Suika Fortress: Episode II - GAME OVER R.I.P. Drunken Graspings

[Totaku]

Greetings everyone, I'm glad to see that after the discussion in the last thread that we managed to reach a decision for when to hold Suika Fortress.

As of right now I'm busy making the final preparations for the game before we being.

As of recently Suika Fortress has undergone a huge change since the last game we held. In fact the change is so deep that it's a completely new game all together.

For those who haven't followed up Suika Fortress since the last game, the game's creator, Toady One, has managed to finally get the new version out around April first, and as of this point, the game is under going changes as we speak. Mainly because the new version is still buggy. Not everything works the way it should, but most of the main stuff on the other hand still works the way should. So player shouldn't have much difficulties with playing the new version if they've already played the other version.

Of course, there is one I must bring up....

Over the course of the new release, I had been working on modding the new version include a whole bunch of new things. In fact, we now have tons of new yukkuri, new creatures, and a whole new system to fiddle with and I'm certain that many of you will find many shocking surprised as play through this new game...perhaps even....FUN!

I'm looking forward to seeing how you all respond to my new lovely mod project I put together. ^^

Now it's time to cover a bit of what makes up Suika Fortress.....

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The World of Suika Fortress

Welcome all to the wonderful world that is Suika's Fortress which is a mod of Dwarf Fortress. Today, we will be covering all about the basics about what to expect to all those that do not know of the game. I shall to you all about this mod in the simplest way possible. Let us begin!

1. What is Dwarf Fortress?

Think of it as what would happen if you’re cross together Dungeon Crawler  concepts, with the Sims, and even some RTS like concepts for extra measure! That's sort of what makes up the Dwarf Fortress. Basiclly your trying to help your dwarves make a living by building a fortress and help them be able to survive against just about anything. Wether it be Elephants, Unicorns, Goblins, you name it. And at the same time, make sure they can survive, get food and water and be comfortable and happy as possible. And while doing they will always dig deeper.  And who knows what they'll find down in the deep..... perhaps it'll be.....FUN!

In Suika Fortress, we do pretty much the same thing, except it’s with Suikas, and most of our livestock and predators are yukkuri, though there are some animals out there too…

It’s also important to note that every Suika has their own personality and quarks too so be alert with how they behave too.

2. What does Suika Fortress look like?

Imagine a world full a Suikas mining caves, managing yukkuri, and all sort of other things just to making a living and survive. The game flows in real time and you will spend your time managing the activities and actions the Suikas do. You can pause it however if you need to plan things out. Before letting the game continue. It should look something like this,





All these nice graphics while they attempt to build a fortress. It should be fun to see how this develops… and yes I created the suika graphic tile sprites for this as well as the yukkuri sprites and some other tiles while some other are from other people like Mike Mayday.

The interface mainly consist of the following:



On the left is the activity screen where you can watch the mini suikas as they run around doing what they do best. Get drunk and work. 

The middle is the menu, you will be pressing the keys to that cordinate with what every option you want to select, this is vital for especially because you will need to tell the mini suikas what to do.

And on your right is the map or your region. Here you'll see that suikas are marked in red while other creatures are in read. While it may look simple it's important to know that the map consist of many levels and to alternate between the levels you'll have to press the < or > keys to work with them.

This mostly covered the basics on what to expect in the interface of Suika Fortress for more information check the wiki

3.Where can I get the game? What version do I need?

Toady has just recently updated to 0.31.06. And thankfully the open GL works as well as a number of bugs have been fixed! So as of this point we will be using the open GL version get to DLing!

Here's the link to the game with the graphics mod:

http://www.mediafire.com/?reg5mjzy3ze

Be sure to look over the init file and adjust the settings accordingly. As the settings our currently set more toward how I prefer them. So again please make sure you go to the init file and adjust the settings to your liking...
4.What has changed since the last Suika Fortress community game?

A whole lot of things... too many to count or go over. But if you go here, you will find everything you'll need to know.

5. How do I adjust the screen size?

It is important to note that in order to change the window size you will need to go into the data folder of the dwarf fortress files and select the init folder and then open init.txt.

From there you will have to go down to [GRAPHICS_WINDOWX: ]and [GRAPHIC_WINDOWY: ] and change the number that the colon to change the window size like for example:

Code: [Select]

[GRAPHICS_WINDOWEDX:1280]
[GRAPHICS_WINDOWEDY:800]
And for the full screen make sure you know what the full screen resolution of your computer is and then go to [GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENX:]and [GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENY:] and insert the number in the respected areas after the colon to make the file work on full screen for example my full screen resolution is 1280 x 1024 so:

[

Code: [Select]

GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENX:1280]
[GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENY:1024]
Want more tiles on your new screen size? You can adjust it on the [GRID:#:#] and [FULLGRID:#:#] you’ll have to tweak with this a little to make the size work for example:

Code: [Select]

[GRID:80:50]
[FULLGRID:80:64]
If for some reason you want to adjust other features, that’s up to you, but personally it should work for most here.

But now with 0.31.06 you should be able to automaticlly control the screensize by scrolling grabbing the corner of the screen or however you do it.

And with the mouse wheel you can adjust zooming too!

6. What can I do about the game's frame rate?

As you may experience with Suika Fortress as well as Dwarf Fortress, the game is known to slow down with time but I will provide you a few tips to help keep the frame rates from dropping too much.

Adjust the partial print features!!

In 0.31.05 the init file has a bunch of new features to go over, you will want to fiddle with all of them. There's normal, partial, Accum_buffer, Accum_frame, VBO, and various 2D settings. Fiddle with them and see which one works the best for you.

For example:

Code: [Select]

[PRINT_MODE:PARTIAL:2]
You can also adjust the texture prameters and prioirty too since they seem to have an effect.

Be advised, changing the priority will put the more energy into the game, be sure your are not putting your computer at risk doing this.  While I never seen it, I've heard stories that it can melt your computer. So change at your own risk! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

Put animals in cages

Animals take up some memory, so you may want to make sure most of your animals are caged up. This'll save your frame rate somewhat.

Get rid of excess items and rocks!

It's been proven that with a large ton of rocks and items in your map the frame rate will slow down. And this can cause some serious problems to the FPS. But if you set up some things to get rid of items and rocks... like bridges and catapuls, then it'll all work out!

If I can think of others, I'l be sure to put the information down here.

7. This game seems hard, it there an easier way to understand it?

Well, it is somewhat hard at the start, even the tutorial only gives you enough info just to start and learn the simple basics. But if you feel you want to learn more things without as much struggle then to the Dwarf Fortress Wiki here.
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

Here you’ll find pretty much all the ins and out about how everything works in the game. It’s rather useful so I highly recommend looking through it when you having trouble. Pretty much everything from this wiki will apply to Suika Fortress as well. Just remember though, while it's important to understand the game it's also important to now cheat either and spoil yourself from the real adventure of Dwarf Fortress cause after all one thing they always say is..."Losing is Fun!

8. So how’s the process going to work?

For right now I’m am going to give you some time to get familiar with the game if you haven’t already played it, but at the same time, I’ll ask you all to begin signing up while I start preparing Suika Fortress. I will probably go first, but if I'm busy, I'll let someone else go first after we embark.

When the game starts we will have a land that is created and all who are interested can decide on which part of the land the Suikas will settle in to create their fortress.

Because I want the Suikas to be able to have an exciting adventure, I would like to settle if possible to go for a large grid but I will settle on a grid as low as 4x4 in term of our land space. Cause that should have more than enough animals to keep everyone busy.
I will explain more about game length later…

Once that is decided, we have to decide how the Suikas will plan for their trip. In terms of their occupations, and what supplies they will carry. This is very important in the beginning and we shall discuss this before we go on.

After we complete these steps we will begin the gamplay...


9. Gameplay rules

We shall play Suika Fortress as a succession game. When the game begins, you will have one year to do whatever you got to do to help your Suikas develop their fortress. Get materials, build things, fight creatures, whatever. During the run you should take pictures of some of the events that unfold during your year. Try to update periodicly as I know a year takes a while go through. Because speed can vary based on one’s computer, I will give the player one week (7 days) to complete the task, and if an extension is needed, he or she must provide an update with pictures on where he or she is at so I know where they stand. And if progress that is made shows some promise of progress I will allow another 3 days of extension.

IMPORTANT!
Starting with this game onward, we are required to follow the rules that are part of MotK as in KEEP THE IMAGES IN THUMBNAILS! There are small exception, but that's only if the picture itself is small enough to meet MotK's size requirments. Please review MotK's rules on image posting before participating! This is a must in the entire board and it'll be required here too. Pesco will be monitoring this and insist you must follow this rule. The last thing I need right now is for this game to be exterminated after the time and work I put into it.

The players turn will come to an end when the Lily White comes along and announces the coming of spring!

Or rather “Spring has arrived!” which will appear at the bottom of the game window.

From there you must pause and save your game. To do that press escape, and then go down the menu and select  "Save game and press enter. And then take the save file which is located in  data -> saves -> Reigon folder. Take the region folder that contains the Suika Fortress data and then zip it (or rar it) and upload it to Mediafire, Rapidshare or the like. Once it's saved you turn is done.

The next person will then take the Region folder and place it in save folder and start off the game and continue from there till the next spring.

Because the game lasts for a long time we will end the game under two conditions:

1.We create an epic Suika fortress
2.The Suika Fortress dies in an epic death (ala boatmurdered or something along the line)

Say like maybe in 15-20 years in game time maybe. By then we will have done most of everything that we can do with it. But then again who knows… it'll depend on how many people decide to participate in this too. As well as how many bug changes take place.

If for some reason the Suika Fortress dies... We can decide if we shall embark to a new location or go back to the last save. Unless the 2 conditions are met.

Finally if the person is unable to complete the run in time, his run will be nulled as we will return to the last save…

Also it is important to know that you can resign yourself up for another round though you will be placed on the bottom of the waiting list and I will contact you when your turn is up.


10. Can I still participate in it even if I’m not playing?

OF course! As I said, I want the player to make some updates as they go through their adventure building the fortress you can give your own thoughts and suggestions at the time that’s posted. Also because we have so many Suikas to deal with maybe we can give them “nicknames” to make them stand out.  That always helps.

