Ducimmonag 7 - Harnessing the Beasts

Opal, Year 252

    

    A terribly tragic accident has struck us. Udil the miner fell to his death while working on our new trap hall. This forced me to come to terms with the fact that we have no miners experienced with such projects, making it difficult and dangerous. Like many of our problem it stems from our lack of new migrants which in turn stems from the ceaseless assaults of the undead hordes.

    Cut off from the river's freshwater aboveground many of the wounded in our hospital who reject booze have become increasingly dehydrated. I have ordered the construction of a screw pump and well to filter the filthy water of the cavern's, but the fortress is in a general state of disarray which has exacerbated our manpower shortage.

    One of our new recruits, Ezum, claimed a jewelry workshop and began the construction of an artifact. 

  

  Soon after he completed it. A perfect rose quartz it is a worthy addition to our fortress' treasury, although I do question the artistic decision to engrave an image of the artifact onto the artifact.

                                              

    Terrible monsters have continued to pour forth from the caverns. The cobalt tribes have been accustomed to regularly fighting off these wandering behemoths, slaying a giant olm, a cave troll, and a cave crocodile within the past few months.

    A more serious threat was the band of three vicious blind cave ogres who emerged from the fungal forests heading towards the fortress. With so many civilians working on the pump down in the cavern layer it was too risky to allow them to continue wandering and risk them evading our cage traps. With this in mind the Cobalt Tribes attacked, cutting the shocked ogres down one by one. The recruits did very well in the battle, they have improved greatly over the past few months.

    Following the battle the militia commander and one of the other soldiers had a discussion about their feelings towards death. Evidently Oddom understands the importance of talking out the traumas of war.

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Granite, Year 253

    With the water filtration project initially progressing slowly dehydration began to be a problem.

    When the pump was finally finished the pump operator got to work, only to overfill the well and be swept out into the cavern pool. With no one nearby to save him he nearly drowned before grabbing onto the rock wall and clawing his way up. I have no idea what posses him to do this, but ignoring the screams of onlookers he decided to climb away from he fortress, deeper into the caverns. Before he could reach wherever it was he was heading he slipped and fell into the water. After nearly drowning again he grabbed hold of a towercap fungus trunk and dragged himself out of the water. He then at for a moment gaining his composure before leaping back to land. 

    Ridiculous escapades aside fresh water was then available and the injured were finally tended to.

        Through all of this the undead hordes have continued to poison the land above, killing every living thing they could get their rotting hands on.

    With this constant threat lurking above us, many have become increasingly stressed. In order to provide some relief I ordered the construction of a temple where the faithful can put their faith in the gods. As a loyal worshipper of Ostar, god of death and keeper of the afterlife I could no longer ignore the lack of a place of worship. The temple, named "The Equity of Control" is frequented by all in the fortress, even the human monster hunters who have been trapped here by the siege.

    Our acute shortage of able-bodied dwarves has pushed us to make use of the beasts residing in our fortress, from the monstrous blind cave ogres to our friendly populace of dogs. I ordered the excavation of a room and imprisoned a breeding pair of the ogres there. The ogres are well-known for their brutish strength and ability to tear down doors, so a thick copper bridge was installed to hold them in, operable by levers. As a final precaution we built two cage traps between them and the stairway to the fortress.

    Two dogs were brought with the seven founders, and since then many litters of puppies have been born, leaving us with an excess of male dogs. Over the past two months we've trained them for war and assigned them to the soldiers of the Cobalt Tribes.

    One benefit of our location in the savage wilderness is that there is no opportunity for us to go soft, as some say those of the mountain homes have. Dwarves in the caverns witness a brutal fight in the pool as a amphibian man with a spear battled a giant olm. Eventually the amphibian spearman won the upper hand and drove the bleeding creature into the branches of a fungus tree.

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    Sorry it's been a while since I posted, I've had some trouble with DF crashing. If you have any questions, criticisms, or suggestions please comment. Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Ducimmonag 6 - Hopeless Stagnation

 Timber, Year 252

    Construction of the surface wall has stalled due to the worker's steadfast refusal to move, build over, or in any way deal with the copper crossbow bolt lodged in the ground.

    Dobar, one of the bravest defenders of Workdrilled, has become skilled enough to qualify as a Hammerlord. His skill with his silver warhammer will be of great use in the event that the zombie hordes return.

    A group of eight new migrants, our first in many months, has arrived at the fortress. With so many dead at the hands of those damnable undead new blood is sorely needed.

