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Our uniform shall be blood (red)

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Danger room training shall be forbidden.

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Total Members Voted: 0

Voting closed: April 02, 2013, 10:22:42 am

[Urist McKiwi]

OK. We tried running the script to delete the dead units, but it did not change things. We still have no migration.

But we did have two babies this year and a few kids growing up as well. We could probably build a dwarven breeding colony if required. I'll try running the script again anyway, just to clean things up.

Increasing the limit is definitely a thing to look out for on Ardentdikes 3 or whatever, though.

I'll do an update later today or tomorrow. I've been really busy with my ecology work but I've played through to midwinter and can write it all up in an hour or so when I've got the time. We're on the home stretch!*





*to a lot of unfinished construction muahahahahah

[Urist McKiwi]

Diary of Urist McKiwi III, Dashing Swordsdwarf

15th Timber

Well, we found him. Fast asleep in a bare room deep in the fortress. Couldn't wake him up no mater what we tried.Poor chap kept twitching as well. Probably a fever or something. We had to take him up to the hospital.....if Nurse Cutey doesn't kill him herself, he might just be OK in time.

Udib's refused to talk about the whole possession business any further. But he has ordered all the beehive orders we were ignoring to be filled as quickly as possible and placed in the positions that Meng had wanted them. Not dashing in the slightest, but I figure if a stupid bee-sting can disrupt a possession attempt, getting whacked or stabbed ought to work fine as well. Not that it would be dashing to investigate this idea practically until it was strictly necessary for our survival.

I've done some equipment transfer orders for my troops....diversified our weapons a little, and started work to try getting a second speardwarf up to a decent skill level, since we've a spare adamantine spear now. Having two of those will make for quite a nice bonus on the battlefield. I've also found a spare steel shortsword to compliment my regular weapon. You never know when you'll need a spare sword on the battlefield.

I've had some complaints about the new patrols I've had ordered. The newer recruits are tired of long patrols and getting stung by bees.

Stupid bees. If it weren't for them and one of the more "distractable" recruits getting hit by a minecart, I could keep them on duty for months. I mean, I like bees...I really do. I'm a beekeeper, for armok's sake. But this is just silly.

A caravan has arrived....along with a lone kobold thief who tried sneaking across the bridge when we opened it. Turns out that wasn't such a good idea for him, since the caravan guards aren't too bad with their weapons. One of them pushed him into one of our older weapons traps, and that was it. Had a nice chat with the guards, talked about tactics and suchlike. It's always nice to talk to another soldier and see if you can share bits of experience. We sold some of our more flashy gold stuff and bought some basic supplies. Nothing special....but it'll do us fine.



---------------------------------------
Updatey time!

The kobold died rather incredibly quickly. The guard was quite skilled...I'm not sure if the kobold fell into the trap and died or died en-route to the trap while in midair, but either way, not a worry. There's probably 1-2 more thieves around somewhere, but I haven't detected them and given I've got a tigerman on that entrance standing guard.......yeah, probably not a worry.


Also by this point in time the corpse piles are rapidly filling up with carefully cataloged dead bees left over from stinging incidents. I'm not sure if they're being thrown in the volcano or not either. This may cause issues.....


Edit: Why does a [/b] tag close the [color] tag? Arrrrrrrrrrg.
Edit2: may be some time before I end the year....I've got a report to hand in by the middle of next week for 50% of my course marks and I still don't have all the statistics I need in order to write it.

[Urist McKiwi]

Sorry guys, RL has leaped up and wrapped me in annoying statistics to work through. Update on Friday once this assignment's out of the way, probably.


Say what you like about our fortress population's quality of life....being surrounded by death and constantly stung by bees is a lot nicer than having to do statistics all day.

[Urist McKiwi]

Eurgh. If I can get away with it that's the last time I work with Shannon Diversity for a long, long time. On the plus side the new-found hatred for all living things means I'm ideally suited to DF sucession games now. Anyway! Update!

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McUrist's Family Restaurant & General Hospital, 1st Opal

"WAKE UP Y'DAFTIE!"

*WHAM*

"Come on ye wee sack o' laziness !

