The Epic of "Plankfenced" (Dwarf Fortress)

[Dubyamn]

Let's do just a straight Vanilla game of Dwarf Fortress. Just Graphic packs to insure that everybody can play it nice and easy.

Also let's be allot more strict about 1 week per turn. If a week goes by and the person still isn't done their turn the save goes back to the player who played before. That player can decide to play another year or to pass it on.

1. Dubyamn
2. Bhamv
3. Bearscholar
4. Necronic
5. Pojodan
6. Chronos
7. Wahad
8. ???

Official log of the USSP (United Socialist States of Plankedfenced"

The leaders of the Burgious fatcats back home have selected me to be the leader of the new socialist society of Plankedfenced. I have selected my fellow revolutionaries of the Proletariat to support me in making our worker's paradise where every member of society provides as he is best able and recieves as he needs.

1st of Felsite:

My comrades and I have arrived at the site that the foolish capitalists have given us. Little do they know that this is the site where their ideas of the free market and Supply side economics will die. We can do it comrades I just know it.

I am setting our main entrance up in the cliffs. It will be hard for the Fishers and the loggers but it will provide us a greater defense. Also the mountains form a basin that we can turn into a funnel of death with a few ballista and some crossbows.

15th of Felsite

The Stairs coming down from the top has already found a large bounty of Silver, Copper and Cassandrite meaning that as soon as we are able to produce metal we will have a supply of Bronze which in the hands of a skilled weaponsmith can become nearly as dangerous as steel. It will also provide our weaponsmith with plentiful metal to train with.

Unfortunately the grand entrance hall is still incomplete. But Farmland, Dining hall, industry centers, wells and Forges will need to be dug out before I can really spare the dwarfpower needed to finish the job.

12th of Slate

My Dwarves have started excavating the area that will become the farm.

I have selected a large area so that our farms will produce a great surplus of crops so as to provide food for as many refugees fleeing to our socialist utopia from the corrupt capitalist homeland.

The industrial complex will be up several floors and will include alcoves for Masons, Carpenters, Mechanics, craftdwarfs, a graveyard for bones to collect and even a butcher and Tanners shop to produce the bones.

In order to cut down on the gridlock that eventually renders many fortresses non functioning I have made the Main through fairs 4 blocks wide which will allow dwarves to move around each other rather than trying to go over and under. Thus both no Dwarf is elevated higher than his fellow comrade..

20th of Malachite

The Farms are fully dug out as well as the storerooms to store the food and crops.

Right now I have not found the time to fully dig out the dining hall or bedrooms so we are currently sleeping in the hallways. It is unfortunate but in our socialist paradise we refuse to give our specific rooms lest one dwarf gain more than another. In the future we shall dig out a grand barracks that all will sleep in and it shall be grand.

The miners have been very very productive and have nearly completed work on the Industrial complex. Soon the mountain itself shall quake with the production done here. Now if only that lazy Mason would make the doors, hatch covers, tables and chairs that we desperately need.

The Farmlands, Store houses and production rooms are also complete. Next I will start making Farmer's workshops that will feed the weavers 1 floor down who will then feed the Dyers and Clotheirs 1 floor down. But such industry will wait until food and safety are secure.

I have also sited a place for an indoor well. It'll take a long time to dig out since the brook is miles away but there really is no rush to complete it since I'm not expecting any injuries and we have a comfortable supply of booze.

 

[Wahad]

The Epic of "Plankedfenced" (Dwarf Fortress)

Communist dwarves?

 

[Dubyamn]

The Epic of "Plankedfenced" (Dwarf Fortress)

Official log of USSP

Opal 3rd:

It has been along time since I updated our official log I am afraid it is because my comrades and I have been working hard to secure our socialist paradise in which all dwarves can have good food, and good Dwarfen [strike:2pwwkt4z]Vodka[/strike:2pwwkt4z] Ale. But securing our lands has not been an easy task.

First a roaming band of capitalists have found our fortress and no doubt will report our position to others.

Most of them left without bothering us but one in particular gave us a list of his foul demands.

