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So I recently got really into Dwarf Fortress and I thought a succession game (or, as the ineffably sanguine jargon has it, bloodline game) would be a satisfying proposition. :gentleman:

Are any of you guys up for it? I poked through the archives and apparently several of these have failed on the TIGSource forums before. But the way I see it, why should I let that stop me? :blink: So, if there's any interest at all, I can totally play through 1 year of a fortress, upload it to a website and then write up some rules. (The basic idea, if you're not familiar with it, is: Someone plays 1 year of a fortress, then they give the save to the next person who plays 1 year, and so on. A collaborative gameplay project!)

The Dwarf Fortress game "Helmauthors" has started!

Helmauthors File Repository - This is where all the save games will be kept, as well as some other useful links. (http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors)

Technical Details

I downloaded v0.28.181.40d (http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/index.html) and created a fresh install, just to be sure.  (Then I fiddled with my graphics and font settings for a while, which explains why my pictures may not look exactly like yours.  That shouldn't affect the gameplay or saves at all, though.)  I'm running Windows XP Pro, by the way.

I generated a few worlds and found one I liked with an embark site that will be pretty easy to play on.  (Perhaps it might have been more "fun" to go for a challenging site, but maybe we can do that next game. ;) )  The site is 3x4, it's "calm", it appears to have almost no wildlife; it has a lot of trees, it has sand and it has flux (marble).  No river, but a few pools.  According to the site finder it should have a magma pool somewhere, but I don't know where; it will probably require exploratory mining to find.

According to the output files, the world of Ruspstrasp should be seed 2476520710, so you guys can recreate it "from scratch" if you like.  (Those output files have all sorts of awesome randomly-generated history, it's great for getting the imagination going!  All the names in the "history section" below were taken from there, although I filled in the details of the "plot" a little. ;) )  I'm going to post my first "chapter" as a new post at the end of this thread.

Rules

-Unzip the save file into your data\save directory.  So you should end up with something like dwarfort\data\save\Helmauthors.  (Should I have zipped it up with a data\save\Helmauthors path?)
-Play until you see the message "Autumn has arrived", then archive the save folder and send it to me.  I'll send the file to the next person in line, and I'll host the saves on a little web page just for convenience.  (I could even put the maps up on Dwarf Fortress Map Archive (http://mkv25.net/dfma/) and/or Dwarf Fortress File Depot (http://dffd.wimbli.com/) if you guys would like. My email address is available on the link just to the left. :handpointL: 8)
-Aim to finish your turn within one week.  I played through the initial setup in two days, so this shouldn't be hard.  A week is the "expected" time.  (By the way, if you're in line and you expect the person in front of you to take a week, but they take say two days, and you're not ready at that point...well, we'll work something out.)
-After nine days, you're skipped.  That doesn't need to be explained, right?
-Tell us what significant events happened in your playthrough.  Goblins attacking, trade caravans, significant new construction projects; these are all things we'd like to hear about.
-Detailed and/or in-character journals are welcomed.  Part of the fun of these games is reading the wacky writing that they create.  However, note that I said welcomed and not required!
-Try not to completely screw over the fortress.  If something really bad happens, we can vote on trying to either reclaim it or reverting to a previous save.
-The aim is to have fun!  I don't really mean in the sense of "Losing is Fun (http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Fun)", I mean that these rules are here to maximize the possibility of the participants having fun.  If someone takes a huge long time with their turn, then everyone else gets bored waiting and the fun decreases.  So, there you go. ;)

The Story So Far

Part 1 - Spring 201-Spring 202 - Chaoseed. Initial fortress construction, hematite and marble found.
Part 2 - Spring 202-Spring 203 - John Lee. Lots of immigrants, living quarters and workshops greatly expanded, garbage put behind closed doors, goblin attack prompts the building of an Indy-esque tomb level, Amost drives Melbil insane.
Part 3 - Spring 203 - Autumn 203 - frezned. Huge dining room, artificial waterfall, the dwarves get stressed.
Part 4 - Autumn 203 - Autumn 204 - Cheater. The great "squareification" of everything except bedrooms (which were already more square than they should be). Elven ambush, magma, smelting, You Have to Burn the Rope filk, capitalism.
Part 5 - Autumn 204 - Autumn 205 - Markham.  A huge wall is built to fend off goblin attacks.  Huge elven siege triggers a tantrum spiral.
Part 6 - About a month - ZeuglinRush.  The tantrum spiral engulfs the entire fortress, nothing can be done.

Helmauthors is finished!

I'd be interested :)

Before starting it, you should look through the other threads. From them, I think you may gain some insight into why they failed and how it could have been prevented. I think it's key to set up strict rules about dead-lines and how they are to be handled.

If you don't want it to die off from lag, I'd suggest a 3x4 maximum area, no underground features (river, pool, hfs, etc.), no magma pipe (a magma pool doesn't seem to have any lag involved), capping population at 100 and fix the child/baby limit so that none can be born.

To keep things interesting, there are still sites with zombies, beakdogs, and rivers full of hippos.  Sand always helps, though glass can't be made out of "loamy sand."  Just regular sand and "[color] sand." I always embark in areas beforehand to check for specific types of wildlife and CTRL+ALT+DEL out of the program for a clean embark if they're good.

Hell yes, this sounds like fun.

Also, I think part of the reason the really successful threads have done well was the players keeping pretty detailed journals of the goings on to entertain with. Boatmurdered did that a lot.

What if one of us sucks at the game and the player gets killed?

Eh, the other thing I've seen is to resume from a previous version of the fort if one player fails for whatever reason, then keep on going wit tha next dude.

That's only true from a reading-popularity-perspective. In fact, many projects like this seem to fall apart because people can't take the pressure when expected to write detailed journals. Writing a proper journal is hard and takes a lot of time, which can be overwhelming.

Sounds like a good idea... I haven't played DF in quite a while, I've been waiting for the new release.

If you've only recently got into it... I take it this won't be a challenge game? No undead sharks, no pave-the-ocean, no adamantine Killhammer?

In! Dwarf Fortress succession games are the bomb.

Protips:

The organizer must be always in possession of the files from each finished player. If a player fails to deliver his files to the organizer his turn is disqualified and the next in line is given the files from the last save the organizer possesses. Saves must never be only passed from one player to the next in line.

The organizer must stipulate a time limit. Perhaps 2 weeks should be the very maximum. May be extended if the current player gives good reason for it. If not, the next in line is given the last save the organizer has.

Like it's been mentioned the fortress must be started on a low-lag environment and measures must be taken to prevent future lag, which is the main killer of succession games.

Basically for this to work the organizer must be on top of everything making sure it moves along as smoothly as possible.

I would like to officially register interest in this. My DF-play does not feel complete without a succession game under my belt.

See the most recent TIGSTWG for proof that I don't inactive or lame out. :eyebrows:

I'm playing the "wait for next DF release" game. So far I am winning, checking the devlog daily. I do adore Dwarf Fortress.

However I am not insane and patient enough to participate in a succession game. Woe is me.

Having played two Succession Games I can only say:
Backups. Plenty of them. Make them. It frequently happened that something ended up messed up. Some folks forgot they had mods installed, at other times the AI would just downright bug out and freeze. There'll be plenty of opportunities where you'll be thankful you made that backup to fall back on.

Also be prepared for at least 50% dropouts from the people signing up. Some of them lose interest along the way, after half a year of waiting for their turn, that's understandable. Others suddenly realize its actually quite a bit of work to write an entertaining journal and drop out because they don't want to take the effort. The rate of "broken" computers during a DF Succession Game is ridiculously high and conveniently timed to a day or two after someone started his turn. Funny, eh?

If I didn't make it clear before, I'm in as long as there's no craaaaazy challenges. I like my simple games.

In.

I would be interested in participating, if I am able to write my entry in somewhere toward the end of the line that is. I haven't played DF in awhile but I think that this would be a great way to jump back into the mix. I'll have to go and read boatmurder and some of the TIGS succession games to get a good feel for the format of these games.

It isn't really until you get the count that the real fun begins, with lots of crazy demands, restricting the trade of socks just as the caravans start leaving with all the narrow silk socks you traded with them, and the hammerer that lays out Dwarven justice by bashing in the fisherdwarf's skull for not making a pair of shell amulets.

Awesome. Thanks for the tips, guys. I'm willing to keep backups of all the saves, that's definitely a good idea. I've played enough DF to have a firm grasp of the basics, at least, so tonight I'll try to find a good site and write up rules about time limits and stuff. :eyebrows:

Count me in!

Well, after seeing the reference, I sat down and read through the Boatmurdered saga, and I must say...Jesus Christ. I hope your fortress isn't doomed to the same fate (or maybe I hope it is, whether you're going for success or hilarity). I'll be watching from the sidelines (too much of a noob at the game still), but good luck!

My brother had a fortress that was like sin city. It had previously been prosperous, but then he got a morale problem, and the crime rate went through the roof. He ended up with a legendary sherrif.

Probably my favorite example of the crap that was going on was when one of the convicts went berserk and ripped a set of iron manacles out of the wall, and started rampaging around. As soon as that sherrif stepped in the room, the berserk dwarf escaped through the back door. Eventually, the sherrif cornered him in a tomb, and punched him in the chest so hard it collapsed both lungs and his heart. Then he just picked him up and put him in an open casket nearby. Falcon punch + james bond one liner = awesome.

That is the best thing I have ever seen or heard.

Also we should get this thing started! People can queue up as it progresses.

Fake edit: People who have done a succession game before raise your voice if that last sentence is a terrible idea.

The scholars call this world Ruspstrasp, "The Eternal Planet".  Goden Quicknessbridge came from the mists of history and founded our great civilization, starting the dwarven calendar at year 1.  After living for centuries she died in the year 105, leaving the throne to her child Tekkud Releasedarmor.  However, in 144 the line of Goden was overthrown by the Great Traitor, Kikrost Ramparttwisted.  So began a time of intrigue and assassination, until Tekkud Groupaddle, the Final King, died in 148, one year after taking the throne.  Since then we have been known as Eshimlòr, "The Free Tool", working under the domination of no dwarf, elf, human, goblin or demon.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_00.png)

In the bicentennial year 200, the land was filled with celebration.  50 years after the true founding of The Free Tool, the Mountainhomes felt strong enough to fund colonial expeditions to claim new lands and build new fortresses.  The famous miner and mason Melbil Udildetes (Melbil Lanternrams) stepped forward, volunteering to traverse the Basic Continent and settle in the Tattooed Jungle.  Now, in 201, we have finally reached the site of our new home.  Since we have no true scholars amongst our company, I, Amost Ïtebakath (Amost Postwinters), have decided to keep my own modest record of the events at the outpost of Zonardes--Helmauthors.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_02.png)

=====

"You know," Tun Whisperglazed murmured, "I think if we ask for a whole bunch of different kinds of meat we can scam the quartermaster out of some barrels."

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_01.png)

=====

"It's not much of a mountain," Melbil sniffed.  "Still, the sand will be easy to dig through, and there's probably good stone underneath."

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_03.png)

"This is a nice little hollow for an entryway," Kel Lovelynets said.  Her callused hand was perched prettily on her stout hip as she surveyed the scene.  "Easily defensible."

"Lots of trees," Obok Cudgelscribed said, lounging against the wagon.  "I don't think I've even seen some of these varieties before.  That should be fun."

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_04.png)

"The seers tell me there's magma and flux stone somewhere in the ground."  A grin tugged at Melbil's face.  "Finally we can create a true dwarven civilization, away from those hippie Free Tool socialists!  The seven of us will be the core of a new world!"

Asob Bellwades raised his eyebrows and glance at Zuntîr Confusedlashes.  She blushed and shrugged.

"Well, then!"  Melbil hoisted her pick, eyes gleaming.  "Strike the earth!"

"Yes, mistress," Amost Postwinters said.

=====

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_05.png)

"Smoky quartz," Tun said, eyeing the dune face.  "Never seen them in sand before."

"A good omen!" Melbil proclaimed.  "Now, the trade depot should be here, and we'll dig out some rooms, downward to get to some real stone..."

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_06.png)

"Hematite already!" Melbil chortled.  "We'll have steel soon!  Even without magma, we've got trees to feed the furnaces for years!"

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_07.png)
 
"We don't need an entire stair made of hematite," Melbil said, pointing down into the hole.  "Mine that out, then Amost can make us a stair out of something cheaper."

"Yes, mistress," Amost said.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_08.png)

"Do you really like sweet pods that much?" Tun asked.

"I guess," Amost said, steadily chipping at a block of stone.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_09.png)

Tun raised his eyebrows and glanced at Melbil.  "Something odd about that girl," he murmured.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_10.png)

"How lucky you all are to be graced by my skill," Melbil laughed.

"I'll think of you every time I eat at this table," Obok said, carefully picking up the stone furniture and waddling off.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_11.png)

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_12.png)

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_13.png)

"What a grand start to our fortress!"

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_14.png)

"Any idea what we should do with this cave, Melbil?" Tun asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

"Hmmm."  Melbil's eyes gleamed.  "Polished up, those floors will be exquisite.  We'll have them lead to our living quarters.  The Hematite Halls!"

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_15.png)

"Sometimes I worry about him," Obok muttered to Kel on his way through the plump helmet field.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_16.png)

"My goodness, how time flies!"  Melbil clapped her hands.  "Now, everyone get those rock crafts into the trade depot!"

=====

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_17.png)

Notes on trade goods received, by Amost

-A cave spider silk rope, for building a well.
-Barrels.
-Wine and rum.
-A pick and an axe, for another miner and woodcutter (if necessary).
-A bag (for gathering sand if nothing else).
-Rock nuts and dimple cup spawn.
-Meat.
-Plump helmets.

=====

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_18.png)

"Where did the little bastard go!" Melbil screeched.

Tun and Obok exchanged a glance.  "He, uh, ran away," Obok replied.

There were several seconds of silence.  Then the smile returned to Melbil's face.  "Well, good riddance!"

