Dwarf Fortress you sick temptress, you!

Malor wrote:

Well, you always could make blocks, but there was rarely a reason to do so. I think you needed blocks to make wells, but that's all I can think of, offhand.

Blocks could be put in bins while stones could not.

Do fortresses still slowly die from FPS death? Will probably download the new version and give it a spin anyway, but it was always frustrating how the thing that would kill my fortresses would be low FPS rather than fun stuff.

Also blocks are much lighter than stones, which is important now that dwarves walk so slow when carrying heavy items.

Any ever had it rain human blood year round? I'm glad I chose a site with a river - all of the lakes are starting to fill. The yaks don't seem to mind, though.

Clownolope wrote:

Any ever had it rain human blood year round?

I love this game.

That river is going to be one crazy mess downriver. Carp swimming in a river of blood...

Tamren wrote:

Carp swimming in a river of blood...

Redundant.

Any ever had it rain human blood year round?

Like, seriously?

I'm having trouble building things in the new version -- masons insist on standing on squares where I'm trying to build a wall, and then claim that the wall can't be built because there's a creature there.

Gee, ya think?

My current base defense is a sixty-tile long bridge, conveniently placed over a deep pit. Pulling one lever violently removes the bridge, flinging any unfortunates into the air... and then down into the pit.

The second lever floods the pit. The bridge then slots back over the top, in a very final and very airtight fashion.

No-one has yet found a way to swim with their legs broken.

However, Stage 3, for those enemies who breathe water or defy our knowledge of orthopedics, is a drainage hole that plunges down a long, long way. When they eventually reach the bottom, magma is released from the sides, either burning them alive or encasing them permanently in obsidian.

Caddrel wrote:

My current base defense is a sixty-tile long bridge, conveniently placed over a deep pit. Pulling one lever violently removes the bridge, flinging any unfortunates into the air... and then down into the pit.

magma is released from the sides, either burning them alive or encasing them permanently in obsidian.

My problem was always draining things, mining the obsidian, cleaning up etc. fast enough between invasions. How do you handle that?

Montalban wrote:

My problem was always draining things, mining the obsidian, cleaning up etc. fast enough between invasions. How do you handle that?

Well, my solution to that is usually to screw up my designations when building the thing, sending my legendary miner plunging six stories and ending up buried under a cave-in while the rest of the fortress spirals into cataclysmic despair, cut off from their only source of drinkable water...

Abandoning your fort solves any problem.

Caddrel wrote:

My current base defense is a sixty-tile long bridge, conveniently placed over a deep pit. Pulling one lever violently removes the bridge, flinging any unfortunates into the air... and then down into the pit.
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Interesting tactic ;).
I usually do this (from this post on this thread):
IMAGE(http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/8334/mynewcasstle.png).

It's an elevated winding path entrance with retractable bridges in between them except for the last bridge which is a draw-bridge connected to a separate lever . I don't think the Ballistas helped much I usually use archers.

The plan is simple : activate the alert, the dwarves run home , and then pull the lever on the retracting bridges. The enemies can still get in but their path is much longer which leave them vulnerable to archers. I think I have a melee squad in case they get in . I still don't remember how effective this is because I haven't played in a while. It's fairly easy to construct but it's probobly more time consuming than digging a put and putting a long bridge over it .

FPS death usually happens when mining to much spoilerite which makes the happy clowns try to find a path to the party . If you have a Sandy Bridge processor or better you shouldn't have a problem. Dwarf fortress is a CPU demanding game which works on single core. There are ways to improve performance by turning off certain features.You can also use traffic zones but I'm not sure how effective they are(theoretically they reduce the number of nodes A* has to go through.

Montalban wrote:

My problem was always draining things, mining the obsidian, cleaning up etc. fast enough between invasions. How do you handle that?

I'm... not entirely sure. My last fortress had a similar design, but the entire trap emptied into underground caves. This also served as an excellent refuse pit; dwarves throwing away the remains of their dinner could always enjoy some sight-seeing as the goblins plunged into oblivion.

The initial pit in that fort wasn't as deep, so the goblins usually didn't break their legs. However there was no way out, and the flow of water was VERY strong. Watching them paddle desperately and then plunge 30 or 40 z-levels to their doom was tremendously satisfying.

With the magma though... guessing it's going to involve a lot of messy clean-up operations with picks. Magma pumps are very expensive.

I didn't want to empty into the underground caverns this time, as the last design had to have a trap door system. Some forgotten beasts can fly, and also seem to have a tremendously well-honed sense of smell. With several of them buzzing around at the bottom of the trap, just waiting for the right moment when the gate I was open, I was always terrified one would get through and start cruising around right in the heart of my fortress.

Multi Z level pits are fun.I remember that in one of my games I dag a 20-30 z level pit and threw extra cat,dogs and captured goblins into it .

Niseg wrote:

I remember that in one of my games I dag a 20-30 z level pit and threw extra cat,dogs and captured goblins into it .

IMAGE(http://media.onsugar.com/files/ons4/2010/01/01/407/4079287/6714135b9458a9b1_scaredBaby.preview.jpg)

I dare not share my early fortress soylent puppy meat supply then...