If I do not fulfill his list of obscure and vague demands I have no doubt that he will fulfill his threat that "our fortunes rise and fall together." I believe that the capitalists mean to kill me even if I fulfill their requests it is only right I am the biggest revolutionary ever to be born inside the dwarfhomes.

Since the meeting I have been vigilant against their conspiracies. I had thought the Dwarves I brought with me were dwarves you could trust with your life but now I am not so sure. I believe that the Well fiasco was an attempt on my life not as they claimed me ordering them to dig too close to the river.

I had to abandon a great deal of useful stone there because of this mix up. Next there was a series of dead animal left around the fort.

Near the food near the dining room near the workshops. The intent is obvious they mean to let disease sicken and corrupt us much like their greed and mass production has poisoned all the dwarves. I do admit their is a bit of irony in destroying the cure to the dwarven woes with a disease but no the Socialist fire burns too brightly to be exstinguished by a few dead lizards left around.

And then this morning they unleashed their most diabolical attack yet.

Assasin!!! They have tried to kill me in my sleep with a Kobold assasin Mercenary. They have gone too far!! I attempted to capture and detain the killer but he was too fast and the only thing I could do was punch him once in the spleen.

That is right you capitalist Bastard!!! Feel the fury of the People!!!!!

We also have a wave of 5 refugees that came earlier this week. I don't know yet if I can trust them. It is getting harder and harder to know who to trust. I can feel my comrades looking at me harshly. They think that I am getting paranoid. How dare they doubt my loyalty to them!!! There is none so trusting as I... However... if I could somehow silence the murmurs, end the plots and bring peace I can give birth to my paradise. But how to do so? I must think on this.

 

[Dubyamn]

The Epic of "Plankedfenced" (Dwarf Fortress)

Final Log update of the USSP:

The year has gone well for me and my comrades as untrustworthy to the cause as they are. We have completed work on our Metal Works. We tapped into the volcano and have piping hot magma flowing through our forges and smelters. Now we just need to assign smelters and can start forging Trap blades to put in our traps.

Unfortunately we have not been able to complete the storehouse to hold the ores up one floor or the storhouses to hold the armor, weapons and finished metal bars one floor down. Something for my succesor to finish up.

We have also started mining out an area to fill with a siege workshop and a kennels to start producing war dogs and training catapults.

In addition I have set up a rather novel approach to defending the trade depot should we ever find another worker's paradise who we allow to trade with us. I've mined into the mountain and have set up a spiral down to near our production facility.

And I'm setting up our barracks right next to one turn in the path. It should allow us to defend the spiral if the Capitalist assassins manage to get past the traps my successor will set up at the entrance.

The Barracks will also give me the room to set up enough beds for everybody to sleep where I can keep an eye on them. Unfortunately I was unable to set up my secret police but if I ever need to cleanse my creation all I need is to pull the red lever located under the 7th bed.

-- Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:27 pm --

Save file is up here.

http://rapidshare.com/files/217910915/region2.zip.html

Housing is still a problem but we have nearly all of our production up and running. Next person needs to set up a series of traps and start up training some smelters.

 

[bhamv2]

I'm next, right?

 

[Wahad]

Yes, as nobody objected to the turn order.

 

[bhamv2]

SPRING:

Ah, bloody revolution. Always a pleasure.

Let's get one thing straight first. We're dwarves. We dig for things, we make things, and then when we're done we horde them. We love having our own possessions. We love buying things in a free market, because then we get cheap stuff. We love being wealthy.

We endured one whole year with the First Comrade, but no longer. From this moment onwards, the First Comrade is demoted to lowliest peon, and I'm in charge. From now on, if there's a job no one wants to do, the First Comrade gets to do it. And we're going to all get as rich as we individually can, screw everyone else. Ever wonder why "comrade" and "commode" sound alike? It's because communism is crap, that's why.

First, communism is inefficient. Why would someone want the people to give all their possessions to the government, the collective, and then have the government give it back again? Wouldn't it be easier to just, I dunno, keep everything to start with?

