Let's Play Dwarf Fortress: Syndrome Conundrum

[Lost In The Void]

I like that his wounds screen mentions that he's Very Unhappy. I think we figured that out on our own, thanks.

The funny thing is that's not even has unhappy as a dwarf can be. The lowest happiness is miserable. Despite losing his beloved pet, getting his body beaten into a pulp, and being left to bleed out on the stairs, he must have still though things could SOMEHOW be worse.

Maybe because he couldn't feel all the pain below his neck due to the spinal injury?

I have no idea, I've given up on trying to understand the dwarves since two of mine have gone stark raving mad for no reason and one became possessed

 

[Aidinthel]

The funny thing is that's not even has unhappy as a dwarf can be. The lowest happiness is miserable. Despite losing his beloved pet, getting his body beaten into a pulp, and being left to bleed out on the stairs, he must have still though things could SOMEHOW be worse.

Well, at least he wasn't bored.

By the way, what exactly was the flaw in your military program? Just not giving them time off?

 

[Internet Kraken]

The funny thing is that's not even has unhappy as a dwarf can be. The lowest happiness is miserable. Despite losing his beloved pet, getting his body beaten into a pulp, and being left to bleed out on the stairs, he must have still though things could SOMEHOW be worse.

Well, at least he wasn't bored.

By the way, what exactly was the flaw in your military program? Just not giving them time off?

Exactly. Having soldiers train constantly has the side effect of many of them being very unhappy. Not only are they upset about being on duty for so long, but they also rarely get to experience the things that make other dwarves happy because they are always training. This means that one incident can be enough to push them over the edge.

 

[vallorn]

The funny thing is that's not even has unhappy as a dwarf can be. The lowest happiness is miserable. Despite losing his beloved pet, getting his body beaten into a pulp, and being left to bleed out on the stairs, he must have still though things could SOMEHOW be worse.

Well, at least he wasn't bored.

By the way, what exactly was the flaw in your military program? Just not giving them time off?

Exactly. Having soldiers train constantly has the side effect of many of them being very unhappy. Not only are they upset about being on duty for so long, but they also rarely get to experience the things that make other dwarves happy because they are always training. This means that one incident can be enough to push them over the edge.

then for the love of god give em some time off once a month!

Military dwarves on Tantrun Spiral's would kill Reverendtour... and we dont want that... yet.

 

[Cowabungaa]

The funny thing is that's not even has unhappy as a dwarf can be. The lowest happiness is miserable. Despite losing his beloved pet, getting his body beaten into a pulp, and being left to bleed out on the stairs, he must have still though things could SOMEHOW be worse.

Well, at least he wasn't bored.

By the way, what exactly was the flaw in your military program? Just not giving them time off?

Exactly. Having soldiers train constantly has the side effect of many of them being very unhappy. Not only are they upset about being on duty for so long, but they also rarely get to experience the things that make other dwarves happy because they are always training. This means that one incident can be enough to push them over the edge.

After reading that I took a quick look at my military and quickly gave each squad 3 different months each off from training. That means there's always at least one squad training, and the training area happens to be right next to the fortress entrance, so when something happens there's always a group of warmed-up soldiers ready for combat.

 

[Aidinthel]

Couldn't you just make the training area really fancy or something?

 

[Internet Kraken]

Couldn't you just make the training area really fancy or something?

Well I did have Goden cover it in legendary engravings, but other than that I'm not going to bother. I really don't care if the military is borderline miserable. These tantrums don't occur often enough for me to let them off duty or waste time improving their conditions. They will train year round, and dammit they will like it. And if they don't, they'll spend a a month sitting in the detention center.

 

[vallorn]

Couldn't you just make the training area really fancy or something?

Well I did have Goden cover it in legendary engravings, but other than that I'm not going to bother. I really don't care if the military is borderline miserable. These tantrums don't occur often enough for me to let them off duty or waste time improving their conditions. They will train year round, and dammit they will like it. And if they don't, they'll spend a a month sitting in the detention center.

which i assume is realy cheerfull and full of happy-dwarf-making stuff?

