#6: We aren’t fooling around

Feb, the miner, comes up and wants my attention.

She says, “Sir, I’ve been digging for what feels like days. It is hard work. I get all sweaty. Why do I not have a bed upon which to rest? I am not an elf, I do not wish to sleep under the stars amongst the trees and shrubs of this Mirthful Plain.”

I nod in understanding.

As I turn around, Bembul, my feisty woodcutter awaits me. “We are dwarves! Yet instead of dining in a great hall around a vast table, with great steins of ale, we must stand around outside eating our meals by ourselves. What sort of treachery is this!” and he shakes his steel battle-axe at me, which cost a fortune that otherwise would have been spent on dwarven training.

Now I’m starting to feel bad, that I have let down these poor seven dwarves under my command. Also, being threatened by an angry axe-wielding dwarf isn’t cool. But Bembul chops a mean tree, and he’s got a good point, so I let it pass.

As I contemplate, the meek Aban, my crafter extraordinaire, my omnipotentiary, asks for a moment of my time.

“I studied for many years learning the ways of our dwarven crafts. I can make the beds that Feb desires, I can make tables and chairs. I can make bins, and barrels, doors and swords. But instead, sir, you gave me a crafting workshop. And instructed me to make… crafts. I know I am but a lowly working dwarf, but I do not understand how making gifts and toys will help us become a mighty dwarven clan.”

Oh.

…

Yes.

Looking at the workshop that I have assigned Aban to, it’s a Craft Workshop. You know, like the things your aunt makes. Trinkets, doodads. Also toys. Yes, instead of building a Carpenter’s Workshop and producing worthwhile items, I turned Aban into Santa. Which is her new nickname. I don’t tell my dwarves their nicknames, so it’s a reminder to me of my shameful mismanagement.

Also, Fatty tries to come up to me and say something, but she’s too out of breath to get it out.

So here’s what I’d like to do:

• Get enough internal space dug out to place some of these things
• Get some beds, chairs, tables made
• Get a farm going inside so I can plant the inside-only seeds I brought with me
• Get some bedrooms, dining hall, and large workshop area going (I may instead use some temporary space on the first floor)

I notice that Santa is hauling a dog to the nearby pond (which I designated as a place for animals to gather) instead of making things, so instead, I queue up some beds, chairs, doors, and tables at the new Carpenter’s Workshop.

Before doing more digging, I should think about what I might need once it’s all said and done:

• A lot of housing of various quality, near the destination of the dwarves who sleep there.
  • I’m thinking instead of one humongous apartment complex, some distributed rooms near the various groupings of work.
  • So people who are going to work outside shouldn’t be far from the entrance, but there’s no reason that has to be near all the workshops which could be deep underground and have their own housing near that.
• A lot of storage space
• Big dining halls near the living areas
• Big “areas to make dwarves happy” near the living areas
• Workshops
• Farms
• Military training
• A defensible entrance
• A trade depot (I believe work best if near entrance on first floor)

So, given a few constraints, here’s some thoughts on general layout:

• +3: Military (can get some light in from above to keep them light-adapted)
• +2: Housing for farmers, and exterior workers
• +1: Dining, entertainment, some reserve space
• 0: Main level: defensible entry, trade depot, farms
• -1: Storage
• -2: Reserved (always good to have some margin)
• -3: Workshops
• -4: Dining and entertainment for workshop folks
• -5: Housing for workshop folks

I’m not sure if kitchens should go on the dining levels, the storage level, or the workshop level. Maybe the latter.

I’m anxious to start digging down to see what sort of stone is beneath me.

And after a few moments:

You have struck Bituminous Coal. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds good! In addition to the gray claystone, and the black coal deposit, the red walls are hematite. I would think that having a diveristy of stone would be a good thing, so I’m pleased at the moment. I hope there’s a lot more of that hematite, it’s blood-red color is neat.

A thought occurs: I’m not sure I can build farms on this stone floor. Not sure what to do about that, but we’ll figure something out later.

Suddenly, I’m bombarded with my dwarves stopping work.

Everyone needs a drink! Well, we brought a lot of booze with us, but I’m not sure if Fatty’s gotten it transported from the wagon yet. And there’s a big pond right outside our fortress, but that would be water. But I dare not force my dwarves back to work, and anxiously watch what happens next.

Fatty is the closest one to the pond. Let’s see where she goes….

Toward the wagon. Inspecting the wagon, I see all our wine, rum, beer, and ale is still there. So it looks like it’s going to be a mass dwarven rush to the wagon. I hope Fatty can get that stuff all moved before their next booze break, since walking all the way out there is going to hurt productivity.

After a few moments, the whole gang is out there in the middle of nowhere having some brewskis.

Lesson learned: Don’t get between dwarves and their need to booze.

Luckily, on their way back to their jobs, most of the dwarves grab some of the pile of crap sitting at the wagon site and bring it back. And soon, since there’s so many jobs I’ve identified needing done, all seven dwarves are rushing about making themselves useful. It’s beautiful!

Industry! Our first bed is crafted, and Fatty is a good Fatty and hauls it to the growing storage pile.

As I watch my two mining dwarves gain experience to become Competent Miners, I realize how much I’d like to have more miners. And more haulers. And more farmers. And more hunters. And more crafters. My grasp exceeds my dwarves. So I watch patiently.

While I enjoy watching my pair of miners prepare our future fortress, Bembul the angry woodcutter has been busy.

All of the little brown piles of logs are the remains of trees he has cut down. I currently have him working on clearing out the area where the outdoor farms will be, but soon he’ll have deforested all nearby trees. We’ve got oak, maple, alder, ash, chestnut, and willow logs! Let’s hope those fucking elves don’t see any of this. And poor Fatty can’t keep up hauling all the stuff that needs hauling back to the storage pile. I can’t wait to get some immigrants and so I can put them to work.

I’d really like to get some agriculture going, growing plants that I can turn into booze and food.

Sure enough, any old place indoors isn’t going to work.

But near where I located the outdoor farms, maybe we have something other than stone.

Let’s hope that black sand wall, once carved into, produces some soil or mud floor. I designate a test dig square, although I’m not sure when the miners will decide to come do it.

It’s not long before everyone needs some food, but luckily they can find some at the local storage pile, and not all the way out at the wagon, and soon everyone’s back to work. Until, not a few moments later, everyone’s thirsty again! Fortunately, booze was brought back from the wagon last drink break, so it’s not an exodus to wagonville.

I’m not sure if Snipey is actually using her crossbow or not. It appears she’s gaining some Marksdwarf experience, but I realize in the santa’s workshop Craftdwarf Workshop that in addition to toys, I can make wooden bolts (presumably for a crossbow), so I queue some of those up, since I don’t think I have any. I also queue up some doors and bins at the Carpenter’s Workshop. We have a lot of stuff to store; putting them in bins would be nice. Of course, it’s up to the whims of Santa to choose which shop she works at, so who knows what I’m getting.

Over near the pond, the two dogs, horse, and musk ox that we brought with us from home, have just been milling about for this entire time. This bugs me.

Some of the hunter’s kills are also laying around the pond (not sure why). And I’m not sure what will become of that mountain goat corpse, but I’ll keep a close eye on it. I notice I can build kennels, and I do so!

I have two “Stray Dog (Tame)”, so I figure why not making them Hunting Dogs. I’ve seen all sorts of lizards and whatnot running around out here. We’ll see how that turns out.

And just like that, Shem the farmer nods off next to the pond. He just falls asleep right where he was standing when he got tired. After a few minutes, all of the dwarves are asleep at wherever they were working.

I’m a shameful dwarf manager.

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