Okol Anam: There Will Be Blood [Let's Play Dwarf Fortress!]

Aside: while playing ahead we had our dwarven population basically double in size. If you want to be a dwarf, speak up! We've got plenty of room. I'm going to have to resort to semi-randomly grabbing names!

- Eddie

ah what the hell

Iiiiiiiii... wanna be a whiny noble who lays about and is useless.

(They're going to start arriving soon. Along with other.... uninvited guests)

Dwarf me.

I'mma dwarf.
My name might be Grant or if that's too much like Grant for you it can be AwkGrant.

Or if that's still not good enough I'm fine with Axel.

that reminds me, if 'totally butchering my name every goddamn time it comes up' isn't a brick joke I might be slightly cross.

And mandate adamantine statues of dongs.

i would like to be a dwarf. I will do whatever needs doing for the good of the fort.

Are you playing on the newest version? 0.43 i think it is.

I like the floor pixel art.

I really love that you can specify decorations now. My latest fort had a migrant show up that was an expert wood crafter. Well, I never make wood crafts, but I decided to give it a go. Wood is plentiful now. So, I had him make a set of 7 of the founding dwarves but I let the dwarf pick the details. I traded the first few sets, but I liked the idea of these collectible figurines of the founders being set up on mantles or tables or traded throughout the world and since each one has little different details, it felt like something that would really exist and be collectible...
I quit doing it because it was tedious and I'm hoping the new workflow would allow me to do stuff like that more automated so I can have a factory just turning out founder figurines or something or like making a chess set and even setting it up on the floor...

I would like to be a dwarf in this fortress.

This is version 0.43.02. I think there's been a few more updates with minor changes regarding artifacts (regarding invaders stealing them and artifacts as heirlooms), but nothing that would really affect this playthrough.

Always happy to take suggestions for mega projects!

- Eddie

Perpetual motion machine via a series of pumps?

I don't know if that's possible, but if it make it happen, Eddie.

(I'd settle for a turning complete computer, if not)

If you'd really like to see a perpetual motion machine I can oblige.

- Eddie

I would suggest some sort of temple to Armok that takes advantage of the particular weather in this region (blood for the blood god). Perhaps a temple that has an alter with a shaft up to the surface so the blood offering can be received. Bonus points if lava is involved.

extra bonus points if the shaft to the surface is the security flaw that results in the ultimate downfall of the fortress

To the hidden text: Nah, just line the shaft with traps - more blood for the blood god!

Or, you know, just make it a straight fall for like ten z-levels; what could survive that?

In Dwarf Fortress? There might be something. (Like say, flying creatures.)

6th Limestone, 153

So it turns out after that Yak Cow died, nobody decided to do anything about the corpse:




I've told every dwarf that they'll get an extra drink on me if they haul the corpse outside, but for some reason everyone is finding other work to do than haul a rotting, smelly, gooey dead cow. I'd practically do it myself if I wasn't so busy running this place!




Speaking of running this place, the Founding Dwarf Mothers and Fathers rooms are complete, although missing chests and cabinets. Doors and beds are under construciton to ensure that every dwarf gets a bedroom!

Mightyblue and Gerad and every other married corpse needs to share tho. I'm not made out of bedrooms.



9th Limestone, 153




A caravan from our homeland and an Outpost Liason have arrived!




Hopefully they don't mind the, uh, rotting corpse that's still there.




As the only dwarf qualified to conduct sensitive trade negotiations, I appoint myself the colony's broker. Ingiz Tetothineth from Zaneg Tinoth meets me to discuss our wants and needs. She has little news about the outside; I tell her we're looking primarily for pig iron and flux stone. I want to be well stocked and ready to start making steel equipment.




Ingiz says the homelands are primarily looking for weapons and armour. Given Queen Squeezeirons' penchant for war this doesn't surprise me, but she'll have to wait in line.

Crowns we can do however; I tell Gerad to get crafting.




As Ingiz turns to leave however, she looks at her blood-soaked clothes, back outside to the human blood that is still pouring down, and then back to me.