 

[Mesca]

Couldn't you just make the training area really fancy or something?

And if they don't, they'll spend a a month sitting in the detention center.

which i assume is realy cheerfull and full of happy-dwarf-making stuff?

It's two chains and a well, down in the caves. It's not that bad, as long as Yara or whatever doesn't show up.

I still can't get my lazy ass marksdwarves to train, if anyone knows why, I'd be happy to hear it. They've got crossbows, ammo, quivers, a designated range, orders to train, and the lazy bastards still won't do it.

 

[vallorn]

Couldn't you just make the training area really fancy or something?

And if they don't, they'll spend a a month sitting in the detention center.

which i assume is realy cheerfull and full of happy-dwarf-making stuff?

It's two chains and a well, down in the caves. It's not that bad, as long as Yara or whatever doesn't show up.

I still can't get my lazy ass marksdwarves to train, if anyone knows why, I'd be happy to hear it. They've got crossbows, ammo, quivers, a designated range, orders to train, and the lazy bastards still won't do it.

i thought there was a bug with training bolts...

 

[Cowabungaa]

Oh great, I want to destroy my fortress but:
- I have enough booze to last decades even if I stop making things.
- I have enough food to last centuries even if I stop producing stuff.
- My military consists of 4 5 man squads trained to horrible power, and adamantite armour and weapons are on their way.

I've been trying to get Fun Stuff, but I can't find a route through all the semi-molten rock. Maybe, when my Legendary Marksdwarf's pet dies he'll go insane and go Neo on the fortress.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Chapter 53: From the journal of Stinthad Kekimtobul

__________________________________________________

1st Obsidian, 1054, Late Winter

Seems we caught a breeding pair of kruelers. Might as well tame them and throw them into one of the breeding chambers. I mean I'm not sure if we can actually eat them since they're made out of metal, but I hear there's some usable material on them. Couldn't hurt to try.

5th Obsidian, 1054, Late Winter

Finally have enough room to get the bare basics of the metal industry up and running. Just some wood furnaces and smelters to produces fuel for now, but hopefully we'll have some decent gear produced before the next major conflict. I just need to reassign some of the masons and haulers to metal working.

11th Obsidian, 1054, Late Winter

Obsidian always seems to be an uneventful month. The year is almost over, and things just seem to move slower than usual. It's quite dull, so I've been spending most of my offtime gazing out at the sea. You know I've heard there are terrifying monsters living in the Ocean of Shriveling, but I've never seen one. Hopefully never will.

14th Obsidian, 1054, Late Winter

I figured it's about time to start taking inventory again, as there's been a lot of production since the last time I updated the records.

Unfortunately, this meant having to personally examine all the skulls the crafters have carved into totems recently.

I still don't get the point of this. How is the sight of a cat skull going to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies?

At least the cooks are still producing delicious meals. So much variety to choose from thanks to my diversified livestock program.

This is my favorite dish right now though. Who knew mole dog kidney tasted so good?

24th Obsidian, 1054, Late Winter

Wow, I guess all that swimming training has really paid off. The Immortal Rags were out hunting giant lions, by order of Momuz rather than me of course, when one of them ran over a bridge on the ocean. One of the soldiers fought with the lion on the bridge, and they both fell into the ocean as a result.

I wasn't worried, as I thought all that swimming training would keep them alive. What I didn't realize is that it would also result in the other soldiers leaping into the ocean to beat the crap out of the giant lion before it could even drown.

I don't understand how they can fight properly whilst submerged under several feet of water, but so long as they don't drown I'm not complaining.

Also they bumped into a kobold thief on the way back in, which had predictable results.

Huh, you know if we just throw all these thief corpses into the moat we won't have to bother feeding the animals down there.

26th Obsidian, 1054, Late Winter

The metal industry is progressing nicely. The forge masters have burned enough logs to produce a decent amount of charcoal, so we can move on to refining bituminous coal to produce fuel. We're going to need a large amount of fuel before significant metal working operations can commence, but at this rate that shouldn't take too long.