11. Can I run the fortress to the ground?

No! Don’t destroy to fortress on purpose, it ruins the fun of having “fun” Rather try to do whatever you can to survive and if the death comes upon, we can understand. If the player intentionally tries to destroy the fortress on purpose too many time, they will be removed from the game.

12. Did you make these sprites?

Well I made all the Suikas and Yukkutri sprites, so yes I’m responsible for those. All the other creatures are Maydays’s work. He should earn the credit for making a tile of  the Dwarf Fortress version possible for me to do Suika Fortress.

13. Some text appears odd / sprites have an odd color.

 If that’s the case, send me a picture so I can look into the problem. It’s important for me to look into it. As I had to work on this alone with only advice and feedback from the IRC gang. And if I fix the problem, I’ll post an updated file to insert into the files and graphics.

14. I have suggestion for other things to add.

Don’t be afraid if you got an idea of what I could add into Suika Fortress let me know I can see about working it out possiblely. Just remember I’m also a busy man so be patient.

15. Can I have an adventure instead?

This time, I'm going to have to say no to this. There are way too many bugs in adventure mode right now to take things even seriously. Once you start bleeding you might as well consider yourself dead!

16. This game is buggy, is it going to be fixed?

Eventually it will. But it all rides on Toady to do that. You'll have to wait a bit for each update he makes, but with each update to DF he puts together, I will make sure to move everything to the new version ASAP. Once that's done, I'll make sure to post the new version. It is strongly adviced that you pay attention to the front page, as I'll be updating it regualrly.

17. What kind of bugs should I worry about?
As of the now, there are many bugs that still roam DF and  I've listed some of the big ones here. I'll likely update this if more bugs are discovered....

18. Can we use 40d# version with the new version?

No, the new version had such a tremendous makeover especially with the underground that we cannot use the older version at all. We can only work with 0.31.04 and onward. And if there's a compatablity complication in the later version we can discuss about starting a new game on that version.

19. The game is crashing, what are we going to  with the file?

Well for started I'm going to use an uncompressed version since I hear that version is technically less likely to suffer from save crashes. But if for some reason we suffer from them and it is your turn. Then the plan will be to get the previous save from a year before that and see if we can fix the error that way. It'll be sort of a mess, but it may be a work around to the crash if that occurs....

20. When I save my game, what should I do with the file?

As of this point, I recommend that you zip it or rar it. But known the size of files allowed in MotK, a DF file will be too big. So I'm going to recommend that you put the file up on an file hosting site, like Mediafire, and rapid share, ect. And be sure to post the link here. I will be needing to do this especially to test out crash errors that occur from saves.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

And so this concludes my introduction to Suika Fortress! As of right now it is time to sign up. I will sign myself into the game. And I look forward into anyone else who wants to sign in to help build the Suika Fortress!

As like in the last game, the first six people who sign in to play will get the call dibs on naming their Suika  and thier occupations ect. that'll come once we embark. Any people that sign in after the first 7 and spectator will call dibs on Suika migrants that come in.

If there are not 6 people in the list, then what ever spectators that come to provide feedback will become part of the embark team.

And if there are not 6 then we will just simply embark with a few suikas by their default names.

Anyways, it's now time to sign up! I'll explain more about the world process later on...

Waiting List:

Serpetarius
Totaku

Spectator List:

Layla PrismZengar
Purvis
Chaore
Xan (via IRC)
Anathe (via IRC)
Gappy
ArashiKurobara
Stuffman
headcrabs

[Stuffman]

I'll sign up. However, up til now I've been sticking with 40d due to the buggyness of 2010. What outstanding bugs remain that we should watch out for?

Also, as a side note, I'd like to be one of the miners. FUCK YEAH EARTH STRIKING

[Serp]

Put me in to play and to be the recordkeeper.

[Tapsa]

Signing up as a carpenter. Haven't decided about the name yet.

[Totaku]

I'll sign up. However, up til now I've been sticking with 40d due to the buggyness of 2010. What outstanding bugs remain that we should watch out for?

Also, as a side note, I'd like to be one of the miners. FUCK YEAH EARTH STRIKING

Mmmm you reminded me of something I forgot to put in the list in my first post so I'll put it here.

In terms of bugs in Dwarf Fortress there are many that are in need of working on. Espcially since some of them are going to stick out with a sore thumb. But the good news is alot of bugs have been fixed since the April 1st release.

Most of the majority of bugs that were fixed were crash related. THough we also had the undead fixed, the fish fixed, magma heat issues, most hospital issues and so forth.

But as for what bugs to worry about in the new version....

The Melting Crash bug: FIXED

Old Fortress Bug: This bug I am unsure of. I don't even know if it exsist or not, though it seems results can vary based on one's computer. Crash may occur  if fortress is big enough? (Can not confirm)

Flooding in the hospital bug: FIXED I THINK

The dead noble position bug: FIXED

No sleeping in assigned bed bug: Not a major bug as it's not of real importance. Just a simple detail issue.

