpiles for specific stones I want crafts to be made out of, and change the stone when it starts running out. For wood, I make a stockpile on the surface where chopped wood can accumulate quickly, then have stockpiles throughout the fort pull from it. I do this mainly because stone/wood takes up a ton of space.
There are other useful things you can do as well. Usually my living space is a bit of a hike both from my surface entrance and my cavern entrances. Dwarves will constantly be making 50-100+ tile trips every time they get thirsty or hungry, so I plop down a pair of small (only 2 tiles) food stockpiles in these locations. One is ONLY drinks, and the other is ONLY edible food (prepared meals, fruits, etc.). You want to keep them small so they don’t drain your main stocks and force dwarves from more populated areas to hike all the way down your mineshaft.
This saves dwarves from wasting a considerable amount of time every time they get thirsty, and helps avoid the situation where you post a squad at your front gate and two thirds of them are always off somewhere looking for beer. If I’m going to do some exploratory mining deep below my living space, I’ll plop down these food stockpiles and maybe even a small dorm. If you ever notice your miners are only able to mine like 10 tiles before getting thirsty and wondering off, you absolutely want to do this.
When I left it, it was public. In my current unrelated playthrough I’ve had a long-unfolding conspiracy to steal my artifacts. A cutout has been recruiting thieves in my fortress. I got the cutout to flip on his boss and apparently it is a goblin which has been doing this for nearly 500 years. @abc was wise to appoint a captain of the guard, because there are likely to be some scemers in the tavern.
Do you have pictures of this? The closest I got to ‘making it feel like a town’ was when I carved a bunch of commieblocks into an artificial cavern I dug out.
Afraid not. The general starting point is a main road into a market square, with a nearby tavern, warehouse and town hall. Off of that then sprouts rows of houses mixed together with workshops as necessary. Usually a couple houses dotted in between the main central stuff too. Medieval maps are pretty good for getting the feel, here’s London:
Others have done pretty good remakes of it in other games that are useful for getting feel too: