Check this out if you feel like it:
http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/movie-1879-waterdam

Basically, using pumps you can stop the river at it's source, then (in theory), go down and wall off the old course.

Tormenting nature is such fun!

In fact, I am attempting a super-pump system to inflict watery genocide on the vulgar one-humped camels and anything else on the surface world. I intend to cover the entire map with water, sparing a below "sea level" isle or two where lumber will be collected.

I'm not sure whether I regret trying this game or not, the Fun is bittersweet and ever so addicting.

I still haven't figured out how to make an army, so I have Fun every time the goblins drop by...

m -> l(? whatever button to create a new squad)
assign dwarves to it
dig out a room
place an armor stand or weapon rack inside it
Q -> highlight rack/stand -> T (train) I (individual equip) Q (squad equip)

when a threat comes:
S ->
M: To tell your squad to move somewhere and station there, attacking hostiles that come nearby.
K: To tell your squad to kill a target. You can select multiple targets from a list.
O: Tell your squad to cancel all orders. They'll revert to their unsquaded/unmilitarized versions of themselves.

Anyone know how to stop a river from freezing in the winter? I have magma if that helps.

Edit:double

Magma and water = obsidian, so that's not it.

I know, I wanted to build an obsidian production facility, but my water freezes for three months.

Water only ever freezes if it's located on a tile marked as "Above Ground". If you can reroute the whole river to run underground you might keep it from freezing

Edit: also, ice placed directly above magma will melt as long as they don't touch directly. As in "tunnel with roof that runs just underneath the river".

"Ice can melt when the temperature rises as part of the natural cycle of seasons, some biomes may be frozen year round. Though, this cannot be said about freezing climates. Ice can also be melted by proximity to magma. An ice tile with magma beneath it will cause the ice to melt, this principle can be used to prevent freezing in the first place."

So, you could try insulating the whole river... or, if you're trying to keep some running water through winter, just divert it into an indoor location (needs to be doored off from the outside world). It won't freeze there.

Alright, I have another for all of you. Is there any way to make "peace" or call a ceasefire with the usually more benign elves and humans after provoking them, or are they permanently set on my destruction?

I've been trying for a while now and I give in, I have to ask; does anyone know any conceivable reason for my wooden windmill and vertical axle to simply disappear? I need both desperately for an aqueduct in a hot, good environment.

EDIT: Nevermind, seems to be fixed. Apparently the disappearance was the Mighty Armok telling me that the reservoir was incomplete. Note to self: Always listen to Armok.

EDITEDIT: New question then - how do you stop a windmill/screwpump without being able to get a dorf into it?

I'm fairly sure you don't.

Isn't that what gear assemblies and levers are for?

In a fit of amazing logic, I stuck the controls for the appropriate floodgates... beneath... the aqueduct.

I think I can hear the facepalms/headdesks from here.

You can hook up a gear assembly to a lever; when you pull the lever, the gear assemble will engage/disengage.

I happened upon this and thought I would share it here. This is PerfectWorld, a fun map generator for Dwarf Fortress, which allows for simple but in-depth customization and can result in some pretty good looking, organic regions, which are usually better than what you get with the vanilla game. I suppose my one criticism is that it tends to lack the quirky little anomalies (such as multiple continents, single-tile volcanic islands and islands in general) that you might find with the original. Best when attempting to generate maps of subtle climate and temperature variation, my opinion.

By the power of Armok, thread, I raise thee anew! Lest the blood of the earth free you from your earthly prison, and return you to the stone below from which you came!




















Hey guys, anyone still playing this game?

I've mostly stopped playing, to be honest (I played for a while) mostly due to the micromanagement required. It'd be far more managable if you could place standing orders ("Hey, you should always keep ten kegs of ale in storage, mmkay?" etc). Hopefully it'll be done in the future, at which point I'll likely come back to it.

Is this a game where you build fortresses out of dwarfs?