I am playing Dwarf Fortress again and here I am, writing about what befalls my fortress. Check out the first, second, third, fourth and fifth part, before reading this one.
Sure as winter, the next goblin attacks came. I had readied the fortress as well as I could, reinforcing the militia with immigrants arriving "despite the danger" and building a corridor of traps where my old kill-corridor had been before. When my dwarves spotted a goblin ambush, I told everyone to hide inside and got the militia in position. Let them come through the traps first, each of them loaded with five weapons of different size and making, each of them capable of cutting an intruder apart.
The first fight that included the traps sadly also included an elven caravan that was in the process of unloading their goods at the trade depot and also a rather ballsy speardwarf charging into the trap-tunnel to fight the goblins there. That was not a very smart move because, although the dwarves normally don't activate the traps, he got stabbed in his leg, fell over and into one of the traps, only to explode in gore and vomit. The goblins quickly gave up on their ambushing though, albeit only after I was even quicker to lower the alarm-status of the fortress, which cost me five more dwarves before the hitherto hidden other goblin strikeforces were fought off.
26 November 2013
20 November 2013
Another Dwarf Fortress part 5: Breaking the Cycle
I am playing Dwarf Fortress again and here I am, writing about what befalls my fortress. Check out the first, second, third and fourth part, before reading this one.
A human caravan was camping out in my fortress entrance and I was desperately enlarging the tombs so all of the dead dwarves could be buried. The question on whether I could manufacture coffins faster than the dwarves were dying was answered with the first ghosts appearing in front of the fortress gate. Bummer. I also noticed that the cistern was being haunted, as some dummy dwarf had managed to drown in it. Still, the dying was slowing down and the dead militiadwarves were replaced soon enough.
When summer came around, the human caravan was still there and the trading-post had somehow broken down. I quickly built an new one when a dwarven caravan came around. The traders did their thing and I bought a lot of alcohol for my populace to drown their sorrow on. The humans were still there with their pack-animals, not doing too much. I didn't mind, as I could use the extra swords. When my dumping-pit started fuming with miasma, I made the tragic decision to take off the roof above it, creating a hole in my central entrance to let the fumes out so dwarves would still be able to dump garbage in there. A lethal mistake for the outpost liaison, who decided to hang around on the spot that was being trenched away on top. I imagine that not much was left of the guy after falling for ten z-levels...
A human caravan was camping out in my fortress entrance and I was desperately enlarging the tombs so all of the dead dwarves could be buried. The question on whether I could manufacture coffins faster than the dwarves were dying was answered with the first ghosts appearing in front of the fortress gate. Bummer. I also noticed that the cistern was being haunted, as some dummy dwarf had managed to drown in it. Still, the dying was slowing down and the dead militiadwarves were replaced soon enough.
 |
| Building more burial space... |
When summer came around, the human caravan was still there and the trading-post had somehow broken down. I quickly built an new one when a dwarven caravan came around. The traders did their thing and I bought a lot of alcohol for my populace to drown their sorrow on. The humans were still there with their pack-animals, not doing too much. I didn't mind, as I could use the extra swords. When my dumping-pit started fuming with miasma, I made the tragic decision to take off the roof above it, creating a hole in my central entrance to let the fumes out so dwarves would still be able to dump garbage in there. A lethal mistake for the outpost liaison, who decided to hang around on the spot that was being trenched away on top. I imagine that not much was left of the guy after falling for ten z-levels...
26 October 2013
Another Dwarf Fortress part 4: Siege Aftermath
I am playing Dwarf Fortress again and here I am, writing about what befalls my fortress. Check out the first and second part, before reading this one.
