Dwarf fortress successiongame(Discussion and overview)

[XSI]

I'll update this post with info/updates on the fort after every turn.

Order:
XSI
thetwo
garfield751
the_taken
Host-Current turn
DeMatt


Fortress name: Libashodroz, "Axefatal"
Population: 15
Military:0
Nobles: 0
List of nobles, and method of death:
None yet

Completed projects:
Small monument to XSI:
1 statue, 1 armour rack, 1 weapon rack, and 1 line of upright platinum bars on a pedestal, overlooking the bridge entering the fortress. Smooth ground around it.


the_two's altar to Armok, seen through the rocks.

Spoiler

An introduction, and how to on the basics(Skip this if you know the game), Dwarf fortress is an ASCII game(Means it uses letters as graphics) of dwarves making a fortress. While the graphics might not be anywhere near perfect, it makes up with a lot of attention to detail.(Next release is rumoured to have the game tracking individual tissue layers and ribs for wounds, besides the already tracked body temperature, blood level, internal organs and nervous system.) Dwarves in this game are mostly seen digging into the earth to make them fortress there, but as long as a player has vision, determination, and enough dwarves, pretty much anything is possible. For any more information, feel free to ask, there is a group for the game here:
http://www.ulmf.org/bbs/group.php?groupid=23

If you do not know the game, or are not interested in it, it can still be interesting to read about the actions of dwarves in the successionfort as if it was a small book, written in turns by the players.

Video archive of the basics, the advanced, and pretty much anything you need(Warning, long):

You must be registered to see the links

And the wiki, for quickly searching something you already know the name of(Also includes some tutorials):

You must be registered to see the links

How to: Sending saved games
Simply go to the folder where you installed dwarf fortress and find the region. The region is a full folder, and that folder is the save game.

How to: Moving Z levels(Lower/higher)
Using > and < you can go up and down a level, which will most likely be used a lot.
---------

But first, interest, who wants to play? If you don't sign up before we start you can still play, but it would be nice to know who is interested.

Secondly, technical issues, for those who want to play, please say what populationcap and embark size you would want/are comfortable with.

The best version would probably be the latest one listed on the main page in large letters(With the "DOWNLOAD HERE")

You must be registered to see the links

As for mods, it may be a good idea to keep the successiongame accessible to anyone interested by not using any mods, graphic packs are obvious exceptions(As they are local), we can just send the save file to eachother, which won't have any issues with whatever custom graphics a player uses.

The game itself, for maximum creative freedom, I recommend we have the following:
Magma
Sand (Glass)
Trees
Underground water
Flux(Steel)
Plenty of z levels to work with.(Should not be a problem at all, the base 30z should be plenty)

I also recommend we keep plenty of miners and masons for projects.
Besides that, I suggest worldgen gets stopped early so we have a few megabeasts that may try to attack, and obviously, that we have access to all civilisations.

Any suggestions welcome, but again, interest anyone?

 

[thetwo]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

On the one hand "no mods" is useful for accessibility but on the other hand adding Orc mod or CivForge makes the game more interesting. Probably "orc" because civforge changes the entire game a bit too much for people who have played DF before but not CivForge.

I mean, at worst you could include the objects folder as well as the save folder in what you pass around.

As for stuff I'd like:

• Magma Pipe (infinite magma)
• River or Underground River (infinite water, flowing water)
• Trees or Underground River or Underground Pond (wood or towercaps)
• Sand (glass)
• Sedimentary layer (possible bauxite, possible fuel->steel, could be Limestone (flux->steel))
• Flux (->steel)
• Iron(->steel)
• HFS (Praise the Miners!)

Though I'm willing to part with HFS and sedimentary layer. I recommend using

You must be registered to see the links

for finding your site. It's not perfect (yet) but it's still very useful.

And then rules:

• Trap limits? (All-trap defenses aren't Fun)
• Lock-in rules (sealing off your fortress to defend from attack also not Fun)
• Label All Levers. (did he say this was the "shut down waterfall" lever or the "fill the fortress with magma" lever?)

