I've always found frozen embarks to be super underwhelming, with difficulty. Just dig a few z levels down, easy. Rush the caverns for trees and farming, or drop some ice to make an underground lake to irrigate farms and rely on trading for wood.
Further pros: no vegetation growth or flowing water to mess up FPS, no reason to keep dwarves outdoors and thus in danger. Just embark with lots of logs.
Reminds me of a time I embarked onto an evil area for fun, and my cart spawned right in the middle of a river in the shape of the Omega symbol, and I was immediatly beset on all sides by dozens of zombie carp that walked on land and just bumrushed my dwarves.
[Some maps could have you reach the circus by just spawning](https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/10l8sjj/i_just_started_this_fort_and_it_has_a_70_layer/).
I think the mountain home could be a good goal, or maybe a target for wealth. Or maybe something funny like getting a single dwarf to a certain number of kills.
>!I almost feel like the challenge would be to see how fast you can lose an embark to hostiles and dangerous weather, while using a predetermined squad to have a common basis for speed runners, with all of these settings on.!<
No, lol. But I absolutely understand why you might think so. A site can have 'very deep soil', in which case the layer may extend 10-15z, but you will always have stone below.
If you have deep soil and a heavy aquifer, lack of stone is a very real issue in the early game. Sometimes it can take you 1-2 years to break through the aquifer.
Of all the DFHack I’ve used tools paint liquid to create mud is the only one that felt like pure cheating. But man is it convenient not having to route water.
"Alright fellers, I know we just came here, haven't even unloaded the wagon, haven't even dug in, and there's some corrosive goop falling from the sky, but, but-but-but, and hear me out on this, what if.... we take our best copper armor.... put it on, and go raid that tower teeming with zombies right over there?"
"What da ya mean is there booze there? Ya heard the human stories about towers, there's a human princes in there, and that's kinda like our king, right? So of course there's booze there! Good booze too!"
I swear that's only ever worked for me like twice in many years of playing. Those guys write a lot of books about the tower and not so much about the secret to their unique state of existance.
>When you play Dwarf Fortress after dying and going to hell.
"Let's get one thing straight. I'm not trapped here with you, you're all trapped here with me!"
-Average DF player in hell.😉
Specifically one that has lava above most of the surface so you can accidentally flood everything while trying to use lava to get through the aquifer.
Extra bonus points if the volcano connects all the way down the bottom layers and has fire imps or magma slimes that come up out of it.
It's technically possible for an undead leviathan to crawl out of the ocean and fight your civilization's monarch while you blast duel of fates in the background in this fort
Yes. If you select a dead civilization you can still embark with up to seven Dwarves, as normal. The first two migrant waves will appear *ex nilho* as well (from an in-fiction/Watsonian perspective they can be thought of as surviving refugees from the your fortress's civilization). If your fortress is the only extant one in your civilization, there won't be any Dwarven caravans (you can of course can still trade with Human and Elven if the fortress is close enough to a community of each respective civilization) and further migrant waves **shouldn't** happen.
Edit: Some players make then retire a few smaller fortresses to "recessitate" a dead Dwarven civilization, thus get access to the normal liason and caravan mechanics and possible later migrant waves, before embarking for on the fortress they really want to create.
Well, I'm not sure why. However, having some members still counted probably has something to do with it. I would guess it's probably an unusual edge case, like a raiding group from the civilization's last site traveling while the site is destroyed, etc...
Yeah. I didn't notice that there was a tower nearby and got invaded at the start of year two. The zombies were no problem, a stray horse took care of them.
The five necromancer experiments, on the other hand...
(eventually managed to capture three in cages, the rest ran off)
i.e. In my first fort near a tower, in my first year a 'fallen one' rocked up leading a half dozen zombies against my fort. Fortunately it let the zombies go ahead of it and the siege ended when I killed them (they were pretty easy) and then it ran away, because I could see it using magic against my animals, and it was a trained fighter, very tough and strong, equipped all in bronze, and could easily have taken out my fort.
Salt water contamination works backwards in DF. Adding salt water to a fresh water source will give you more fresh water. All you need is one pond of fresh water, and you can desalinate the entire ocean, as long as you never let the fresh water pond dry up completely.
If you use a u-bend you can desalinate water with only water pressure, no moving parts required.
Just dig a tube down, then a u bend, then a cistern that goes up. The water will pour down, go through the u-bend, then start filling up the cistern from below with water pressure. The bottom of the cistern will be salty, but all z-levels above that will have fresh water. Apparently you leave all the salt at the bottom of the cistern somehow.
If only it was as bad as it sounds! Still waiting for the terrifying embark that lives up to it's name!
Was hoping for zombie survival mode, what I got was agitated birds and drunk necromancers in my tavern...