Back in the day, in my play with the Great Draught, I learned that the system of psychology and social interactions in Dwarf Fortress has a disheartening side effect when great disasters happen: After you think the situation is under control and the dying has stopped, repercussions to the disaster happen. Dwarfs who witnessed death are traumatized and forlorn, those who lost loved ones will interrupt their work in fits of rage and depression, some will refuse to eat and drink and die of that, babies of deceased dwarves may go unfed, some dwarves go insane and kill their fellow dwarves, leading to a second wave of death and grief. If you're lucky, that second wave is not as bad as the first one and the dying will, so to speak, die down again.
After the great massacre of my dwarves by the hands of the goblins and trolls whose bodies now litter my refuse-pile, the dwarves were very distraught. Many, too many of them had lost friends and family to the attack, resulting in a wave of grief and sorrow. Sobbing and mad screams of tantrums filled the tunnels and halls of the fortress, whilst the masons tried to focus on their grim work of carving more and more coffins and the miners were ceaselessly expanding the tombs to hold more and more dead.
Back in the day, in my play with the Great Draught, I learned that the system of psychology and social interactions in Dwarf Fortress has a disheartening side effect when great disasters happen: After you think the situation is under control and the dying has stopped, repercussions to the disaster happen. Dwarfs who witnessed death are traumatized and forlorn, those who lost loved ones will interrupt their work in fits of rage and depression, some will refuse to eat and drink and die of that, babies of deceased dwarves may go unfed, some dwarves go insane and kill their fellow dwarves, leading to a second wave of death and grief. If you're lucky, that second wave is not as bad as the first one and the dying will, so to speak, die down again.
After the great massacre of my dwarves by the hands of the goblins and trolls whose bodies now litter my refuse-pile, the dwarves were very distraught. Many, too many of them had lost friends and family to the attack, resulting in a wave of grief and sorrow. Sobbing and mad screams of tantrums filled the tunnels and halls of the fortress, whilst the masons tried to focus on their grim work of carving more and more coffins and the miners were ceaselessly expanding the tombs to hold more and more dead.
23 October 2013
Another Dwarf Fortress part 3: The Second Siege
I am playing Dwarf Fortress again and here I am, writing about what befalls my fortress. Check out the first and second part, before reading this one.
After the attack, several of the dwarves became depressed, having lost friends and family in the fighting. The dwarven children on the other hand were more content, as the dead invaders had brought clothes for them to wear (producing clothes is something I still haven't quite figured out). The population was growing and I was preparing for the next attack whilst also working on the betterment of the fortress.
I thickened the walls to double stength, mostly for stilistic purposes as I have yet to encounter anything that can break walls in the game. I started enlarging the living quarters and built a large second meeting hall, as well as a statue-garden and more kitchens on the second level below ground. Furthering metal-production, I was dead-set on getting all my close-combat dwarves into a full set of metal armor before the next big attack came. Food production would be advanced by creating more farming-plots underground on the third floor below ground. I also set up a prison, even though i do not know how to use it.
After the attack, several of the dwarves became depressed, having lost friends and family in the fighting. The dwarven children on the other hand were more content, as the dead invaders had brought clothes for them to wear (producing clothes is something I still haven't quite figured out). The population was growing and I was preparing for the next attack whilst also working on the betterment of the fortress.
I thickened the walls to double stength, mostly for stilistic purposes as I have yet to encounter anything that can break walls in the game. I started enlarging the living quarters and built a large second meeting hall, as well as a statue-garden and more kitchens on the second level below ground. Furthering metal-production, I was dead-set on getting all my close-combat dwarves into a full set of metal armor before the next big attack came. Food production would be advanced by creating more farming-plots underground on the third floor below ground. I also set up a prison, even though i do not know how to use it.
18 October 2013
Another Dwarf Fortress part 2: The First Siege
I have started playing Dwarf Fortress again. Let me tell you about my exploits!
After year 2 of my new fortress, the population had grown. I had dug out spacious housing for the dwarves, the militia counted twenty dwarves, the first two of which were armored with chainmail shirts and -leggins and the wall surrounding the area above the fortress was done too. There was a channel of water, protected by a grate underneath the wall leading through the water-hole in the pasture and into the cistern below, which held ten by ten by seven squares of water and had a well connected to the bottom floor of it in a room beside it, separated by a wall so dwarves couldn't fall into the cistern itself.