So I guess that's an "I'm interested in playing". Size... I prefer smaller maps but my computer can probably handle anything reasonable. If the map turns out 5x5 or 6x6 just stick me in before we have a hundred dwarves and vast water/power systems throughout the fortress.

 

[garfield751]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

defalt size or smaller is ok for me although not too small tho

also i vote artifact funuture should go to XSI only

i want to be second or third and also when its XYZ player's turn you shoudl send a PM

 

[Host]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Voting for no mods. I don’t mind what resources are on the map. I’m not sure how much my PC can take, but probably not all that much. Default sizes for maps and population will be fine.

Just done a test – with the maximum embarkment area taken, on a map with 78 z levels containing mountain or pit, a size 500 cave, and a chasm, and a pit, the game lags a lot but is almost playable. Only 7 dwarves, of course, but there were tons of monsters. As long as you don’t set it to something excessive like that, I should be fine.

 

[XSI]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

78 z levels containing mountain or pit, a size 500 cave, and a chasm, and a pit, the game lags a lot but is almost playable. Only 7 dwarves, of course, but there were tons of monsters.

The largest amount of lag comes from the pathfinding of all those monsters, they need to move around, and it being a large area, they will move around a lot. Seeing as such an extreme as max size, and 78z levels was 'almost' playable, I'd guess your computer could easily handle a smaller embark size that also has a nice amount of dwarves.

Also, adding you to interest list, since you already expressed interest in the fort logs thread.

 

[the_taken]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Count me in for a turn. Email me when it is my turn. I sometimes disappear from ULMF for a few days at a time.

I agree that there should some ground rules for fun play.

1. No sealing the fortress off from the outside world.
2. Goblins are the fourth iron ore. And they must be fully harvested.
3. All elves must die.
4. Only nobles that make impossible requests may suffer accidents.
5. All tamable animals must be tamed.
6. Everything must be over engineered. If a river is disrupting traffic, a project to redirect the river must be started.
7. Also, no perpetual motion machines. You can't use waterworks to propel themselves.

That said, I've never played on a map with a huge river that freezes during the winter. Seams like a lot of fun.

 

[garfield751]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

ooo im really good at number 6 =P although im not sure about the elves part because ive never had a problem with them and also because my current fortress runs on imported booze and exported cloth/leather craft goods. although i do horrable on cold maps so i vote for somewhere warmer but not scorching and with lava and sand to mix things up.

 

[Host]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Also, adding you to interest list, since you already expressed interest in the fort logs thread.

Ah, whoops, knew I forgot to add something to that post.

1. Fine, you're pretty much screwed if you do anyway.
2. Not like there's any other use for 'em.
3. No, not at the start at least. Elves are useful.
4. No nobles should suffer accidents.
5. No, it screws with my animal farming industry.
6. I prefer damming the river with floodgates.
7. I've never seen the use in 'em anyway.

 

[XSI]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

I agree that there should some ground rules for fun play.

1. No sealing the fortress off from the outside world.
2. Goblins are the fourth iron ore. And they must be fully harvested.
3. All elves must die.
4. Only nobles that make impossible requests may suffer accidents.
5. All tamable animals must be tamed.
6. Everything must be over engineered. If a river is disrupting traffic, a project to redirect the river must be started.
7. Also, no perpetual motion machines. You can't use waterworks to propel themselves.

My thoughts on this:

1. Agreed, no completely sealing it off with walls and such, but having a bridge you can open over a moat shouldn't count as sealed off, at least not as long as at least one path exists that leads into the fort.
*Edit*
Actually, I feel that sealing off completely is fine as long as it is to keep the invaders at one place(Right in front of your fort) for the application of magma, or bolts. No sealing off for longer then 1 season would be a good thing though.

2. I feel what people do with the leftovers from goblin junk is their own business, they may be the fourth iron ore, but there's no point in using haulers to bring that in when the food in the kitchen is rotting because there's no haulers available. So no, this would be player choice.

3. No, not really, I feel that again, this should be a player decision, but because of lasting consequences, no killing the elves the first few years(They may also bring big tame animals)

4. Player choice, but I think we should say that killing dwarves in general should be kept to a minimum, how hard is it to press j-m-q and wait for the stuff to be build?