    By some strange coincidence the majority of the migrants are hunters, animal trappers, or animal trainers. Perhaps this was the primary industry of their fortress of origin. I had hoped for some more useful professions, say miners, warriors, or metalsmiths, but they are better than nothing.

    A pair of blind cave ogres, one male and one female, emerged from the caverns heading towards our fortress today. One was captured in a cage traps and the other was swiftly put down by the Cobalt Tribes. 

    We have now captured three of the ogres. Perhaps we could use their vicious might towards our own aims. Every dwarven body interred in these caverns reminds me of how few of us remain. By the last count there are a scant 700 dwarves remaining across the Absolute Universes. Any way to use our enemies against each other and prevent the needless loss of dwarven life must be utilized.

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Moonstone, Year 252

    Once more we are besieged by an army of monstrous undead hailing from the necromancer's tower to the North.

    They spilled up the northeastern slope and began to charge towards the fortress. Immediately I called for all Dwarves to retreat belowground, but Rith Gemeshas, one of our three remaining original founders, failed to heed the alarm and continued to slowly lug his log across the surface. Before he could reach the fortress a dark zombie human was upon him. If I had sent the Cobalt Tribes out to save him they would have been quickly encircled by the undead swarm and torn to pieces just as foolish Rish was.

    

    Now only Rakust Idnisgak the cook/farmer and Lorbam Tolunsulon the mason remain of the founding seven. I pray that they will not die at the hands of the necromancer's minions as their comrades have.

    Realizing the dire nature of our current situation I recruited four new soldiers for the Cobalt Tribes, most of them from the most recent migrant wave. In total 53 invaders have been counted with an even mix of the superhuman dark zombies and regular animated corpses.

    Unfortunately the main trap hall we used to brunt the attack of the last siege was not repaired in time. While the majority of the cage traps are operational the weapon trap are almost entirely inoperable.

    In light of this the miners have begun excavation of a new trap hall. The plan is that retract bridges will drop the unsuspecting invaders to their deaths far below. Unfortunately the work has been fraught with blunders. Several miners have ended up clinging to the walls of the pit. Luckily none have been injured so far.

    Just as I thought we might have a chance to truly expand, perhaps even strike back against that necromancer tower and rid the land of its cursed blight, we are besieged again. The continuous attacks have pummeled us into the ground and forced us into stagnation. There is never any time to catch our breaths, and the constant attacks make it impossible for merchants and migrants to reach us. The general mood has slipped into a dull hopelessness as of late. It seems my plan for a new grand fortress and a population of more than 30 will have to wait.

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    Credit for the blind cave ogre drawing goes to my sister. If you have any questions, criticisms, or suggestions please comment. Feedback is greatly appreciated! 

Ducimonnag 5 - Cleansing the Surface

Credit for the illustration featured in this report goes to my talented sister!

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Hematite, Year 252

Another artifact has been created in our fortress. It is a tetrahedrite table known as Rasotlisid or "Raptorclash." It is covered in marvelous panda leather purchased from the humans and jewels excavated from our land.

With only filthy cavern water available for our soldiers so badly injured they couldn't even accept booze we prepared to send the Cobalt Tribes to deal with the lingering enemies. A hunter and a clothier were hurriedly enlisted into their ranks, and after a short preparation  the doors were unlocked. For some unfathomable reason a large portion of our civilians refused to wait for an all-clear from the soldiers. The papermaker Goden Neruzol was among them, and while the others were quickly called back by my hurried orders, multiple goblin zombies fell upon him and tore him apart before the Cobalt Tribes arrived.

Once they had arrived the brave soldiers of the Cobalt Tribes easily dispatched with the goblin zombies, leaving only a handful of other zombies lurking on the other side of the river and several magpieman zombies flitting out of reach above the trees.

The Cobalt Tribes hastily positioned themselves across the river while they waited for a bridge to be constructed, but our two new overly-eager recruits decided to ignore the commands of their superiors and ford the dangerous river. Luckily they resisted the pull of the river that could have sent them careening over the waterfall, but they found several goblin zombies waiting for them. Hearing of the situation developing I rushed to the scene. I shouted for the commander to take the veterans across and save the recruits, but he refused, citing the rivers danger. 

We were left to simply watch in horror as the foolish recruits were slaughtered by the vicious zombies. The hunter fled in terror, stumbling farther away from the river. He did not make it far before he too was dragged down and devoured. The zombies, now hungering for more flesh, began to stumble across the river. Both were beaten to death by the hammers of our vengeful soldiers.

Seeing a magpie man harassing a group of bedraggled civilians the Cobalt Tribes swooped in and mobbed it, killing it with ease. Alone against the combined strength of our veteran soldiers these stumbling corpses are easy pickings.

