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[eccentricheathen]

27th Obsidian, 183, Late Winter

Tragedy has struck. Work on sealing the dome so it can be successfully flooded was progressing at a steady pace, until there was an accident concerning a wall being built without actually having any supports. Kol, the youngest dwarf, was caught in a cloud of dust following the cave-in - luckily for him, only his heart and guts were bruised.

[darkflagrance]

27th Obsidian, 183, Late Winter

Tragedy has struck. Work on sealing the dome so it can be successfully flooded was progressing at a steady pace, until there was an accident concerning a wall being built without actually having any supports. Kol, the youngest dwarf, was caught in a cloud of dust following the cave-in - luckily for him, only his heart and guts were bruised. Dakost the carpenter, however, broke several bones, including his upper spine. Unable to draw breath, he suffocated minutes later.

Now there are 94.

UPDATE: I did a search through the gamelog, and found this:

A kidnapper has made off with the Dwarven child Zuglar `Throwerlens' Zefonakgos!

I can't be sure precisely WHEN this occured, although I suppose I could copy my save, abandon the fort, and check Legends mode. I just might do that.

Well, the kidnapping does indeed account for the phantom child in Dwarf Therapist.

Also, the peeks at the guild quarters, magma dome, and ducal residence were quite satisfying indeed! If I might make a suggestion however, consider generating caverns with higher OPENNESS in the future so that less work is required on hollowing out?

[DS]

In all seriousness, I hope your fort doesn't die a slow, sad death by lack of children.  That's not how a fort should end.

Judging by the way my dwarves are acting when I restrict them to burrows, it's likely something horrifically fun may occur when the magma pumps are activated.

[NRDL]

Forts that have little manpower should compensate by having LOTS of traps and mechanisms, not to mention stuff like waterwheels, drawbridges, and other mechanical stuff, that can keep the fort defended and running with even just one dwarf.

Also, wardogs. 

[DS]

Forts that have little manpower should compensate by having LOTS of traps and mechanisms, not to mention stuff like waterwheels, drawbridges, and other mechanical stuff, that can keep the fort defended and running with even just one dwarf.

Also, wardogs.

I do indeed have quite a few traps and mechanical things - nearly 350 mechanisms, including a large windmill farm, quite a few screw pumps - although not all are for fortress defense. So far, the weapons traps have been sufficient. As for war dogs... my framerate is problem enough. I try and keep the animal population to a minimum.

For those who are interested, I've posted annotated maps of the upper fortress and the dome onto the DFMA (I've also added these links to the first post). For the sake of keeping the maps relatively small and easy to view (reduced loading times, etc.), I've split the fortress between the upper and lower parts. I will continue to add relevant points of interest, and I can answer any questions about specific parts of the fort.

[NRDL]

Ok...is it possible for you to mechanize your entire fort?

[Girlinhat]

Runesmith should allow dragging other creatures into your civ.  Perhaps 'recruiting' a merchant will allow more babies?

[DS]

I've done flooding rooms (magma and water), and long bridge switchbacks, which have proven pretty effective. It wouldn't be hard to automate something like that (with pressure plates), but it's not a priority. Ambushes come rarely, and sieges even more so. It's almost as if the entire goblin population has been exhausted by repeatedly throwing itself at my fort for almost 80 years.

As for using Runesmith... the only merchants who come to my fort anymore are from the humans. Not a single forest or jungle grows on this little pocket world, so there are no elves. There is another dwarven civ, if I want to reclaim, and it's possible they will actually be able to have children. It might be interesting to bring breeding humans into the fortress and have an essentially legendary dwarven ruling class and a vast, dirty human peasantry. I suppose it couldn't hurt to "recruit" a few humans, although everything I've done up to this point has been completely vanilla, excluding things like Dwarf Therapist and the visualizers.

[NRDL]

I like the racial class system, do it.

[Girlinhat]

Copy the save and see how it goes.  I think if you try, you could convert your fort into a human settlement, as dwarves slowly die off and the vagrants suddenly find no one holding the whip.

[NRDL]

Yeah, good idea Girlinhat, separate forts, please post what happens in both of them. 

This could potentially be a mega-challenge, as inscribed in the wiki. 

[DS]

It would be interesting, for sure. By the time the youngest dwarves finally began to die of old age, the humans would undoubtedly be quite numerous. Assuming, of course, the breeding bug doesn't affect them, too. I'll make a backup and try it, and if it doesn't work, I can simply revert to the earlier save. I even have plans for additional housing involving another elaborate digging project, back when children were being born.

[NRDL]

You can also mod dwarves to never die of old age, like elves and gobbos.  You just have to be very careful and use your human serfs wisely. 

[DS]

I probably won't go that far, simply because (unlike recruiting human merchants to live in the bowels of the fort) it seems like it would make the game less fun. How many forts reach a point where a dwarf dies of old age? If I have the opportunity to reach that point while still keeping things 'dorfy' - which, IMHO, living in a hand-carved rock city that is periodically flooded with magma qualifies as - I don't think I should rob myself of that end. Though, based on how long dwarves live, I honestly doubt it will reach that point.

[Crustypeanut]

I must've missed it, but why exactly do you periodically flood the city in magma? I mean.. its awesome.. but I'm just curious why?