And this deal with the trade depot. I have never seen such an inefficient design! A huge looping spiral tunnel upwards, which will take our two miners months to complete, when we already have a staircase that leads directly from our goods stockpile! Not to mention the fact that a separate entrance for the trade depot means we'll need double the diligence and double the guards to protect our fortress. I told our miners to cancel the spiral tunnel and just dig a passage from our main entrance into the depot area. After they're finished, they get to get drunk. The miners were very receptive to the idea. The second entrance to the depot was walled off. This whole project involved digging and constructing an alternate route for wagons, but the end product was worth it.

Secondly, communism involves some misguided notion about equality. Dwarves are not equal. In fact, we love inequality, and we openly flaunt it. We have nobles, who get to make mandates and demands, and non-nobles, who do not. We segregate our craftdwarves by skill level, and the most skilled dwarves get to shimmer. So none of this stuff about everyone sleeping together in the hallway. We're building bedrooms for everyone, and if you get a room that sucks and you're jealous of your neighbor's posh room, go read what I wrote about inequality again.

An Elven trading caravan arrives, and we trade some of our stone crafts for their fruits and berries. To add insult to injury, I make the First Comrade conduct the exchange, to show him that free trade works.

For some reason, pretty much every single stone in the fortress was designated for dumping. As a result, all of our haulers were busy lugging stones from one end of the fort to the other. Morale-boosting, no doubt, but inefficient. I tell them to knock it off with the stone hauling, and haul more important things instead, like food and furniture.

Several kobolds poke their noses inside our fortress, but just the sight of our magnificence is enough to send them packing. I make a mental note to create a military force at the earliest opportunity.

I get a well set up in the cistern room. The chain's made of lead, so if anyone starts showing symptoms of lead poisoning, please have the courtesy to die outside. We don't want dwarf miasma stinking up the place.

A group of migrants arrive towards the end of spring, bringing our total number to 37. I draft several of them into the military. A peasant is taken by a fey mood and demands cut gems. I realize that we don't have a jeweler's workshop, so I build one. Then I realize we don't have any gemcutters or gemsetters, so I make the First Comrade do it.

The peasant eventually creates a maple bracelet. See, this is what I'm talking about! We're going to make all these great crafts, and become incredibly incredibly rich! Like this beautiful bracelet here, encrusted with morion and spiked with maple. It's gotta be worth...

Hmm...

Actually, we have no idea how much this thing is worth. I hope the Mountainhomes send an appraiser soon.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

Yaaay! I thoroughly approve of the accommodations here.

 

[bhamv2]

SUMMER:

The start of summer sees the completion of the basic framework of our trap maze.

Its operation is simple. The two bridges each cover a channel. Should a bridge be raised, then the channel would make the main corridor unpassable. Raising the northern bridge forces invaders to travel along the narrow winding path, which will be filled with weapon traps, the first of which is already in place. As there is a layer of plentiful obsidian available, it seems obvious that obsidian shortswords would be the best thing to fill our traps with.

Should the need arise, the brown wooden bridge can also be raised, completely sealing off the fortress. The two levers in the entrance hall control the bridges. Intuitively arranged, the northern lever controls the gray northern bridge, the southern lever controls the brown southern bridge.

A miner decides to throw a party at a table. I didn't even know that could happen.

I move the barracks to the level beneath the main entrance, partly to catch thieves earlier, and partly to ensure that the military forces would be closer to the front gates should the need for conflict arise. The barracks were deliberately made quite small, to maximize the chances of catching a thief. I decided not to chain a watchdog at the front gates, as having our fighters catch the thief would result in glorious slaughter.

A bone carver is possessed by unknown forces, and takes over a craftdwarf's workshop. Before we can call in an exorcist, though, he manages to turn a few chunks of turtle bone into a harp. I have no idea what we're going to do with this thing, as none of the dwarves in the fortress are at all musically inclined.

Our supply of turtle in the southern swamps runs out, but fortunately our plump helmet farms are in full production, so food shouldn't be a problem for the foreseeable future. We'll have to budget our turtle shells, though.

A second wave of migrants arrive, bringing our total to 49. This is cause for slight concern, as our fortress's wealthy reputation seems to be spreading. How soon, I wonder, until it reaches goblin ears, and they decide to take what is ours?

