Gaming O-F Dwarf Fortress Succession Game: Armorwad - Minotaurs! Goblins! Railguns!

[Rtyh-12]

The problem that I most often face when fighting tantrum spirals is that there's a very fine balance between keeping the dwarves happy and keeping them productive. If you keep them happy, they stop tantruming, but at the same time there are many jobs to be done, most of them critical in such an emergency. If you do manage to keep them happy but work stops completely, you only postpone the end. So, my newbie question for you is: how do you usually balance happiness and productivity? I haven't yet started playing, btw, so the fortress is (for now) safe from my n00b hands

 

[Urwumpe]

All productivity you really need is Stills and Kitchen. Since many dwarfs have died you have much food left, but could always need it. You also need coffins, so you should produce them as secondary priority. All the rest is optional. No crafts, no weapons.

 

[KuatYards]

Build Drawbridges at each corner of the main entrance way (one with ballistas mounted along it) all connected to a single lever at varying intervals, raise first, link it, lower second, link it, etc... then when attacked, assign a ton of "pull lever" commands, dwarven atom smashers get to work without letting any in because they are alternating...

Atom smashers are just drawbridges, when lowered, all objects, including goblins, beneath are deleted... just poof...

They also make good garbage desposals

 

[Urwumpe]

I don't like Atom smashers. I use humans and elves for trash disposal. They even feel happy when I give them all my junk.

 

[KuatYards]

Useful for arms, legs, toes, tongues, dead hamsters, etc... stuff you can't trade.

On a side note, my main fortress has a 2 year old legendary stonecrafter, is this normal for it's 5th year?

 

[Urwumpe]

Useful for arms, legs, toes, tongues, dead hamsters, etc... stuff you can't trade.

I dump this usually on a refuse pile outside the fortress... its also useful for attracting preys. Important is just that the way is not too long and that the short cut for the dwarfs to it can be locked up completely against intruders - including Bronze Titans.

Really important for a fortress are troll traps. Trolls can destroy buildings, especially doors. A good solution is having a weapon trap right behind the door so, once the troll destroys it, he steps into the trap and is killed before he can destroy the next door.

Also very good: Hydraulic troll filters. What you need is a steep and deep cliff in front of the door, with only a small platform outside for your dwarfs. Behind the door, have a 5+ Z-level high room that you can fill completely with water for defense. When a troll opens the outer door, the water flushes him away. Also works with deep shafts and upright spikes (you then just need a system to get rid of the water). Thanks to burrows, you also use the hydraulic troll filters against goblins or kobolds (just have two doors between the reservior, that your dwarfs are not permitted to use).

if you want to abuse a funny accident: A dragon once killed itself in my fortress, by breathing fire into a booze stockpile.

2 years old is young, my youngest legendary bone carver was 5 years old.

 

[KuatYards]

Interesting design, I'll see if I can incorporate it into my main, since the trolls can smash a drawbridge when it's lowered I've always used marksdwarves to bring 'em down... same with the 12 cave dragons the goblins brought one year... and the 3 ambushes during the summer and famine in the winter...wasn't a pretty year :lol:

5 years?... looks like I might have the record for youngest legendary

 

[Rtyh-12]

Guys, I'm sorry, but this isn't working out as I was expecting... I'd appreciate it if we could skip me and maybe shove me into the back of the list. My apologies for delaying the fortress.

 

[Quick_Nick]

If you can pull it off anyhow, go for it. I would be next up, and..that wouldn't be any more successful than you would be. :lol:

 

[Rtyh-12]

If you could take over instead, I'd prefer that. Otherwise, I suppose I'll try to finish the year...

 

[KuatYards]

our situation is recovering from a siege correct? I'm pretty good at that, had to survive two and a major famine after the second

 

[Rtyh-12]

Unexpectedly (and fortunately) I have managed to play for more than a few minutes. I'm in winter right now, and I'll most likely finish tomorrow.

Things are going quite well. There's one melancholic dwarf (a vampire. It's a quite interesting situation. She's been insane for many months now, yet she obviously can't die of thirst, hunger, or even old age). Apart from that, though, all dwarves are at least content (around 15; the value isn't constant) and some are even happy (around 5). There have been some ambushes, but I've sealed the entrance. I did break the wall just now to let the dwarven caravan in... Let's hope nothing terrible happens.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Sweet. I'll take my place next in line.
Are we keeping this vampire alive intentionally?

 

[KuatYards]

Sweet. I'll take my place next in line.
Are we keeping this vampire alive intentionally?

I would but keep her segregated and trained as a warrior, as I said before a skilled vampire can cut down a company of soldiers

 

[Quick_Nick]

I would but keep her segregated and trained as a warrior, as I said before a skilled vampire can cut down a company of soldiers

But it's melancholy right?