5. player choice I suppose, there's really not a lot an untamed animal can do, so most will end up tame anyway.

6. Again, I feel this should be player choice, because it's always fun to see how others solve problems, instead of the usual apply magma, problem solved.

7. I never use them anyway, and I don't plan on starting. Power is easy to get anyway, just some windmills or waterwheels and you have a -lot- of power.

So, my vote would be to keep rules to a minimum, and only one real rule: Don't fuck up on purpose.

Besides that, even not labelling levers is fine with me, but it would obviously be nice to let people know which lever floods the dining room with magma, and which lever opens the front door.

 

[garfield751]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

i vote that there should be the same rules as Boatmurdered

Rules:
One year = one turn, from spring of one year to spring of the next. Once you see the cheery green "Spring has arrived!" text, save it, zip it, and get it to the next player. Upload it to rapidshare.com or something similar, and post the link to your savegame so the next person can get it and begin. Feel free to break your turn up into a bunch of posts, but let's try and keep it moving along.

Once it's your turn, you get a week from the time that the link is posted to take your turn. If you start but can't finish, your successor has the option to pick up where you left off and play out the rest of your turn and their. If you don't start, then the old savegame just goes to the next player. If you trash the fort to total -- and I mean TOTAL -- unplayability (e.g. magma flood oh god), we'll revert to an old save, but overcoming setbacks is half the fun, so hopefully we won't have to do this.

Pretty much anything goes except for the following: 1) using huge bridge hallways to kill demons/seiging armies, and 2) things that make later turns totally unplayable such as flooding the world, mining adamantine, or removing bridges in creative ways so that the pathing eats it and the bridges can't be reconstructed and the fortress descends into an orgy of violence and starvation. If you do this, we roll back to an old save and everyone gets dwarven blue balls (which are shorter, but stronger, than the regular variety), so nobody do this please

Edit: also this:

You must be registered to see the links

is a good example of what a established fort shouldent look like because:
1. all the dwarves dont have a room assigned to them
2. half finished projects are an eyesore
3. most of the stockpiles are outside
4. theres no moat
5. its just messy in general
6. levers are not labeled (ex.one opens one of the two bridges and another one Releases the dogs meaning it would be a pain to get those dogs back in the cage and the cage hooked up again)
7. no other traps besides cage ones (not even a bridge trap)
8. no farm
9. no noble rooms
10. apprantly no flux materal (i thought it had some)
11. dump deginations everywhere
12. tons of idle dwarves without jobs
13. no glass manufactureing at the moment
14. extremely small magma forges
13. wayyyyyy too many anvils
15. cluttered like no tomarrow
16. dwarves stuff litttered everywhere especally in the sparing area
17. too many dwarves?

although it has it good points like
1. a pump dam to drain and reroute the river
2. a well (most people forget to build one)
3. a rerouted river with floodgates and levers
4. a well established crafting industry
5. plenty of stone
6. a fuckload of ammo
7. lots of dwarves?

 

[Host]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

So, my vote would be to keep rules to a minimum, and only one real rule: Don't fuck up on purpose.

I'm more than content with this.

 

[DeMatt]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Hrumph. What the hell, I'll toss my hat in the ring.

Word of warning, I have yet to run a fortress past its fourth year - they haven't died, I just get too fussy about everything being "ideal". In my current game, I probably am averaging 15% idle dwarves, the hallways are still filled with rock, it's a good thing the Trade Depot doesn't get cluttered because MAN is there a lot of crap in it, my Drink levels are dropping fast, and I have no military worth mentioning. Luckily the goblins are staying home.

 

[XSI]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Oh, that's fine, wanting things to be ideal is always a good thing, just remember that most real projects come with time.

In the fort for the fort logs, I have 10-20 areas mined out and just not set to dumping yet, they have been that way since before the magma bath even started.

15% idle dwarves would be a blessing, cheap expendable labour to clear out those rocks, either by dumping, or by setting them to masonry for cheap furniture to use in the low quality rooms for the dwarves without money.