=====

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_19.png)

"The traders said you had a hall lined with statues and rock crafts and barrels of gems!" the girl said, eyes wide.

"We...have a few statues," Amost said slowly.

"Oh, I'm Alåth Paddleorbs!"  She smiled.  "What's your name?"

"Amost Postwinters," Amost replied automatically.  "I'm a mason.  What do you do?"

"...um..."

=====

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_20.png)

"Marble, finally," Tun said, nodding and slinging his pick over his shoulder for a moment.

"Excellent," Melbil purred.

=====

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_21.png)

"Oh hai," the creature stammered.  Then it fled, the alunite door making a hollow boom as it closed.

"What was that all about?" Kel Lovelynets asked of no one in particular.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_22.png)

And so, like it always does, spring arrived.

"Amost!"  The mason looked up from her journal to see the giggling Alåth.  "I'm a Gem Cutter!" she said.  "Melbil said I had cut so many gems and gotten so good at it, I'm an official Gem Cutter!"

"That's great, Alåth," Amost said politely.

"Yes!  I think I'll invite everyone to a party in the sculpture garden!"  She giggled again and ran off.

Amost sighed and looked back at the fortress plans she had been sketching.

=====

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_23.png)

Front entrance, trade depot, stockpiles/workshops, open-air sculpture garden, fields/still/pantry, kitchen/fishery/space for butchery and tanner, stairway room

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_24.png)

Walled roof garden over sculpture garden

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_25.png)

Barracks, kennels, dining room, Hematite Halls, living quarters built off a blueprint Melbil had found in a book

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_26.png)

More living quarters, stairway landing

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_27.png)

Gem-floor hallway leading to marble deposit

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_28.png)

State of the fortress

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/sg_29.png)

Census

=====

As Amost closed the book, she sighed.  As satisfied as she was with her life at Zonardes, as much as she enjoyed the company of the other dwarves and the work of masonry--there was one thing that still bothered her about her situation.

...How did one author a helm, anyway?

=====

Suggestions For Later Players

• Smelt metal!  So far the only ore I've seen is hematite.  If you want to really go for it, you can try making steel.
• Living quarters for nobles.  Marble has a higher value than "ordinary" stone, so digging out the marble may help make really valuable rooms.
• Eventually there will be an opportunity to appoint a sheriff.  If you do, he'll want a jail.  Of course, a jail requires restraints, either ropes or chains.
• Military.
• More ordinary living quarters.
• Tombs in case someone dies.  (Don't forget a graveyard stockpile as a morgue.)
• Kitchen/prepared meals.  Maybe hunting/butchery/leatherworking.
• Traps and defense for the entrances.  Maybe even a triple-wide floodgate to close off the trade depot.
• Clothing industry.
• Build a well.  We already have one rope, a couple buckets and a lot of blocks.
• Do something with the cut gems.
• Do something with the bones and shells that are lying around.  (It might be a good idea to keep a few around in case of strange moods, though.)
• Mine out the cinnabar to make bright red objects.
• Start huge construction projects for no reason. :D
• AUTHOR SOME DAMN HELMS!

Cool!
But could you possibly move me further down the list, perhaps to the bottom? I'm currently not in a position where I can dedicate the time needed to do this properly. But I'd love to play later!  :)

Well, I suppose that's fair. Hmmm, maybe I should wait until someone is actually interested in playing before I make up the queue.

WHO WILL VOLUNTEER TO SHEPHERD THE DWARVES OF HELMAUTHORS?

Or we could adopt a system where the last person uploads the fortress somewhere, and the next person to make their claim on the fortress makes a post stating so and they get a week or so before the fortress is fair game to be claimed by someone else.

I think a queue system is a better idea.  It actually lets people plan ahead and get ready for their turns coming up.  Not only that, if we get two people who want to go and they get in a fight about who was able to reply first...I mean, that's just a recipe for disaster.

I'll take it, but before I do, I have a question.

...How does one take screenshots? And is there any specific way to edit them?

Edit: I realized this question was even stupider than I thought. I apologize, but I still need to know; I've played through fortress after fortress, but have never needed to take screenshots.

I just hit Print Screen, paste into Paint.Net, cut out the DF window, save in png format and dump into my Dropbox folder. But you'll probably benefit from specialized screenshot taking software.

At least in Windows XP you can press alt+Print Screen to take a snap of the currently selected window. (Not sure if it will work ingame in DF, though)

I just hit Print Screen and pasted it into Photoshop. (Well, Photoshop Elements.) Then, you know, editing. I don't think there's any fixed format; Use your own judgement, really.

I've poked through the Dwarf Fortress Wiki and I haven't found anything about screenshots. There also doesn't seem to be anything in the manuals about it. (So says grep, anyway.)

One thing to note; If you try to post images on the TIGSource forum but they're too wide, it seems to only show a certain portion of the image. A lot of those images I posted, if you view them directly, they're wider. It's not really a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it so we're all aware of it.

If you want to step up to the plate, John Lee, that would be great. ;)

I'll do that if I can find nothing else within 24 hours.

But I generally prefer to play in fullscreen mode, which has some issues being alt-tabbed away from.
That grammar just got mugged...

Anyway, I'll play in windowed mode if there's no other option.

EDIT (I have an edit fetish; can you tell?): For a short period of time, I will use this space as a test to see if I know what I'm doing when I post images.

Aaaaaaaand done. I now have an imagehosting account, a program that will efficiently screenshot when I have fullscreen, and the skills required to use both. before I get started, I have a couple more questions:

First, we ARE using the default init settings, right? I don't want to have everyone die in a fire only to be informed that we had temperature OFF, and I was DOING IT WRONG.

Secondly, .bmp format is fine for posting, right? Should be, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't... bad in some way.

Sorry if my questions seem overbearing, but... I'm nervous... It's my... f-first time... :-[

bmp is not really recommended - the files are huge. If you can manage it, I'd recommend using png. Otherwise gif or jpg should work. But if you already have something uploaded, bmp will work fine :)

And I'm sure you'll do great. If not, just write a fun journal and you will have done fantasticly great. Good luck!

.png it is, then. I couldn't find the option on the screenshotting program I was using MWSnap, if anyone cares; I though it was pretty bad until I saw the stuff you could do int he Settings menu, but then I tried actually looking, and there it was.

Dacke is correct, the one problem with .bmp files is that they tend to be large. But, yeah, it's pretty easy to convert them. By the way, since you figured out a workflow with the screenshots, you might want to share that with the rest of us...Someone might find it useful!

In the first post I put in some 'Technical Details', but I'll go ahead and reiterate: I created a fresh install of Dwarf Fortress just to make sure we were all on the same page. (Then I modified the graphics settings a bit, but I'm 95% sure the graphics settings only affect how the game is displayed on my system and not the gameplay or save files.) The point is: Yes, we're using default settings for fire and everything like that.

So, aim for Sunday the 26th or earlier, and if it goes all the way to Tuesday the 28th you're being skipped. ;) Good luck!

A workflow?
Well, I used the program MWSnap, which takes pictures of stuff. I use the "snap desktop" option, which despite the name snaps anything currently onscreen. I put the settings to A: Not have the program window pop up before or after shots and B: autosave as .png to a folder I created for the purpose. There's a default 600 ms delay on the snap, which is intended to have enough time to bring up/remove the program window, but which I left on just in case something terrible happened.

I tested it already, but when I'm done it should be a cinch to upload the pics to photobucket and then post them here, along with appropriate comments.

I'd advise everyone to use one of the latest d# versions, especially for the late game. d13 is the newest, but I haven't played a lot since d11, so I don't know if there are any issues with d13.

There is actually a tag in the forums for that. It is pretty much the same as the img tag but with some extra parameters. This is the tag: [img width=48 height=48]

you'll just have to toy with the width and height a bit to get it just right (and obviously add /img to the end of the tag). I use it sometimes when I am posting larger images.

Alright, done with the game-playing, the note-taking, and the image-editing.

Now for the writing; the hardest part.
Would you guys rather it all come at once in a mega-update, or should it be broken down into smaller bits? My plans can be altered to fit either one.


Also: I have discarded this plan after some hard thought, but my original idea was to have the being that Amost worships, Nokor the Dead Phantom of Oblivion,  be a malevolent deity (because with a name like that, how could you NOT be?)that would adversely affect Alath's mind, causing her to become manipulative and power-hungry. I discarded this idea, because I felt it'd fit better with one continuing fortress story, and a succession game's format kind of clashes. I still have a couple pages of notes on this idea, though.

Is it too late to make it into the roster? This seems like the funtimes.

Awesome, John!

Okay, first, let me talk a bit about the history...You know what? I'm going to upload those files to the directory. The Eternal Planet History (http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/region5-world_history.txt) - Now you can read about how The Free Tool went through its succession of rulers, finally ending up with none. And another thing you'll notice is that "Nökor the Dead Phantom of Oblivion" is The Free Tool's deity of death. A deity of death isn't necessarily malevolent; I mean, in the ancient Greek stories, Hades wasn't that bad... :-\

Also, just for reference, Alåth was a Peasant when she arrived at the fortress. After assigning her to cut gems, she became a Gem Cutter, so I incorporated that into the story. :) Also, when I put a dwarf in the story, I check out their profile and try to get a sense of their personality. Amost does seem a little odd... :concerned:

One mega-update or many mini-updates? I think it'd be cooler to have several updates. Keep the content going in a sort of steady stream. Of course, if you want to get everything perfect before you post it, that's okay too.

And about starting a plotline about the deity of death...It sounds like a good idea to me. However, one of the things about a "succession" story like this is that other people will put their own spin on things. It might be that later people will abandon all the plot stuff you come up with in favor of their own stuff. And, in fact, I think they should feel free to. We're really not trying to come up with a cohesive story, we're just trying to trade around save files. ;) Maybe in a later succession game we might go for a cohesive, collaborative story, but it's not necessary for this one. So, if you want to write up your cool story, go nuts; just realize that someone else might abandon it. ;)

ZeuglinRush: I'll add you to the end of the queue. Other people might drop out or be shuffled around, so you might be up sooner than you think. ;)

Edit: By the way, if you press Escape and go to "Export Local Image", you get huge .bmp files that show every part of the fortress. Then you can convert them to .png, or you can use the Dwarf Fortress Map Archive (http://mkv25.net/dfma/)'s tools to compress them. If you want to go through the trouble, of course. ;)

Count me in, if the game lasts that long!

Ah capital, a new succession game, hopefully this will go well :)

I will be watching from the sidelines as I am still not confident in my abilities with the game OR in my computers executing of it (a year might actually take just that)

Uh and Chaos: What tileset are you using? I like it!

(http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/508/helmautors.png)
As we all know dwarfs don't use hammers for inscription/masonry, they use their bare fists!
And they also all have long beards and hair, there are no hairdressers in a fort!

Kibble, you're in the queue. ;D

mark: It's called "Dullard Exponent 12x12". You can find it on the Dwarf Fortress wiki, in the List of user character sets (http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/List_of_user_character_sets), under "Lord Dullard". (Though I think you have to convert it to .bmp to use it.)

I tried out a bunch of character sets; the one I like the most is the "Unknown curses 12x12" one. However, I copied over the wrong tileset when I did the fresh install, and I only noticed after I'd taken a few screenshots. Still, it's not like it's horrible. ;)

Oh, and thanks for the neat picture. ;D

Thanks! :handthumbsupR:

Hey guys, are we naming dwarves? Because I also want to be dwarfed.

The following are excerpts from the diaries of a certain inhabitant of Helmauthors, one of the old colonies. We've chosen mostly those that seem relevant to the history of the fortress as a whole.

Amost's journal
6 Granite
Am writing this while eating in my room. These lax policies are really getting out of hand; someone once described me as being "slow to anger," but after a year of having no official place to eat, I'm getting pretty angry. I don't like to bother the other dwarfs, but I'll talk to Melbil about it tomorrow.

7 Granite
Well, that's it. I talked to Melbil. The conversation went like this, as close as I can recall:
"Well, Amost. what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Melbil sighed.
"...Dining room."
"What about it? Is it too big? Too small? Not legendary enough?"
"Not there."
Melbil stared at me for a few seconds. "Not there? What are you going on about? It's on the second level, right across from my office. All the dwarfs eat there."
"...No it's not. 'S not official."
"Not... wait, are you saying it's not a dining room until I-"
"Official."
Melbil rubbed the sides of her temples, as if to ward off a headache. "Alright, Amost, I'll make the announcement tomorrow and post a notice on the wall. The room that all the dwarfs have been eating in will now be the official dining room."
"...Thanks."

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF010.png)

Then I left.
This is the first time I've ever made a demand of a governmental dwarf, and it worked! The system works! I'm so glad. Maybe I'll start involving myself in policy more often; there are a few things that need to be fixed around here.
At the least, maybe I could keep that Alåth at arm's reach. She seems like a nice girl, but she's far too... bubbly for my tastes.

9 Granite
I found something else that needs a bit of tightening up: somebody decided to store the  refuse bin in the kitchen. I can kind of see the logic here; like after a bout of cooking, you throw your garbage onto the big pile. Unfortunately, it's not very practical. Unsurprisingly, having a huge pile of garbage in the kitchen makes a terrible smell.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF012.png)

I tried to talk to Melbil about it, but she claimed she was so busy that she didn't have time for small details.
Small details! Maybe this is that "bureaucratic red tape" I've heard about...

But the day wasn't a total loss- I made a friend! At least, I think so; I haven't been able to find a universal definition.
It was Obok! He started talking to me about my sudden involvement in local policies. I got the feeling he disapproved of it in general, but didn't hold any grudges. I don't remember exactly how the conversation went, but that's no surprise. It was odd having him talk to me after so long, but I think it was my sudden interest in the fortress' governing. Maybe it made him see that I'm more than how I might appear on the surface? Oh well. I'll talk to him again later, I'm sure!