The rest of the summer passes without incident, including, interestingly enough, no sign of a human caravan. Perhaps our location is too remote for them to reach.

 

[bhamv2]

AUTUMN:

The beginning of autumn sees the arrival of the dwarven caravan from the Mountainhomes. The wagons navigate the cliffside without incident. Once again, the First Comrade is dispatched to meet with the traders. We trade away our stone crafts for some metal bars, some leather, and a few barrels of booze. The First Comrade then meets with the liaison, to establish a trade agreement for next year. I instruct him to request more booze, as well as some turtles and cave lobsters, to replenish our shell supply.

We catch a goblin snatcher in one of our cage traps. At least we know for sure, now, that the goblins are interested in us. So what do we do with a trapped goblin? Why we use him for training, of course!

Rig a lever up in the barracks, put the cage in there, connect the two together, pull the lever, and watch as the poor goblin is torn to shreds by legendary champion wrestlers.

The bloodstains in the barracks weren't even clean yet when we caught another snatcher. The process is repeated.

Another wave of migrants arrive, bringing us to 57. As we have passed the threshold of 50 dwarves needed for a mayor, the First Comrade is promptly promoted to the position. The smug expression on his face is insufferable. I decide to ignore his requirements for a dining room, a cabinet, a weapon rack, an armor stand and two chests. If he wants a pair of chests he can just find himself a dwarfess.

One of the migrants is a hunter, and he immediately gets to work shooting the local wildlife. I order the carcasses to be butchered, and the fat rendered into tallow. Then I realize we have no cook in our ranks. The First Comrade is immediately sent to the kitchens.

An animal trainer goes all mysterious near the end of autumn and starts piling wooden logs into a craftdwarf's workshop. Eventually he whittles the logs down into an oaken flute. I wonder where the rest of the material has gone, as there is no sign of wood shavings around the workshop. Once again, another musical instrument for a race that simply does not make music. Giving a dwarf an instrument is akin to giving a turtle an adamantine wafer. They both stare at it in confusion, wondering what they're supposed to do with it, before either discarding it or trying to eat it.

The First Comrade produces his first mandate, forbidding the export of mountain goat bone items. The rest of us decide to ignore him, as there's nothing he can do to us anyway - we've got no fortress guards.

 

[bhamv2]

WINTER:

The cold season arrives with little warning. The first thing we notice is not the chilly air nor the shortened days, but a horrible stench coming from one of the miners' bedrooms.

Further investigation revealed that the miner was inside the room, and the rotten carcass of a small woodland animal was with him on the bed. I do not know what he was doing in there with that carcass, nor do I particularly want to ask.

Goblin snatchers roam the mountainside again, but most are discovered by my woodcutters, dogs, or the hunter. One makes it as far as our front gates, but falls victim once again to our cage traps. Free target practice for the archer!

A miner - the same miner, in fact - organizes another party at the mica table. Either he really likes to party, or he really likes that table.

A peasant is taken by a fey mood and claims a craftdwarf's workshop. Once again, he hauls logs to the workshop until he nearly passes out from exhaustion. Bit by bit, he lazily carves the wooden logs until they become a flute. Another flute. ANOTHER DAMN FLUTE!

The rest of the season passes without incident.

As I look back over the year, I can say I'm most proud of the trap corridor and the living quarters. The filling of the trap corridor is well underway, each weapon trap armed with five obsidian shortswords. The narrow strip of space between the two bridges is occupied by cage traps, which have proven to be an effective defense against goblin snatchers.

The living quarters level is arranged in a simple and easily expanded design. The rooms are large enough to hold cabinets, chests and other amenities if needed, but their current spartan state means that, should we decide to completely embrace capitalism by setting up a dwarven economy, the rooms shouldn't cost too much in rent. We currently have enough space in the apartments for seventy dwarves, with unlimited potential for further extension.

I must say, I'm sure I've proven myself to be a much more capable leader than that First Comrade fellow. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the dwarves decided to install me as leader permanently. In fact, I hear a knock on my door now, that must be them coming to tell me how great a job I've done and how much they adore me. I'll just pop over to open the door...