Immortal Material Being bug: FIXES IN PROGRESSGoliath Dolls, Iron men and other metal and rock creatures are made of rock and other substances will soon be killable! But here's something else that'll make this interesting..... this will in turn also affect your weapons! As you keep using your weapons, they'll chip wear and tear over time...eventually braking....Better get some spares ready!

Military Bugs: FIXES IN PROGRESS So far many things have been fixed in the military. But three major issues need to be worked on here...

1. The military system and assigning unit to do specific task could use some simplifying. Cause as far as I know just to get them to train requires you to set up a shchedle for them to train, set them to be active...and finally set up thier area to train in. This may or may not be easy for some to understand....

2. Combat training need to be worked on alot! Seems that when it comes to training your units, the first thing that happens is that your unit get together and wait for thier trainer to come in. Once he comes in, he'll organize the training area....the only problem is.... the organizing takes forever! And as a result, the training may not take place at all! There are current'y only two work arounds....setting up a manager to train organization skills, or setting up to training area to not be used for no training so they will only perform indiviual drillling coulse this only builds up thier weapons....

3. Archers and hunters AI needs working. They don't seem to remember to go get thier arrows. Thus making them harmless after they waist thier ammo, though the only way to work around it is to give a squad command appearntly and then canceling the order. This causes the units to return to restock....

Combat Bugs: FIXES IN PROGRESS Related to the military bug. I recently heard that teeth, horns and other hard body parts have been fixed so they'll do more damage, as well as equipment issues. But there's still things such as Suikas that do carry weapons into battle will likely slaugter an army with ease. Though the exact opposite can be said about biokkuri armies. Thus this is a weapon balance bug. This is also on the high priority list of fixes. And will also occur after the merge is fixed.

Hospital related bugs: TECHNICALLY FIXED All that really remains is to get Gymsph powder to be stored in the hospital. Haven't tested it out yet, but from what I know mostly everything else works.

Farming seed bug This one's a bit of a mess.... if you for some reason plant seed after a certain time frame and they don't grow by the end of the season in which it's possible to plant them.... it can cause all your seed you planted to vanish! The only thing that wont do this is plump helmets if you set them for all year round. There's also a rumor that some stones can't hold mud....which can make things....HARD.


Turtle shell crafting bug: Crafting with turtle shells doesn't work at all. They should be preserved for decoration or saved to Suikas that go into mood swings. I hear the fish bugs were fixed so we may have a better supply of turtles now.

These bugs shouldn't get you worried too much though, as much as we know they are there. These by no means should ruin the game play.  Many of them have a work around. And I will be updating Suika Fortress with the new Dwarf fortress regularly as bugs are fixed. So it should work out in the long run. Especially with the time I'm giving for you to play through a year in DF time. Since on average Toady usually fixes and update things one a week.

That's pretty much most of the key bugs I know of that I consider major. If you come across other let me know. They might serve well for the bug report.

[Gappy]

It's still too complicated for me to learn XD

Oh well, I'll participate as a dwarf this time around, if you'll allow me. Name one 'Gappy' after me, please? XD

[Zengar Zombolt]

Spectator, etc.
Also, sign me up for Cap'n of the guard once again.

[sammy t coleridge]

I'm staying off the DF after the bugs have been sorted out.

Well, the important ones (military, etc.)

Has farming been fixed yet?

[Totaku]

I'm staying off the DF after the bugs have been sorted out.

Well, the important ones (military, etc.)

Has farming been fixed yet?

Well then you wouldn't mind being a spectator would you? Maybe reserving a Suika in your name, ect?

I can understand that, since even I mentioned that the military system is a bit out of whack at the moment.

But knowing how long it'll take for a year to be played here, we might be able to get the advantage since by the time we really start using our military the bugs may be worked on. (That is a matter how how many bugs exsist in the merge right now that's being fixed first.)

As for the Farming bug.... well I orginally thought it was a bug but Toady One made mention of this in the forum....

I should be looking at farming pretty soon.  I know there are reports on it, and the issue I remember from testing was that a soil wall underground below an underground soil tile wasn't supporting farming, and it probably should.  Farming up in the mountains without full soil walls should require mud.  I'm not sure soil walls should support underground plants at all, because that would encourage dwarves to settle away from the mountains, which is bizarre.  I'm not sure what's going on above ground, but it's best to keep the discussion of specific bugs in the bug reports on the tracker, I think, if there's something specific and bad going on.

This to me indicates that the fact that underground soil require water to make into mud may have been intentional. But from the looks of it. he may still change it somewhat. But it may come later on since he hasn't worked on that yet since the merge is his main focus right now (then following up with combat and the military).

[Chaore]

Sign me up as a suikwarf. Preferably a metal smith because someone needs to make swords for all the ones Zengar breaks, but don't restrict yourself on my behalf. :V

[Hello Purvis]

I'm staying off the DF after the bugs have been sorted out.

Well, the important ones (military, etc.)

Has farming been fixed yet?

This pretty much.

I may jump in later, as interests peak. In the meantime, I wish to be a Doctor, Mechanic, and Mayor

[Totaku]

Ha ha, old chap! oh you! (Amusing they filter L O L into Ha ha, old chap, what amusment)

Anyways looking at what I've seen so far, we already got enough people in the list to set up an named expidition crew. I'm still taking sign-ins, so please take a moment to come to the thread ask to either partake or spectate. The more people, the more fun this'll be!