"Uh, actually, do you mind maybe if I crash here?"

I shrug.

"As long as you don't expect me to make you a bedroom. I'm not made of bedrooms you know."



16th Limestone, 153

As I sit at the trading post, watching dwarves bring the crafts Gerad has been making, I realize it's been a week.

Where the goddamn hell is the caravan?





20th Limestone, 153

Well, I found what's left of the caravan.




I don't see any crew, alive or otherwise, nor any sign of beasts of burden. The only living thing is the cry of a caged Gander, which alerted Mightyblue that something was out there.

The working theory is that all the blood scared them off. I hope so. The alternative theory is that an echidna got them, a fate too horrible to believe.

The caravan is carrying a load of valuable goods, including food and booze. Left on it's own, the food will rot (and probably get covered with human blood). After Mogri bravely dashes forward to grab some seeds he needs for planting, I order every dwarf to drop what they're doing and get out there to grab that loot while the skies are temporarily clear.


25th Limestone, 153

"No Dawnswalker, I don't care about your aversion to the bloody rain go out and grab those plump helmets."


17th Sandstone, 153

As we continue to have all hands on deck to retrieve that caravan's goods (seriously, there was a lot!) Migrants arrive. A LOT of migrants. A total of 14 migrants! That more than slightly doubles our fort's population!




One of the migrants comes over with what appers to be his wide and two children.

"Greetings fellow dwarf, my name is aturtledoesbite and this is my wife Son of Sinistar and two childr--"

"I don't care," I interrupt, pointing to the caravan they're walking past. "Grab anything you can carry. We can get introductions done later."

The dwarf hesitates for a bit, and gives a slight glance up as blood falls on his family.

I roll my eyes.

"It's a thing here ok GRAB THOSE PLUMP HELMETS."


22nd Sandstone, 153

With our workforce doubled, little remains of the caravan at this point save for a few randoms metal bars and blocks, a sheet of parchment made out of grizzly bear leather, a tin cage and some pig tail rope. I cancel the "all hands on deck" and order up some more bedroom furniture. We'll need it.


1st of Moonstone, 153

Winter is now upon us. I wonder if it will get cold enough to turn the blood rain into blood snow.


I finally get around to meeting our new dwarves:




aturtledoesbite, the dwarf that initially assaulted me when his migrant wave arrived, is a would-be armorsmith. We don't have steel yet, but I might get him working on some iron eventually. Armor and weapons are just not on the top of my list of priorites right now, so I tell him to haul some plump helmets.

He also asks me if I know of some dwarf named Ducim. His wife shoots him a dirty look. A secret lover? Well they better not expect seperate beds. I'm not made out of bedrooms.




Speaking of his wife, Son of Sinister says she's good at making potash. Why aren't dwarves coming who are good at things I care bout making? She says herself and her idiot (her words, not mine) family would be more than happy to pitch in.
She says she wouldn't mind a "spare bedroom, for when one of us is working late" I purse my lips and shake my head.

She walks off with a smile and a "maybe later?"

I just keep shaking my head.




Awkward Grunt is a dab hand with a needle in thread. Exactly what I don't need right now!

More importantly, this dude is old. He says he's been kicking around for over a hundred years. I tell him I'm surprised he hasn't like, accomplished more. He claims in a huff that he's not just a great clothier, but is perfectly competent with a spear. I'll keep him in mind in case we need a quick militia.




Destil introduce herself alone, casually mentioning that her husband is somewhere around too. She says she's a ranger, and if you want something "deader than a snail in an ocean" to call on her. I tell her that some snails live in the sea but she calls me a liar.

I tell her to keep any hunting ambitions where she likes her snails; it's far too risky to be casually hunting things, and I'm not handing out crossbows until I can get a proper squad.




A dwarf later walks up to me and introduces himself as Destil's husband, LancerECNM.

"Has er, I'm sure er, my wife has er, told you bout me?"

I shake my head no.

"Sure it er, sure it er, was a mistake mate! I er, I can plant well."