13 Slate
It's been a while since I've written here, but things have been busy. Y'see, I noticed that we had run out of space to store things made in the workshops... Actually, it was my darling Obok Cudgelscribed that let me know. I knew the place was crowded, but I didn't know if that was normal; engraving's more my thing. But when I went to visit him while he was working, Obok's carpentry shop was so cluttered, there were bins stacked almost to the ceiling! He said it was getting hard to work, and asked me to talk to Melbil about it. Normally, he assured me, he wouldn't get involved with things like that, but his carpentry was very important to him. I was already sympathetic, given that Alåth's gem workshop was right next to his. So I headed off to Melbil, whom I knew was in her office.

I walked into the office, and there she was, busily working at her desk. I stared, waiting for her to notice me.
She looked up, saw me, and quickly looked down again.
I waited for minutes, but she seemed to be becoming more and more absorbed in her paperwork.
"Melbil." I said aloud.
She froze in place for a moment, and then looked up slowly. "Yes, Amost? Is there something you need?"
"Space for the workshops."
"The workshops? Isn't there enough space already?"
"Stockpiles. Bigger ones. Now."
She looked taken aback, likely by my can-do attitude.
I went on, deciding to outline in detail so that she could understand. 'The carpentry workshop is cluttered. There needs to be more room for storing things."
"There's plenty of room for goods! Now, I have some very important business to attend to, so if you'll excuse me..."
I stood resolutely in the doorway; I've heard anecdotes about dealing with bureaucracy, and the best way to get what you want is to be stubborn. I decided to repeat the request.
"...More. Room."
Melbil looked astonished for a second, and then turned slightly red. "Alright! The storage room will be expanded! Now please, just... leave me alone!"

I turned and walked away without saying a word. I was really getting the hang of this policymaking thing!

Anyway, a few weeks later, the mining was all done, and it's looking good!

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF013.png)

Obok was VERY grateful. You should have seen the way he looked at me.

4 Felsite
A HUGE amount of immigrants arrived today!

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF020.png)

 Twenty-four of them, to be precise. One of them, Imush the cheese maker, tried to make some idle conversation with me, but I shut him down pretty quick. If Obok is as interested in me as I think he is, it wouldn't be proper to be talking to other males.
He didn't seem to be too upset, though, and started in on Alåth instead. She talks to anyone, so they got along well. I doubt he'll remain a cheese maker for long, though; we don't have any milk here.

In fact, a lot of the immigrants seemed to have useless jobs. I took it upon myself to correct that, and caught Melbil in the halls. I succinctly explained the jobs I felt would best fit some of the more... worthless immigrants. She didn't seem to understand at first, and tried to walk away, but I persevered. I think she's really starting to appreciate my side of things.

Anyway, Imush is now a Mechanic, a Potash Maker is now another Miner, and several Peasants are now training in more... fit positions. Including one that i felt we badly needed.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF068.png)

Disappointingly, I forgot to have Melbil fix the garbage problem in the kitchen.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF024.png)

Hmm, there seems to be a minor width problem on some pictures that didn't show up in the test posts... If it's a problem for a number of people, then I'll squeeze them up a bit.

Anyway, this is the story of the first spring. It might be the season that the most happened in... anyway, the rest will get put up before the deadline.

I was really motivated yesterday, but Photobucket was down. 'T was disappointing.

I'd like to get in on this, but I just want to check. Will Dwarf Fortress Graphical work with the save file, I'm a pansy and I like the pretty graphics.

Poor Melbil. Being a dwarven government official can be hard work. You wake up at 10:00 am, then you have to get all the way out of bed to do your duties making sure the ales are up to spec :beer:

Then, spend the rest of your day looking busy watching the janitor work.

I always punch a hole through ceiling above garbage pits, then floor (or grate) over that hole just in case some kobold decides to dangle in Mission: Impossible style.

I noticed the image width problem earlier. And, in fact, skaldicpoet9 gave us some insight.


Anyway...looking good, John. ;) Man, that was a lot of immigrants. We must be doing something right!


I'm not actually sure what "Dwarf Fortress Graphical" is. If it's something where you change the settings to use different tilesets, then it should work. If it's some other mod of Dwarf Fortress, I suspect it might not work because it's probably based on a version prior to 40d...

Now that you mention it, I think I read somewhere that Mayday's prepackaged DF with graphics includes a mod.

I have a mod that is very unlikely to interfere with the game (I made dragons fireproof).

I think it includes a fix for the "too hurt" cat thing (hardly remember what the but was but something like that)

Cats didn't have mouth to hold their victims with, so they kept dropping the dead rat, complaining about being too hurt. The fix added a proper cat mouth.  :wizard:

That is also included in the d# versions.

Amost's Journal
12 Malachite

Summer is boring.

The only thing that's happened so far, besides Obok and I growing closer, is convincing Melbil to add more bedrooms. I told it to her last month, and she said she was going to, and gave me some line about how you'd have to be stupid not to after that load of immigrants we got.

I see right through her, though. She'd be useless without me around, that's for sure.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF025.png)

They're a little rough and filled with rubble, but the beds are being made as we speak.

Good thing, too. What if a whole load of immigrants arrived at once?
I'm not very good with social skills (you may find that hard to believe, but it's true), but I can definitely use some more dwarfpower to organize. And if there are any, they'd be arriving tomorrow. I hope some will arrive.

13 Malachite
Nothing yet. Maybe they've been held up by travel troubles?

15 Malachite

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF033.png)

Well, darn.

I need to do something proactive to get my mind out of this funk. Ah! I know.

Later

The conversation went something like this:
   "Melbil. Move the refuse away from the kitchens."
   "What? Why are you- oh. Amost."
She made a noise like a cow- a sort of haunting moo.
"Listen, Amost, while I appreciate you trying to help, it is long past the point of-"

I, of course, wouldn't tolerate this change of subject.
   "Move the refuse. Smells."

I kept repeating this until she got it, then left. I was moving an empty barrel from the stockpile, and I heard a bit of mining being done from the direction of the kitchens. Should be done soon!

16 Malachite

Well, it's done. There is now a separate garbage room off of the kitchen.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF035.png)

But more luck! A human caravan arrived today! Nothing especially exciting happened, though. We agreed to pay a bit extra for any picks, seeds, and especially spirits that they send us, with an assurance that said goods would be more likely to arrive next year. We also acquired an interesting pick:

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF029.png)

An aquatic wonder, eh? I saw it, and was simply enchanted. Unfortunately, it went to someone who was actually a regular miner. Understandable; we can't have important items like picks be put in a cabinet to be admired when they could be doing real work.

They also agreed to pay extra for a random assortment of items from our workshops.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF031.png)

Spears, toys, gems, and cheese? I half suspect them to be merely naming off a list of the first things that pop into their heads, just to foster a good trading relationship. I can't imagine them trading for higher prices elsewhere in the route, given that they're paying more than double the standard price for some things.

22 Malachite

Baffling experience today. A goblin babysnatcher showed up in our fortress.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF030.png)

She was chased off quickly, which is a relief, but part of me is still confused. We have no babies in here, and while there are a few children, they're old enough and strong enough that I feel sure they could have ground the poor gobbo into a paste. She was a scrawny thing, even by goblin standards.

The new bedrooms are on their way to being complete, anyway.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF032.png)

2 Galena

Sometimes I'm so busy, some things slip right by me. Like this.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF034.png)

It's of incredible quality, and I have no idea where it came from. I admit to being a bit mystified as to why the artist would engrave a picture of a dwarf watching a human killing goblins, but the artwork is so incredible I was absorbed for nearly an hour.

I do wish I knew who the artist was.

4 Galena

Alåth is getting married! She was running to and fro throughout the fortress, babbling about it. Apparently, she's having a party right now, although I'm not going.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF036.png)

I'm not very interested in parties. You see, when I was little, I-

hold on screaming



have to put this entry on hold; the fortress is under attack!

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF037.png)

Amost's Journal
12 Timber

I had almost forgotten about this journal... it was all dusty!
I think it's finally calmed down around here a bit. Things went to hell for a while, but everything seems to be under control now. Let me try to remember everything I can for the past couple months... It all started when the fortress was ambushed by goblins during Alåth's wedding party.

I'm going to try an encapsulate the months of confusion that followed as best I can. At any given time, several things were happening at once, so forgive me if things are not as clear as they could be.

You see, apparently Melbil issued an order that no dwarf was to venture outside.
However, due to an obscure statute describing "outside" as "any place lit by the sun," the room near the entrance of the fortress was officially outside. As a result, everybody had to walk all the way around anytime they wanted to get any work done. What's more, Melbil seemed to rescind and reinstate the order as she pleased, trying to make it possible for some semblance of normal life to be done whilst maintaining control.

This would have been effective, were it not for certain elements who, apparently, loved the outdoors a little too much and doors that were left unlocked. Several dwarfs ran outside the moment they were able, and met a swift end as a result, due the goblin battle squadron waiting just outside the front doors.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF038.png)

This fellow, sadly, fell to the bottom of a pool, and his corpse was irretrievable.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF040.png)

At the same time, some dwarfs were drafted into the military, and were training around the clock, hoping to build up enough strength to take on the goblins.

And, to add yet more confusion to the mix, an elven caravan arrived in the middle of the assault, and were quickly set upon and slaughtered. I didn't care so much about the drivers--they knew the risks when they set upon the path of a traveling merchants, not to mention the simple fact that they were elves-- but there was one innocent creature who died in the slaughter. One who never deserved such an ignoble death at the hands of foul goblins. I organized a funeral march, although some of the other dwarfs looked at me strangely.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF039.png)

Good night, sweet prince.

How does a wagon die?

As you'll have noticed from the ranks of the deceased, we did eventually succeed against the goblins. It was rather more of a show, though.

You see, after week upon week of training, we let the new warriors loose. The goblins were quickly routed, leaving only one alive. He was fleeing toward the horizon when Melbil rushed to the doors, unlocked them, and shouted "CHARGE!"

Everyone within hearing ranged rushed after the goblin. I can only imagine the fear it must have felt, seeing two dozen angry dwarfs chasing at top speed.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF044.png)

And that's it. It took a good deal longer than I'm presenting it here, but eventually the attack was warded off. Not without cost, though.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF046.png)

Anyway, I had the foresight to make Melbil order construction started on some miniature catacombs. She said it would seem 'fatalistic,' but I didn't back down. They were completed just recently.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF045.png)

27 Timber
I... I can't believe what's happened. I thought I was helping... I...

Okay. I went in to talk to Melbil about some ideas I had about organizing the stockpiles, nothing major. I... I don't think I'll be interfering in fortress policy anymore.

I walked into her office, and she looked up at me slowly.
   "...yes, Amost? What is it this time?"
She seemed to be sighing as she spoke.

   "You need to-"
But she continued, seeming not to notice that I had spoken.   
   "Amost... I need to ask you a question."
   "What?" I was curious. She seemed to be rather depressed about something.
   "Will you ever... leave me... alone?"
Now I was shocked, rather than curious. How could she think I would leave her bereft of my council?
   "No, Melbil." I said as kindly as I could manage. I walked over around her desk, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Never."
She just looked up at me, inch by inch, and I was shocked at what i saw.

Journal, her eyes were empty.



She nodded slowly. "Alright."

That was the last word I, or anybody, ever heard her speak.


She got up, eyes unfocused, and trudged slowly out of the room.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF047.png)

Wagons are creatures

With blood, tears, and screaming.

...that's why there's a listing for "wagons" in the "types of refuse a refuse stockpile will accept" screen. :o

...

...:D

Do wagons have a heart? :droop:

Do wagons dream of vehicular sheep?

Amost's Journal
1 Moonstone

Well, it's officially winter now.
(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF048.png)

Melbil hasn't spoken to anyone since that day. She's been wandering around the fortress, not responding to anything. She went outside in the rain for a bit, and then came back in, slowly dropping her clothes as she went.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF049.png)

I still feel terribly guilty. I hope she snaps out of it.


In other news, somebody went into a fey mood, and started to work almost immediately. Good. We don't need another crazy person around.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF051.png)

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF053.png)


9 Moonstone
The fey dwarf finished whatever he was working on.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF060.png)

It's very nice. That goes without saying, really.


22 Moonstone
Goblin ambush today! Thankfully, it wasn't the hell that happened before. Taken care of before the day was out, actually, by our small military force. They rushed into the middle of the goblins...

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF056.png)

...sending them scattering in all directions. A true rout.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF057.png)

Unfortunately, one dwarf was still lost.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF058.png)

5 Opal

We can't function when the fortress leader is babbling to herself in the rain. She was officially stripped of her position today, and a new leader chosen.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF059.png)

It was Zulban. I hope she'll be a good leader.

18 Opal

...She's gone.

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF059.png)

I can't think of anything else to say, but... I'll miss her.


10 Obsidian

Spring's close. Olon's been doing this thing where she claims that she needs to put something away, but she won't say what it is or why. All say, every day. Maybe she's pregnant.

11 Obsidian

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF064.png)

HAH! Maybe now she'll stop that godawful-

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF065.png)
Damn.

14 Obsidian
(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF063.png)

What's with all these babies? Is it something in the water?

20 Obsidian

(http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad240/Nintendonick4/DF066.png)

I suppose I should be happy. Babies are supposed to be cute, right?

1 Granite

Another year. We've lost a leader, and a wagon, and gained... some babies, I guess. It was an especially exciting year. Here's hoping next year won't be nearly as exciting!

Well, that's it for me. Hope it was entertaining!

 Now: how and where do I upload the save, that the next person might get started?

I'm running v18 of DFG which apparently is based on 40d11, which I think the latest SDL patch of DF. The only mod it has (which I don't use anyway) is the Stone control mod for banning certain kinds of non-economic stone from being used in construction.

I guess the simplest thing to do would be to download the main DF game, run in DFG and then load it up in DF and find out if anything went foobar.