As of right now I'm currently looking through the world picking good sites to use for our new Suika Fortress. It's probably going to take some time since it'll be a bit before I put all the locations at once.

Like in the last game, we'll have about 6 locations to pick from. Each with their own unique features. I will however spice things up a bit because like I said, things aren't as easy as before....

But as for now I shall present to you this world map!



This world here that Yukari is preparing to challenge Suika with is known as Roth Mamgoz, The Domain of Dragons.

From a short inspection of this world I learned that while this area is somewhat populated one things that seems to be occuring in this place that makes this region dangerous is the amount of danger that lurks in this world! While on the most part this land is mainly got a moderate climate, the northern regeion is where everything dangerous may possibly be. As it turns out, traders up in the north don't even bother to leave their cities to trade in certain regions. This alone will make the adventure quite dangerous but at the same time... FUN! There are also plenty of volcanos, a mountain range, lakes, and so forth, and it seems the big terrible beast rule the region with an iron fist.

Down in the colder south exist a evil mountain region which could be the home of biokkuri factories as well as many dangerous dead things.

Also around the mid point traveling northward there are canyons that can be found.... plenty of them. Where ever we may go I'll be sure that I'll select the regions that should supply us with the most fun.

I will try and get 6 ready by tomorrow morning. But to make things easier, perhaps you all can give a suggestion of a area we may want to make into our fort.

I've also included attachments of some of the history, populations and world parameters for this world if your curious.

As for now suggestions and ideas are welcome.

And as always you are all still welcome to sign up.

[Stuffman]

The farming thing isn't a big deal to me. If Totaku doesn't set it up on his turn I don't mind doing the irrigation, in fact I think it looks kind of fun.

As for our embark point: areas with steep elevations are my preference, since then you get quite a few z-levels of sedimentary stone to mine up into, getting lots of gems, coal, and ores for iron and steel.

You can get magma on any map now, but having it exposed will still speed things up. I could go either way.

Also holy crap 2010 runs at like half the speed of 40d, geez. Need to try some of that optimization stuff.

Remember people: one cat max.

[Totaku]

As for our embark point: areas with steep elevations are my preference, since then you get quite a few z-levels of sedimentary stone to mine up into, getting lots of gems, coal, and ores for iron and steel.

You can get magma on any map now, but having it exposed will still speed things up. I could go either way.

Also holy crap 2010 runs at like half the speed of 40d, geez. Need to try some of that optimization stuff.

Remember people: one cat max.

Mmmm, well stuffman the good part about 2010 is that most regeions will have most  of those kind of items much easier to access. So any place will serve to be a good spot as long as good planning is involved...

As for your problem with your with frame speed, have you changed the partial print to YES? That usually kicks the speed up drasticlly.

As for 1 cat, well that's debatable. Chenkkuris will still be like they always are. But sometime if your quick enough to cage them then you got a food supply waiting for you. ^^

It seems this region I created is also rather.....well... wet. And filed with alot of Auqifers. ^^;; So we'll have to do some planning to make it through them.

But for now here's a list of some locations I picked up:

Location #1: The fresh murky plains of Gensokyo.


While within an unknown location within Gensokyo. It appears that this region is quite hot. yet it's triving with activity. I'm certain it's filled with recourses and it's got a nice water fall to boot!

Considering the steepness of the area, there is a good chance we can work our away around the aquifer.

Difficulty level: Normal


Location #2 The fresh murky plains of Gensokyo #2

This spot is rather simlar  to location one, but it seems to have a steeper water fall. Course life is thriving fine here too...

Difficulty: Normal


Location #3 The foot hills along the way to the youkai mountain

Despite being a calm region, this place is thriving with alot of creatures especially in the river, it might be a good spot to fish, but let's be careful, as it turns the heat is scorching hot here. Our only water source is the rivers themselves as water is none exsistant in the rivers.

This place is also steep and has some waterfalls so we might be able to work around the aquifer.

Diffculty: Normal to possibly hard?



Location #4 The cursed mountains leading to the frozen south.

Another unknown region in Gensokyo. Which has a large mountain to the north, the mountain itself is pretty much snowing so it's definetly cold here! Some creatures roam around here too. But do I smell the undead? Who knows?

There may also be a chance some vicious creatures can come to this area. Otherwise the location seems to be a nice basic set up.... a snow-covered mountain, a flowing river, lots of trees and thankfully the mountain doesn't have an aquifer within it meaning plenty of oppotunity to get stones.

Let's just becareful with whatever is out there, it could be hungry....

Difficulty: Normal to maybe hard?


Location #5 The small mountain in the middle of the forest.

It appears there's a small volcano here and we got a nice mountain to dig into. Heck, the way it is build looks like it could serve as fortress material if you ask me (assuming we put it at 5 x 5)! Course the main problem here will be water as our only known water source as of this point are lakes. And depending on how much it rains here.... these could dry up. But since the climate is temperate, chance are it may not dry up. But not much is known. Just that it seems nice and it's seems quite here...