***************

All righty then, that's my turn finished, a few out-of-character notes here for the next few guys:

I didn't do much during my turn, actually. No huge changes to Dubyamn's basic design.

Most notably, I didn't do much in terms of military. I've drafted a few dwarves into the military, and the melee dwarves are up to legendary wrestler status, but I haven't made any armor or weapons for them. I could've given them obsidian shortswords, but without armor they'd end up cutting each other to bits. Since my playstyle tends to focus on traps instead of military dwarves, I basically haven't been smelting ores or even digging out metal.

Also note that one military dwarf has a spinal injury. I've put him in his own squad and bought a crossbow for him, and he's been practicing at the archery range.

The military should be a priority for whoever comes next, since my trap corridor defense is effective against sieges, which are announced, but might not work against ambushes, which are not. Deploying guard animals outside may mitigate this somewhat.

The metalworking room is pretty close to the magma pipe. This makes me nervous, since there are seveal imps as well as other creatures in the pipe. The pipe is partially walled off, but the magma channels remain exposed. I can't think of any real way to solve this problem though, short of moving the entire metalworking room to a new location. Maybe flooring up the exposed channels will be enough, I dunno.

I've kept the dig designations of Dubyamn's original spiral design to the depot, though they're "orphaned" designations so there's no way for any of the miners to reach them. Just so the rest of you can see just how twisted (literally and figuratively) his original design was.

Finally, since Dubyamn asked for a vanilla game, I played this on a fresh install. That means that there are no changes to the raws, so the "too injured" cat bug is still in there. Unless all the rest of you are okay with getting constantly spammed whenever a cat tries to pick something up, maybe someone should change it. Problem with that, though, is that if someone changes it then everyone else afterwards has to have the same change to the raws, otherwise the save file won't work. If you guys agree to change it, the necessary fix can be found on the wiki.

This was fun, and thanks for letting me play.

Save file here: http://rapidshare.com/files/220552072/region2.zip.html

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

I talked with Bear Scholar here - if he isn't able to get his game up and running (it's been blowing up on him for some reason), then he has no problem with me taking his place in the turn order. We'll know within the next few days here.

 

[Dubyamn]

Awesome update Bhamv. Fully support the change to the entrance. I found out that it does take a long time for it to fully be implemented where as your design is quick and just as safe.

Looking forward to hearing if Bearscholar can join us.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

Finally, since Dubyamn asked for a vanilla game, I played this on a fresh install. That means that there are no changes to the raws, so the "too injured" cat bug is still in there. Unless all the rest of you are okay with getting constantly spammed whenever a cat tries to pick something up, maybe someone should change it. Problem with that, though, is that if someone changes it then everyone else afterwards has to have the same change to the raws, otherwise the save file won't work. If you guys agree to change it, the necessary fix can be found on the wiki.

Personally, I'm all for making the fix (Though I'd prefer we call a vote before anyone goes to fix it in case it FUBARs someone else being able to play it), but...I can't find the fix you're talking about. Link?

 

[Pojodan]

]

Finally, since Dubyamn asked for a vanilla game, I played this on a fresh install. That means that there are no changes to the raws, so the "too injured" cat bug is still in there. Unless all the rest of you are okay with getting constantly spammed whenever a cat tries to pick something up, maybe someone should change it. Problem with that, though, is that if someone changes it then everyone else afterwards has to have the same change to the raws, otherwise the save file won't work. If you guys agree to change it, the necessary fix can be found on the wiki.

Personally, I'm all for making the fix (Though I'd prefer we call a vote before anyone goes to fix it in case it FUBARs someone else being able to play it), but...I can't find the fix you're talking about. Link?

http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index. ... oo_injured

I'm rather attached to my icon mods, though I can probably figure out how to manually apply the visuals without moding the game files, though the 'cat fix' is kinda handy for cutting down on the error messages in the log.

 

[Dubyamn]

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=749

Has a graphic pack all ready installed and shouldn't have any other mods added on. And yeah the "too injured" is annoying but Vanilla allows the broadest group to play.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=749

Has a graphic pack all ready installed and shouldn't have any other mods added on. And yeah the "too injured" is annoying but Vanilla allows the broadest group to play.

