So I suppose the best way to start here is with a post-mortem from the alternate timeline. One thing that may not have been clear from my rather brief previous post is that clothing will degrade and eventually disappear over time. The timeframe appears to be around 5-6 years per article of clothing, and Peakwind had reached its seventh year in the "lost" session. Apparently the thoughts associated with clothing degradation and the lack of clothing are VERY strong, and when most adults had their clothing start disintegrating around the same several in-game months, well, things got rough.
Preface: the "concern addresses" that I'm doing here only apply to the Lost Session, and ARE NOT effective in the operating "prime" timeline.
I'm in the milita...armored and armed. I should be good...I hope...
Nope. You snapped non-violently and started running around gibbering. Tough break. I want to emphasize again, though, that you are very much OK in the active timeline.
I tinkered with chemicals. Dunno if that's a good or a bad thing.
But at least I can't be the cause of that kind of a problem... I think.
Not your fault. Non-armor clothing naturally degrades over time.
I imagine that's good for me. With the place in chaos, I can't see the one-footed Lorric having a very good survival chance.
I *think* you were mostly OK during the chaos. Your dwarf has actually gotten really familiar with crutchwalking, and is barely slower than a normal dwarf now.
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Back to the Prime Timeline.
i was a craftsdwarf or something i think?
Doctor, with some various craftsdwarf skills.
Also, Hobbie. After doing due diligence on your dwarf and his relations, I am not pleased to inform you that he never married. If you would really like to be re-incarnated, we can work something out- I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear your opinion first.
Actually, let me extend the offer of re-incarnation to any fallen Named who may want it. Hobbie nonwithstanding, most of the Named do have children at this point, so the little buggers make a pretty natural avenue to buying back in.
Hokay, so. As I start wrapping my head around the reverted state of the fortress, a child decides to start work on an artifact.
And the little scamp proves himself to be one of the most metal individuals in the fort, crafting a gorgeous chest out of a goblin's legbone. Bruuuutuuuul!
Remembering the cluster**** that was the Cockpocalypse in the Lost Session, I immediately queue up a ton of clothing production orders. Aggravatingly, I also need to re-queue all the chainshirt production orders too. I am less annoyed by needing to re-do the production order, and far more irked at needing to go through the clunky assignment interface again. Whatever. It needs to be done. Even a little bit of armor DOES save lives.
Shortly thereafter, Peakwind's last Mantlecrafter decides to start working on an artifact of his own.
Then things start to happen quickly. An allied creature of some sort spots a Kobold ambush....
...just before an Elven caravan arrives....
...and gets jumped by two more Kobold killsquads. The Elves start getting hacked apart...
...then even more Kobolds join the fun. See kids, this is why we have drawbridges.
I'm not risking any soldiers to save some smelly elves. Some time after the remains of the caravan flee or died (I wasn't really watching the battle), that Mantlecrafter unveiled a pleasant surprise- a badass copper buckler. Not sure, but I *think* that artifact netted Peakwind another high-level Metalworker. Need to check that.
Some time passes. I conscript several otherwise lightly-occupied dwarves to help with the textile industry, and the Clothiers start turning out swag duds as quickly as materials can be made. Iron chainshirts are made for all the adults and distributed. A human caravan comes knocking, and for the first time in a while, I'm actually able to trade away some of our collected goods- a big pile of pillaged goblin stuff, some of our own stonecrafts, and a sampler of dsockwell's decadent cooking.
Around this time, I decide this is a good time to fulfil a promise I made a while back- the promise of 20percentcooler's Hammer of HLP Ownage. With no suitable artifacts produced (yet), he'll have to "settle" for a masterwork steel hammer, tastefully decorated in HLP colors (sorta).
I forgot to add a highlight here, but it shouldn't be too hard to make out what I'm about to describe. Since the decoration process is rather haphazard, I like to create a "pimpworks" where I can decorate specific items. In this case, the Pimpworks is the leftmost blister of new workshops and open space. Using it properly requires some abuse of garbage dumps and dwarf-specific levers to get the materials and skills I want in one place, but the effort is worth it for special items.
Our business now completed with the human caravan, the inevitable collection swarming begins. Seeing the near-entirety of the fort mobilizing towards a particular goal is nothing short of mesmerizing.
Later, a Doctor gets a big inspiration from something and trots off to a workshop. Trouble is, he wants some shells. Which I don't have. Shells in general are actually a rather rare material, primarily coming from certain types of "fish", and even then only when specially prepared. Peakwind's fishing industry is miserable, so we're going to have trouble fulfilling that demand.
As I mull my options, including a potential assault on the cavern layer with a Forgotten Beast, the annual Dwarven caravan shows up. The caravan won't be able to help with our moody dwarf, but I'll happily snap up all the cloth they have, since we're still running a bit short to keep the clothiers supplied. Caravns are no good for shells since the fish they carry are pre-prepared, and cannot yield a shell.
I did start preparing a contingency, however. A small enclosed stone "finger" to allow covered access to the brook might eventually yield some turtles or other shelled creatures. The work is done quickly, and I activate most of the skilled fisherdwarves on the roster. Then I wait.
Just as the caravan arrives at the depot, the sounds of goblin war drums sound in the distance. Fortunately, all the wagons and escort troopers reach the hardened trade alcove in time to be sealed in. Dsockwell's dishes again comprise the majority of our export to this caravan, seeing as we've already offloaded our war loot.
Eventually the fisherdwarves scrape up a few mussels. I have the mussels cleaned posthaste, and the moody crafter snaps up the leftover shells. For my trouble, we get an earring depicting some history.
With everything in order, I direct the dwarves to prepare the gravity blender for use. The maintenance walkways are retracted, the area marked off-limits, and the drawbridge opened to draw the stupid invaders in. Most of the early interlopers are utterly mulched, but a few lucky goblins survive both the traps and the drop- one particularly fortunate bowmaster survived both with only a mangled toe! I activate four militia squads and move them into an ambush position, prepared to dogpile the dangerous goblin. Lucky for me, the stupid gobbo decides not to take the stairs leading to the fort, but backtracks, taking the stairs leading to the deadly center of the trap spiral. The bowmaster, and a few other lucky goblins who survive their falls, don't survive their escape attempt.
Note to self: the blender needs a much greater drop. This means securing the first cavern layer. Need plan to kill lurking Forgotten Beast. Will address later.
Perhaps inspired by the amazing killrate of the gravity blender, a child slinks off to start working on something big.
We have had the most metal little kids this time around. Forged from the bones of a goblin invader's mount, we get a shield depicting some local history- a Kobold running off with some discarded goods.
That'll do it for now. That was a lot more fun than the Lost Session, and this is one of the few times I'm glad the game crashed. I won't savescum this LP, but it looks like Dwarf Fortress decided to savescum for me.
Litany of the Fallen:
Scourgeson, slain by a goblin ambush
Polpolionson, drowned after falling through melting ice (body unrecoverable)
redsniperson, slain by a crazed fellow dwarf
Borin "Balrogbait", died of old age
Hobbie, slain by a goblin swordsman
Kobrarson, slain by a fellow dwarf with anger management problems