*WHAM*

Urist McKiwi turned to the surgeon beside her as Nurse Cutey continued to treat the unconscious architect with very own patented form of intensive care.

"Does anyone actually.....survive this?"
"You'd be surprised actually. At least a third of patients."
"Really? That is surprising. And you've been doing this how long?"
"About a week, since the standard treatment wasn't doing anything for him."
"What's the standard treatment?"
"Poke them every hour or so until they die or wake up. Or both, on one occasion back at the old Mountainhome. Doesn't seem to be working this time though so I let Nurse Cutey take matters into her most capable hands.


McKiwi shuddered.

"That's one way of putting it. Still, if it gets us our architect back....."

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Diary of Urist McKiwi, Dashing Swordsdwarf.

7th Opal

Well, apart from losing our architect, things have gone rather well. Another birth, another dwarf reaching adulthood. The traders have left, happy with the deals they made.....and we found a cache of diagrams Meng had stashed away in some corner. Plans for the tower by the volcano. They're....unorthodox, certainly. But not unworkable. I've taken the opportunity to have the Shroud of Armok fully enclosed, so that if we end up fighting up there we won't fall in. That would be a most undashing way to end my career.

11th Opal

A few tweaks to construction.....not much to talk about though. A few redesigns of areas the builders can't work with.
One problem we've got as a result of Udib and Meng's folly is that our refuse dumps are becoming a sea of dead bees. And the minecart operators are refusing to put them in the disposal system because they "creep them out". Pah! Whoever got creeped out by a few hundred dead bees?



-------------------------------------------------

Annnnnd we're up to date! The bee problem is actually getting quite troubling...although I can only count 20 or so of them (So that's about 15 annoyed dwarves and animals + Urist McKiwi III. I'm sure they'll bee fine with all this). Can vermin/bee remains be transported/dumped via minecart or will we eventually need to build a multi-storey tower just to house dead bees?*


Strangely, there hasn't been another forest fire OR an invasion. Either we've done enough damage to invaders for them to leave us alone for a while, or the game's broken. Apart from the new FBs it's been all quiet. Speaking of FBs, I noticed a forbidden FB corpse in a forbidden butchers shop near the top of the fortress. Since I am assuming it is forbidden for a reason, I'm walling it off.

I'll be continuing this over the weekend and finishing off fairly soon with screenshots and stocks and stuff. So if anyone hasn't died of old age during this long and rather uneventful turn, it's almost time to come out of the woodwork.


*It should be noted that I have no problem at all with having our fortress have a tower filled with nothing but dead bees.

[CaptainArchmage]

Do you know exactly what happened to Meng?

I don't know why there are no further sieges, either it is a lucky year or we depleted the goblin population enough.

[Triaxx2]

You might want to set up a refuse pile hanging off the end of the Minecart tracks, so they'll drop the bee's there instead.

[Urist McKiwi]

Do you know exactly what happened to Meng?

I don't know why there are no further sieges, either it is a lucky year or we depleted the goblin population enough.

Meng is in reality absolutely fine and off in some corner hauling rocks around. In fiction land he's possessed by McDuck and in a coma. I started this bit of plot off when he actually did disappear for a couple of months, since it was a decent way to have something actually happen other than "15th Moonstone. Another full day hauling rocks and bees"....but then he turned up and I was in the middle of doing random stuff to him in the updates. Wouldn't be much fun if I did a "and then he was fine!" update. I'm going to have to have him wake up before the end of the turn to keep things slightly based in reality......but keeping the head architect in a coma is as good an IC way as any to explain how stupid this building project has turned out. And believe me....this project just keeps getting better and better in the "what the hell am I thinking?!!" department.

Of course I could have just arranged an accident (our minecarts have killed at least one dwarf in the past) to keep him missing/unconscious, but that would go against my goal of keeping everyone alive this year.

Looking at what the minecarts are dumping, it is highly likely that we've wiped out the goblins to such an extent that they're somehow doing worse than we are. Well done everyone!

I'll investigate a bee dumping ground.I am not putting it up with the minecarts though.....we're getting enough injuries from those things anyway. Would it be (bee, heheh) possible to set up an overhead dumping ground over the cart stop? That way the bees would either get dumped into the cart, or onto the tracks where they can be picked up and dumped over and over again until it works.....I've never made that sort of thing though, so I might leave it for another overseer.