That's nothing. I remember watching a video of someone who decided to get rid of every animal in his fortress. He built a tall tower with a retracting bridge. Herded every animal he could onto it. Then just retracted the bridge and let the animals fall. The explosion of gibs was UNBELIEVABLE and splattered over a huge radius, including the dwarves watching behind fortifications on the second level of the tower.

That's simultaneously horrifying and impressive.

Farscry wrote:
Niseg wrote:

I remember that in one of my games I dag a 20-30 z level pit and threw extra cat,dogs and captured goblins into it .

IMAGE(http://media.onsugar.com/files/ons4/2010/01/01/407/4079287/6714135b9458a9b1_scaredBaby.preview.jpg)

Welcome to Dwarf Fortress . Catsplosion was always a problem and throwing things down a pit is one of the most commonly used universal solutions.

Niseg wrote:

Welcome to Dwarf Fortress . Catsplosion was always a problem and throwing things down a pit is one of the most commonly used universal solutions.

I usually keep all non-pet cats locked in a cage as soon as they're born, (hopefully before they can adopt a dwarf who'll be saddened that Mr. Fliuffles is caged) and implement the below solution as needed.
IMAGE(http://threepanelsoul.com/comics/2008-04-21-079.png)

"The Reclusive Pungency", a alpaca wool thong

This is a alpaca wood thong. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encircled with bands of yak leather, square brilliant cut chrysoberyls and goose leather. It is made from alpaca wool cloth. This object is adorned with hanging rings of claystone and menaces with spikes of alpaca wool, gneiss, and chicken leather.
On the item is an image of The Reclusive Pungency the alpaca wool thong in alpaca wool.
On the item is an image of Alath Guildcrushed the dwarf in wagon wood. Alath Guildcrushed is in a fetal position. The artwork relates to the putting to rest of the dwarf Alath Guildcrushed in Clashedpaints in the midautumn of 1054.

So it doesn't just have a freaking hilarious name, it has a freaking hilarious name and it's recursive.

This version actually seems pretty good, stability-wise, but I'm having fairly serious problems with the military developing unhappy thoughts from long patrols, and the archers being completely unwilling to train. But, so far, this is the closest I've ever seen Dwarf Fortress to actually working properly.

I think dwarves were always slowed down by heavy objects. It just wasn't as obvious. I always make every single one of my bins out of wood just to save weight. I made some lead bins once on a lark and the dwarves carrying them were very slow. In the new version I guess the dwarves may need a wheelbarrow to move something that heavy. Will have to test this.

The new block system works GREAT. I usually put a stone wall around my fortress in the beginning months. This is honestly a pain in the ass with the old system. You could easily designate 100 tiles for diggng. End up with 100 boulders because of legendary miners. Then have to carry all 100 of them up from the mines and up to the walls with just 7 dwarves or less. Or if you were just making blocks for later, queueing up 100 make block jobs and then making 10 bins to store them in and all the hauling required... It's just extremely awkward for what you are trying to accomplish.

On the bright side one of the changes made to hauling is that dwarves will condense multiple similar jobs into one. Like picking up seeds in the dining room for instance. I haven't noticed it myself, but I get the feeling the system is just working so fast that it's always done before I happen to be watching.

Now I can just set up temporary workshops by the walls I'm making, truck boulders up from the mines and turn them into blocks on the spot. I haven't messed with carts yet because my fortresses tend to be castles above a large vertical mine shaft. If my fort was dug into the side of a cliff I could probably set up mine carts to carry boulders to the workshops and blocks to the walls...

Cross-posted from the other thread in case, like me, you hadn't heard of A Game of Dwarves yet.

hey, just wondering how you get that world save everyone is using :3 im really into the game and just wanna know how to get that awsome looking save

what happened to the lendemainsite cuz i really want the survive your first winter map

Ars Technica discovers Dwarf Fortress

It goes about as well as you might expect.

tanstaafl wrote:

Ars Technica discovers Dwarf Fortress

It goes about as well as you might expect.

It was frustrating to read that, due to the author deliberately handicapping herself by considering guides, the dfwiki, and even the internal documentation as cheating and only going to them as a last resort.

When you fail that fast, it shouldn't take 10 hours. I'm calling BS.

Stengah wrote:
tanstaafl wrote:

Ars Technica discovers Dwarf Fortress

It goes about as well as you might expect.

It was frustrating to read that, due to the author deliberately handicapping herself by considering guides, the dfwiki, and even the internal documentation as cheating and only going to them as a last resort.

Yeah, she makes this weird quote at the beginning

Ars Technica wrote:

... I wanted to begin at the most basic level, if only to come at the game from a recently trendy (if controversial) design paradigm on discoverability that's flowed from mobile apps to many new indie games: "if you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it". This is admittedly extreme, but I wanted to begin at the bottom to let the game be its most challenging, and then work up from there.

I've never heard this "If you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it" concept before. Do designers or players really think that everything can be made so basic that there is no need to explain anything? Is this really a trend?