"Well then find Alixsar, he's the one in charge of farming around here."

"Oh er, I er, see, a comper... compa... compertition is er, is it?"

He smiles as he runs off.




A young dwarf, holding hands with another dwarf, swaggers up to me.

"My name is Galadrone, I'm thirteen years old, I castrate animals well and this here is me wife Taeryn, and one day I'm going to be the Hokage!"

"That's great, but uh, does your wife know you like other men?"

"It's elven for I'm going to be the very best!" he scowls.

I roll my eyes. Elf fandwarves are the worst.




The first words out of Taeryn's mouth are complaints.

"Why isn't there any chairs I can sit on to have a drink? And where are the glasses?"

"Look," I say defensively, "I had other priorities. Like beds and missing caravans."

"And there's no rivers or lakes to fish here!"

"Well in fairness the weather here probably has ruined any ecosystem..."

"Well you better get a keikaku!"

"Is that a fish?"

"It's elven for PLAN," she says derisively.

I get a headache.




Jovewolf introduces himself and his wife LaularuKyrumo as a pair of rangers. Jovewolf is wearing a pig tail dress and vest combo.

"It was clean," he sniffs when I point out the unsual combination.




His wife, LaularuKyrumo tells me to "watch this."

I watch as she does an awkward somersault, in a wide circle around jovewolf. She gets up huffing and puffing.

"Pretty good huh?"

"You know what that would be great for?"

She leans in.

"Hauling some plump helmets."

She scrunches her face. "Jackass."

She's not wrong.




A middle-aged dwarf, Solitayre says that he is an absolute wizard at making bows , and a pretty decent carpenter. I tell him I don't have much use right now (why we I would assign wooden crossbows to my military is beyond me) but I have a whole lot of wooden chests that my room is currently lacking.

I guess he could make beds or something too.

He punches me in the arm with a cheery "righty-o!" and goes skipping down the hall. I rub my arm and whisper a curse.




I watch as then a dwarf bats her eyes at Solityre as he wanders off, with a wistful sigh. Turning my attention to me, she curtsies and begins speking.

"Hello. My name is Blitzblast. I am married to the wonderful Solitayre. We're, (she blushes a deep red) in love."

"I don't care. I'm sure you've spent your whole life doing something useless. How do you feel about mechanics? You know what, I don't care. Congratulations you're now an engineer, go make some doohickeys."

She nods and skips off to the workshops.




I take stock of the latest changes to the fortress. There are a couple of additions to the ground floor. The first is a small are to store finished goods, such as the those stone crowns Gerad is making, along with any large gems we may end up crafting.

I've also gotten our miners to make a long skinny tunnel that runs parallel to our drawbridged entrance. It doesn't yet poke out into the "Congealing Fields" as we've begun to call them. We'll use it as a secondary entrance for our dwarves once we sufficiently trap it against goblins and trolls.




TheSL has also finished mining out our future dining room. It's still a bit rough (and currently contains no tables or chairs) but that's step two. I've had a lot of dwarves on my arse about not having a proper place to sit while drinking or eating, long with complaints about not having receptacles to drink out of. I've set up two bins on either side exclusively for mugs/goblets that Gerad is making.

Ingiz Tetothineth has decided that this is where she'll stay. "Fine," I say, rolling my eyes, "But we're not feeding you. And uh, you'll still somehow make sure the Mountainhomes brings us that pig iron and flux stone we asked for?"

She shrugs.

I hate her.

(Apologies to jovewolf as you didn't ask to be a dwarf, but I need a nickname.)

(I chose blitzblast for helping instill a long history of reading Fire Emblem LPs, skipping nearly everything that wasn't a level-up screen.)

Dear Fluffems,

There has been a horrible misunderstanding.

No problem Eddie, I'm honoured. I look forward to representing avant garde ranger fashion in the sanguine rains of Okol Anam.

I'm glad that Dorf Galadrome is shockingly accurate to IRL Galadrome. Including being 13 years old and married to Taeryn.