 

[Rtyh-12]

Yes, she was stricken by melancholy during the time when everyone threw tantrums. That was around 6 (ingame) months ago, and since then she hasn't killed anyone. Melancholic dwarves don't drink or feed, and I'd like to see whether that extends to vamipire feeding as well. I've never had a melancholic vampire, so my curiosity is part of the reason I'm keeping her.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Google seems to say a melancholy vampire will do...nothing at all. Likely not even try to kill itself. No reason to kill it, and no reason to let it live.

 

[Izack]

Maybe someday, the Great Cause of Raising FPS will warrant her demise and melting, but that's a way off.

 

[Rtyh-12]

I'm finally finished! Again, my apologies for taking so long. If we ever do another succession fort, it won't happen again, promise

Here's the save, using the default ASCII graphics pack. How should I post the log? Just a .txt file? Here it is, for now:

YEAR 129

Spring

1st of Granite
By Armok, things have been nasty here.
[1]

2nd of Granite
There are just twenty dwarves remaining in Armorwad. Luckily, there are a lot of spare bedrooms...
[2]

13th of Granite
A baby just died of thirst. Nobody took care of them after their mother died, I suppose. Sad.
In other news, I've managed to complete a wall to seal off any future invaders. Better play it safe. It literally took a week to complete that short strip, though. Armorwad's productivity is currently lingering around zero. I honestly hope I manage to not screw up.
[3]

15th of Granite
Another baby passed away today. Same reasons. Why won't anyone listen to me and take care of the babies? We're down to 15 dwarves.

16th of Granite
No. No! Nononononono! This can't be true!
The only remaining happy dwarf, a lye maker who was ecstatic despite all the death and destruction, had his skull jammed by a tantruming ranger.
In related news, a baby died of thirst. I don't even know why I'm still trying.

17th of Granite
At the moment of speaking, there are two jobs being performed in Armorwad: tantruming and dying. Nobody is doing anything useful. The end is looming over the horizon, coming ever closer. I have decided on one thing though: I will NOT give up! No matter what, I will fight to the bitter end!
I still don't know what the best thing to do would be, though.

6th of Slate
Our mayor mandated that we make a flask. She's crazy if she thinks that anything can be done here.

13th of Slate
MIGRAAAAANTS! I've never been happier to see lazy, useless sobs come in!

27th of Felsite 
An elven merchant arrived a few days ago, followed shortly by a goblin ambush which killed him immediately. 

Summer

19th of Malachite
Surprisingly enough, things are going pretty well, relative to the situation this hole in the ground was when I arrived here. There's only one melancholic dwarf, and all others rated their current situation as 'fine' - some even higher.

24th of Malachite
The dwarves are currently hauling all the bars of metal from the smelter to a new stockpile I've just designated. It's not much, but at last I feel like I'm doing something productive. Things are going very well. I just hope it will last.
[4]

23rd of Galena
Another ambush! Well, that's why I've closed the door shut. Nothing comes in, nothing goes out!
I think I might have identified a vampire. The melancholic dwarf I mentioned earlier has been in our dining room for months now. Everyone expected her to die, but she's still there. What a sad existence: doomed to live in perpetual sorrow, not being able to starve or age. I'm contemplating killing her, but I fear that it would just cause a new tantrum spiral. I think I'm going to let the next ruler decide what to do with her.

Autumn

15th of Sandstone
The fortress is mostly operational again. I've decided to give my mayor her precious rooms: currently, a handful of dwarves are smoothing the walls in her dining room. Artlav is our mason for now, and he's working hard as well. A number of dwarves are happy, and the situation is nowhere near as grim as it seemed before. I've also placed two artifacts at the dining room entrance. I know from experience that dwarves like shinies!

19th of Timber
The dwarven caravan has arrived. I had to break the wall to let it in. I feel pretty safe, though. The merchants have weapons, after all. I've also started building a drawbridge to close off the Evil Outdoors. Just in case.

Winter

16th of Moonstone
The bridge has finally been constructed. I've tasked woo with building and installing mechanisms, as he looks happiest of all.

23rd of Moonstone
Well, the merchants left and we haven't bought or sold anything. We simply didn't have anything for trade. I'm glad we survived the year, though.

15th of Obsidian
I'm starting to hate our mayor. She has already ordered woo and a stonecrafter inprisoned for ignoring her stupid mandates. Now she wants a crystal glass bed! How in Armok's name am I supposed to produce that?

YEAR 130

Spring

1st of Granite
Well, this it! It's been fun at times, but I'll most certainly never, ever oversee another fortress again. Time to hand off the fortress to a new ruler, and for me, to start a new chapter in life!

The year has been filled with fun, !!FUN!!, desperation, and of course death. But despite me sucking at handling tantrum spirals, it all ended well. Have a great year, Quick_Nick!

Edit: whoops, forgot the images. They're the [1] ... [4] in the log. They're not very important, but here they are anyway.

 

[Quick_Nick]

And so my reign begins and the fun can REALLY start. >

Also, I favor mayors who lack creativity. In my last fortress, the mayor only ever wanted wooden shields, three at a time. And there's almost no apocalypse than can prevent fulfilling THAT.
The only thing he ever added to that was preventing shield exports :lol: the military was always stocked at least.