Difficulty  Normal, possibly hard.


Location #6 The cold region of Gensokyo

Letty must work here full time, there's snow here and the stream and lakes are frozen... this will make getting food started hard, we may have to dig deep early in hopes of getting water unless the temperature warms up.

Also it seems some wild life thrives here. But also I see a volcano exsist as well.

Diffuclty: Hard to Luncatic



Location #7 The dry lands torward to nameless hill

Sand....lots of it and it feels rather warm. Vegitation seems to be somewhat small here too as well as trees. Yet this region has a nice waterfall location. And the land is strangly calm.

It also appears we may have to deal with a steep aquifer....How will we fair out in a dry location like this?

Diffuclty: Hard to possibly Lunatic

Alright, what I need you guys to do is decide on a location, so please come in and vote on a place that will serve as our fortress.

Also at the same time, we need to determine the size of our fortress area...

By default it is 4 x 4 due to all the changes, I will keep it at this size, but if we want to go for something bigger, please let me know, like 5 x 5 or 6 x 6. I will consider it, but please take into consideration that the size will affect how much FPS play out in the long run possibly so choose wisely....

[Serp]

5555555555555555555555555555555555

It's not a proper fortress without mountains.  Volcano's good too.  We'll have to hope we hit an underground lake or river or something.

[Stuffman]

Yeah, #5. Fuck aquifers. Plus it's a volcano lair, c'mon.

Also, I see forests in that screenshot so we shouldn't be hurting for wood, and murky pools seem to refill fast in 2010 after a few rainstorms. I don't think we'll have water issues.

Does it have sand? I'm quite fond of the glass industry. I'll still take it if it doesn't, though.

[Totaku]

Yeah, #5. Fuck aquifers. Plus it's a volcano lair, c'mon.

Also, I see forests in that screenshot so we shouldn't be hurting for wood, and murky pools seem to refill fast in 2010 after a few rainstorms. I don't think we'll have water issues.

Does it have sand? I'm quite fond of the glass industry. I'll still take it if it doesn't, though.

Well, here's a quick survey of the area from above ground....

The good news: Sand is definetly located around the mountain on all sides. So you will definetly have access to making glass. And there are plenty of forest to the north for us to use so wood shouldn't be a problem.

And as you said stuffman, we have murky pools that we can use.  and if we use them properly we should be able to store enough water to create a decent farm underground. Course is worse comes to worse we can always forge though the bushes for food
And as a last resort build an above ground farm which can be useful if we find alot of good food to use.

The wild life seems peaceful here on the most part. So we won't need to worry too much about them + it can mean food.

And of course a volcano in the center of the mountain!

The bad news: No turtles! In fact there is nothing in the ponds at all! At least that's what it seems like. And if any of you have played DF 2010 you know the only way to get shells are from live turtles that you take to the fish processor. It's not like the older version where you could eat them and get shells.

The main problem that can come from this is when a Suika goes into a strange mood and demands turtles shells. That can only lead to serious problems. So you best have a counter measure for it.

Also we can still hope for cave lobsters. Which can be found underground. Another reason to dig deep early.

Oh yeah, for all you that vote can we also decide on a land size? 4x4 (the default size) is the lowest I'll go. Though from my opinion, this land looks promising as it is shown on this location map as a 5x5 area. Your call!

[Stuffman]

I would normally prefer 4x4 to help with framerate issues (I'm getting 50 FPS at embark), however I am swayed by the sheer SYMMETRY of having the volcano in the exact center of the map so I am obligated to go with 5x5.

[Tapsa]

We'll circumvent things sooner or later, right now I'd go for #5 because of magma, sand and high elevation

[Serp]

I've heard that in DF2010, dwarves don't specifically demand shells or bones, and that they instead just demand "body parts," which encompasses both.  So, we might be fine in that regard.

[Totaku]

Oh man people! This has turned into a rather shocking event!

I went and relooked at the world's history, and you're not going to believe this.

It turns out that in this world... the Suika Population is pretty much at the brink of extinction.

In fact no known Suikas in the history exist past the year 50!

They were all killed by giants and cyclops.

And yet humans and parsees managed to survive.

This leads me to belive that this could make for a rather deep and complicated game because judging by the situation that has happened....

We will have the following:

No Suikas to trade with what so ever!

And a very small Suika Population!

Now I'm going to give you an option here:

We can.....

1. Use the world as it is and try to attempt to run a small fort using only the 7 Suikas plus whatever unknown Suikas may come (which won't be many) And then trive on repopulating the Suika Population.

2.Regenerate the same world and hope for a different result.... this way we can still use location #5

or

3. Create a whole new world and find new locations.

[Serp]

I could go either way.  I recall reading about an experiment done with an embark in a world with no surviving dwarven civilization, and migrants still came (though the trade caravan didn't).  Not sure if that'll hold for DF2010, but to be honest, I wouldn't mind playing in a world like that even if we couldn't get any migrants.  A small population, where every Suika has her own known identity, would make for some interesting storytelling.  If necessary, we could mod the game so that our fortress's children would grow up very quickly, and use that to get some reasonable population growth over the years from reproduction.

