[Admiral_Stones]

The worst part is when a vital dwarf gets possessed, needs something like leather, and you have no Hunters, Trappers or Tanners to speak of, and the next trade caravan isn't due for 2 seasons

Uhhh? Possessed and leather. Leather. LEATHER? Now seriously, where the hell is the connetion there?

[Flipside]

I've had quite a few nobles who requested Leather Goods for their bedroom....

[NGTM-1R]

I've had quite a few nobles who requested Leather Goods for their bedroom....

I have one who wants spidersilk rope.

[Shade]

Elves to the rescue! I was right in assuming he'd gone elven, because the elven caravan had exactly what the insane bastard wanted: Cloth. Of course, his elvishness didn't quite extend to actually making elvish craftsmanship. Oh no. Instead he decided to go grab a rock, carve an image of dwarf on it, bore 3 holes through the thing, then string 3 pieces of cloth through the holes and finally tie them in a knot to keep them in place. He calls this creation a scepter. Legendary, no less. I call him insane. Maybe I can convince him to lob it at a passing kobold...

[fener]

New version's out!  (0.27.176.38a)
Lots of bug's fixed, some features added -> http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_now.html <-
Download at: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

[Flipside]

Got a nice little Magma workshop going now, smelting Hematite for all I'm worth

The Magma-Chamber refill might be an advantage, but I'm leaving off downloading the new one yet, going to put defences in place just in case we start getting erupting volcanoes etc, which, according to the release notes, might be a possibility with some of the magma vents.

The new pathfinding speed-ups might be useful though....

[Colonol Dekker]

My baby bro [15 yrs old] plays this and it made him forget to buy me an Xmas present. but it does look very engrossing when you dig beneath the surface [no pun  intended] i would play it but i know myself too well and i don't have that level of patience.

[fener]

Got a nice little Magma workshop going now, smelting Hematite for all I'm worth

The Magma-Chamber refill might be an advantage, but I'm leaving off downloading the new one yet, going to put defences in place just in case we start getting erupting volcanoes etc, which, according to the release notes, might be a possibility with some of the magma vents.

From: http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=11&t=001859

Yeah it seems the new versions causes magma vent flooding in forts from the old version. The vent probably needs to be sealed off.

[Shade]

My future plan: I'm building high walls around the vent until above the level of my fortress, and then I'll funnel the magma into a resevoir a level above my main entrance, with an overflow channel leading to the edge of the map. The resevoir has 3 lever-controlled floodgates in it that lead to holes in the ceiling right by the doors. Let the goblins come

Well, strictly speaking, let them wait a year or two until Project Armageddon is completed and the resevoir filled, then let them come I just hope I won't run out of bauxite before I'm done building, I've got a big vein but then, I've got a lot of work to do still.

[Colonol Dekker]

The level of detail astounds me. I may have to give this game a try after all. . .

[Shade]

The level of detail astounds me

Me too. Which is why I'm still playing this

[colecampbell666]

The level of detail astounds me

Me too. Which is why I'm still playing this

How did they code this? The level of sentience of things, plus the things you can do must use some damn complex algorithms.

[Dark RevenantX]

Start with something sorta simple and keep adding.  And adding.  And adding.  And adding.  And adding. (Repeat for a long time).

That's how you make something like this.

[fener]

The level of detail astounds me

Me too. Which is why I'm still playing this

How did they code this? The level of sentience of things, plus the things you can do must use some damn complex algorithms.

The coding's all done by one guy Tarn Adams, his brother Zach Adams does most of the background stuff like game content etc. The coder quit his job (around 2006?) and now works full time on Dwarf Fortress, he gets by on donations from game users. Just read the development pages to see how much more is planned for this game   

See:
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev.html
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_story.html
Podcast interview with Tarn Adams: http://www.frontrowcrew.com/?p=491

[Flipside]

I just hope I won't run out of bauxite before I'm done building, I've got a big vein but then, I've got a lot of work to do still.

It's a pity your Engineer can't make Iron mechanisms, I tend to make Iron floodgates for lava, at least until you can specify what material you want a Mason or Mechanic to use, the annoying part is having to build a separate 'Magma-proof materials' area, and build more workshops to make sure they actually use the right material (This is apparently going to be fixed, could be interesting if he mixes in a dwarf's personal preference as well, so one might travel twice as far just to get to a material he or she prefers to work with).

At least with the new active Magma vents, you should be able to set up a sort of obsidian farm, and obsidian works just as well as Bauxite.

[Shade]

At least with the new active Magma vents, you should be able to set up a sort of obsidian farm, and obsidian works just as well as Bauxite.

I hadn't though of that. Good call I haven't really messed around much with pumps and water wheels/windmills to move water between levels yet (all I've really done with water so far is dig a small cavern beneath my living quarters and channel a brook into it, so I could build a well. With floodgate control to avoid drowning the whole fortress, of course), but making an obsidian farm sounds like a worthy enough reason to get started with those.

[Admiral_Stones]

Man... where's the mac version ?

[fener]

Man... where's the mac version ?

Hopefully soon  http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=000035

[Flipside]

Hmmmm... Checking up on the Wiki, it appears that Obsidian can't be used for magma-proof stuff

However, it can be used to make swords that are as strong as steel ones, and I have 3 legendary stonecrafters (I found out what to do with all that stone, set up 3 Workshops and set them all to making Rock Crafts, then sell it all to traders and buy back food etc). Could be useful, I prefer Marksdwarves, since they can train without putting themselves at much risk, but it could be handy to set up a squad of sword-dwarves just in case anything gets past the Entrance Hall of Ultimate Doom.

[Shade]

All of my military so far are wrestlers. Steel-armoured wrestlers with legendary mining and pump operating to make sure their stats are high, but wrestlers. I guess I should start making some decent weapons so they can actually hurt stuff instead of dodging all day I'd be in real trouble right now if I get invaded before my fixed defenses have finished building.