Awesome! ...errr...Well, you have to get the save to me; then I'll put it up on the website so that everyone can see it. You could email it, that would probably work. My profile has an email link right over there :handpointL:. Or, you could find one of those free file upload services and upload it. If you have access to a web server, you could upload it there and I could download it.

If nothing else, I could create an FTP account on my web account where people could upload stuff.

Alright, I emailed it to Chaoseed.
Should be fine, let me know if there's any problems.

Okay! I tested John Lee's save and it seems to work fine. I've uploaded it to my web server.

http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/Helmauthors_01_JohnLee.zip

I also sent a message to the next person in the queue, so we'll wait a day or two and see what happens. :gentleman:

It's pretty cool to see how the fortress has grown. You did a good job, John. ;) (I did notice that a few of the coffins were not set to be used for burial, but there were more than enough empty ones anyway. And those catacombs are pretty impressive... :) )

The fort is looking good (and running stunningly smooth still on my old machine)

A question: Wouldn't it be profitable for the for to mine the Malachite in the catacombs? and then replacing those with a cheaper stone? Of course this should only be considered if the fort is in need, because currently it looks very nice with the green and white crossing.

Maybe make the dining room a little more...legendary, during the next turn wouldn't be a bad idea :)

And maybe moving the food stockpile closer to the dining hall?

Those are good suggestions, mark.  Well, the food stockpile is where it is because it's close to the kitchen.  Of course, someone could make a food stockpile near the dining room and have it "take from" the kitchen stockpile.

But remember, the whole point of a succession game is that each person gets to play it however they want. ;)

Indeed, but there will be a huge cluster at the food stockpile around 50 dorfs.

I considered it, but decided it would be disrespectful to the dwarfs buried there to have a patchwork catacombs. Well, mini-catacombs.

There still needs to be a good metalsmithing system, and maybe the catacombs could use a few traps. If you have any free dwarves, that is; traps down there are really just for show.
And... there was some other things, but I'm sure you can figure them out on your own.

So, EchoP is up now, right? Anyone heard from him?

I messaged him twice over the past day or two, but no response...

I think it's about time to say...frezned, you want it?

Okeydukes! I'll just grab it from the general everything-is-here page?

EchoP contacted me and said he was too busy right now...which kind of relieves me because now I know what's going on. :giggle:

Okay, frezned, you are quite definitively up. ;) What you're looking for is this file:
http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/Helmauthors_01_JohnLee.zip

I'll pretty up the webpage...sometime I have time. :P

Note that what you want is a tree that ultimately looks like: data/save/Helmauthors. I believe the save has paths starting with "save", which means you'd have to extract it into the data directory. Well, I'm sure you can figure it out. ;)

Let's aim for Tuesday, August 4th to finish your part, or Thursday, August 6th at the very latest.

Good luck! ;)

...August is coming up...that means I'm getting older...

Making a webpage for this might be overkill but if you feel like it chances are it would be a good idea ;)

I must admit it was with great joy that I accepted the title of expedition leader. I may have lost a friend to tragedy, but my mood following the election could only have been described as ecstatic.

Why?

Because we could finally do things the right way: mine.

I hunted down Morul and Kubuk, two immigrants who had yet to add anything meaningful to the fortress.

"You two!" I called. "Which of you is better?"

"Better at what?" asked Morul, while Kubuk replied "Me!"

"Morul," I said, "I want you to count everything here. Every blade of grass, every rock. Count it, and write it down. I have assigned you one chair in the dining room to aid you."

He seemed upset. "Am I being punished?" he asked.

"Yes." I said, planning to never elaborate. "I will lessen your burden by counting your chair for you: one. Now go, and count the rest of everything else."

I heard him desperately counting his steps as he fled. I fixed my gaze upon Kubuk. He whimpered.

"Kubuk, you will be my second. I will tell you what I want done; it is from now on your responsibility to ensure that happens. Boss people around until it gets done."

He nodded enthusiastically. "I'm good at that! Also, it's 'Kûbuk'. The u has an accent."

I scowled. "Like a bucket? That will never do. You are now 'Kubuk', with no bucket. Now go, and await my command."

======

My first order of business was to get a better dining room happening. It should have been fairly straightforward, but the two miners kept coming up to me every two seconds complaining that the stone was damp.

"Of course it is!" I would say, verbatim each time. "You're tunnelling under the lake. Now dig it!"

By the fourteenth time I decided we needed more miners so I could kill one of these if they pulled a stunt like this again. I commissioned a smelter, furnace and blacksmith's to be made, so we could build another pick, when-

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/zons-dead.png)

"Zon Sirabudib, Wrestler has suffocated!" someone yelled. As I ran to the barracks where Zon indeed lay dead, I heard Morul in the dining room call out "population, thirty-NINE".

"What happened?" I demanded. "Who did this?"

Dumed, who was at the scene, shook his head. "Three hats. He did it to himself. His neck just collapsed under the weight of all that headgear."

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/zon-inventory.png)

Just then, one of the miners ran in. "Sir! Sir! We cancelled the dig - the stone's damp!"

======

Despite the dampness, excavation of the new dining room finally finished, as well as a new food storage area below the farms.

I was bossing some dwarves around about the construction of a waterfall for the dining room - "What do you MEAN I assigned our only engineer to operate the smelter? Why would I do that?" - when there was a commotion at the another table.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/dining-mood.png)

"Alath sketched a picture of some rough gems!" one squealed excitedly.

"So? She's a gem cutter. What else is she going to sketch?"

Everyone stared at me balefully as Alath hurried upstairs. Strange woman.

[Picture of walrus with "they be taking my bucket" caption]

:D Hahaha...bûcket.

No, no, no! That'd be bûkkit!

Båkkit?

Despite my inital skepticism it quickly dawned on me how serious Alath was about those gems. She sat for hours on end, unmoving, in the gem cutters' workshop, just scrawling pictures of rough gems in the dirt. Soon it became infectious; "rough gems?" was almost a standard greeting.

I ignored the workings of the fortress in favour of some exploratory mining. We were going to get that woman some rough gems.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/gem-hunt-1.png)

The miners dug and dug. When some migrants showed up, I ignored them bar throwing picks at a couple and ordering them downstairs. Summer came and went.

Rough gems eluded us.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/gem-hunt-2.png)

Digging continued. The gem frenzy was so intense I almost forgot about the waterfall for the dining room. People started to genuinely fear for Alath's sanity. Her shrieks of "rough gems?!!" could be heard throughout the night, but it only encouraged the miners further.

Finally, in the middle of the night, Domas Gakizfikod burst into my room. "Sir! We've done it! At last, Alath's mad gem desire will be sated! We've struck Gypsum!"

"Domas, that's not a gem."

"I meant Alabaster!"

"Not a gem."

"Uh, Anhydrite?"

"Not a g- what was that?"

A terrible keening came from above. We rushed upstairs.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/alath-mad.png)

There sat Alath, motionless in the gem workshop. She was wailing, just a horrible, constant tone. Blood was everywhere; evidently she had attacked her own arms with her tools. Clumps of her hair lay torn out around the shop. Like a zombie, she shambled out of the jeweler's workshop, eyes unfocused, jaw slack.

"Don't let the children see this!" called a bystander, while the same time someone else called out, "Snatcher! Protect the children!"

I sprang into action, pointing at some nearby military guys.

"You three military guys - I don't know your names nor care - get upstairs! Get get get!"

They stood instantly. "Sounds like a job for..." one started, and then all in unison, "... the Invisible Mansions!"

In perfect formation they ran upstairs, steps perfectly in sync. I raced up after them, just in time to see one flying-tackle a goblin. Together they flew for several meters before he landed, smashing the goblin's head into the ground with a crunch. The other two looked on in approval.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/snatcher.png)

"Well done!" I cheered, when I caught sight of a group of goblins hiding behind a nearby tree.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/snatcher-msg.png)

As I watched the ambushers flee from the Invisible Mansions, Olon Orrunlogem came rushing up from behind. "Zulban! Zulban!" she shouted.

"What is it?"

"A human caravan just arrived! A liaison from the merchant's guild wants to talk to you."

"Excellent, I'll get right-"

"Also, Tun Iklistfikod and Kel Avalkib just got married; there's a party at the Marble Table, isn't that lovely?"

"Yes, delightful. I'll-"

"And just so you know, everyone at the fortress except for you had a chat and we decided that I'm actually the new mayor now."

"... what?!"

"Isn't it a nice day?"

I clung to my last shred of hope. "At least the two pretty little piccolos that I commissioned will be finished soon."

She shook her head. "Commissioned as mayor, maybe. Plain ol' metalcrafter's can't mandate nothin', Zulban."

I raised my now tear-filled eyes to the sky. "HOW COULD THIS DAY POSSIBLY GET ANY MORE STRESSFUL?!"

"Well..."

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/caravan.png)

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/marriage.png)

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/olon-mayor.png)

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/baby.png)

Going away for the weekend. I'll probably have something up Sunday night though.

Why do I always get skipped over when I say I want to join these things. Do I smell or something. :|

I've been quite entertained by your posts so far, frezned. :gentleman:


Last I heard, you were going to check if your "DF Graphical" thing was going to work with the save files. Have you got it all straightened out? Just post something definite like "Put me in the queue" and I'll do it. ;)

Oh, I wasn't clear enough. Sorreh.

I'm going to try DF graphical when it gets close to my turn. If it doesn't work I'll just use regular DF. Think I can handle it :)

Gotcha.

...*eyes wander over to the "Cautiously Pragmatic" under Titch's name*

Anyway, that was still kind of tentative, but I put you in the queue regardless. ;)

I just thought I'd bump the thread, for the sake of it staying active ;D

How is the fort?

HOW IS THE FORT INDEED

I have some kind-of bad news, in that I've had some unexpected IRL stuff happen in the last couple of days that make getting enough time to play and write up these things pretty difficult. It's quite doubtful I'll have time to do the next two seasons until next Monday. :\

To that extent I've treated Autumn as Spring, pausing, saving and quitting as soon as it hit. I'm happy to email the save so far to whoever's next and we can just switch at Autumns or something. Otherwise if people are happy to wait a week or so that's fine by me too.

ANYWAY LET'S SEE WHAT THE CURRENT AUTHOR AT THE HELM HAS BEEN UP TO

=======================

Despite being instated as mayor, Olon does not wield her power in any meaningful way. So, noticing an opportunity, I continued ordering dwarves around behind her back. Therefore, construction on the waterfall continued uninterrupted.

Mostly uninterrupted.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/trapped-cows.png)

We were first clued in by the moos that echoed around the dining room. I didn't know who to yell at, so I just stood up and bellowed.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE WHO THE HELL LET TWO COWS INTO THE WATERFALL PIPES?!" I screamed, mildly injuring my larynx.

Nobody spoke up.

"HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN? WH- *cough cough* who let them in there?! Who led them what is actually quite a long distance, then DOWN SOME STEPS I thought it was impossible for cows to walk down steps and then INTO THE PIPES and then BUILT A WALL, SEALING THEM IN?!"

Rovod, one of the stoneworkers, raised a hand. "I.. uh... thought that they were... we need them to.. needed to power the... uh... water... pusher... s."

"The pumps, Rovod? What do you think the windmills are for?!!"

"The... roundwheeleys? I thought... they were for the... cows to... ride?"

"ROVOD GET THE COWS OUT OF THE PLUMBING THIS INSTANT"

=======================

After what seemed to be an eternity the waterfall construction was finished. While it does not sound too amazing, being sprayed by a fine mist while eating is actually very soothing.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/waterfall-dining.png)

I commanded the stoneworkers to start engraving the walls. This dining room was destined to be the stuff of legend. Although the engravers do include Rovod, so who knows what he'll come up with.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/rovod-eng-1.png)
(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/rovod-eng-2.png)

Could be worse.

=======================

Most people had forgotten about stolen baby Vabok in favour of partying around one of the stone tables. But I had not!

The construction above the statue garden had potential. I ordered it converted into an impenetrable tower from which marksdwarves could rain pointy hell down on any goblins that think they can steal another child.

Another level constructed on top of the existing wall, with a floor added. Fortifications on the walls. Couldn't be simpler.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/trapped-rovod.png)

I swear it was within minutes of construction beginning when Rovod walked out onto a precipice and constructed the very section of wall that would prevent him returning.

"I'm... I fell on the... wall... I'm stuck?" he mumbled. "Help!"

The other stoneworkers shouted at him to be quiet, and they'd build a bridge to him soon enough.

Instead he just cried, "Help! Help!" over and over, so all of the fortifications were finished before the masons lay a single stone to help him. He deserved it, I guess, but we could hear him from the statue garden and it was very annoying.

I considered drafting him into the military, in the hopes that he'd get killed, but if he survived long enough to walk to the barracks... the idea of a dangerous Rovod sends shivers up my spine.

=======================

Suggested future developments:

Do something about Rovod. He is the dumbest dwarf that there is. As soon as he was free he brought some more cows up to the fort.

The fort's outside is complete and I've ordered the construction of a bunch of floor grates so that dwarves don't fall down while still keeping light in the statue garden.

(http://frezned.com/helmauthors/fort.png)

I've also placed two chains at the fort entrance to bind war dogs to. There should be one in training, and one already wandering around somewhere.

Once some more immigrants arrive, get some more marksdwarves happening. Bolts are in production if we have bones; Autumn arrived before I had time to check.

I've also almost entirely neglected trade with the outside world, so maybe some crafts need to be crafted. We only have three dogs all up and there's been suspiciously little breeding. Next dude should look into getting a breeder so we can get some puppies, and then eventually some more war dogs. Or a meat industry.

I think we should just go with what you have done...I've sent a message to Cheater, though, so we'll see what he has to say.

In the meantime, frezned, you can email me your save for archival purposes. Just use the email link over there under my name. :handpointL: :eyebrows:

I think I should take it now. I doubt some other tiggers would stay interested in this for a couple of weeks until their turn.  :-X

Okay, that was easy. :)

Cheater, you're up! Here's the save file: http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/Helmauthors_02_frezned.zip

(I've also updated the webpage. http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors )

Let's say you have until the 12th, because I'll be busy on the 11th. You're supposed to play until the next Autumn.