Hmm - here, I've got an idea. Who here, on the list of people signed up for the game, would have an issue with the cat mod? Maybe we should have them go first - that way, we could have the cat mod after those who can't use it (for whatever reason) and have the least amount of people bothered with both the mod and what the mod fixes.

So - hands up, people.

 

[Dubyamn]

*Raises Hand*

Whole Cat mod thing not being available for the Mac was the entire reason I couldn't finish my turn on take 2. Never saw the fix that you could do yourself though I would like to try it before we decide to allow the cat mouth mods.

 

[Pojodan]

*Raises Hand*

Whole Cat mod thing not being available for the Mac was the entire reason I couldn't finish my turn on take 2. Never saw the fix that you could do yourself though I would like to try it before we decide to allow the cat mouth mods.

That's weird, but this would be a valid reason. The version Dubyamn linked looks like it's just what I'm after, so I'd say just forget the cat fix.

 

[bhamv2]

I'd just like to note that, last time, I couldn't play with my vanilla install after someone with the May Day graphics pack played. I had to download the graphics pack and extract the raws from it, and stick them in my raws folder. I'm guessing the pack does more than add graphics.

 

[Dubyamn]

I just stepped back and replayed Necronic's save from the first Fortress and he used the Mayday pack. I had no problems running it. But I made Vanilla a nessesity for my own needs and I'll be damned if I turn hypocritical to deny a problem exists.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

So...wait, I'm confused now. Should we implement the cat hack or not?

 

[Wahad]

]So...wait, I'm confused now. Should we implement the cat hack or not?

More importantly, can I play with Mayday or not?

Because I'd have to get used to normal graphics again.

 

[Dubyamn]

I'm going to implement the cat hack tonight so the Cat hack is up in the air but if Bhamv has a problem with MayDay then no MayDay.

An unplayable save for one of us is an unplayable save for all of us!!!

 

[bhamv2]

I can play even if other people use Mayday, it just involves fiddling with the raws a little bit. Nothing I can't handle, since I've started modding my own games. I've added killer orcs to my games, but I've balanced it out by creating a new overpowered metal.

 

[Pojodan]

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=749

Has a graphic pack all ready installed and shouldn't have any other mods added on. And yeah the "too injured" is annoying but Vanilla allows the broadest group to play.

This appears to be the Mayday version with just the visual mods, which doesn't affect the save files any. I'd say just use this and leave out the cat fix.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

Soooo...no cat mod then? Alright.

 

[Necronic]

I'm not going to be ready to play a turn until this weekend, but by then I should be great. What size is this map?

Also, shouldn't we move this to the games sub forum?

 

[Dubyamn]

I'm not going to be ready to play a turn until this weekend, but by then I should be great. What size is this map?

Also, shouldn't we move this to the games sub forum?

Standard size I'm pretty sure. Bumped down the size of the total map since my earlier attempts took forever to load.

 

[Pojodan]

I'm not going to be ready to play a turn until this weekend, but by then I should be great. What size is this map?

Also, shouldn't we move this to the games sub forum?

Standard size I'm pretty sure. Bumped down the size of the total map since my earlier attempts took forever to load.

What size is it, though? 5x5 is the absolute max one should do, preferable 3x3 or even smaller.

 

[bhamv2]

I just abandoned and checked out the reclaim site. It's 5x6, five wide, six tall.

 

[Necronic]

that may be too big, I have a 5x5 with a chasm, vent, botomless pit, water, wood, sand, and HFS we could try, but no iron ((I don't think)

 

[Dubyamn]

We'll keep it in the hopper. Till then I would like us to reach a legitimate end with a fortress. You know instead of petering out.

 

[bhamv2]

If we do play that one, I'm totally gonna be the one to hit HFS, I just know it.

 

[Chronos[Ha-G]]

Right, Bear's having trouble getting his game to run, even after a complete reinstall. I've directed him to post the problem somewhere on the board - I'll prod him some more to do it if he doesn't do it soon.

That being the case - I'll start my turn in the next couple of days here.