The Cobalt Tribes had now been fighting for days, and all but one headed below ground to rest and eat. One soldier lingered momentarily, making doubly sure that the area south of the river had been secured. Just as she was turning to join the others another goblin zombie leaped from behind a tree and bit her neck, opening a vicious wound. She survived and killed the zombie, but was forced to retire to the hospital. With the loss of first the recruits and now one of the veterans the Cobalt Tribes are looking dangerously under strength.

Luckily it appears we avoided another confrontation by trapping a loathsome blind cave ogre in one of our cage traps underground.

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Limestone, Year 252

One of the magpieman zombies dived down to attack the civilians. Before the Cobalt Tribes could arrive and fend it off it managed to kill a mechanic and injure a metalsmith. Pictured above is our militia commander slaying the creature. It was drawn by our fortress' best artist according to eyewitness accounts.

As short while later the last besieger, a magpie man zombie landed and attacked Onul, one of our soldiers. Surprised and isolated she was badly injured before her comrades arrived. With so many soldiers out of action it is good that the siege is now lifted and it is possible for migrants to arrive.

With the bridge finally completed the soldiers crossed and methodically cleared out the remaining zombies. One of them noticed while crossing the bridge that one of our fortresses beloved giant sponges had been punctured with even more holes by those bastards arrows and killed. Yet another reason to hate these foul creatures. One must be truly evil to slay a defenseless sponge.

Our cook has become incredibly skilled, making the dull plump helmet diet slightly more palatable.

None of us wish to face the horrors of a siege such as this again without adequate protection and preparation. Using slate blocks an enormous wall around our fortress' entrance has begun construction.

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Sandstone, Year 252

Our first caravan in many a month has arrived.

With so many excess goods stockpiled we gave them an excellent deal, hoping to entice them to spread good news of our fortress and direct migrants our way. 

Whenever my attention has not been needed to oversee the military operations I have been busy drawing up plans for our new fortress. If we gain new workers and a measure of prolonged peace we may yet become the greatest settlement of the eastern lands.

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If you have any questions, criticisms, or suggestions please comment. Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Resources for Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress

Dwarf Fortress is famously difficult to get into. To help newcomers get started the community has created many useful resources that pare down the difficulty curve significantly. Here I will collect a selection of the best of these resources to hopefully help those of you who are looking to get started with DF but don't know where to start. I have used all of the resources here at some point in my DF journey and can attest to their quality.

Firstly I will say that the thing most important to keep in mind when starting DF is that you will lose. Since DF has no set win condition it is guaranteed that you will lose eventually. With this in mind it is imperative that you follow the community's motto of "losing is fun" and learn to enjoy this inevitable collapse of all your hard work. I still fondly remember when my first fortress only a few months in was brutally dismembered by a vicious werehorse.

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For your very first fortress I would suggest following along with either a video tutorial or a written walkthrough, several of which I have collected below.

Kruggsmash Youtube Tutorial

Kruggsmash's beginner walkthrough is an excellent, brief overview of the absolute basics that is only 1/2 hour long. While it was made 2 years ago it is not out of date as all the gameplay areas it covers have been relatively unchanged in recent updates. I watched this tutorial myself when I was getting started and highly recommend it for its high production quality and easy to follow structure.

Nookrium Youtube Tutorial

This video tutorial by Nookrium is a bit more recent having been released this year. It runs a bit longer than Kruggsmash's tutorial at just under 45 minutes and is thus slightly more in depth.

DF Wiki Quickstart Guide

The quick start guide on the DF wiki covers almost every important topic you will need to know starting out. It describes everything from how to defend against sieges to trading with merchants. This is a good place to look if there is a specific area you are struggling to understand. In general the wiki is your best friend when getting started with DF and will likely remain so even when you are a seasoned veteran. You should always have it open when playing DF, as it details pretty much everything there is to know about the game.

PeredexisErrant's Walkthrough

This walkthrough which I think we can safely assume was written by PeridexisErrant is a great alternative for someone looking for detailed explanations of a variety of Dwarf Fortress' mechanics and systems.

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In the process of learning to play DF you will inevitably come across a specific question that cannot be answered by these sources. There are two main places where you can ask questions regarding DF; the subreddit and the forums.

DF Subreddit

The DF subreddit hosts a bi-weekly question thread that is the perfect place to ask any and all DF related questions. In my experience the community surrounding the subreddit is very helpful and welcoming to newcomers.

DF Forums

The DF forums have been around since the game first began development and are frequented by many knowledgeable DF veterans. The gameplay questions forum is teh prefect place to ask your question, just remember to check if a previous thread has already answered it.