So, I follow the dev blog (for unknown and possibly strange reasons) http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_now.html#2009-08-06

They talk about magic...I can't wait for this, sounds epic!

Magic is a 1.0 planned feature. Won't be in for a long, long time.

Also guys, I am playing. I played the shit out of it for like 10 minutes yesterday and got like 7 pictures. More free time starting today, luckily!

Holy crap dwarves are gonna be able to get fat or muscular too? :o Is there no limit to this?

...so? It's comming!

I personally like the thought of having a talking sword in your tresury (Because it is magical and has a soul)

I don't see anything in the dev blog about magic...

...But anyway! I'm eagerly awaiting what you have to show, Cheater. :eyebrows:

I've seen it, but it should be years until we see any trace of that. As it should be years before the UI is more friendly than a constricting anaconda.

ohgodwhereisthemagma

I'm not sure where it is or the best way to find it...I mean, the easy ways to find it would be to cheat...

*realizes who he's talking to* I'll work on it tomorrow. :eyebrows:

Seems I'm too much of a screenshot whore. I intend to play at least a year today, but I already took 21 images in the first season.  :epileptic:

Thus gentlemen, I arrive at the fine frontier outpost of Helmauthors, where, to my knowledge, neither helms not exemplary works of writing have been produced.

Why are these bones outside?

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4695/screenshot1249583920.png)

I start looking around the fortress, finding a perfectly viable bone stockpile. This is so far the only part of the design that makes the smallest amount of sense. As the inhabitants show me their stockpiles they mention they have a wood stockpile next to their wood stockpile. They stare at me when I ask them the difference between these.

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9241/screenshot1249584041.png)

While wandering through the fortress, I notice a critical aesthetic design flaw. This fortress, in violation of the rules passed down by our older dwarven architects of lore, is not square enough. I rectify this by ordering the "squarefication" of the front entrance, that is, making it more square in less technical terms. It could also serve as a fine outdoors area for a prison.

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7895/screenshot1249585069.png)

Wandering further into the fort, I find the catacombs, a place to pay respect to our ancestor, and my mind is once again sent to hitherto experienced levels of confusion by the design. Was the dwarf that designed these drunk? I clearly have spent too much time with human diplomats. I, of course, meant: Was the dwarf that designed these not drunk enough, thus suffering from withdrawal? I order new chambers built in proper square fashion.

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/9762/screenshot1249585278.png)

I start the construction of a new kitchen and still area next to the dining room for logic reasons, and I'm treated to a goblin death. Beautiful!

Dwarven tradition clearly states the only rooms that should be "unsquared" is the bedrooms, yet they seem to be the only properly square are in this fort! It is now without doubt evident that the dwarven designers in this place were suffering from severe alcohol withdrawal. I fix this.

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7024/screenshot1249585278j.png)

I was right, Armokdammit!

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4564/screenshot1249701784.png)

I order the smoothing of some fairly unimportant areas of the fortress, if only to prepare the dwarves for further monumental tasks.

The kitchen is built, so I move the all important production facilities there.

Suddenly:
(http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/1931/screenshot1249702101.png)

Great! More unwilling soldiers cheesemakers!

(http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/6606/screenshot1249703789.png)

Great! Dwarven engineering!

(http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/7744/screenshot1249704134.png)

Great! A noble pleaser!

Darn it! Goblin snatchers! Then an ambush! Then another ambush of only one person! More snatchers! Heavens! Another ambush that scares off the dwarven caravan which was surely bringing the finest examples of dwarven craftmanship! That does it, goblins!

(http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/6726/screenshot1249704853.png)

The fortress is now able to (almost) completely seal off, leaving the only entrance exposed to The Tower's marksdwarves. In not so fortunate news, it seems that stream of goblin attacks have put something under quite a lot of stress. Sadly, my beautiful writing implement has been damaged. It seems I'll have to limit myself to only noting important events. Thus ends autumn.

I love that the fortress is becoming a huge mishmash of different architectural sensibilities. :D

Stockpiles can be tricky to manage, actually. Often, just playing DF games on my own, I find myself undefining and redefining stockpiles as they grow. I mean, a lot.

Anyway...didn't someone ask about magma? :whome: For those who might be interested in finding it, it's actually quite easy...(At least, it was easy for me; I have no idea if there's any random generation when you explore new levels, so it's possible this might not work for someone on a different computer! But here goes anyway...)

SPOILERS!

1. Find the dining room. (Next to the barracks, one level below the main entrance and workshops.)
2. Look north to the top edge of the map. There should be a little grassy area, and there should be the end of a hematite vein visible in the cliffside. (dark red £)
3. East of the hematite (one or two spaces), mine out a down stairway. (Or an up/down stairway, I always use those because they don't "cost" anything extra.)
4. Move down one level (should be level 143) and mine out the up stairway that corresponds to the down stairway you just did. (Or, again, an up/down stairway.)
5. From that up stairway, mine EAST.

That should get you to the magma in no time! :eyebrows:

I found the magma during winter by accident as my miners were enchanted by it's eternal warmth.

Also, fortress now has a drinking pond, soon to be two.

Another artifact, too  8)

UH OH.

So chaps, it seems despite my constant use of the "Print Screen" key, Gnome does not like taking screenshots of fullscreen stuff. That means I've got 0 screens from Winter, in which, luckily, nothing that needed to be seen happened. Sadly, this also means I don't have a chronology of events, so this will be presented in summary form:

Dead: 2 Dwarves, a brave hunter and a valiant marksdwarf. 6 useless peasants and others were recruited in his place. He will be honored.

A magma pool has been found! Praise the Miners only one of those lazy dwarves that was working!

A fisherdwarf has been possessed! Unsurprisingly, he didn't do anything useful or valuable, just a goblin bone scepter.



Exploratory mining has continued, as well as the squarefication of the rooms. The entrance now has a lovely lake with well, where that legendary mechanism was used. It will be moved to the underground well as soon as the channels are finished, which will happen as soon as that hematite is taken out.

Mayor has mandated 1 (one) Zinc item. Maddening search for sphalerite starts.

The dining room has been cleaned up and filled with accommodations. Smooth stone and engravings are covering the rest of the fortress slowly.

PICTURES:

(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6242/screenshot1249841488.png)
(http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1847/screenshot1249841489.png)
(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/3451/screenshot1249841492.png)

Awesome. :o

Current metalworking report: Crapload of bars.

Lookin' good, Cheater!

The dwarves complained about the new bedroom design, mentioning that the old one was more "efficient" and "compact" . Cursed blinded dwarves, who do not see the beauty of my design. I comply against my wishes.

(http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/2444/screenshot1249843117.png)

The squarefication of the workshop area continues steadily. Nothing shall block dwarven progress! Water what lake?

(http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3846/screenshot1249843836.png)

Curses! An Ambush! Where are those goblin sonofa--

(http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5969/screenshot1249844241.png)

AN ELEPHANT AMBUSH! AN ELVEN AMBUSH! We had no idea we were at war with them. In fact, I reject to accept the idea of them daring to defy our dwarven might. These are simply merchants looking for our +bone bolts+, and in exchange their leave their weapons behind. And their clothing. And their bones.

PD: I have totally seen elves and elephants before. Totally. Would never confuse them. Animals can carry out ambushes. Everyone knows that.

The ambush is taken care of, but a Stoneworker is hurt.

Another ambush, and just when we're driving off the elves! Goblins, surely!

(http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7844/screenshot1249844535.png)

I shall abstain from comments. No dwarves were injured.

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/8824/screenshot1249847837.png)

Great, just what this fortress needed. Politicians nobles. And here I haven't set up the magma heated bedrooms yet.

(http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2593/screenshot1249848204.png)

UH OH.

Come on, Endok Usenïngiz, if you make it, you'll be a dwarven hero worthy of glorious tales!

(http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/6139/screenshot12498484242.png)

Congratulations
You managed to block that magma flow
The one miners opened
You're the mason we all wish we could be

You made it through the tunnel
Then you grabbed the mudstone on the floor
You walked right next to it
Then you built the wall and saved us all

You walked right next to it
Then you built the wall and saved us all

You walked right next to it
Then you built the wall and saved us

Now you're a hero
You managed to keep
the dwarves alive

We're happy you made it
but how are gonna
spend the rest of this day

Maybe go on a break
Maybe find a statue
and party again

Yes it's over now
You needed just
to block the magma flow
That's it I swear it's true
Oh ohh

Now you're a hero
You managed to keep
the dwarves alive

We're happy you made it
but how are gonna
spend the rest of this day

Maybe go on a break
Maybe find a statue
and party again

:beer: Fortress Administrator Cheater has organized a party at the Rhyolite Table :beer:

Ahem, let's continue.

Dining room expansion encounters some... issues.

(http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7012/screenshot1249848984.png)

Luckily, he was pretty cool about it because he has a lot of masterful engravings.

The expansion is not the only area with problems. During the construction of the underground well, a miner fell into it. While it was already active.

Luckily, I planned ahead for this, as that door was totally not only installed to give masons a way back to the stairs.

(http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5197/screenshot1249849464.png)

Thus, he was saved and proceeded to find many minerals, none of which was useful to fulfill the mayor's mandate.

(http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/7716/screenshot1249856723.png)

(I forgot about the overview pictures, gonna take them now.)

(http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2452/horseinvaders.jpg)
If I were really on the ball I would have replaced the player with a dwarf symbol
also that is awesome and I have never seen it happen.

Whoa, what the heck happened there? :o


GAAAH ELEPHANTS :crazy:

...oh. Whew.


Did you really...just...write a "You Have to Burn the Rope" filk? :wtf:

...:D This thread gets more awesome as it goes along. :eyebrows:

I dug into a lake.  :D

I intended to play summer yesterday, but I was very sick with flu (to the point where I got dizziness and nausea from standing up too hard.)

Really, tragedy does seems to follow community games.

I will try to complete it today, if I don't manage I'll upload a save from the beginning of summer.

Let's hope the dwarfs come down with something rather than the players :)

Crap, I went nuts with screenshots again! 29! Working on update.

UPDATE:

Pretty much immediately in the beginning of summer we are visited by kobold thieves:

I dare you to take one step further, kobold:

(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3995/screenshot1250024383.png)

Luckily, he did. The results were horrible hilarious.

Suddenly, capitalism!

(http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/2428/screenshot1250026568.png)

We've got human merchants.

NOOOOBLES  :handshakeL::apoplectic:

(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/5852/screenshot1250027117.png)

I think I was too generous:

(http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5549/screenshot1250028419.png)

But there's only so many things one can do with x(narrow cave spider silk sock)x

Here have some info:

(http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/3183/screenshot1250030142.png)

NOOOOBLES  :handshakeL::apoplectic:

(http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9291/screenshot1250030381.png)

Another lake in the way of efficient design!

(http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/3939/screenshot1250030665.png)

Oh dear, a jeweler has been possessed! :handmoneyL::tearsofjoy::handmoneyR:

Wait, what is he asking for... rough gems? PLANT cloth? WOOD? Why, I should have him killed right now!

(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1193/screenshot1250032110.png)

Like I care.

(http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3193/screenshot1250032804.png)

Meh.

NOOOOBLES  :handshakeL::apoplectic:

(http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8245/screenshot1250033284.png)

And for a while, a pleasant interval of time, nothing happens. When suddenly, without warning and without any kind of knowledge or preparation that would have allowed us to prevent it, this nothingness of events, this non-existence of occurrences...

Will finish update later.

(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9596/screenshot1250033829.png)

UPDATE 2: Yes, indeed as some of you might have noticed, the event was indeed striking Topazolite. I though I had taken out the image, but apparently did not. In my defense, it was a completely, yet conveniently timed pause.

Nothing noteworthy continued not happening. The only mildly interesting part was the expansions of the Dwarven Artificial Waterfall Mechanism (DAWM).

(http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/6287/screenshot1250033979.png)

Now with up to three windmills!

(http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3770/screenshot1250033990.png)

OVERVIEW OF THE FORTRESS

Above this area I started a digging project to make it "Outside". May cause collapse and hilarity.

(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/8466/screenshot1250033993.png)

(http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/5958/screenshot1250033995.png)

(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/853/screenshot1250034003.png)

(http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4346/screenshot1250034005.png)

Look at that dwarf, he has so many bedrooms to choose from! (25% of the fortress does not have private quarters. I missed a migrant notice somehow.)

TOMBS GO HERE THEY ARE THE SAME BUT CLEANER

However, north of them, you can find the amazingly incredible, incredibly amazing and surprisingly fatality-free magma smelter and forge:

(http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/6272/screenshot1250034019.png)

UNINTERESTING MINING GOES HERE

UNINTERESTING MINING PART DEUX

STATE OF THE FORTRESS:

(http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/5508/screenshot1250034026.png)

Who is in charge of the brewing? I have a repeating order for brewing drinks since the beginning of summer!

AAARGH TAKE THAT KOBOLDS

Also heck yes to expanding the waterfall! Get that business happening!

The fortress looks like it's kickin ass.

And 90 pop? Barons + sieges soon...?

Good thing my turn's over!

Awright! The webpage has been updated with the latest save.

I may or may not have gotten in touch with skaldicpoet9, so for now we'll say August 19th is the next target date. That may change soon, though, depending on what's up with the poet.

Capitalism is invading the fort! :monoclepop:

http://www.teamfortress.com/classless/hidden/hats/ make more hats!

Looks like Dorian Patterson has stepped up to take over the fortress for a year. :coffee:

OMG! There are no drinks! It's the end of the world!...First priority will be to bolster the brewing industry ASAP,; next dwarven caravan will require copious amounts of alcohol for our...crafts.

Oh yeah, I've had THAT happen to a fortress...

Remember: Metal Barrels!