Can't wait to do some Sorddorfing and hopefully not get killed by Goblins (Or worse)!

Married corpses?

This fortress is v. progressive.

Because aturtledoesbite asked...

What can a dwarf do?

As explained last time, dwarves can become proficient in a number of different skills. A dwarf's best skill is what determines what they're called. The following is a comprehensive list, what they do, and whether they are particularly useful.

Note: many skills are (in my opinion) next to useless, or very narrow in application, to the degree that having a single dwarf trained in the task is a waste of time.

Note 2: I'm not including military skills, nor social, nor performance skills and other miscellaneous skills. You can't *be* a swimmer as a job, just as you can't *be* a liar or Dancer, at least not as a proper profession.


Miner ☺: Helps you dig through stone, earth and clay. Higher ranks allow faster mining. It's essential to have at least two dwarves who are good miners in order to ensure relatively speedy fortress expansion. Requires a free pick. (*****/5)


Bowyer ☺: Helps you make wooden and bone crossbows (not arrows or bolts). While there is no real difference ranged-attack wise between a wooden crossbow and a steel one, if your Marksdwarf ever gets into melee they'll start swinging their ranged weapon around. Thus, wooden and bone crossbows have a disadvantage. Higher skill results in higher quality wooden and bone crossbows. (*/5)

Carpenter ☺: Helps you make wooden items, such as beds, bins, barrels, shields, and chests. Higher ranks affect speed and quality. These are all VERY useful items, making carpentry very useful, even if your outpost doesn't have a lot of wood to use. (*****/5)

Wood cutter ☺: Allows you to cut trees down quicker, with more ranks allowing faster cuttin'. This is not as important skill as you might think! You tend to cut trees in spurts, so any wood cutter will need a backup skill. And while wood is critical for some items (such as beds) you'll only occasionally find yourself short on it. (***/5)


Engraver: ☺ Engravers do two main things. The first is that they can smooth stone to make it more attractive. Secondly, they can turn smoothed stone (NOT constructed walls) into engraved walls, significantly increasing their value. The first is useful for making a neat fortress, the latter important for keeping certain dwarves happy. Carving fortifications and memorial slabs are also tied to this skill. Higher skills make better engravings. You'll want at least one, probably two, dwarves running around making your fort look nice, as it leads to happier dwarves. (****/5)

Mason: ☺ Masons help make stone furniture, which include tables, chairs, cabinets, and doors. Higher skill results in higher quality items. They can also make stone blocks, which are useless for making furniture but helpful for creating buildings. A very useful profession! (*****/5)


Ambusher: ☺ Allows your dwarf to sneak up on prey while hunting. I'm not a giant fan of hunting until you've got your rangers with decent equipment/skills, but it's a somewhat reliable source of food. This is skill is "nice to have" rather than critical (a dwarf who is a good shot will bag more prey) and this is hard to train anyway. (**/5)

Animal caretaker: ☺ Allows your dwarf to help take care of animals. Like a veterinarian. This is all theoretical however, as the skill isn't actually implemented. (nada/5)

Animal dissector: ☺ Got a poisonous monster caged? With this skill, a dwarf can extract the venom. Except, the skill most likely to use this (Alchemy) isn't implemented yet, meaning the only thing you can really do with this skill is make extracts that you can sell to caravans. No thanks. (*/5)

Animal trainer: ☺ Train stray animals to become tame, or turn tame animals into war or hunting animals. This skill is full of cool potential applications, and war animals are useful as front-line targets to help keep some of the heat off your dwarves. But it's also a lot of work! Lot of potential for cool tho. (***/5)

Trapper: ☺ Ranger dwarves can set traps to catch small vermin. This isn't very useful outside of a few applications, as caged vermin aren't generally that useful and cats tend to take care of most vermin quite effectively on their own. (*/5)


Doctor (Bone Doctor, Diagnostician, Surgeon, Suturer and Wound Dresser): ☺ I'm lumping a number of skills in here for the sake of space, but they're all related to different aspects of healthcare. Doctors are very important for ensuring your injured dwarves recover properly, and high skill speeds treatment and improves outcomes. Very necessary if you're planning on having a decent military (*****/5)

