The Full Flickered

So I got bored with the step-by-step development of Flickeredchannels as migrants started pouring in by the bucket-full, so I kept playing without documenting. The fortress is now a Barony with a fluctuating population of about 100~ dwarves, and somehow there's never more than 10 idle.

Here's maps of all the main locations.

The main entrance:

The main entrance to the fortress is a large hall with a tower that goes up from its right half. The tower goes up about four floors where a retractable bridge permits access into the hills. This is mostly to allow ease-of-access for my dwarves since it serves no tactical purpose.

The entrance hall floor is slick with blood and vomit and bones. It's also where we do our trading. Somewhere in there is the corpse of a Giantess, as well as that of a wandering Minotaur. These two Uninvited Guests didn't cause much trouble for me since my military descended upon them like a storm; where I had a lot of trouble was the Grizzly Bear. Some hunter decided he wanted to eat bear that evening and shot a bone bolt at the bear.

He was promptly torn apart. The bear, being a bear, remained angry and started hunting down dwarves and murdering them. It was a while before I noticed and brought in the military, and even then it managed to take out a few soldiers.

The main burial chambers are located outside the fortress and double as a historical hall. I once had a dwarf remain over the grave of a loved one for so long that they died of thirst.

The Baron's tomb is in the fortress proper, one level beneath the noble quarters. The development of his tomb has had an interesting effect on the dwarves. While carving it out, a dwarf wandered into the half-finished tomb, took off his pants, then left. Then a few others did the same, discarding robes and dresses. I guess they don't like him?

The top floor of the fortress is only one level above the Meeting Hall, but about four or five levels undergound. There's nothing particularly remarkable about its development or content. The food stores just keep growing, being anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 units of food at any one time. The apartments themselves no longer need to grow as there are more rooms than living dwarves (there's more apartments on other floors).

After each goblin ambush, it's important to go assigning the now-vacant rooms to those unlucky migrants that didn't get a room in time. One of my favorite things to do is, after a while of running a fortress, snooping around the wardrobes and chests to see what the dwarves have collected. So far, they only seem to gather clothes and the chests remain empty.

I actually really want the Dwarven Economy to get implemented.

Also, you can see that I get miasma, but the refuse room is sealed off, thus protecting everyone else from the horrors of the stench of death.

From the main hub of the fortress, you can access every other part. In general, except for a few back-tunnels, the dwarves have to pass through the main meeting hall to get anywhere. From the apartments to anywhere else, they'll be forced to run into each other on a regular basis. The meeting hall also has a well and an enormous banquet-style table.

The hospital, barracks, jail and arena are the only sections you can access from the outside without setting foot inside the meeting hall.

The floor beneath the meeting hall has the main bulk of the apartments. It's also where I have the wood shops and the metal smiths, as well as the military barracks and the jail.

The jail was built mostly out of habit. Luckily for Flickeredchannels, the mayor's only interest was the construction of trumpets and preventing us from exporting them, so no one's ever been arrested for failing to fulfill these mandates.

The barracks are relatively small for the size of the military, currently 60 strong, comprised of more than half the population. With so many dwarves in the military, I only ever have half training at any one time with one squad patrolling outside. The result has been good. I just need to outfit them with more metal armor.

The bottom floor is where I keep all the stone. One of the things I hate when digging out a fortress is all the extra stone stockpiles you wind up with, so what I do is set one or two masons to do nothing but carve blocks out of the stone we gather. In the earlier stages of the fortress, this is fine, as construction runs rampant and blocks are needed. When a fortress matures, however, it's less effective, as the block stockpile just grows and grows.

Carving Out A Future

To start with is the farm, which is going to be simple and carved out of the black sand hill nearby. This farm will be temporary and just a source of food until we get some proper undergound ones going.

Domas Clashglaze, the miner, sets himself to work while Avuz Brainsling grabs an axe and starts felling trees. Once Domas is finished, I'll set him to carving out all the visible zircons to give his most hated enemy something to do. Meanwhile, Sarvesh Takepage, without prompting, grabs her fishing gear and starts fishing. Hopefully this river is carp-free.