Food production was going great. Animals were being butchered as well as hunted, honey and eggs were produced, plump helmets and wild strawberries grew and sometimes I would even get my dwarves specialties from the caravans, such as cheese or rum. The masons and stoneworkers were working on making a really nice new meeting hall and carving appartments and offices for the nobles of the fortress. The defenses included a path inside the wall that was overlooked by a ballista behind an arrow-slit and there was a central room for crossbowdwarves to fire out of without being endangered themselves. I was getting giddy for action. That is never good in Dwarf Fortress...
After year 2 of my new fortress, the population had grown. I had dug out spacious housing for the dwarves, the militia counted twenty dwarves, the first two of which were armored with chainmail shirts and -leggins and the wall surrounding the area above the fortress was done too. There was a channel of water, protected by a grate underneath the wall leading through the water-hole in the pasture and into the cistern below, which held ten by ten by seven squares of water and had a well connected to the bottom floor of it in a room beside it, separated by a wall so dwarves couldn't fall into the cistern itself.
Food production was going great. Animals were being butchered as well as hunted, honey and eggs were produced, plump helmets and wild strawberries grew and sometimes I would even get my dwarves specialties from the caravans, such as cheese or rum. The masons and stoneworkers were working on making a really nice new meeting hall and carving appartments and offices for the nobles of the fortress. The defenses included a path inside the wall that was overlooked by a ballista behind an arrow-slit and there was a central room for crossbowdwarves to fire out of without being endangered themselves. I was getting giddy for action. That is never good in Dwarf Fortress...
16 October 2013
Another Dwarf Fortress part 1: Starting Out
I've recently been playing the great/complex/astonishing Dwarf Fortress again. My new fortress is using all I have learned to do in the game so far - and I'm still learning to use more features of the game, my ability to survive growing constantly. Let's see, how far this will get me this time...
The first year of the fortress was easy, as they always tend to be. Seven dwarves with hand-picked skill to get me trough my first winter and get a basic production and growth of the fortress going. A mason, two miners, a carpenter, a negotiator and a cook, I had the essential skills for all my dwarves. The group brought a small group of chickens and a rooster to get egg-production going too.
The first year of the fortress was easy, as they always tend to be. Seven dwarves with hand-picked skill to get me trough my first winter and get a basic production and growth of the fortress going. A mason, two miners, a carpenter, a negotiator and a cook, I had the essential skills for all my dwarves. The group brought a small group of chickens and a rooster to get egg-production going too.
23 September 2013
Making a Roguelike: Thoughts on Combat
As our roguelike-project is starting to take the form of an actual, playable game (which I still won't publically reveal until we're at Beta-state), let me talk about the philosophy of encountering monsters in the game.
Monsters need to be scary. That is the very essence of the word. Monster. When I DM an pen & paper campaign, a fight that is not a threat to the player-characters' lives is not a fight worth rolling dice for. I dislike success-porn. When playing a video game, my opponents better be a threat to me too. If not, what's the point? For me as a player to feel good about myself? That's a bit like punching toddlers, isn't it? This is one of the main reasons I like difficult games for. Playing a game to overcome adversary (actual, effective adversary, not just pretend-one), not just to get a pad on the back.
Monsters need to be scary. That is the very essence of the word. Monster. When I DM an pen & paper campaign, a fight that is not a threat to the player-characters' lives is not a fight worth rolling dice for. I dislike success-porn. When playing a video game, my opponents better be a threat to me too. If not, what's the point? For me as a player to feel good about myself? That's a bit like punching toddlers, isn't it? This is one of the main reasons I like difficult games for. Playing a game to overcome adversary (actual, effective adversary, not just pretend-one), not just to get a pad on the back.
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