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Hopefully you found this set of resources helpful. If you think that this post could help someone you know get into DF direct them this way. If you have any questions, suggestions, or criticism don't hesitate to comment.

Ducimmonag 4 - The Second Invasion

Opal, Year 251

I have ordered the rapid production of shale blocks in the cavern layer. If we can construct some manner of defense above ground we will be able to set aside the ever-looming threat of necromantic invasion and work on the improvement of the fortress. I have begun to draw up plans for the new, far grander fortress we will construct below. If only a new wave of migrants would arrive. Perhaps the merchants scared them away with tales of the desolation following the dark zombie Semthab's rampage.

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Obsidian, Year 251

It seems there is no rest for the weary. Just as I had begun to hope that we would finally recover we are once again besieged by those unholy creations, pawns of their malevolent masters in the necromancer's tower to the north.

An immense horde of them streamed up the hill towards us. In total 52 of them had arrived to besiege us. Roughly half were simple goblin zombies, but the other half were dark zombies, with mixed origins from human to magpieman to grasshopperwoman. It only took one of those beings to decimate this forterss the last time, how will we ever repulse them?

Even worse, one of the human dark zombies appears to be an axelord, possessing legendary skill. Our soldiers could never hope to take on such a foe.

The dark zombies who seem more intelligent than their rotting goblin counterparts took up camp around the entrance to our fortress while the rest scoured the landscape slaughtering every living thing they could find. With the entrance locked and every dwarf below ground we are safe for the time being. I will have to come up with some plan to drive them away, for if we are cut off from the rest of the world by this siege we can't receive merchants or migrants and our fort will wither away. That is, if they don't find some way inside in the meantime.

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Slate, Year 252

Preparations or the coming battle are under way. I will not make the same mistakes as my ancestor and send unskilled, unsupported soldiers to their deaths. Especially not against such overwhelming numbers. Despite the enemies above us life seems to continue. A shale quern artifact was created by Zuttan. It is more elaborate than our previous artifact, a true masterpiece. It menaces with spikes of eagle leather and marble and depicts an elf being killed by a vile ogre in the White Fields 160 years ago.

Another fortuitous event has occurred, as our first child has been born in the fort.

Now the time has finally come to strike back against those foul abominations who have brought us such ruin.

Over the course of the last four months we have been toiling away at a colossal trap with which we will dispose of the invaders. The invaders will stream down the ramps at the right side through the cage traps implemented above and encounter the masses of cage traps and weapon traps armed with wooden spikes along the main hallway. At each side of the path are deep pits, and the hope is that the zombies will dodge teh weapon traps and fall to their deaths. Near the stairway at the far left the Cobalt Tribes will be stationed to deal with any stragglers who make it through.

The Cobalt Tribes now number six and are far more skilled and better equipped, armored as they are in our best copper mail.

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Felsite, Year 252

The battle began with brave Lorbam Tulunsulon taking it upon himself to mine out the ramp allowing the undead to enter the trapped hallway.

Soon the undead were streaming into the hallway, charging towards the openings from all across the surface. Their first wave entered the hallway and was captured in the cages. As zombie after zombie flooded into the hallway I realized my mistake. The cage traps were efficiently dealing with the attackers, but the spike traps were having little effect. With none of those how originally fought the zombies in the previous siege still alive, we had no one with direct experience. If we had we might have realized that the spikes were extremely ineffective, as their piercing attacks had little effect. Only crushing, bludgeoning force can slay a zombie. 

One zombie was killed by the traps, many were captured, and several fell into the pit, but still they attacked and several goblin zombies reached the Cobalt tribes. Luckily I was correct in my assumption that the regular undead would be far weaker, and they were quickly dispatched by our soldiers. At this point all the intelligent dark zombie that could fled, leaving the walking goblin corpses to meander in bewildered directionless circles.

The Cobalt Tribes quickly ran to the bottom of the pit to engage an injured fallen Dark zombie before it could recover and escape. Despite the far increased quality of our troops and the six to one odds it was a brutal melee. Finally the zombie was slain, but one dwarf was seriously injured and another stumbled only a few paces before collapsing dead. A magpieman skeleton charged in and was easily dispatched, but otherwise the remaining leaderless undead seemed content to meander about the surface. With the Cobalt Tribes injured as they are I ordered that the finishing off of the siege be postponed until replacements could be trained, and we once more sealed the fortress.

On the whole I count this as a crushing victory., as the majority of the undead force has been slain, captured, or routed. This proves that these monsters can be killed, can be beaten. Workdrilled will not be defeated.