I decide the small hill just to the left of the main site would be a good place for a pasture. I'm not too familiar yet with how pastures and farming large animals work, but surely some good will come out of it.

I assign our Yak and Two-humped Camel to it. Rimtar Entrancepapers, the grudge-filled Jeweler, and Sibrek Foggate drag the confused animals over.

And with that, production begins. Jeweler's and Carpenter's workshops are built while the farm is being dug out, and once that's done dwarves start collecting the black zircons the miner finds. Food is stockpiled and the first Plump Helmets are planted, and soon it's time to dig down to build the beginnings of what will doubtlessly be a glorious fortress!

We dig down six levels before striking Gabbro, a suitable mineral for carving out the large rooms we will need. According to the DF Wiki article, Gabbro contains a lot of interesting thing, Diamonds among them.

Now comes the tricky question of what shape I want my fortress to have. From the main stairs, the hallway will lead directly to the meeting hall, and it'll act as the nexus for all the different parts of the fortress.

Here's how I plan on doing it: the main stairs lead to the meeting hall, and from the meeting hall you go west for all food-related things and crafts. To the north will be the workshops and industry, and to the east will be the apartments. South, eventually leading off the main hallway, will be the Hospital, military and arena.

Yeah, sounds good.


Solon Bridlewind, a black-braided-hair, cobalt-eyed and particular skinny dwarf, officially becomes a carpenter through her efforts building beds, barrels and bins.

As we dig deeper, we inevitably produce more stone. What I've always hated are those stone stockpiles that build up the more you dig, but I've found a solution to that. I assign my Stoneworker, Momuz Plannedwound, to no longer haul anything and to indefinitely carve out stone blocks. Stone blocks are easier to store, make for better construction materials than raw stone, and are actually worth a bit of extra money in a pinch. Plus, it's an excellent way to keep your dwarf working. You just have to make sure to have a sufficient abundance of bins.

Sure enough, Momuz quickly earns the title of Mason as Domas Clashglaze, the Miner, finishes with the meeting hall outline and starts in on the future apartments.

The apartments finish without a hitch and each dwarf is furnished with a bed, a cabinet, and a coffer. The meeting hall is hollowed out, the starting wagon is taken down, and now we focus our attention on building the kitchens and food stores!

The Earth, Struck

We'll start with the deities. Let's see who the founders of Flickeredchannels worship.

• Stettad Ber Istrath: Stettad the Earth of Jewels is a deity of The Rainy Boulders. Stettad most often takes the form of a male dwarf and is associated with trade, wealth, jewels and minerals.
• Lal: Lal is a deity of The Rainy Boulders. Lal most often takes the form of a male dwarf and is associated with fortresses.
• Rungak: Rungak is a deity of The Rainy Boulders. Rungal most often takes the form of a male dwarf and is associated with trees.
• Amug Oggezshedim: "Amug Holeshadow" is a deity of The Rainy Boulders. Amug most often takes the form of a male firefly and is associated with the sky and the stars.
• Id Zas Doren: "Id the Crystal of Diamonds" is a deity of The Rainy Boulders. Id most often takes the form of a male dwarf and is associated with metals.

So this is the pantheon the dwarves will worship as they say their prayers every night before going to bed on their pile of rocks. Now, looking through their relationships, I noticed something interesting:


It would appear that Rimtar Desormonom, the Jeweler, has a grudge against Domas Lisidfikod, the Miner. An argument that started before they even left the mountainhomes? Maybe one blames the other for the mess they're in presently! Whatever the case, I better keep those two apart for now.

Next, let's take a look at the surroundings. Where the hell are we?

We appear to be in some sort of ravine, at the very bottom by the river. Here's a shot of the middle level:

And here's a shot of the doomed little dwarves, so happy, yet so hopeless:

Right, so, time to priotize objectives. Goblins aren't going to attack for a year or two, so we should spend our first year securing proper lodgings and food.

• Create a farm with something to eat and something to brew
• Dig out a large room to serve as a meeting hall
• Build beds and barrels as the wood supply allows
• Build a kitchen and proper storage for the food
• Build a Trade Depot

These are my year 1 goals. Let's see how well I can meet them!