← Continued from Gameplay Part 1

(This post is the deconstruction of the actual gameplay that occurred in part 2 of the story “Ransackediron Restored”)

Author’s usual caveat: I am by no means a great Dwarf Fortress player. Be kind.

I’ve definitely gotten better at playing this game, because I was able to perform quite a bit in a short amount of time. Usually I miss a step somewhere along the line and end up kicking myself later. A lot of strategy games have a recipe for a “starting build,” or, the most important things to do first if you are to succeed later. I think I did most of the recommended steps.

Two months of game time is only about 10 or 15 minutes of real world time. In that time I did everything Stakud described in the story: made a modest hole in the hill, with a little fancy rounded design instead of a boxy grid; I set up a dormitory, started indoor farm plots, made a mason work area, various stockpiles were designated, and I constructed 7 beds. I chopped down only three trees. Version .40 (also called DF2014) introduced multilevel properly-scaled trees, which produces much more wood than before, so I have a decent amount of lumber already. But, I still only have a couple dozen trees altogether, and I want to conserve what I have now. In Dwarf Fortress, you need some kind of fuel to fire up your ore smelters, and if I can’t find any coal in the ground, I need to make charcoal from a wood furnace.

I started getting really nervous when I realized my indoor clay spot was small; indoor farm plots need soil or clay to grow on, otherwise you need to grab buckets and muddy the ground. I like to avoid that mud process if at all possible. I was able to squeeze in two 3×3 plots on the clay, so that should be ok to start with. After the thaw, there were lots of plants to pick, so that will help.

My biggest challenge will be the cistern. I was really hoping that the brook was there under the snow, but based on the few tiny frozen bodies of water underground I knew it was long shot. Clean water is important if we run out of alcohol, and stagnant water in these murky pools means I have to pump the water out before it flows into the cistern; that pumping acts a filter, so I’ve read [LINK]. Never tried pumps before, so this will be fun.

I’m expecting migrants soon, and it will be interesting to see what I get. I’m debating on the construction of Trade Depot right now. Autumn is when the first caravan usually arrives, but I wasn’t planning on making anything to trade with, since it doesn’t fit my story. However, I’ve found a lot of rough gems already, so if I get a gem worker in the migration, maybe I’ll cut them up into something more valuable to trade.

The last post was the first real part of the story, and based on that initial starting-build-gameplay I admit it’s a little boring story-wise. It’s always been my favorite part of the game, though. I just love that first mining designation, kind of like being the one who gets to carve into a brand new jar of peanut butter.

Upcoming plans are the cistern construction, butcher the draft animals (yay camel meat), and make nest boxes for the hens.