That good old taste of mead and copper, YUM!  :beer:

Or better yet, the cheapest and most useless metal around: Lead! :beer:

That would bring death to the fortress, everyone would die from lead poisoning...BRING ON THE LEAD BARRELS!

Kegs.

Kegs, barrels, same thing.

"There is no lead poisoning in Dwarf Fortress yet, so there's no reason not to keep your food supply in lead barrels." (http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Lead)

Cinnabar makes some great mugs, too!

What about using skulls (http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/9449/skullsx.jpg)

Is there an actual in-game advantage to using metal?

Nothing other than that rusty taste, yum.

Haha, one of the few SFW Oglaf comics. :durr:


According to the wiki, they're more effective at keeping vermin at bay...But I've never really found that to be a problem. The main reason you might use them is to quickly increase your supply of barrels, especially if you have a lot more metal than you need.

Wood for beds.

All else for furniture.

Man, I make wood everything. Wooden bins, wooden buckets, wooden barrels, wooden bows + bolts! Wooden bucklers! Wooden bcages and bcrafts! I just can't get enough of wood!

Aren't you concerned about fire-spitting dragons? I heard they're heading for your fortress!

UMQIRON BARREL
30
QIRON BARREL
30
QIRON BARREL
30

Should I have played more dwarf fortress to understand it?

Basically it's the sequence of keystrokes that would queue 90 iron barrels for production. U: units, M: manager, Q: add item, then the name of the item, then how many. 30's the maximum.

Hey, how about that: voide-controlled dwarf fortress. The player would end up with spastic word combination like:

KHASDIZAWEBRDKALUHDSJHAIUREGAJSDLHFKLJGHSDUFGSORGHLSDUFG

Also suitable for handicapped people.

You only need to type IRON B

 :shrug2:

I didn't have a Dwarf Fortress handy and didn't want to end up with a bunch of iron bars. :(

So, uh... how's that fortress? What's the new deadline? Bumpity bump?

Hey, yeah...so I know I have until Thursday, but...I'm going to say go ahead and skip me, and take me out of the game. Just started school, plus approaching a game at this state is bit too tough for me. Sorry guys. :(

 :'(

Well, I've contacted a couple people in the queue, so...we'll see. :shrug2:

Well, I can start on this Saturday, things have gotten less crazy for me but I still have to go look for a job tomorrow so Saturday is best at this point.

school is starting for me as well soon, but that is no obstacle. I was able to use dwarf fortress to study for business class last semester.

Mah business class fortress had 1800-ish loaves of bread and 2300-ish barrels of harsh brüe for a population of 40 dwarves and about 500 cats.

Okay, let's just take a day or two off and then let skaldicpoet9 start up again this Saturday. :)


...Holy shnikes, that's a lot of food. :wtf:

YYup. cave wheat is one productive fruit. you can make something like a dozen loaves of bread or barrels of brew from a single plant when you mill it.

The problem with that fort was the sheer weight in bread I needed to trade in order to get the simplest things. I tried to buy an anvil, and the value in bread I needed ended up weighing a hell of a lot more than the anvil, so the trader couldn't leave :biglaff:

I was playing that one with some mod that added a ton of other factions, so it might have been some quirk of the mod, but I'm still proud of my baker-backed economy.

Okay, it looks like skaldicpoet9 is going to step up to the plate later tonight...So I'm goign to set the due date for Sunday, August 29th. Whee. ;)

And skaldic: If it feels like too much work just remember one thing. We'd rather see one season than no season at all! Good luck!

Aye!

Yeah, I got a little sidetracked yesterday (my wife is starting a new job on Monday so she wanted to spend some time this weekend) but rest assured I am striking the earth tonight!

I can't guarantee that it will be the greatest of the Helmauthor saga but it will be a saga nonetheless!

I had mistakenly said the next date was "Sunday the 29th". However, since that day doesn't actually exist, I've updated it to "Sunday the 30th".

How's the fortress doing, skaldicpoet? ;)

It's coming. I am just going to need a few (3 probably) more days. I have been pretty busy lately. I should have it ready by Wednesday. Sorry again for the delay, school just started up again and you know how that goes.

???

Pass Go?

Collect 200 dollars? :gentleman:

Well, skaldicpoet9 said he'd have it done by this weekend...

Is anyone else itching to take on the fortress? ;)

Do not pass Go?

Definitively pass Go.

I'll take the fort if no one else has yet.

I'll make a decision tomorrow (Tuesday).

I wonder, would this thread eat brains? :panda:

Okay, apparently skaldicpoet9 has bowed out. So, Markham, since you're here and you asked--you're up! That's my decision and I'm sticking to it. :whome:

I'll make it all official tomorrow. >_>

From the journal of Kol Kogankizest, Animal Dissector (http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol1.png):

---

1st Limestone:
Today I was appointed by our mayor as the Sheriff of the fortress, in what seems to be a sudden but temporary lapse in total incompetence.  For years our fortress has been without any sort of justice administration, and I plan to make some serious changes here.  First of all, we need to do something about the lack of a proper jail.  For communal morale and as a reminder to stay in line, I have decided to place the new jail in a very trafficked area - right at our front door.  Dwarves of all kind shall pass by and be reminded of what happens to those who break our laws.
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol2.png)

I never thought I would ever say this, but it is fortunate that one of our nobles has some screwed up obsession, and we have a supply of iron chains laying around.  Despite his perverted kink, without it, we probably wouldn't have had any chains for prisoners in the first place.

The next order of business is to improve our metal production.  Some wimps were scared of some little imp things and made some little canal and almost burned the fortress down in the process, but I, for one, am willing to show our military might and free this large area for metal and ore smelting.
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol3.png)

Thirdly, a project will be started to keep our enemies from fleeing in cowardice when they attack.  For too long have they attacked us only to run away when only a few of them have fallen.  I plan to make sure they stay until every last one is slaughtered without mercy.

That is all for today.

[Autumn]

12th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol4.png)
An ambush!  Time to show our military strength against... a... an army of one goblin?
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol5.png)

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol6.png)
Poor Cog Ashoklor ran around and got himself cornered, where he sustained a blow to the head while beating off the offending goblin before help arrived... and watched.  This fortress has gone too long without proper discipline...

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol7.png)
It seems it was a setup!  An ambush to draw attention away from the fort while the thief goes in!  Fortunately for us, the moron decided to try the front door, the door the soldiers need to use to get to the ambusher.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol8.png)
Cog isn't looking too well...


14th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol9.png)
Another ambush!  Our soldiers came across them while returning to the fort.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol10.png)
They didn't last long.


16th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol11.png)
I was interrupted today by a dwarf screaming his head off about a goblin snatcher.  We went up top to see what the big deal was, and found a cage.  And angry goblin-filled cage, but a cage no less.  I was about to ask what the big deal was, when a pair of goblins leaped down from above, flailed at us with their scrawny little limbs, and ran off.  Poor Cog got abandoned in the dirt again, as his brave rescuer ran off to go wet himself or something.


20th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol12.png)
The caravan arrived.  The liaison kept asking for the mayor, but I assured him that the mayor had left me with all the important duties for the time being.  Meanwhile, our trader, Kubuk, walked out of the party he was attending, took one look at the trade depot, and staggered off to his bed.


21st Limestone
Kubuk slept off his hangover, but instead of meeting with the caravan, he heads back to the party again.  I want to punch him in the face.


23rd Limestone
I ordered the Goblin cage to be brought to the depot.  The cage is there, but where in Armok's name did they put the goblin?

Also, Kubuk is a terrible trader.  We couldn't get what we needed without an 8000* markup.


28th Sandstone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol13.png)
I was alerted of another ambush today as the merchants were leaving.  It seems a single goblin has decided to take on the entire trade caravan and their more-than-one guards.


10th Timber
Some migrants arrived.  It irritates me that the mountainhomes sends these useless dwarves to us, but this does help the construction projects get done faster.  They'd better not expect any beds of their own for a while, though.

'doo hur hur hur am goblen :durr: raed is what I do but I have no frend :('

Nice to see some life 'round these parts.

IT LIIIIIIIVES!

Woo! :coffee:


Haha! Actually, if you "free" whatever statue or meeting hall the party is at, the party will be cancelled. Get back to work, nothing to see here. :ninja:


Oh yeah, I think that's a known bug. If you try to trade creatures in cages, they often escape...

I heard it happens when you say you want to trade the cage rather than trade the creature. Dwarves have terribly literal minds (http://www.threepanelsoul.com/view.php?date=2008-05-12).

Well, my writeup was lost in a crash, but the pictures still exist, so I'll try to rewrite what I had.

---

[Winter]

?? Wintermonth
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol14.png)
We are ambushed, and our legendary mechanic, Adil Cattenmes, seems to have trapped himself on the wall.  I've sent help, but with those crossbow goblins, I'm afraid they won't make it in time.

?? Wintermonth
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol16.png)
Another ambush!  Another single-goblin ambush?

?? Wintermonth
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol15.png)
He managed to dodge many of the bolts by running back and forth on the wall, but it was no use.  Where was our military?  I sent someone to find them.  This whole time they had been attending various parties.
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol17.png)(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol18.png)
If they weren't the only ones we had, I'd have them all executed.

?? Wintermonth
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol19.png)
I'm surrounded by idiots...

?? Wintermonth
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol20.png)
We found a goblin snatcher, and this guy tried to take him on, but the goblin jabbed him in the heart.

?? Wintermonth
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol21.png)
Another ambush!  By one goblin again...
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol22.png)
Meanwhile, legendary minerdwarf, Domas Boardglazed, starts acting funny...

?? Wintermonth
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol23.png)
This is either commemorating the loss of Adil Cattenmes, or a tribute to Domas's love for catfish.

?? Wintermonth
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol24.png)
Another ambush...
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol25.png)
And another...

It's great to see the fortress is still going strong! :coffee: And struggling, of course. ;)

But man, that artifact table actually looks really awesome.  It would be really useful for a noble room.

It either commemorates a tragic death, or is something the maker likes.

Dwarf Fortress: Your death is on the same level my tastes are.

There has... kinda been a horrible series of accidents this season.  There have been about six casualties...

[edit]
Make that 7.

[Spring]
1st Granite
Okay, now where were we...
The perimeter wall to keep siegeing goblins in is complete, now we just need to add in the floodgates to keep them in when they come.  The new metalworking area is set up, and our smelters are working on melting down excess metal from goblin armor.  The roads to guide travelers have been started, new rooms for offices dug out, the jail cells are simply waiting for chains, and we seem to have a small supply of caged goblins.  I'm getting more ideas...

12th Granite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol26.png)
Peasant Likast Enterpaged came across a kobold today.  In the name of the fortress, Likast broke every bone in the kobold's body while loosing an eye..


15th Granite
Something seems odd outside the Southeastern wall.  I can't see anything, but I think I'll try to keep the military for partying.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol27.png)
We've been ambushed!  By elves!  They certainly do a better job at bringing more forces with them than the goblins are.  They're also right at the only open door right now, so anyone outside the wall may be screwed at the moment...

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol28.png)
Another ambush!  Suddenly an army of horses sprang up from beneath the elves!  Wait, what?
Uh... right.  Poor Melbil Armorhairs.  I fear that he may not quite live up to his name...

[I think I lost this image]
And a... third ambush.  Some more elves just popped up underneath the horses...

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol29.png)
And a fourth?  Some more horses underneath the elves underneath the other horses underneath the other elves...  Can someone tell me what in Armok is going on?

Melbil somehow escaped from being surrounded.  It seems that the elves have no freaking clue how to use their bows?


16th Granite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol30.png)
Another ambush of horses?

A sixth ambush?  Some elves popped up from beneath the horses?  I'm insane.  I'm insane, right?  This is all a hallucination.  It's got to be.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol31.png)
And we have a theif now?

17th Granite
The elven/horse army appears to be wandering aimlessly...

20th Granite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol32.png)(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol33.png)(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol34.png)
As quick as it started, it was over.  The elves did a great job at filling the ground in front of them with arrows and the horses just kind of wandered around after the elves above/beneath them were killed off, so we made it through mostly unscathed.  Where did I miss the part that we were apparantly at war with the looney bin?

22nd Granite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol35.png)
Oh, for crying out loud!

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol36.png)
Great.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol37.png)
IT'S NOT OVER YET, GUYS!   :biglaff:

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol38.png)
BLARGHBAGARFGABARVVV!


24th Granite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol39.png)
We weren't as lucky this time.  There were over 40 of them, elves and horses combined.  Elite wrestler Meng took an arrow to the face, and his dieing moments were spent chasing down the elf that shot him and punching his face in.
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol40.png)

2nd Slate
Still dealing with the aftermath.  All these elf corpses all over the place... kindofa mess.  Shorast Echomachine is acting a bit weird, though.  He's taken over a craftsdwarf workshop.

6th Slate
He's started doing something...
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol41.png)

11th Slate
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol42.png)

18th Slate
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol43.png)
There has been a sudden challenge to my authority.  Also, we reeealy need more rooms now.  The population is up to 119 now.

28th Slate
The tax collector wants three bucklers.  Are those the currency, now?

5th Felsite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol44.png)
Logem Fireyrope is hunting.  I think he's doing a great job at it.

20th Felsite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol45.png)(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol46.png)(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol47.png)
We had an accident, somehow.  Udib, woodcutter, and Logem, Herbalist both fell 16 floors to their deaths.  We are currently waiting for their heads and limbs to come back down.

Do floors no longer stick next to fortifications, now?

22nd Felsite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol48.png)
I guess not?  I have no idea why this isn't working.  Zuntir, a planter, was crushed under the falling floor this time.  I'll try sticking a wall underneath where I'm trying to put a floor.

23rd Felsite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol49.png)
Dobar, our legendary weaver died after somehow getting sucked down the hole he made.  He made the hole yesterday, but he didn't finish falling until today.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol51.png)
What a mess.  This is going to be a pain to clean up.  Is the janitor guy still alive?