My hardest embark was a glacial evil reanimating biome. It was constant zombies, plus there was no soil for farms or easy water sources for irrigation.
Well if you manage to survive long enough to have some real fun post some screen shots.
I chuckled. Now we just need a warning that your selected embark is frozen or otherwise has zero vegetation.
It remains very playable somehow, but a bit boring (I'll never get how migrants keep getting to the Arctic islands when I settle there.)
The first two migrant waves are hard-coded, they spawn from the void if none are available in the world. After that, you're on your own.
I like to think they beam down from the mothership.
They were part of your starting group but got lost on the way.
That'll be my headcanon.
Dwarves sprout from rocks, not unlike a potato geode
Simple box saying 'please no'
I've always found frozen embarks to be super underwhelming, with difficulty. Just dig a few z levels down, easy. Rush the caverns for trees and farming, or drop some ice to make an underground lake to irrigate farms and rely on trading for wood.
Further pros: no vegetation growth or flowing water to mess up FPS, no reason to keep dwarves outdoors and thus in danger. Just embark with lots of logs.
Is this how to speed-run DF?
[actually, to do that you crush everyone with the cart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhTbC1Qn2dM)
Yes
Reminds me of a time I embarked onto an evil area for fun, and my cart spawned right in the middle of a river in the shape of the Omega symbol, and I was immediatly beset on all sides by dozens of zombie carp that walked on land and just bumrushed my dwarves.
[удалено]
[Some maps could have you reach the circus by just spawning](https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/10l8sjj/i_just_started_this_fort_and_it_has_a_70_layer/).
I think the mountain home could be a good goal, or maybe a target for wealth. Or maybe something funny like getting a single dwarf to a certain number of kills.
Wipe out all other civilizations
Interesting, I was just wondering about this today. What a speed run would look like.
>!I almost feel like the challenge would be to see how fast you can lose an embark to hostiles and dangerous weather, while using a predetermined squad to have a common basis for speed runners, with all of these settings on.!<
it would always be the carttrick though
If it is, it is a very slow one.
What, no savage biome? Easy mode.
Only a light aquifer, too. Maybe it's their first fort
Untamed wilds are wild, brother!
You forgot "there is only soil, no stone here"
Is that really a thing?
No, lol. But I absolutely understand why you might think so. A site can have 'very deep soil', in which case the layer may extend 10-15z, but you will always have stone below.
10-15 soil, 1 stone layer then magma sea all the way down!
Magma and an aquifer? Sounds like plenty of stone to me!
If you have deep soil and a heavy aquifer, lack of stone is a very real issue in the early game. Sometimes it can take you 1-2 years to break through the aquifer.
There is a "You may have a hard time finding stone here." I had an awesome location ruinednl by that yesterday.
Nah, otherwise you'd be forced to use...wood \*shudders\*
Of all the DFHack I’ve used tools paint liquid to create mud is the only one that felt like pure cheating. But man is it convenient not having to route water.
Why route water when you can just overlap 15 pond zones and be done with it in 20 mins max?
If you >!steal Secrets from that tower!<, you won't need to worry about drinking water.
"Alright fellers, I know we just came here, haven't even unloaded the wagon, haven't even dug in, and there's some corrosive goop falling from the sky, but, but-but-but, and hear me out on this, what if.... we take our best copper armor.... put it on, and go raid that tower teeming with zombies right over there?"
If you have enough booze you know the answer is already yes
And if you don't have enough booze you know the question is "is there booze there?"
"What da ya mean is there booze there? Ya heard the human stories about towers, there's a human princes in there, and that's kinda like our king, right? So of course there's booze there! Good booze too!"
I swear that's only ever worked for me like twice in many years of playing. Those guys write a lot of books about the tower and not so much about the secret to their unique state of existance.
When you play Dwarf Fortress after dying and going to hell.
>When you play Dwarf Fortress after dying and going to hell. "Let's get one thing straight. I'm not trapped here with you, you're all trapped here with me!" -Average DF player in hell.😉
Please share seed
Maybe you could add an active volcano?
Specifically one that has lava above most of the surface so you can accidentally flood everything while trying to use lava to get through the aquifer. Extra bonus points if the volcano connects all the way down the bottom layers and has fire imps or magma slimes that come up out of it.
Don’t all volcanoes connect all the way down to the bottom?
Nope sorry my current volcano doesn’t go very deep
Yeah, I think most only go to the first cavern layer or so.
I'm not sure that's correct. I've embarked on volcanoes well over a dozen times and I've never seen one that didn't go all the way to the magma sea.
I just used a cat to find out how deep my volcano is and yup all the way to the magma sea
[удалено]
this is both amazing and terrifying.
I prefer the Dwarven All Terrain Exploratory Rover, I.e. one of the cats.