Crutch-walker: ☺ This is a skill that shows how good your dwarf is with crutches. Dwarves generally only use crutches when they've lost use of one of their legs, which of course cripples their movement speed. With Legendary skill with crutch-walking, a dwarf can basically move as if normal. Ideally you'd hope that *no* dwarf needs this skill, but you can't always stop a dwarf from losing a leg. (?????/5)


Beekeeper: ☺ With this skill, you can build hives and create bee colonies to collect honey. Of course, there are much better ways of creating food, and any food source that is basically required to be located outside carries with it potential danger, so I like to stick to other sources of food. (*/5)

Brewer: ☺ Make booze! Your dwarves are thirsty bastards, so having a Brewer on hand to keep your barrels full of dwarven wine is essential to proper colony management. Higher skill makes higher quality drink that makes dwarves happier. (*****/5)

Butcher: ☺ Slaughter animals, turning them into meat, bones and other useful products. Butchery is something I tend to do more late game when it's easier to acquire random animals from traders. You'll also need this when one of your dwarves just *must* have some spare bones. In general tho, this is not even a part-time job. High skill leads to faster slaughtering. (**/5)

Cheese maker: ☺turn milk into cheese! Cheese is food, but not particularly great food. No one likes cheese makers. Untrained dwarves are just as good at making cheese as Legendary cheese makers. Don't make cheese. (*/5)

Cook: ☺ Aside from booze, an easy way to keep dwarves happy is by cooking them meals. And that makes highly skilled cooks very valuable. Skilled cooks make better food, which makes for happier dwarves. (*****/5)

Dyer: ☺ Dyer Dwarves can increase the value of thread and cloth, with higher skills leading to more expensive outcomes (doubling or tripling the original value). The problem is that dying isn't a great source of income, especially given everything else the dwarf could be doing. (*/5)

Gelder: ☺ Castration! I don't know why you would use this skill unless you want to prevent an explosion of cats and dogs. You know what helps solve such population problems? Slaughtering them for food and bones. Higher skill allows the dwarf to do the deed with a reduced chance of injury. (*/5)

Grower: ☺ A.K.A. farmers, farming is the backbone of a colony's food and booze thanks to Plump Helmets. Higher skills lead to more bountiful crops. (*****/5)

Herbalist: ☺ Depending on your start location, this can be a useful skill for collecting fruit from trees. Otherwise, you're just grabbing small bits of food that won't likely add up to much. Better than nothing I suppose. More skill yields more gains, like farming. (**/5)

Lye maker: ☺ turn Ash into Lye. That's it. Lye can be turned into useful soap, but that's a completely different skill. Soap can definitely be useful, but that doesn't require a lot of investment in this skill. More skill leads to faster lye making. (*/5)

Milker: ☺ For all those cheesemakers, you can milk certain animals (such as cows). Milk is disgusting in its raw form for dwarves, so it's only use is to make cheese. You've got better thinks to do with your time as a dwarf. (*/5)

Miller: ☺ used by dwarves to create flour, sugar and dye. So much work! (*/5)

Potash maker: ☺ Dwarves can use potash to fertilize crops, leading to larger gains. However, colonies don't require expansive farms; a Potash Maker could easily instead be farming instead to produce equal or higher gains. Higher skill leads to higher production speeds. (*/5)

Presser: ☺ Use to help process honeycombs and as part of the soap making industry. Soap is good but this is not an essential skill to help make it. (*/5)

Shearer: ☺ Lets dwarves get wool from sheeps, llamas and alpacas which can be turned into thread (and then cloth). It's generally easy enough to simply buy the cloth and thread you need form caravans, so I skip this skill. (*/5)

Soaper: ☺ Not nearly as sexual as it sounds. Soaper dwarves can make soap, which is pretty useful. But skill does not make faster or better soap, so eh. (*/5)