23rd Felsite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol50.png)
Rovod Adaserith, leatherworker met his demise after the wall he was constructing somehow lost cohesion with the neighboring walls and collapsed, causing him to fall about 33 floors.

What IS this lethal excavation project?!

what in the name of Armok i don't even

...Now THIS is what a DF succession game is supposed to be like!

...:epileptic:

(http://www.worldwrestlinginsanity.com/am2/uploads/1/meng.jpg)

:epileptic:

[SUMMER]

4th Mematite
Mistem Urntribute the High Lantern of Armor "suffocated" during a training session today.


8th Hematite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol52.png)
Zulban Torchcyclone, Metalcrafter, went berserk today.  He murdured Vucar, a stone crafter, broke a legendary miner's spine, and ripped out a peasant's throat before four other dwarves could take him down.  Population is down to 109.


11th Hematite
The human caravan has arrived.  Kubuk's been throwing tantrums lately, so I'm not sure it's a good idea to get him near the trade depot.  Olon's punched a peasant or something, so I'll need to lay out some dwarven punishment.


12th Hematite
Kubuk's been beating some horses, so the next trade he'll be negotiating is the one between my fists and his face, and his time and a jail cell.


13th Hematite
...aaaand someone's gone and destroyed the trade depot.  I'll be beating that guy, too.


13th Hematite
I AM SOOO ANGRY RIGHT NOW!  I THINK I'LL GO THROW THINGS AND MAYBE PUNCH SOMEONE.  I FREAKING HATE THIS PLACE!


14th Hematite
YEAH, WHAT NOW?  I PUNCHED A FREAKING PEASANT!  I PUNCHED HIM IN HIS FREAKING FACE!  AND THEN I SMASHED A ROAD!  WHAT ARE YOU GOING DO DO ABOUT IT, HUH?  WHAT?  YOU CAN'T!  YA WANNA KNOW WHY?  IT'S BECAUSE I'M THE LAW!
I AM THE FREAKING LAW!  TAKE THAT AND SHOVE IT!


16th Hematite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol53.png)
Our janitor has gone berserk now.  He killed a stone crafter before the he could be taken down.
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol54.png)


20th Hematite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol55.png)
A kobold theif was apprehended today.


26th Hematite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol56.png)
The engraver's murdered his cellmate, so he get's another beating and an additional 200 years of jail time.
An orphaned child named Datan has fallen into melancholy.  He may do as he pleases.


27th Hematite
THIS PLACE!  THIS FREAKING PLACE!  I BROKE SOME THRESHER'S ARM TODAY, AND I'M STILL PISSED OFF!


7th Malachite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol57.png)
Kivish was found jammed inside a coffin today.  Not sure how he got there, or how the guy who's supposed to be in the coffin feels about that.
Itib the gemcutter has been stricken with melancholy, and the imprisoned engraver broke free and attacked his wrestler cellmate.  Didn't quite go so well for him as it did last time.


8th Malachite
I'M FREAKING ANGRY AGAIN!  KUBUK, I'LL CATCH YOU FOR YOUR CRIMES, AND WHEN I DO, I'LL PUNCH YOU IN YOUR STUPID FACE AND STICK YOU IN A CELL LIKE THE OTHERS!


14th Malachite
Stukos, a mason, has been struck by melancholy.


18th Malachite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol58.png)
Oh, gee golly, how could this possibly be!?

20th Malachite
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol59.png)
Asob, a planter went berserk in the middle of a party.


24th Malachite
Amost, a mason, has gone berserk.


6th Galena
Zasit the woodcrafter died of thirst today, and Sarvesh the wrestler got murdered by Zefon the engraver, who is currently sentenced to 595 days in prison.  Population is currently 102.


8th Galena
The melancholy gemcutter finally died of thirst today.


10th Galena
Kel Avelkib, our best woodcutter, has fallen into melancholy, too.


13th Galena
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol60.png)
Imush has gone berserk.  He threshed a thresher while a wrestler strangled his leg.


18th Galena
Imush has finally been put down by a different wrestler, after having his legs strangled for five whole days.  The thresher finally bled to death just a little later.  Obok the carpenter has started running naked down the halls while screaming about socks.  Tun Iklistfikod, a miner, also murdered Aban, and animal trainer.  Population is down to 98.


20th Galena
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol61.png)
Rovod, a bone carver, has gone berserk.


22nd Galena
Somebody smothered the baroness.


23rd Galena
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol62.png)
I don't even know how he got down in there.


24th Galena
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol63.png)
Obok, our best cook, was found dead in a pool of blood.  In fact, I just realized the entire entryway is covered in blood.  Where is the janit- oh, right.


25th Galena
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol64.png)
Iden, a miller, has gone berserk in the barracks.


1st Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol65.png)
Dastot, a child, is the berserker of the day.  What a great way to start off fall...
Oh, and somebody got murdered?
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol66.png)
Population is down to 89, depression rates have gone up, dwarves refusing food and drink, some injured, possibly crippled for life, royalty murdered... it can't possibly get any more worse, can it?

---

So I guess I'm now on my last season.  I can't believe I've screwed up so bad.  :D
I don't know whether to carve out more rooms, or carve out more tombs, or make new furniture to replace all that was smashed.

[EARLY AUTUMN]

1st Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol67.png)
Just after finishing the last entry, Cerol, a bone carver was beaten to death with Migruralak, our artifact malachite bracelet.
Also a donkey died.
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol68.png)
Also Atiz, a wrestler deid of thirst.
Also so has Kel, woodworker.
Also so has Olon, gemcutter
Also so has Stukos, mason
Also Thikut Rothotam, Baron Consort's mandate has ended because Thikut Rothotam has ended.
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol69.png)
Also erith, Bone carver has drowned.
Also a mule has died.
Also I AM THROWING A TANTRUM AGAIN.  BRB, I HAVE SOME TAXES TO PAY.


5th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol70.png)
A child does as a child pleases.  This child is pleased by murderous bloodshed.  Kids will be kids.


6th Limestone
I discovered that two coffins were being used for a horse and a bull.  This will be fixed.


8th Limestone
Coffin production has ground to a halt since Likast, or last mason of considerable skill went melancholy.


9th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol71.png)
Our tax collecter has paid his final dues, and Kikrost, a cook, has gone berserk.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol72.png)
After he was dealt with, Dakost, a peasant, was murdered and Cog the metalsmith went berserk as well.  Fortunately a cage trap stopped him. (at this poit there are 27 corpses, and Dastot and another dwarf's were forbidden, so I'm guessing their corpses have been thrown around at some point)
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol73.png)


10th Limestone
Sazir, miner, and Mistem, fish cleaner, have been stricken with melancholy.


12th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol74.png)
Kumil, peasant, has gone berserk.


13th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol75.png)
Olon, Tanner, has gone berserk.


14th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol76.png)
I looked out this gloomy, rainy evening, and saw that the caravan from the mountainhomes has arrived.  They don't know what is in store for them.  Or maybe they can, just from the sight of the broken, muddy rubble of what used to be a complete road.  I'd send someone out to tell them to turn back, that it wasn't worth the trouble, but I fear that whomever I send may not make it to them without plunging themselves into a lake.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol77.png)
Aw, crap.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol78.png)
...and we loose one of the two remaining miners who aren't crazy or crippled, along with a craftsdwarf and a woodcutter.


17th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol79.png)
Another child gone berserk.

Also, our mayer has gone completely mad, so a recall and a special election were held.


19th Limestone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol80.png)
Oddom, a peasant, has gone berserk.  Our replacement mayor also seems to have died.


21st Limestone
A butcher has died of thirst.


22nd Limestone
A miller died today, and a furnace operator ran off screaming.


28th Limestone
Ustuth, a woodcutter died at a party today.


1st Sandstone
Kadol, woodcutter has fallen into melancholy today.


(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol81.png)
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol83.png)
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol82.png)

---

Uh... one game month, population's down to 66.  15 are crazy, and about 20 are resting or crippled.  Food and beer stocks are okay, which is fortunate, since I don't think any cooks or brewers remain alive at this point.

:epileptic:

(http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa108/magpie2000/stayingalive.jpg)

...:crazy:
...:D
...What the hell happened?
...:crazy:
...:D

This sort of thing is exactly why DF is the best game.

I bet someone carved Boatmurdered elephants into the wall and all the dwarfs that look at them go beserk.

[MID AUTUMN]

9th Sandstone
Another peasant gone insane.

11th Sandstone
Some crazy animal caretaker's died from thirst.

12th Sandstone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol84.png)
Our only useful miner's mined himself off a ledge today and messed himself up.  I'll have to check if there are any sane peasants to do channel duty for a while.

Another carpenter died of thirst.

15th Sandstone
A peasant and Rovod, an engraver have died.

16th Sandstone
A fish cleaner has died today.

19th Sandstone
A woodcutter died of thirst today.

23rd Sandstone
A carpenter and a woodburner died today.
...and a stoneworker.

25th Sandstone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol85.png)
So much death... I can't keep track of it all... an axedwarf, a carpenter... some others...

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol86.png)
A peasant went berserk.  I need to replace my replacement miner now.  Population is down to 51.

26th Sandstone
Another peasant gone insane.  Time to replace my replacement replacement miner.

28th Sandstone
An engraver and the crazy miner died of thirst.

30th Sandstone
An armorer and metalsmith have starved to death.
Population 49.  Once 119 strong, over half a year we have had 70 deaths.  20 remain wounded.  6 crazy.  Is there light at the end of this tunnel?
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol87.png)
We've been shoving all our dead down here.  It isn't very dignified, but we really don't have much of an option at this point.

Vucar, metalsmith, is currently sentenced to 50 hammerstrikes and 226 days in prison.  The hammerer is unconscious with a broken arm.
I am currently sentenced to a beating and 401 days in prison.  Good luck with that one.
Kubuk is currently sentenced to a beating and 426 days in prison.
Ingiz the woodburner is currently sentenced to 50 hammerstrikes and 426 days in prison.
Inod, stonecrafter, is currently sentenced to a beating and 551 days in prison.
Zefon the engraver is currently sentenced to a beating and 626 days in prison.

[LATE AUTUMN]
3rd Timber
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol88.png)
Inod, stone crafter's gone berserk.


4th Timber
A weaver's died from thirst.


10th Timber
Atis, jeweler, has starved to death.


11th Timber
Uvash, wrestler, has died of thirst.

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol89.png)


12th Timber
Replacement replacement replacement miner got himself arrested.  Time to find another.


23rd Timber
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol90.png)
Oops.


24th Timber
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol91.png)
Crap.


26th Timber
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol92.png)
Stop trying to swim, guys.

I'm pulling Rakust out of wrestling for now, until we get more non-crippled dwarves here.

Also, a leatherworker died of thirst.  Isn't that great...?


28th Timber
Melbil, peasant, starved to death.


1st Moonstone
(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol93.png)
Zefon the engraver's gone berserk.  That's it.  I'm outta here.

---

(http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/MCBooga/kol94.png)
Population: 40
Wounded: 19
Crazy: 3
Berserk: 1

[The Helmauthors Map (http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/map-7168-helmauthors)]
[The region files (http://www.boogatech.com/temp/Helmauthors_04.zip)]

---
Things to do:
New bedrooms may not be necessary at this point.
More coffins and tombs for the ~80 dead.
The Goblin Smasher still needs floors and stairs channeled out.
Some roads are broken up.
The wall is up, but the floodgates never got connected.  The north entrance doesn't have floodgates at all.
The metalworking area is fully functional, with an ashery almost created above it (with room for a sandbag stockpile), and a sand-collection area above that.  Once things finally calm down, you should be able to produce all the steel and clear glass you need for the next potentially-fortress-destroying super project. ;D

Holy crap, those berserk dwarf chain reactions are like a zombie apocalypse.

Wow...Damn.  Actually, I think this is technically known as a tantrum spiral (http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Tantrum). :epileptic:

Okay, I've updated the Helmauthors page (http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/)! The save file is now archived for anyone who might want to take a crack at it.

So, uh...Should I go back and poke at the queue to see if anyone wants to try again?  Or should I try "renewing" the queue? ???

Either way, it'll have to wait for tomorrow. :P

Giv'r a poke. I'm still interested for sure.

Welllllll...I had skipped Dacke earlier, because he (she?) said he didn't have time to do it. And now you say you're up for it, ZeuglinRush, so...If you're interested, you can take it. ;)

Cool! You go ZeuglinRush!


Here is a picture of me as a dolphin:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/DunderDacke/pridebild.png)

Not helping! :wtf:

Glad I'm not the only one that thought that. =P

No body type/language markers. No fashion markers. No hair.

Androgyny++.

 :shrug2:


Back on Topic:

Moar DF Updates Please.

This fortress is too hilarious. It's starting to read suspiciously like Boatmurdered. hahaha.
I am going to have to install a windows VM to play DF soon.

Hihi, I know :)
But as you can see on my profile, I totally have a penis.


I really wish I hade the time and skill to take this game on. I hope it's still possible to save the fortress!

kay I'm good for it I think. I'll start today, and see what I can come up with.

Early winter:
Oh god, helmauthors is an accident waiting to happen. Raw materials and industry are pretty damn good, but morale. MORALE. PIGS HAVE MORE MORALE. Pigs don't even know what to do with morale. They'd just shit in it. Dwarves know what to do with morale though. More specifically, they know what to do when they have none: Throw a fit and kick kittens in the nuts.

First order of business is definately going to be to make the peasantry happy, while the second order of business is to keep the gentry happy. As it is, I can only conclude that every previous manager of the fortress have hated dwarves.

(http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/5717/winter1crysomemore.png)

Wah wah wah you don't have a home cry some more and eat cake too fatty.

At least there are more than enough quarters now, what with everyone being horribly maimed and killed. It's like every fifth person I come across is trying to commit suicide.