Edit: What do you know? We had a random piece of flooring perfectly placed for a "dump it in the minecart/on the stop/on other dwarves" zone. Now to see if it works!

[Triaxx2]

I suspect that random flooring is the remnants of construction scaffolding.

[CaptainArchmage]

To deal with the bee problem, the King would suggest you switch of putting vermin remains in corpse stockpiles, and have free dwarves dump the bees into a garbage dump if you do have to clean them up. However, since the 3D version of Dwarf Fortress, vermin do not produce miasma when their remains rot.

[Urist McKiwi]

To deal with the bee problem, the King would suggest you switch of putting vermin remains in corpse stockpiles....

Done! I also told the dwarves to stop ignoring felled wood, so our stockpiles will work a bit better.

Update later on today. I've played a bit more but I have to power down for a thunderstorm.

Edit: Oh, and just in time for almost-the-end-of-my-turn, I've fixed the labors so construction goes at full speed. Yaaaaay!

[Urist McKiwi]

I suspect that random flooring is the remnants of construction scaffolding.

Hmm. Scaffolding......yes. That certainly might have helped with my own project.

Anyway! Update (sorry about double-posting, but that's my policy: no editing a non-update post into an update post)!
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McUrist's Family Restaurant & General Hospital, 20th Opal

"I don't know....it may be time to admit that a more....subtle...approach may be needed.
"More subtle than Nurse Cutey shouting at him for an entire month?
'Exactly. We need a specialist! Someone who knows how it works, how it can be removed and, more importantly, how we can free up this bed so I can go join the other medical staff at our annual party.
"So in short, we need to scour the land on the tiny chance that there's someone who-.......wait a second. UDIB!!!!"

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Diary of Urist McKiwi III, Dashing Swordsdwarf

22nd Opal

Not dashing at all! When we dropped Meng off at the hospital Udib must have decided that his "saving the world" business was more important than telling the doctor what was wrong with the poor fellow! Or fixing him up, apparently. I've sent a sternly worded letter to him about prioritisation. We can save the world later.

I also received word that the merchants did not in fact leave. By which I mean: a bedraggled merchant came up to me and begged for me to let them out. This is hardly the way to treat our honored guests. Opening the door only to slam it in their faces as they try to leave!

25th Opal

Udib wandered into the hospital muttering about something, ordered everyone out (even Nurse Cutey, although I'll bet she was listening in through the door), and did some....priesty stuffy. Or whatever. Meng's apparently just in a "normal" coma now, rather than "possessed by a transdimensional being of pure.....stuff". I'll admit, for all I'm getting concerned about him, Udib is rather effective at times. What does that dwarf even do around here anyway?

26th Opal

Apparently he works with siege engines now. Unusual occupation for a priest, but I suppose they have to deliver pamphlets to the unfaithful somehow. I've asked him to rejoin the mining crews. He retired from mining some years ago but he's one of the best we've got, and I think with our current stone stockpiles we'll need all the miners we can get soon.

I've fixed some problems with the corpse disposal system today.....apparently the mountains of bees are too much to handle, so we're leaving them to rot. Should make nice fertiliser, according to some of the farmers. I've also ordered the removal of some of the older weapons traps that defend an old breach in the magma moat. That breach was fixed years ago, and we have the outer compound there anyway, so this will net us a collection of older weapons and mechanisms to reuse elsewhere. We'll have to breach an older perimeter wall, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

The merchants thanked me as they left. I've had stern words with the dwarves I think might have shut them in...we can't be having this nonsense. Anyway! It's Opal! And that means it's a training month! I can't wait to get down to the training grounds and get myself some practice! I think I'll have a nice rest first though....

27th Opal

I'm looking forward to training so much that I've upped the training routine for the Royal Fist! We shall train 7 at a time!

Apparently the breach in the moat is insecure, so the masons are putting up a wall to block it off on the other side of the moat. More labor diverted from the major build project, but at this stage it's not like it'll be finished anyway by the time Meng's term is up. If you can even call it that; I've done all the work this year....most dashing!