[Stuffman]

Shit just got interesting. I for one am in favor of continuing on; I'm attracted to the prospect of managing a small but elite group of Suikas over a huge bumbling population. Human caravans carry some pretty good stuff, so losing the Suika merchants isn't too big a deal, though they won't come around til the second year.

IN A WORLD WHERE LOVE IS AGAINST THE LAW
SEVEN SUIKAS WILL STAND UP
AND FIGHT FOR THEIR SURVIVAL.
THIS SUMMER
GET READY TO...STRIKE THE EARTH!
SUIKA FORTRESS: EPISODE 2

[WHMZakeri]

Shit just got interesting. I for one am in favor of continuing on; I'm attracted to the prospect of managing a small but elite group of Suikas over a huge bumbling population. Human caravans carry some pretty good stuff, so losing the Suika merchants isn't too big a deal, though they won't come around til the second year.

IN A WORLD WHERE LOVE IS AGAINST THE LAW
SEVEN SUIKAS WILL STAND UP
AND FIGHT FOR THEIR SURVIVAL.
THIS SUMMER
GET READY TO...STRIKE THE EARTH!
SUIKA FORTRESS: EPISODE 2

How hard is it to sneak popcorn into theaters, because I'll definitely watch something like this in one.

[Tapsa]

I wouldn't avoid this situation, there isn't exactly many succession games there with no other dwarves alive in the world.

[Totaku]

I could go either way.  I recall reading about an experiment done with an embark in a world with no surviving dwarven civilization, and migrants still came (though the trade caravan didn't).  Not sure if that'll hold for DF2010, but to be honest, I wouldn't mind playing in a world like that even if we couldn't get any migrants.  A small population, where every Suika has her own known identity, would make for some interesting storytelling.  If necessary, we could mod the game so that our fortress's children would grow up very quickly, and use that to get some reasonable population growth over the years from reproduction.

Well when I was playing through the practice fort the same world, I wound up with only 12 Suikas and it remained pretty much after the first year... so pretty much I think it was rather permament.

Anyways, from the looks of things it seems everyone wants to play this world.

So here's what I can say..... First off, the world I created I was hoping to replicate, but it appears it must of been some werid buggy fluke that made this world what it is. Because the world gen numbers on info cannot replicate it what so ever. Any other time I do it the whole population dies pretty much. So this is rather stange.

So what I did was make a duplicate of the fort I was test running (which was in a different location all together than the locations I gave you.) and we'll use that for the run.

Considering that it has  12 Suikas in it... well, it may mean we could get a visit from the Suikas from the test fort as possible migrants. ^^;; So we could expect the Suika population to go up to about 20 something at most......assuming everything plays out exactly like it did in my test run. Course as Serp said, it could keep getting migrants. But don't expect any Suika traders. That'll likely not happen at all.

 Anyways, here's the set up...


I placed our location with the volcano in the center of location 5. We must now determine what supplies to bring to the fort... considering this time we may not have much to depend on we are going to decide carefully....

Also....here's a little thing I did as a twist for this game....

As you know, everyone who has register to participate get first dibs on the Suika. And there were at least 2 from the spectator list that got in since there weren't enough participants. The specators who signed in first got first dibs on the remaining Suikas....

Now here's the fun twist. The occupation of those that  have selected are going to be givin to those Suikas.

Meaning....
Totaku - Adequte Butcher / Tanner / Cook
Stuffman - Competent Miner
Serpetartius - Adequte recordkeeper / Grower / Brewer
T34G3 - Adequte Carpenter / Wood Cutter
Gappy - (likely to be Mason / engraver)
Zengar - Captain of the Guard (likely to be mechanic / building designer )
Chaore - Adequte Metal smith / Stone crafter

I have made a few extra arrangements since some didn't give an answer plus this should help us better our chances for survival, but I'll let you decided...

This'll leave us 128 points left for remaining supplies.

In general, I usually get 2 cats (yes I know the danger of cats but usually we can round them up before they are a bane to us, just be responsible.) and 2 dogs. And the remaining goes mainly to adding more food and maybe some plump helmet spawn.

I'll let you decide. 

So for now let's decided on how we will distribute the point and decide if the decision we made will be good enough for now...

And also while where at it....Let's decide on a name for our fortress....and our group!

I will also get the game mod ready once the game starts since I'll be taking my turn.

[Stuffman]

More plump helmets. Breeding pair of Yusakuya. Non-breeding pair of Chenkurri. More booze (for more barrels).

As for the name?

This was difficult to construct and is a bit wordy, but I think it does poetic justice: Orgidthur Umarablel Saruth. This translates roughly to "Drunkengrasping the Smooth Bust of Girls".

[Serp]

This was difficult to construct and is a bit wordy, but I think it does poetic justice: Orgidthur Umarablel Saruth. This translates roughly to "Drunkengrasping the Smooth Bust of Girls".

Hell yes.

[Totaku]

Ok people I went through and processed the information and so as of right now, we embark to our new Suika Fortress now!

I mainly used Stuffman's suggestion since everyone agreed with it. And as for a group name, I decided on "Sisters of Beer" in reference to beer ax.