Spinner: ☺ Dwarves use this skill to spin yarn and threads for use in cloth making. I prefer just buying the cloth I need. Higher skill makes higher quality thread/yarn, I think. (*/5)

Tanner:v After butchering a corpse, a tanner can turn hide into useful leather. Unlike cloth, leather is a useful product to have. Like cloth, leather is also cheap as free to purchase form caravans (in fact, cheaper). It also lets you make parchment, but who cares about reading. Higher skill leads to faster leather production. Leather is very useful so there can be some minor value in this skill. (**/5)

Thresher: ☺ You can use this skill to turn plants into some minorly useful items. Notably, you can use this to turn some items into threads, but I find that a bit of a waste of time that foreign dwarves can instead do. (*/5)

Wood burner: ☺ Allows a dwarf to turn wood into either ash (for eventual soap making) or charcoal. Charcoal is very useful, as it's one of the few sources of fuel you can use to smelt bars and create metal arms and armour. High skill doesn't seem to do much, but it's still critical for many forts. (****/5)


Fish cleaner: ☺ As the name suggests, dwarves with this skill can turn raw fish into sushi and bones. Higher skill leads to faster processing. I'm not a fan of fishing as it often involves dwarves out sitting out for hours in dangerous territory, but if your fort relies on fishing this can be very useful. (**/5)

Fish dissectors: ☺ incredibly useless. This skill can be used on *one* **rare** fish called a moghopper to extract a drink that is not valuable in the least. (0/5)

Fisherdwarf: ☺ Allows your dwarf to pretend they're playing a Zelda game. Fishing can be a great source of food, but it can be risky to have a dwarf sitting outside when dangerous animals, dangerous goblins, or forgotten beasts can pop up out of nowhere. (**/5)


Armorsmith: ☺ As you can probably guess, Armorsmiths can turn bars of certain metals into armour. This is a very useful skill, so you'll probably want to specialize a dwarf in this, as you make a lot more armour than weapons. Higher skill creates better quality armour. (*****/5)

Furnace operator: ☺ Dwarves use this skill when melting items into bars. Melting objects can be very useful--particularly if iron is nowhere to be seen--but you probably don't want this to be a dwarf's primary skill. (***/5)

Metalcrafter: ☺ Used in the creation of metal goods, such as flasks and chains. With few exceptions, your metal should be put to better uses. Some metals are useless except to make fancy mugs and crowns tho, and you can also use this skill to "stud" furniture to make it worth more. So not completely useless. (**/5)

Blacksmith: ☺ used to make metal bins, cages, and furniture, with higher skill making better quality objects. Metal cages are useful if you don't have the wood to spare, but otherwise? Skip. (*/5)

Weaponsmith: ☺ used to make metal weapons. Incredibly useful, as high quality weapons are a key to an effective military. Between weapons and armour tho, I would prioritize armour as long as the dwarf has a decent weapon to swing around. More skill equates to better quality weapons. (****/5)


Gem cutter: ☺ processes raw gems into cut gems. Gems are valuable for trading, and you'll find a bunch as you mine around. You'll want at least one gem cutter handy, with higher skills equating to higher quality gems. (****/5)

Gem setting: ☺ used to encrust items (namely furniture) with cut gems. This can make very valuable furniture to please picky dwarves, but so can a large room. (*/5)


Bookbinders: ☺ Make books. Reading? Pah! (*/5)

Bone carver: ☺ Dwarves use this skill to turn bones into crafts. The only particularly useful craft is bone bolts for marksdwarf training, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting a dwarf with this skill, as higher quality bone bolts break just as often as low-quality ones when they hit an archery target. (*/5)

Clothier: ☺ turn cloth into clothing! Clothing wears out over time, so having your dwarves ensure that every dwarf has a functional set of socks will keep them happy. It's therefore useful to (eventually) have a dwarf whose trained in this. Higher skill creates higher quality clothes. (****/5)

Glassmaker: ☺ Allows dwarves to make glass, and turn it into trade goods. I don't find this particularly useful, as glass is cheap as free to purchase from caravans. Higher skill equals higher quality products. (*/5)

