Dwarf Fortress: Succession (Sign up here)

So, we're going to have an Inter-forum DF succession game, based on the FurAffinity forum, but I'm opening it to other forums too. Basically, for people who are unsure what this is about, we build and maintain a fortress full of short, violent alcoholics, defending them against attackers, carp and various other beasties.

Each player gets the fortress for a year, uploads the save file to somewhere like Megauploads, the next person then plays their year and passes it on. If a fortress is screwed completely a bit too soon, it can be reverted back to the previous save by the next person, though only by consent of the other players. It's not to be used as a savepoint, this fortress isn't going to last forever. Now, some rules:

1 - Each player has a year of the fortress
2 - Each player will have a dwarf named after them to act as mayor/manager/whatever as their avatar. People not playing can submit their names for being Dorfed, to populate the fortress. See who lives and who dies.
3 - No restarts or loading saves if you mess up. Fortunes rise and fall, and it'll only be considered if you make a monumental cock-up.
4a - Megalomania is advised.
4b - Doomsday devices encouraged.
5 - As you play, you should update the playing thread after every ingame season if possible. Including screenshots and preferably in the form of a story. For examples of how a thread should play out, see: Boatmurdered.
6 - Have fun.

If the list of players is too short, we'll just take it as a round-robin until the fortress dies. I'll give it a few days for people to sign up for playing or just as bystanders in the fortress. Anyone wanting to play, check this: Lazy Newb Pack which contains the latest release of DF, graphical tilesets and all you need.

Order of play will be chosen Sunday night GMT, from then, each player has until the end of the following sunday to complete their year. The next player should be able to download the fortress on the sunday/monday. First player chooses location.

Who's game?

Add your name and if you want to play or just be a dwarf. People wanting to play who are new to it can be shuffled lower down the player list to give them a chance to get acquainted with the game, as well as hopefully having the fort relatively stable and working by the time they get a turn. Players will be shuffled later to get a play order sorted. Vacationing dwarfs are first come-first served.

People playing from this forum are advised to register on FaF to contribute to the game thread, though the final saga will be posted to all participating forums.

I'd like to play, but I might not be able to upload the file at the end of the week. Combine that with being stuck with dial-up, I don't really think I'd be able to download stuff that quickly. I'd at least like a dwarf named after me though, preferably with a custom proffesion like "Irritaing Geek".

It would just take a while to upload and download. As long as we know you've got a file coming back, it'll be fine. The more players the better.

Sure, I'll go along with this. I've never taken screenshots or done online stuff with it before so I'll have to learn how to do that. I've got the controls and gameplay mechanics down, though.

From the Diary of "Smelch" Astuthir.

Day 1

Well, I suppose things could have been worse.

Pretty much all I remember from last night was the party in one of the Upper Caste caverns at Mestthos Stul. Lots of beer on the go. I mean lots of the stuff. My cohorts and I caroused the night away, imbibing enough of the stuff to kill a dragon. You know it's been a good night when you wake up upside-down in a barrel. Anyway, I was nice and cosy in there when I heard some of the womenfolk talking. There'd been some accident last night involving several nobels and magma. That sort of thing is part of life in a fortress. You know the perpetrator is going to get a proper smack from the Hammerer. So imagine my horror when I notice the warrant up for my arrest. Implicated? F**k that.

Anyway, long story short, there was a caravan leaving to start a new colony over in the east. So it was the work of but a minute to dispose of one of the settlers and take his place.




We should be good for supplies, though I don't think all that beer is going to survive the trek. Regardless! Onwards to a bright new future in the east!

Day 8

As the days drag on, the landscape is turning a bit...ominous. Bones and dark rocks litter the landscape. The skies themselves have darkened the further into this land we have come. There is a definite sense of foreboding.

Day 10

Skies are clearing up since we passed that tower with the big flaming eye on top. Our hearts lifted when we saw beautiful, pure magma spraying from a volcano nearby. A land with magma can't be that bad.

Day 11

F**king hell the bats are big here.

Day 25

Despite leaving the oppressive atmosphere and weather behind, the sense of dread grows in us. I am told we are a day short of the site. I fear the worst, as the screech of unearthly creatures echo from the grey hills around us.

Day 26



Oh, thank goodness. It's quite a lovely place. No creatures roaming the immediate area, no nearby hostile civilizations, and no oppressive weather. The skies are blue, the forest is green, and there is a rockface ahead of us. Time to strike the earth and make this land our home.

I have a really good feeling about this place...

Wait...Wallstabbed?

I have made moves on the fortress. We now have accommodation, a farm and a master bedroom, with Trade depot and crafts coming up next.

Can I still participate without having to sign up to another forum? Just post a link to the save file when it's my turn and I'll write it up right here.

Sure

1st hematite 1051 (Summer)

The summer season is upon us. Work on the fortress goes well, though nothing of importance to really report on.

First off, we needed a farm, so that was built and irrigated, though annoyingly, we seem to be lacking in anything to actually plant there. Must have f**ked up when loading those damn wagons. Ah well, we'll just send Ganthan out to gather some plants.

Work has continued apace on the rest of the fortress. On ground level, we've almost finished digging out space for a trade depot and storage for finished goods. The hillside itself is being sculpted to allow the placement of proper fortifications for defence, while leaving space to build a barracks just inside the door.

