Tuesday, October 1, 2019

First Fortress

As you have probably noticed, I've been mentioning Dwarf Fortress a lot  in recent blog posts.  Well...the reason for all that is I have been trying to teach myself how to play the game.  I gave adventure mode a shot for awhile, but (after getting devoured by a pack of boogeymen) decided to move onto fortress mode.  After watching Kruggsmash's crash course introduction video, I was able to get off to a decent start.  So, with respect to Dwarf Fortress tradition, here's my story.

Year One 

According to the map selection screen, the place I have chosen is a savannah region; a temperate zone tucked up against the mountains where a stream winds between two hills.  I decided on the slope that was closer to the wagon and had our miner get to work.  The dormitory, farm, brewery, and meeting room all came together fairly quickly.  For fun, I had my seven dwarfs chase down a wild hare.  What ensued was a re-enactment of the famous Monty-Python-and-the-Holy-Grail white rabbit battle.  One dwarf, in particular, was bitten no less than six times.  Thankfully, none of the bites drew blood.


There's no shortage of quality or variety when it comes to lumber here: walnut, willow, apricot and ginkgo are everywhere.  There's also a particularly large peachtree growing out of a shoulder of land just above the hillside entrance.  Its branches extend nine z-levels above the trunk, and the roots go at least three z-levels down.  Just before the end of spring the banks of the stream became white.  For a second I thought is was snow (as absurd as that sounds), but as it turned out there's actually just a lot of cotton grass in the area.


We have a pair of fisher dwarfs who have had a lot of luck catching river trout.  Birds-of-prey and herds of horses frequently visit us.  One of the cats we brought along has become a legendary climber while the other has proven to be quite the mouser, catching several rats and even a frog.

While the carpenter's workshop has been cranking out tables, chairs, barrels, bins, beds and doors, the miner has been digging down through dirt and sand to the bedrock.  It's mostly quartzsite, but there are traces of cobaltite, sphalerite and cinnabar.  I had the stonemason get started in his new workshop.  I have a special request for him.  The merchants came, but sadly we didn't have anything to trade.  After the fact, I asked our resident craftsdwarf to make a couple dozen quartzsite figurines.  My intent is to trade them away the next time a caravan arrives.  The image I chose was of a dwarf contemplating his pickaxe in outstretched hands.  Incidentally, I saw our expedition leader walking around with one in hand before going to bed.  Maybe, for dwarfs, these things are the equivalent of plush toys?

Two new migrants arrived.  One of them has a pet blue peacock following her.  This new arrival has the occupation of "fish dissector," but her skill set mostly consists of combat abilities.  I put her in charge of the militia since we already have enough dwarfs fishing right now.  There aren't any good weapons lying around right now though so I hope trouble doesn't rear its ugly head...speaking of rearing, that special stone carving project has been finished by the mason.  It's a statue of a horse rearing triumphantly.  I had it placed by the trunk of the peachtree that overlooks the fortress entrance.

Fall has come and we have no shortage of fresh fruit.  The brewer has gotten to work making peach cider, which will please more than a few dwarfs.  I've heard more than a little grumbling about having to drink the same old grog all the time.  Down bellow our miner and mason have been working on more permanent accommodations.  So far we have nine smoothstone bedrooms complete with doors, cabinets, chests and beds (of course) in various states of completion.  I've also assigned our resident craftsdwarf to practice a bit of gem cutting using some semi-precious stones we found.


It's winter and the elves are here to trade.  They don't have much of value, but in the interests of diplomacy we offered some of our figurines in exchange for a bow and some arrows.  Spring can't come soon enough...

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