Glazer: ☺ Used to make pottery items slightly more valuable. This skill is both kind of worthless AND bugged. You can make ceramic items all day, but you won't gain a lick of experience for doing so. (0/5)

Leatherworker: ☺ Leather armour is incredibly useful for certain kinds of military (Marksdwarves mainly) and high quality leather cloaks are useful too. Not critical, but damn useful. Higher skill, like most crafting skills, makes better quality gear. (****/5)

Papermaker: ☺ Don't you know I canna' read a wuuuurd? Books are pointless!(*/5)

Potter: ☺ Did you like that one scene in Ghost? You can use Pottery to make ceramic pots. Potentially useful if you have an abundance of clay I suppose. (*/5)

Stonecrafters: ☺ There's only so many doors you can make from stone before you have enough, so you can use this skill to turn boulders into cheap (but bountiful) crafts. I find they're the backbone of my economy most games, and always end up with at least 4 dwarves making goods. (*****/5)

Strand extractor: ☺ used in the creation of raw [redacted]. If you find [redacted] you'll want to make one dwarf whose sole purpose is being a strand extractor. Without [redacted] this skill is useless. [0/5 without [redacted], *****/5 with [redacted].

Wax worker: ☺ Make wax crafts. I think wax crafts are pretty cool! I wouldn't waste my time in this game however. [*/5]

Weaver: ☺ used to turn thread into cloth, and also to collect silk from spider webs. Higher skill makes higher quality cloth, which is useful. [***/5]

Wood crafter: ☺ basically the same as a Bone crafter, except your using a more valuable resource (wood) to make bolts for marksdwarves to train with instead of a less valuable resource (bone). Still useful as your marksdwarves will chew through bolts while training, but higher skill isn't really that helpful. (*/5)


Mechanic: ☺ Used by dwarves to make mechanisms, and set traps. Engineers of the world unite (note: I am not an engineer). Mechanisms are very useful, so you'll probably be happy to have at least one dwarf running around making them and setting up perpetual motion machines. Higher skills allow for better quality mechanisms to make dwarves happy, and faster work. (*****)

Pump operator: ☺ used to manually operate pumps. This is kind of a waste of labour unless you need such activity in brief spurts, so I wouldn't make this a profession. (*/5)

Siege engineer: ☺ Lets dwarves create ballistas and catapult parts and turn them into siege weapons. Siege weapons are both cool and ENTIRELY impractical. (****************/5)

Siege operator: ☺ used to MAN THE CANNONS. (**************************/5



After the first year, I'll make a note of where our dwarves stand in terms of skills, and we'll figure out who we can have doing what. If there is a profession above that tickles your fancy, let me know!

- Eddie

I know which one tickles my fancy - Siege Engineer.

I know what the problem is that you're having with that corpse.

From the toplevel menu, I believe it's 'o' to go to the standing orders. From there, you can tell dwarves to haul outside refuse, and a few other miscellaneous options regarding garbage and other settings. You might have to tweak that in order to get them to move the corpse. I know that it ALSO, for some reason, affects the usage of garbage dumping zones to move items around the fort, and I always forget to toggle that when I start playing.

also I'm pretty sure that 'dump item' has a higher job priority than 'haul corpse'

7th Moonstone, 153

It's still raining you-know-what. I suppose it doesn't get cold enough here to snow blood.



With the hall mined out, work has begun to furnish it with tables and chairs. I've heard nothing but complaints about not having a proper place to eat (along with a lack of mugs) for well over a month. Like it hasn't been bothering me either! Feh!

I've requested that statues be constructed sit between the tables, so we dwarves can look at something other than each other when we're having a sit.




Some of the craftsdwarves were complaining that we were running out of wood, so I told whoever was free to clear some of the trees near our entrance. This should be enough to last us at least two seasons, unless our population doubles in size again.



12th Opal, 153




The details are a little foggy bout how this all started--could be the fact I'm drunk--but I've been told by several of the children in the fortress that they saw Son of Sinistar tear out of her room.