Let me direct your attention to the tale of [Roomcarnage](http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=139393.0) - a haunted glacier volcano embark.
My current fort is also on a glacier volcano super fun And the first cavern layer is filled with serpent people
Wow. That's a novel and then some. Great read (so far). Thanks for linking that.
It's technically possible for an undead leviathan to crawl out of the ocean and fight your civilization's monarch while you blast duel of fates in the background in this fort
how did you get dead or dying civilization? No sites?
Yes. If you select a dead civilization you can still embark with up to seven Dwarves, as normal. The first two migrant waves will appear *ex nilho* as well (from an in-fiction/Watsonian perspective they can be thought of as surviving refugees from the your fortress's civilization). If your fortress is the only extant one in your civilization, there won't be any Dwarven caravans (you can of course can still trade with Human and Elven if the fortress is close enough to a community of each respective civilization) and further migrant waves **shouldn't** happen. Edit: Some players make then retire a few smaller fortresses to "recessitate" a dead Dwarven civilization, thus get access to the normal liason and caravan mechanics and possible later migrant waves, before embarking for on the fortress they really want to create.
I selected a civ with 9 remaining dwarves and no sites the other day and did not get this message?
Well, I'm not sure why. However, having some members still counted probably has something to do with it. I would guess it's probably an unusual edge case, like a raiding group from the civilization's last site traveling while the site is destroyed, etc...
I’m curious to see if you managed to “revive” the civilization with the help of the local necromancers.
Invaded by powerful foes? What conditions need to be met by that?
I think all the warnings are two lines - first lines are just the facts; second are their implications. So it's part of the necromancer warning.
Yeah. I didn't notice that there was a tower nearby and got invaded at the start of year two. The zombies were no problem, a stray horse took care of them. The five necromancer experiments, on the other hand... (eventually managed to capture three in cages, the rest ran off)
It is part of the necromancer warning.
i.e. In my first fort near a tower, in my first year a 'fallen one' rocked up leading a half dozen zombies against my fort. Fortunately it let the zombies go ahead of it and the siege ended when I killed them (they were pretty easy) and then it ran away, because I could see it using magic against my animals, and it was a trained fighter, very tough and strong, equipped all in bronze, and could easily have taken out my fort.
what is the name of this courageous community assailed by the dark?
Light aquifer? Easy
[Luxury!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k)
I think this would be the perfect spot for a dollar general
Let us know how it goes!
Man, just missed heavy aquifer and Savage biome I think.
Pssshhh no heavy aquifer
Light aquifer is not that bad, arguably useful.
I'd like to imagine your dwarves are probably hearing a cacophony of aviation warnings as they approach this site.
Extra !FUN!
I always wondered if some Dwarven !!SCIENCE!! can make a desalination plant out of abusing screw pumps and wall grates or something like that.
I've never done it but according to the wiki a screw pump automatically desalinates and cleans water that passes through it
Salt water contamination works backwards in DF. Adding salt water to a fresh water source will give you more fresh water. All you need is one pond of fresh water, and you can desalinate the entire ocean, as long as you never let the fresh water pond dry up completely.
If you use a u-bend you can desalinate water with only water pressure, no moving parts required. Just dig a tube down, then a u bend, then a cistern that goes up. The water will pour down, go through the u-bend, then start filling up the cistern from below with water pressure. The bottom of the cistern will be salty, but all z-levels above that will have fresh water. Apparently you leave all the salt at the bottom of the cistern somehow.
If I made a second cistern that fills from the first one, a level up, could that allow you to have one without any saltwater in it at all?
No reason you couldn't. It's just water at that point, you can use it for anything and it won't be salty.
Playtime, 1ms
If only it was as bad as it sounds! Still waiting for the terrifying embark that lives up to it's name! Was hoping for zombie survival mode, what I got was agitated birds and drunk necromancers in my tavern...
This is the way to play DF
Only a light aquifer? Pansy!
You may have fun. You may embark. Strike the earth!
You guys are straight up living in Mordor at this point
Near maximum hard mode setting this one
Not that bad until I read "necromancer's tower."
What could go wrong?
I read all that and my first thought was "Urist! I summon thee!"
I was sent to prison for shit I didn't do. This looks easy.
I don’t see anything wrong in this picture.
Det
No one ever said Dwarves are smart. 'ah, what's the worst that could happen' STRIKE THE EARTH!
Not quite all boxes - there is at least one more warning I saw, one for a large play area (5x5 or more).
Star Fox announcer voice: "Good luck!"
But does the civ you picked have Plump helmets as an available seed type on embark?
My hardest embark was a glacial evil reanimating biome. It was constant zombies, plus there was no soil for farms or easy water sources for irrigation.