Now, where did I leave my swords?


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In other news, McKiwi's been doing so much apiary work she's now an "adequate" beekeeper. Let it never be said that I do not train dwarves in the important skills in life. Wastedlabor, I am sorry but you're out of retirement as a miner. I need a channel dug for one of the emergency farms I'm putting in the new towers. Said tower isn't actually built, but it'll have a farm at least.

One more month! It's looking like we will, finally, have a year with no deaths and a net population growth! I'll probably be throwing Gigmaster under a bus in terms of unfinished construction, but I *have* halted all new designations after doing that one last wall. The only thing I might do is throw in some mechanics jobs to hook up one last very-important lever.

[CaptainArchmage]

In other news, McKiwi's been doing so much apiary work she's now an "adequate" beekeeper. Let it never be said that I do not train dwarves in the important skills in life. Wastedlabor, I am sorry but you're out of retirement as a miner. I need a channel dug for one of the emergency farms I'm putting in the new towers. Said tower isn't actually built, but it'll have a farm at least.

One more month! It's looking like we will, finally, have a year with no deaths and a net population growth! I'll probably be throwing Gigmaster under a bus in terms of unfinished construction, but I *have* halted all new designations after doing that one last wall. The only thing I might do is throw in some mechanics jobs to hook up one last very-important lever.

Can we get some screenshots of what the outside looks like? It sounds like a lot of work has been done.

[Urist McKiwi]

In other news, McKiwi's been doing so much apiary work she's now an "adequate" beekeeper. Let it never be said that I do not train dwarves in the important skills in life. Wastedlabor, I am sorry but you're out of retirement as a miner. I need a channel dug for one of the emergency farms I'm putting in the new towers. Said tower isn't actually built, but it'll have a farm at least.

One more month! It's looking like we will, finally, have a year with no deaths and a net population growth! I'll probably be throwing Gigmaster under a bus in terms of unfinished construction, but I *have* halted all new designations after doing that one last wall. The only thing I might do is throw in some mechanics jobs to hook up one last very-important lever.

Can we get some screenshots of what the outside looks like? It sounds like a lot of work has been done.

A lot has been done, and even more has not been done. Here you go:



Ground level. Note tigerman(edit: Not visible in this screenshot) and giant bushmaster "guards" on duty at the two gates.

Spoiler: large image (click to show/hide)

Here's the walkway level. As you can see, progress has stalled completely in some areas, and is generally fairly slow.

Spoiler: large Image (click to show/hide)

Going up one more Z level, you can see I've made a few additions to some towers, although not as much as I would have liked. Paving over the walkways is also a bust.

Spoiler: large image (click to show/hide)

From here on these shots are focusing on one of the more....interestingly designed areas, the volcano tower, housing the Shroud of Armok and the corpse disposal railways. The ramp system was botched early on (I have trouble getting constructed staircases to work, so I use ramps for everything) and never fixed due to slow workers, so some day it'll need a fix. Anyway. Going up another Z level from where we were before, here's what we see:

Spoiler: not so large image (click to show/hide)

And finally one Z level higher, we see the current top level of that tower, with the planned paving over the Shroud (currently stalled due to idiot workers):

Spoiler: not so large image (click to show/hide)

So as you can see, the lack of efficiency in stone hauling has cost a massive amount of time, and there's probably another years worth of construction work left in those designations (at least). I do not expect people to do anyhting other than cancel them, but I'm leaving them in case someone does want to finish it.

edit: Oh, and the current beehive count is ~31 hives.

[CaptainArchmage]

You should probably put up some walls around the entrance bridge too, so dwarves don't dodge into the lava. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

Have there been any changes underground?

[Urist McKiwi]

You should probably put up some walls around the entrance bridge too, so dwarves don't dodge into the lava. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

Have there been any changes underground?

A few...I started work to seal the caverns properly, but abandoned it when things started to bog down. A future overseer could easily expand on my work though.

Besides that....not much, really.

The edges of the entrance bridge are restricted areas, but I'll wall them off if I have time. The dwarves prioritise new construction designations over old ones (thus causing more massive backlogs) so I could probably get that done fairly quickly.