She shoved Gerad out of one of the craftdwarves workshops and just... stood there. For at least an hour. Muttering about needing stones and bones.

I had seen the look Son of Sinistar had in her eyes before. This was the look of a dwarf who had a vision, and nothing: not sleep, nor food, nor even (crosses self) booze would prevent her from not achieving it.

Stones we had in great supply, but bones? The bones rotting on the Yak Cow who died earlier this year were apparently not his thing.



15th Opal, 153




I hastily order a place set up outside where our blood-covered mule could be slaughtered, hoping its bones would quench Son of Sinistar's thirst.




No sooner had Muley been butchered when Son of Sinistar came barrelling out, bellowing something incomprehensible.

Rushing back with what I think was a femur, she also dragged a boulder of basalt back to the workshop, and began furiously working.



21st Opal, 153




Son of Sinistar finishes her work: a fancy looking crown! She calls it "Arrosnural Eserogred."

... That's a stupid name!




I'm going to call it "mine."

For safekeeping, you understand. Such valuable items shouldn't be kept with all that junk that's being made.



1st Granite, 154

Well, it's been almost a full year since we settled into Okol Anam. I haven't been keeping count, but it must have rained blood for more than half the year. HALF A YEAR OF BLOOD RAIN.

I'm more used to it now than I care to admit.




Blitzblast has been steadily setting up cage traps in our future trap-hallway. Once he gets a sufficiently high number we can open it up and see how any invaders react.




Our dining hall is fully functional now, although I still have plans to add a few more tables in. Morale has risen considerably, although so have "snack breaks."

Our outpost liaison, Ingiz Tetothineth, continues to loiter in the dining room. We occasionally find her sleeping under a table.




We've got about eight or so bedrooms ready for new migrants, as well as an additional ten dug out. I order some beds, doors, cabinets and chests made so we can ensure our housing stock is ready for the next wave of peasants.

You know, despite the weather, it's been a pretty good year. I think I'm pretty good at this! We've got ample booze, food (mostly Plump Helmets but) and despite some setbacks with the caravan, I think we're in a good position to start thinking about metal forges in 154.

Bonus: I've got this bitchin' new crown.

Bad.

Ass.

Eddie,

You're supposed to finish old let's plays before you start new ones.



~Falselogic

Considering that it abuses AI a bit, but does so in literally the same way Ye Olde Knights did it in England, I'm not sure if you'd consider it an exploit but I have a hilarious design for a trap hall.

It uses the fact that you can basically trap creatures in a roach motel. I built something like it in the LP, I think. I called it the Goblin Grinder. TL;DR, pressure plates linked to a sufficient line of hatch covers. This creates a path that invaders walk over and over, unable to escape, until the RNG causes them to trigger a trap, dodge, get pushed off a ledge and splatter on the ground.

I initially wrote a gigantic post that really was TL;DR, but then I decided it would be better not to backseat. I should really just load up my own game.

I wonder if my new computer can handle DF...

If you've got details on a design let me know, otherwise I'm going to cage most invaders. Sacrifices for the blood god and all that.

- Eddie

Playing the next season, we've got another big migrant wave (20+ new dwarves) so if you ever wanted to be a dwarf...

In the meantime if you posted in this thread CONGRATS ON DWARFHOOD excuse me while I pull more TT names.

ALSO next season: Our first death!?

ALSO next season: HORROR?

- Eddie

EDIT: 31 new dwarves

When it comes to DF I've never been a fan of traps that, I feel, make things too easy. I've made some cool stuff before, including traps, but in general I prefer to try to handle threats via military might. Creating effective patrols and a really solid military is hugely satisfying, I find. More so than a trap that automatically wrecks invaders. Although, those are definitely still great. Depends on what I want to do with a fortress.

Fair comments! I want to have a chance to both train and equip a decent size military on my own terms, and have some fun with caged goblins/trolls. But your point is valid: this strategy is a bit cheesy.

- Eddie