Added DeMatt to interest, and I'll look at garfield's fort soon.

 

[DeMatt]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Eh, I cheesed out and set "zero rent" in the init file. So I can make my bedrooms as pretty as I want and those poor haulers won't get thrown out on their beards.

I take it nobody else plays that way?

Okay, one other thing I thought of: NO COINS. I admit I've never played a game that far, but from reading the Wiki, making coins only drives the dwarves nuts.

 

[XSI]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Nah, coins are fine, and I've found that coins actually help the poor dwarves without money, as coins create a few more hauling jobs, they're good for using the loads of metals you get on, and dwarves get happy thoughts about 'owning a new item'(Coins).

The fort logs fort has a lot of coins, at least 300.000, no issues with it at all, except that it's still not enough, 100.000 of those are copper coins, roughly 125.000 are coins that are not used for currency.
Besides that, actually hauling really small amounts of coins is a very low priority task, so if anything, it only happens when they have nothing else to do.

I agree with the general opinion that coins and dwarven money in general could be done a bit better, but the creator of the game knows that and is probably fixing it a bit later on.

Edit: I usually make personal bedrooms for the legendary dwarves, and assign those rooms to them, I check the dwarf and make sure the furniture is made of his/her favorite materials if available. Other dwarves, well, it's only a matter of time before they're legendary too.

 

[garfield751]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

i never make any coins and usually most of my dwarves dont have rooms thats why i dont want to be first. also my idle dwarves is around 50% to 80% of the population which is why im unhappy with all my forts but i still play it.

 

[XSI]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Well, I just checked the list at the first post, and it seems we have 5 people interested so far, which is enough to start. So now, in the order we will play.

Who wants to go first?

And, who can find a site which we can all agree on to build the fort?

Also, Garfield? Did you make that fort? I have a few questions.

1. What are the 2 kids doing in the channel that has no exit, with a remove building designation strangely close to a floodgate?

2. insane trapped merchant, not good for trading.

3. outdoor barracks without beds or even walls, not really something for a dwarf, but it solves the cave adaptation thing.

4. 2 smelters, 3 med sized outdoor stockpiles of ore, not the most efficient.

5. outdoor refuse stockpile with bones, try to get an indoor refuse pile for bones and shells, and an outdoor stockpile for chunks and other useless things that don't get you anything of use.

6. decapitated dwarf rotting outside, right next to a housing block. "Was forced to endure decay" is a bad thought, so try to get coffins or have the graveyard outside of the fort.

7. limited workshops.

 

[garfield751]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

sadly, yes i did make that fort and it is also my current one.

1. i didnt even know that there are childern down there and the remove building was probly for something i forgot about

2. heh funny story to that, see i was building bridge walls to funnel the merchantes to come in through one side of the map see but i accdently destoried one of the caravans by pulling the swtich and he instantly went mad.

3. well it was spposed to be a tempary fix for the first years but ive been too lazy to make a proper place for it

4. no it is not but ive aways been cauctious about getting anywhere near magma scence one of my older fort got overrun by fireimps.

5. i use bones for two things ammo and crossbows

6. funny thing is that i did make coffins and was about to place them but then my brain got in a arguement with itself about where to place it and the frount part of my brain said fuck it.

7. i have enough workshops to keep porduction of goods high enough for the traders because of the massive stockpiles i currently have also because i build stuff when i need it not if i need it

8. if your woundering about the hole in frount of the fort its a megaproject i planned called the colony inspired by the show on the discovery channel. it will be filled with beds plump helmets and a generator room with the whole thing surrounded by water and a select few will be sealed in or just peasents and a miner

i would rather go second or third
and ive never been good at finding a site to build on but we could get one off the wiki that has everything

 

[XSI]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

Your fort is nothing to be ashamed of, one thing I would compliment you on is the rerouted river.

Anyway, I'll go in whatever spot is not taken yet, if needed, I'd go first.

Besides that, we also need an embark location, would anybody want to gen one for us, or should I gen some?

 

[garfield751]

Re: Dwarf fortress successiongame

i think you should gen it and would probly make scence that you go first too. the only thing left now is what should we name the fortress