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!