Looking back on Bimkutam

It's the morning after.  I've gotten to grips with my loss.  In the end it was actually not as bad as I imagined it to be.

There was almost something horribly fascinating about watching my fortress and my dwarfs die.  Watching on as a god would watch while his creatures huddle together in the last remaining crevices, hanging on for dear life knowing that ultimately they too will die.

So what are my thoughts about this fort?

It was pretty good really.  It was self-sufficient and running overall pretty smoothly.  I managed to get a military up and running.  Very crudely without armor and possibly even weapons but kill they did nonetheless (even though it was a fellow dwarf).

Broke my record of maximum dwarfs, I think I topped 70 when the water arrived.   Design wise I've learned a few lessons although overall I was reasonably satisfied.  The big learning from this must be not to have any rooms or tunnels right under the ground but to dig down a bit more.

There is still the mystery of why my fort flooded as I am 100% sure there was a wall where the water entered the fortress.  Was the material too weak? (100% sure I used stone) or did the pressure of the water collaps the wall or did it go over the wall on the z level above (most likely explanation in my estimation). 

I’ve heard it say that you are not a true DF player unless you’ve flooded your fortress at least once so I can take solace from that.  So dwarfs of Ilasavuz, who so briefly did manage to make Bimkutam their home, I salute you.  You will never be forgotten!

Fortress Update #8 - Ultimate FUN

As I imagine it always to be, this one also came unexpected.  And way too quickly.

Work for the moat had finally been completed and the connection to the river had been opened.  Water flowed into the moat and the vacated tunnel below.  Then having reached the wall, for some inexplicable reason it continued to flow into the staircase leading into the fortress itself!  I stared on in horror and disbelief.

I quickly tried to build walls to block the water but the water was too quick and my multi-staircase strategy now worked against me.

The result was an almost complete flooding of the fortress with some unfortunate survivors starving to their death.  Drowing had seemed the better option in hindsight.

The Workshop level being engulfed.

And so Bimkutam has come to an equally unexpected and sudden end.

R.I.P.

Fortress Update #7 - Return to normal but innocence has been lost

The rampage stopped at one dwarf killed.  It was stopped by my hastily put together military of 5 soldiers.  They didn't even have time to get weapons when I gave the command to kill.

They quickly cornered him in a staircase.  He fought back, injuring one but there were just too many.  In the end one grabbed him by the throat and strangled him while the others were beating him to a pulp.

Not a pretty sight...

The rampage stopped but it took dwarves brutally bludgeoning a fellow dwarf to his death.  Life has returned to normal but it's not the same anymore.  Something has changed.  Any semblance of this fortress being some sort of dwarven paradise has been rudely removed.

And yet, we continue.  Heroically, bravely, dwarflike!

Fortress Update #6 - Finally some FUN!

Finally some fun.  Death has come my fortress!

The first was Zulban Koganuker, the Farmer.  Zulban had the misfortune to encounter a thief in the fortress.  Even though he was unarmed and must have seen the dagger in the thief's hand he still tried to stop the thief.  He was stabbed in the shoulder, the force of the thrust shattering his bone.  Being a dwarf he merely thought it a scratch and went to his bedroom to rest.  He never got up again.  Eventually he succumbed to thirst, unable to get up again and no doubt, too proud to call out for help. 

The first of many I'm afraid...

He was put to rest in the hastily created tombs in the hastily made coffin.  I ordered another two just in case. Little did I know that I would need those coffins sooner than I had hoped for.

But first there was a satisfying find.  Breerbis the thief lay dead in my entrance to the fortress.  Who killed him wasn't clear but probably the dogs as only part of his body was there.  I couldn't find the other part(s).

I have had at least six thieves before Breerbis fatal attempt and to find this one dead filled me with great joy and pride.  'My' first kill.  And the dwarves are happily letting the body lie there.  As if they want to warn other thieves of their impending fate should they dare to enter the fortress.

The other fun was of the FUN kind.  The kind of FUN that fills coffins and tombs.  And it has come from the always fragile sanity of dwarves.  Sazir Erithastel the Armorer was caught in a strange mood and after deciding that what he needed wasn't available, he went berserk.

First it was reasonably innocent in that he chased chickens literally all over the map.  He managed to kill two of them.  Then when he went down to the bedrooms however it turned more sinister.  There he beat Feb Ammelbil to death with his bare hands in her own bed.

Say what you want but Sazir sure packs a hell of a punch!

As we speak he is still wandering the bedrooms and I am no doubt that he will kill again.  I think I need to make more coffins.  And soldiers, I really need soldiers now...

Psychotic murderer on the rampage!

Fortress Update #5 - Defensive blundering part 2

So I f-ed up my moat by making it dig into my entrance tunnel.  So I decided to make a bigger wall and then make a moat around then.  Nothing can go wrong right?

Only that I dug into my underground farm now!  So now I made same mistake again only this time on a bigger scale.  I also had completely walled off my fort only to make another entrance OUTSIDE my wall.

I'm retarded.

A nice big wall with a moat around

Oops, I did it again (see red dotted line)

Fortress Update #4 - Defensive blundering

Quick update this time.  First of all, I've not started a military yet.  This is mostly due to my unknowing effort to inject some FUN into my fortress.

As mentioned before I wanted to build a wall around my fortress entrance and then possibly build a moat around it.  So I started construction on a wall and since the last migrants arrived I have plenty of labor around to get anything finished quickly.  So building the wall was the easy part.

Onto the moat then.  I channeled around my wall.  No problem there.  It started raining and some of the moat filled up.  I then noticed how suddenly there was also water in my access tunnel on the level below.

It was then I realised that by channeling the moat I had dug into the tunnel below.  And it wasn't before long that the dwarves noticed the shortcut and cheerfully started walking in and out of my fortress via the 'moat'.

Instead of creating a first line of defence I had achieved the exact opposite and created an extra route to get inside my fortress.

After some deliberation on how to fix this it seemed the best way was to create floors over the channeled parts.  Fortunately with all the migrants the amount of dwarves I have available at any one time ensures that any task (except mining due to lack of extra picks) is done within minutes.

The 'moat' around my wall now covered with a wooden floor

 The red dotted line indicates where I inadvertently created extra entrances into my fortress

So now it's back to the drawing board although the only way seems to build a bigger wall and creating a moat around that.  Because whatever happens....I want my MOAT!

Fortress Update #3 - Up and running!

After the dwarfs of Ilasavuz decided to settle in this particular area there was only promise of a great Fortress.  A year has passed since then.

In that first year a solid start has been made.  The fort is self-sufficient in a very basic way.  The dwarfs are mostly eating egg based meals washed down with dwarven wine made of plump helmets.   But at least no one is hungry or thirsty and the stocks are such that we can last some time if we had to.  And if boredom with the current offering of food and drink is the only real worry, I am a happy dwarf.

The first two migration waves didn't bring many new souls but the third one brought 26 adventure (or desperate more likely!) dwarves to our budding fortress.  They were welcomed with open arms.  Most were put straight to the task of beautifying the fortress by polishing the walls.  The effect of this can be heard when in the dining hall as people express pleasure at admiring all these fine walls around them.  And every dwarf or couple has a bedroom to themselves so life is good in Bimkutam.

Stocks and number of dwarves with their professions

But of course there are dangers lurking behind the horizon. Something that has to be prepared for as the fort is defenseless.  Three thieving kobolds have so far proven that not every visitor is there to help out and become a member of this growing society.

A wall and drawbridge has to be priority.  After that I will make a start with creating some sort of military, a venture I have never undertaken.  Once I have started with that I will report back again.