I have found a microcline lever. It appears to be under construction, although I am having some trouble discerning its function. I fully intend to pull it next time the shit hits the fan.

Holy goddamn two dead dwarves. Where did they come from. Far too much crap to make coffins for. I will commence construction of a super rad egypt style pyramid thing to pile dead morons in. That little square piece of terrain will serve as the base. It will also allow me to rain arrows on goblin and horse raids.

(http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/9905/winter2mausoleum.png)

Just as I thought I had everything under control, a champion goes berzerk in the middle of the hospital. The rage zombie of the now award goes to Tun Thottokomarren von Longname.

(http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2446/winter3ragezombie.png)

Protip: the patients did not make a full recovery.

(http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1354/winter4fullrecovery.png)

He was struck down very very shortly afterwards by the entire remaining military. A peasant and a douchebag with a lame job both went berzerk on seeing him. Fortress population is now 30. I have resorted to pile graveyards.

The hospital full of dead people is starting to stink.

Another champion gone berserk. I think it will continue untill the population drops below some sort of critical mass, almost like a nuclear reaction of pure unbridled rage. The more champions go berserk, the faster it gets there, so more power to 'em at this point. It's not like there's a hell of a lot I can do about it. 6 people just flipped their shit in about 4 minutes realtime.

HOLY GOD THERE IS ONLY ONE CHAMPION THAT IS NOT BERSERK. TOO MANY. TOOOO MANNYYY

although now they are infighting, which sorta self regulates a little.
The captain of the guard has been heroicly guarding a doorway. By heroically guarding I mean a champion appears to have a broomhandle shoved up his ass and is mopping the ceiling with his beard. There goes any hope of raising morale.

Population is now 22. Ima take a break. All the above appears to have happened in the span of about 5 days of game time. I get the feeling that this place is hooped, but there's still a small chance the madness will stop.

On that note, an incredibly cool carving.
(http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/9246/winter5coolbeans.png)
Spiffeh arts, suicidal mans.

That is an awesome engraving! I hope there is still a fortress to command by the time my turn rolls around; it seems we are losing dwarves to insanity and death daily. :D

:D BLOOD FOR ARMOK! oh god the tragedy

I'm going to make a longer post later, but let's just say I don't think this fortress is long for this world.

I noticed with a recent fortress, berzerk dwarves are more dangerous than any goblin.

So, since I'm up next... just curious if there is even a fortress for me to try and salvage? :D

ZeuglinRush!  :handshakeL: >:(

Not a hell of a lot. You could try with the same save I'm using, but it's midterm week right now, so my attention is kind of split, and every time I look up at my screen it's gotten all 'your civilization has crumbled into dust' on me. so, yeah. I think that's about it for me. I think an additional week or so of ingame time passed since my last post, so there's some sort of geometric madness rate to it.

Although the deaths seemed to be dropping off near the end, presumably because the population is so sparse. oh well.

Right now you are our greatest hope, ZeuglinRush! I'd like to see it finished by you, even if it takes some more time. The alternative would be to drop it on someone else, who probably would have a hard time too.

How much more time would you need to see this through?

You can pass it off to me if you are terribly busy and it seems hopeless. I'm not the best player, but hopefully I could restructure it and the fort could live on...

Otherwise, I think this calls for a Round 2. :D

When I played ahead a bit, it seemed to level off at around spring.  Might want to get a new bucket or two made, as the current ones might be stuck in the clutches of babbling dwarfs.

Unfortunately, I don't really have the time at the moment to do it justice. I've sorta been poking away at the keyboard across a huge stack of papers. I've been long enough at it anyways that whoever's next might as well go.

Up to you; if you're super slammed I can carry on. My username used to be Kibble, but I just changed it a week back, so I'm up next.

If you want to finish it, that's ok too. :3 I'm just curious as to the fate of HELMAUTHORS!

I'm up for whatever you guys decide. :gentleman:

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/screenshot1.png)

:eyebrows:

That's my well over there. So beautiful.

So, what happen? I can also take over if you want/like/need/consider advisable.

It's missing a lot of blood and corpses.

Yeah, Stonesense (http://tigsource.com/articles/2009/11/03/stonesense-dwarf-fortress-visualizer) doesn't have absolutely everything yet. Still, Cheater was able to recognize the well, so that's cool. ;)

I think at this point we'll get whatever ZeuglinRush has done and make that the next save, then get the next person up to bat.

Sounds good to me! <o/

Stonesense... oh my, so hawt.  :-*

To be fair, there's only one bedroom-area in the fortress.

Since we haven't heard from Mr. Zeuglin for about 2 weeks, maybe load up the save prior to him to keep things moving along? A thread like this needs updates to stay alive and interesting.

I'm not usually so pushy, but I really want to take Stonesense for a whirl, and this sounds like a good chance. :D

EDIT: If this fortress dies horribly, we need a new thread. :3

seriously? go ahead. I have so much going on right now. My turn managed to come up in the middle of midterms and such, so I haven't really been able to do it justice.

GO GO GO GO GO GREEN FLAG WE'RE ON THE HOME STRETCH NOW RUN

Okay! All we need is JUST ONE THING!

...The save files! :P Perhaps you could email them to me, ZeuglinRush? My email's right over to the left there.
:handpencil: :eyebrows: If you do that, I'll take care of the rest!

mmkay. I'll send you the version from directly after my post, so there's some continuity to the madness.

File received! :handthumbsupL: :eyebrows:

Helmauthors webpage updated! (http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/)

Oh, wow. Helmauthors is truly a cursed place. Also, forgive the .bmp. I was using Paint and got sloppy. :3

Current population: 22

Opal 2nd, 205:
I have a really bad feeling about this... I've been watching this fortress for 1 minute, and this happens already?

(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/SomethingBadIsGoingToHappen.bmp)

Ingiz has gone mad, and is running through the fortress on a killing spree. Everyone is sick, thirsty, hungry, or wounded, so they are basically lying in bed waiting for the woodworker to bust in through the doors to get them. ;o

I designated a new dumping zone for bodies and refuse, and a new 20-slot tomb to store some of the bodies, but nobody wanted to do any work! They just lie around and wait to go crazy/berserk/die.

Opal 7th, 205:
Oh dear...

(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/OhShit_7thOpal.bmp)
(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/OhShit2_7thOpal.bmp)

Opal 10th, 205:
Ingiz's rampage eventually came to a halt, 3 days later.

(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/DeathOfASerialKiller_10thOpal.bmp)

We're down to 11 now... it's not looking good. :(

(also, sorry for not taking more general pictures of what's going on; it was all pretty confusing scene of miasma, blood, and refuse, so I just kept with logfiles.)

Opal 17th, 205:
Mere days have gone by since the big outbreak of Ingiz... and NOW THIS?!

(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/Ohnoes_17Opal.bmp)

Now we have an ex-champion running through the halls. Just great.

Opal 25th, 205:

Should have turned your head to the sky and drank it, fool!

(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/Ohnoes_25thOpal.bmp)

Opal 28th, 205:

I guess I didn't take a picture of these events... but it looks like we're down to 6 dwarves. They're all mortally ill and lying on their beds just waiting to die. WE NEED MORE BUCKETS!

Obsidian 16th, 205:

(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/OneRemains_16Obsidian.bmp)

Deler Ibdesmar was the last remaining adult dwarf to die. All that remains is one little child...

Whoa... that's a lot of blood.  :o

(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/Deathbed.bmp)
(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/FinalCountdown.bmp)

And finally... it was only a matter of time... Tekkud let herself fall asleep, and hunger overcame the poor dwarven girl. With that, Helmauthors had lost it's final resident.

(http://www.bradkav.com/1temp/DF/GG.bmp)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, it only took about a month ingame to lose 22 dwarves. Everyone was sick, hungry, wounded, crazy, or thirsty, and nobody wanted to do anything. I really doubt this save is recoverable, but if anyone else wants to try, be my guest!

I'd be down for a remake; I'd love to put in a full year on a fort that isn't doomed from the getgo. I swear I'll spend more time taking better pictures, too. :D

Stonesense rules.

Aaaand how many helms were authored in the lifetime of Helmauthors?

Word has reached Thalú Fivo that the dwarven settlement of Zonardes is no more.  They slaughtered two dozen of our best in the Spring of 205, but the very fabric of their society was mortally wounded.  Now, word has come from the human merchants that nothing lives in Zonardes.

Of course, saguaro would grow in the forest before elves would trust human intelligence...or human espionage.  Next spring there will be another march on Helmauthors, to drive away all who might remain there.  It is already planned, there is no point in even sending a scout to verify the reports.

But even if the army is uninterested, an adventurer looking to make a name for himself might take the opportunity to do some scouting on his own initiative.  If such a scout could return with real news, eyewitness reports of the fate of Helmauthors one way or the other, the druids might look well upon him.

Thus, in the name of Ola the Ripe Swamp, I, the swordself Inefa Ulayathine shall penetrate the mystery surrounding Zonardes--"Helmauthors".

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv00.png)

I began my journey in the forest, chatting with a friendly bowmaker.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv01.png)

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv02.png)

While I live in Enedisa, it borders the jungle Ilificovema.  (For some reason, the disgusting goblin name for the jungle is the one in most common use--"Stosmûrâbab".)  I know that Zonardes is well to the southeast, just visible on this map.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv03.png)

It takes less than a day to travel the elven trade trails to my destination.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv04.png)

Unfortunately, I arrive in darkness.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv05.png)

The great gate in the wall stands open.  Stone is scattered everywhere.  The dwarves have lain stones across the ground to stunt its growth (I think they refer to this as "paving").  However, the road has been broken, and nature forces her way back upward.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv06.png)

Ice and bones litter the ground.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv07.png)

Articles of clothing and bits of stone are scattered haphazardly about...

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv08.png)

I can hardly believe my eyes.  The dwarves felled a tree--chopped it, I can clearly see the axe marks.  Then they left the wood to rot on the ground.  I can feel my body tense like a drawn bowstring.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv09.png)

Not only dwarf bones, but those of bizarre creatures.  The bones are yellow and warm to the touch; some sort of fire elemental?  What dark powers were these dwarves consorting with?

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv10.png)

I walk across an ornate bridge over a small gulch, and I find evidence of my compatriots.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv11.png)

The bridge is decorated with statues of a startling red stone.  The craftselfship is amazing...or would that be craftsdwarfship?

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv12.png)

Provisions!  Harvested by the dwarves, no doubt, but at least I won't go hungry.  I didn't know they ate berries.  But then, I have heard that the dwarves are master brewers.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv13.png)

I cannot tell if this frozen pond was meant as a walking surface.  It leads to a tower of surprising height...

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv14.png)

Climbing to the top of the tower is a bit of a workout.  It is all of stone, laid out with unnatural precision.  The platform at the top has quite a cunning design, allowing archers to peer out and shoot through gaps in the stone.

There's also a lever.  I decide...not to pull it.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv15.png)

A crude attempt at exploiting plants.  Probably as a food source.  Also, a projectile of that deadly metal the dwarves have mastered...

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv16.png)

The mountain has been carved out with geometric precision.  I find more evidence of the earlier invasion.  It's sobering to think of those great elven warriors sleeping...somewhere in the land around here.  From what I've heard, the dwarves let elven bodies decay where they fall, returning to the soil...though it's more likely due to laziness than respect.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv17.png)

At last, the main entrance.  Decorated with statues, cages and great gates.  I cannot make sense of the layout.  Everything is silent.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv18.png)

Once a meeting hall, now an abattoir.  Rubble and corpses are strewn everywhere.  This is my first time seeing a real dwarf corpse.  There cannot be any dwarves still alive in this settlement, I feel it in my blood.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv19.png)

A great underground room.  To be in a room that is at once so open and so enclosed is a strange experience.  I feel that the room is somehow unfinished, with its mishmash of soil, smooth blocks and raw stone.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv20.png)

The amount of wealth is amazing.  A whole fortress' worth of riches.  Clothes, jewelry, trade goods...

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv21.png)

Amazing!...Actually, this is disappointing, for two reasons.  First, the bows were spoils of war, and probably the rest as well.  Second, don't dwarves ever use swords?

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv22.png)

This engraving has a strange title, or else my Dwarvish isn't quite up to snuff.  Still, it's incredibly well crafted.  I believe "The Furious Halls" is the name of the group that settled here, "Helmauthors" being the name of the region itself.  I suppose this is how the dwarves recorded their history...permanently, in the bones of the earth.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv23.png)

Is that...just...I don't even know what to think.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv24.png)

The dining room could hold more than 50 dwarves, I'm sure.  Everything is so planned, so geometric.  Everything has been shaped by a sentient mind, not grown according to the whims of Ola.  Every corner, every smooth plane is a decision, a decision forever frozen in stone.

Now it all lies forgotten, strewn with dust and bodies.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv25.png)

The floor looks like blood.  I'm sure some of it is, but it's mostly a vein of red stone.  This must have been planned out months before, why would they have a floor that looks like blood?  It's so...

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv26.png)

I knew the bodies had to be somewhere.  I knew no one was left alive.

I don't know what killed them all.  Violence, mostly; festering wounds, going untreated for...Some of them must have succumbed to hunger or thirst.  I would not have wished such a death on anyone.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv27.png)

More bloody halls.  They must have mined out the red stone, then abandoned these tunnels.  Now they're strewn with the detritus of dwarven life.

(http://chaoseed.com/helmauthors/zonardes_adv28.png)

I don't know if I can take any more of this.  My heart is heavy.  Ola help me, I do not wish to see any more...

So after the final save, I ran the fortress for a month or two to see what would happen.  I'm pretty sure it's not salvageable.  After it crumbled, I generated an elven adventurer to explore the ruins...Just to give the saga of Helmauthors a conclusion. ;)

Thanks to everyone who participated and made this saga...something to read! :D  And hey, someone could even reclaim the fortress and rebuild it.  But I'll leave that possibility for another day...