Also here's the Suika Fortress Mod everyone's going to need. I will be posting this on the first page as well.

 http://www.mediafire.com/?onazqhjuazg

Be advised that the init settings I put Suika Fortress on are mainly the setting I use, so please look over the init file and adjust them accordingly before playing.

Now without further ado....let us embark!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

First Month of Spring - Day 1

At last we had arrived to our destination! After we left the good old fort of beer axe we decided to embark on a new location. Though what we had no clue about was that the land we decided to call home seem to have no visible signs of Suikas what so ever? this may mean that in the end this could become a private fortress. But we must try, we must prevail, we must build a fortress, a SUIKA FORTRESS for our own kind. For it may lead to a revival in this empty land with little to no Suikas. For if we build it they will come!

Sisters of Beer, let us go forth, and STRIKE THE EARTH!

We decided to settle in a volcanic location in the middle of the forest. There was a large mountain range and plenty of trees for use to use. We seem to have lakes so we may be able to make use of them?.Course there is one problem?.

Our drunken expodition leader T34G3 decided that we should park right on top of the volcano?.

Brilliant idea there? we could definetly smell the magma? but what good are we doing up so high? We need to build shelter, that what we must do.

Judging from our location we?re up about 35 or so stories from the base of the mountain...

Talk about steep, and I still have to deal with all this cargo and the smell of the yukkuri...

Oh what a day this is going to be?

Turns out our miner Stuffman believes that a good place to set up our fortress would be in the western side of the volcano?s base, mainly because to base is pretty much flat making it good for easy building?.



So for right now Stuffman will go ahead and start work on mining out our new home, while the rest of us will being to haul the supplies to the mountain base.
\

First Month of Spring - Day 2


In the distant area to the southwest we could he the sounds of ?gera gera gera? in the distants. It was Reisenkkuris, as far as I know these creatures are pretty tame and friendly, mostly your basic wild life. Though their laughing is really annoying?

First Month of Spring - Day 7


As stuffman continued digging into the Marble, he ended up striking Malechite, these metal ores can be smelted or some good copper when we get a chance. To set up a smelter. I?m certain Chaore will be able to make use of these once they?re turned into metal bar.

First Month of Spring - Day 13

It seems we now manage to strike some gems already, chychorella to be presise. I?m certain now that this place it rich with this stuff so eventually we?ll need to put together a gem shop in the long run.

First Month of Spring - Day 26



We could hear the sounds of otheer yukkuri making the senses, the sounds of ?Chin Chin? and ?Spring is here easy!? It seems this place is flourishing with them. I?m not sure if all of them are friendly but we will be vigilant?
Second Month of Spring - Day 1



At last we managed to relocate our supplies down at the base of the mountain. This should make things easier for us now. As for now construction is still being done with the fort. For the time being I thing the group is planning to set up temporary shops and start working on other things?

Second Month of Spring - Day 8


While everyone else is getting to work. I have relatively nothing to do?. So I decided to take on mining duty for the time being. I hope I can speed things up for Stuffman, we need to get things in order as soon as possible.

Second Month of Spring - Day 26


It seems we?re now being visited by yukkumois. They seem pretty friendly, though I can?t say much?if they?re anything like the actual Ichirin, that could spell trouble if provoked, but they?re yukkuri right? They shouldn?t be able to do anything?.

Last Month of Spring - Day 4


We have finally constructed the trade depot and made temporary beds now. It beats sleeping on the floor all the time. And now the main hall is near competion. I will proceed with stuffman with building the hall to the stairway soon?

Last Month of Spring - Day 14


Construction of the second floor has begun. Our main objective for right now on this floor will be to get a farming area set up near the lake. Course Summer?s almost here?. Not a good sign?.

Last Month of Spring - Day 23


Thanks to my long a month of dedication as a Miner, I became recognized as a miner among the team, personally I don?t mind doing this on the side, I still need to get the farming area set up ASAP we only dug out half way to the farming area and we got only a week left?

Last Month of Spring ? Day 27

We finally reached the farming area! This area is a lot easier to dig through thanks to the fact it?s mainly sand. Now I?m certain we?ll get what we need done in time. And if not we should still get most of the water in here before the hot summer dies it up.

Final Spring report


We weren?t able to get the farm done in time, but then again, what?s to say we aren?t doing fine as it is! We?re Suikas after all, so we must brake for our booze. Ah well it?ll get done eventually for now, I?m going to get a drink. We?ll see how the weather hold up in the next few days?

And on a final note, it's time to get to know your Suikas!



Let's start with myself....pretty much semi accurate... I wish my horns were longer though...


And here's Zengar.., pretty much likes yusakuyas for thier sharp teeth...sounds like he still has a thing for pets as a weapon.



Now Stuffman, somehow I feel sorry for her...


Here's Gappy, ....what's this? A romantic affair?



And with Choare how interesting....



And here's Chaore, is see she can't take it easy. Even liking Kimemarus show this as proof.



Here's Serpetarius, pretty much the oldest in the crew of Suikas here



And our expodition leader...who is the youngest in our team.

That's it for now, I still have 3 more seasons to go, so stay turn for the next report.

[Serp]

GappyxChaore OTP.