On the next floor down, the farming and workshops level. Eventually, each workshop will have it's own room, with nearby storage for raw materials and finished products.

And on the lowest level so far, the kitchens, stills, banqueting hall and bedrooms. My room is the one in the top right. With the lovely smoothed walls, seperate office and personal dining room. Such are the burdens of power.


My main concerns at the moment are to furnish a few more rooms to attract migrants, get a defendable entrance and get producing food. If the lack of plants for the farm is anything to go by, I may have to dig down to find an underground cavern and hope there's stuff to harvest in there.

And finally, some animals have wandered into the area. Nothing too dangerous, yet, but the rumours are that this is an evil area...

1st Limestone 1051 (Autumn)

Another quiet season. Fortifications are progressing nicely, and soon the fortress will be easily secured against attackers. Farming has now started properly, as it was discovered the reason Ganthan couldn't find any seeds to plant, was because he was in the farming cavern and the door had been locked. A quick turn of the key, and a few weeks for Ganthan to recover, and we have our first Plump helmets growing.

Work continued on the bedrooms, opening them and furnishing them to a decent standard. Which was lucky, as some Migrants appeared. Three of them. Nyloc the gem-setter, Kyle19 an armourer, and Lobar the idiot child. Once the trade depot is fully hollowed out and the various fortifications prepared, I shall set our miners into the deeps to search for gems and metals. Luckily, we have struck a decent vein of Bituminous coal, so once refined, we should be set for fuel, though it seems to run through the centre of the fortress, so I shall dig deeper and try to find other fuel sources lower down. Almost as fortuitously, we have uncovered part of a limonite vein that seems to extend down, so at least we should have some iron on the go soon.

1st Moonstone 1051 (Winter)

Winter draws in on us, and the onset of cold and dark will begin to encourage us into our fortress to keep warm. Now is the time to go looking for some lovely magma to warm things up.

Autumn started out well, with the remaining landscape modifications to enable us to complete the fortifications. We were all feeling optimistic. Nothing had gone too wrong yet, we were all still here after two seasons, we have food and drink to last us as we are. Then tragedy.

Part of the workings for the fortifications collapsed. I was working right next to Sarcusa when it happened. He didn't even have time to scream before his fragile body was crushed to paste beneath tons of rock and fallen tree.

I fell into a depression. My friend, dead. Sure, I had only known him for two seasons, but we had dug side by side, carving this place out of raw hillside. Around me, the fortress continued, but I paid little heed until the day Ticon knocked at my door and told me that food stocks were running low.

"At least there's one less mouth to feed now" I said, callously.

"Well, actually..." started Ticon, leaving the sentence hanging.

F**k.

So, seven more Dwarfs to feed. Luckily, that enables our workforce to be more specialised, so I immediately put all their attention into building a tomb for Sarcusa. I debated with myself over the correct location for his tomb, when inspiration struck. Where was his favourite place in the fortress?

In the kitchen.

With the essentials sorted, I put the dwarfs to work finishing the fortifications, gathering wood, filling the pond around Sarcusas tomb and getting food. This was helped when a Liason arrived with a caravan. I quickly bought all his foodstuffs and drinks, so we are now able to continue our colony and hopefully get ourselves self-sufficient soon. Irritatingly, the traders didn't bring any Fox meat, which is a shame, as I have a craving for it. I might have to speak to the trappers about getting some of the local foxes. A breeding pair would be fantastic, to see to my fox needs.

Bedroom space is at a premium, but fortuitously, a few dwarfs seem to have paired off, so we'll need fewer rooms and hopefully we can swell our population! For the first time in a while, my heart was lifted. We could survive here. We could beat the fates and come out alive. I immediately went to find these couples and give them my blessings.

What? Oh god. A gay couple. Well, at least we have one normal couple.

Oh great. We're f**ked.

And as it stands, here is our population:

1st Granite 2052 (Spring)

Another quiet season, diary. We put some extra efforts into defences, despite the main fortifications being complete. I fear the drawbridge is in need of rebuilding, as it doesn't raise. I suspect someone forgot to add hinges to it... Anyway, a few seasons more should see the defences all ready and workable with plenty of places for a future army to defend from.

At the end of this first year, we have expanded and flourished as shown by these etchings:



So, onwards into the next year!

On a more solemn note, I still grieve the loss of Sarcusa, but it appears that one of the migrants arriving a few days prior to his death was in fact his long-lost son trying to find his father. He had barely settled in, and not even located Sarcusa before his horrific death. Since then, I've noticed Sarcusa II watching me from around corners, and in dark tunnels. I fear he may blame me for his fathers death. It is the only reason I can think of for him following me like that.

Regardless of personal issues, I shall strive to keep this fortress alive and working!

I shall end my diary here for this month, as there seems to be someone at my door.



The Save Files are here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4U5CZHBL

Sarcusa is up next, though anyone can grab this save and have a look around. File contains both the save and world. Sarcusa has a week from tonight to complete his turn.

Sorry about the long delay here. Sarcusa passed on his turn last week leaving the turn with me. However, I just didn't have time to work on my turn this week so I've passed on my own as well. I hope Wallstabbed will eventually resume going well.