29th Obsidian, 1054, Late Winter

I've had the diggers carve a direct path down to the abyss. I haven't ordered the last chunk of wall to be knocked out yet, but am planning to do so soon. Simply put, Yara is a nuisance. Eventually he will kill that octopud, and then charge into Reveredtour when we're not looking. Rather than let him catch us of guard, I'm going to bring the fight to him.

I don't think there will be any problems. I mean last battle the only casualty was a dog. Granted it indirectly resulted in a soldier being killed by Goden, but I'm sure nothing like that will happen again!

__________________________________________________


Yeah short update today, but I have to study and this is the end of the year anyways so I pretty much had to end the update.

 

[vallorn]

ooookay... epic battle against Yara in the next update?

god i hope im "Guarding the stockpile" again...

on the other hand wouldnt it be a better idea to wait till you have better gear before fighting another FB? i mean hes not gonna kill that octopod anytime soon.

 

[Aidinthel]

Do animals ever have to rest? I guess they've been running around for a while, so it seems not.

 

[vallorn]

Oh great, I want to destroy my fortress but:
- I have enough booze to last decades even if I stop making things.
- I have enough food to last centuries even if I stop producing stuff.
- My military consists of 4 5 man squads trained to horrible power, and adamantite armour and weapons are on their way.

I've been trying to get to The Circus, but I can't find a route in all the semi-molten rock. Maybe, when my Legendary Marksdwarf's pet dies he'll go insane and go Neo on the fortress.

we dont call it *** its The Circus so as to prevent spoilers.

also you need to find adamantine viens and tunnel through em till the core becomes hollow.
THEN YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION! and all adamantine vien locations will be shown to thee.

 

[Internet Kraken]

we dont call it *** its The Circus so as to prevent spoilers.

Yeah, I don't want to sound like a jerk but if you talk about that kind of end game content, please be as vague as possible and use spoiler terms. I'm pretty lenient when it comes to talking about stuff even if this LP hasn't encountered it, but that's just going to for for my tastes.

Do animals ever have to rest? I guess they've been running around for a while, so it seems not.

All tamed animal in fortress mode never need to eat, drink, or sleep. The only exception to this are tamed sapients, which for some reason need to drink water.

 

[vallorn]

got any tame animal overload problems kraken? i mean aside from the Elk Birds.

 

[Internet Kraken]

got any tame animal overload problems kraken? i mean aside from the Elk Birds.

Not really. Granted the list is hard to navigate sometimes, but that's only because you can't rename animals. I wish Toady would let us do that, it would make organizing my livestock a lot easier. But yeah, I'm not drowning in cats or anything like that. Aside from the aforementioned elk bird issue, the livestock is fine.

 

[Engarde]

That angry dwarf could have been worse, he could also have dined in a terrible dining room!

Nonetheless, I find it amusing how dwarf justice is commenced.

Also, that poor octopud. He will die when you least need it, and yara will resume the eating of dwarfs. Keep an eye out in sieges.......

 

[Cowabungaa]

Oh great, I want to destroy my fortress but:
- I have enough booze to last decades even if I stop making things.
- I have enough food to last centuries even if I stop producing stuff.
- My military consists of 4 5 man squads trained to horrible power, and adamantite armour and weapons are on their way.

I've been trying to get to The Circus, but I can't find a route in all the semi-molten rock. Maybe, when my Legendary Marksdwarf's pet dies he'll go insane and go Neo on the fortress.

we dont call it *** its The Circus so as to prevent spoilers.

also you need to find adamantine viens and tunnel through em till the core becomes hollow.
THEN YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION! and all adamantine vien locations will be shown to thee.

Fair enough, didn't reckon it as endgame or something.

Anyway, I have indeed located an adamantite vein but of course right above it is a magma lake, and the adamantite walls are warm so my dwarves won't actually dig into them.

Right after I posted that I got besieged by goblins and hoped they would obliterate my still-rather under-equipped dwarves (lots of iron armour and weapons and wooden shields), but I was still victorious despite some casualties.

It's also typical how my search for Fun Stuff only resulted in more wealth. It seems that the ground underneath my fortress is rich in various kinds of expensive gems. Will the success of my fortress never end!