Goddamnit Yaks, I set you out to pasture. Pasture does not mean:
The Stray Yak Bull grabs the Stray Yak Calf by the left ear with its left front leg!
The Stray Yak Bull kicks the Stray Yak Cow in the left front hoof with his right front hoof, but the attack glances away!
The Stray Yak Bull stands up.
The Stray Yak Bull gores the Stray Yak Bull in the head with his left horn, bruising the muscle, jamming the skull through the brain and tearing the brain!
The Stray Yak Bull has been knocked unconscious!
I have gained about 7 reports of Yak fighting right after putting them out to pasture
Yaks are hard ass motherfuckers who fight anything at all times. Make a bigger pasture or better yet, slaughter the yaks because they eat a disproportionate amount of grass.
It is believed that each time unit adds one point to hunger. An animal takes an average of one turn per ten time units, and so a creature of standard speed and agility with [GRAZER:10] would have to eat grass on every single one of its turns just to stave off starvation. Since it takes another turn just to move to the next tile to graze, anything with [GRAZER:20] or less is completely incapable of feeding itself enough grass, even if enough is available. Because of this, the larger creatures like dralthas are virtually impossible to keep fed, and elephants are incapable of feeding themselves fast enough to stave off starvation.
DisruptedCapitalist on
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
It is believed that each time unit adds one point to hunger. An animal takes an average of one turn per ten time units, and so a creature of standard speed and agility with [GRAZER:10] would have to eat grass on every single one of its turns just to stave off starvation. Since it takes another turn just to move to the next tile to graze, anything with [GRAZER:20] or less is completely incapable of feeding itself enough grass, even if enough is available. Because of this, the larger creatures like dralthas are virtually impossible to keep fed, and elephants are incapable of feeding themselves fast enough to stave off starvation.
I want my well filled up with water. This isn't unreasonable. There is no river, and despite how far I've dug down I've not hit the aquifer that was supposed to be there. Why won't my dwarves use the murky pools on the surface? I can't even designate said pools as a water source.
I want my well filled up with water. This isn't unreasonable. There is no river, and despite how far I've dug down I've not hit the aquifer that was supposed to be there. Why won't my dwarves use the murky pools on the surface? I can't even designate said pools as a water source.
who doesn't love drinking stagnant water that has been sitting in the same place for months?
it goes really well especially when the hippo poop saturates it.
i mean who doesn't want to drink from
actually i kind of want to make my dwarves drink from that.
I pretty certain I've used murky pools before as a water source before, I think?
e~ That must have been just for fishing. I'm going to drain the pools into an underground cistern and see if I can use that to bucket over to the well.
Nope that didn't work either. I guess I keep digging for that aquifer.
fadingathedges on
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
See, when I figure you're hunting Mr. Hunter Dwarf, I assume you're going after the wild Yaks that are roaming the northern half of my map. Not the wild Elephants in the south.
Then again, he did just kill one with some quick shooting so...yay, Elephant meat!
AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
God, I love elephants. 114 pieces of meat + ~60-80 assorted elephant parts that can be cooked. From one animal. And 60 bones to turn into crossbow bolts.
I pretty certain I've used murky pools before as a water source before, I think?
e~ That must have been just for fishing. I'm going to drain the pools into an underground cistern and see if I can use that to bucket over to the well.
Make a pump which moves the murky pools into a cistern, this will purify it (or at least it works for forcing dwarves to drink salt water).
I think magma in "outdoor" locations may not cause horrible burning. I had a dwarves merrily wading through a 2-3 deep corridor filled with it, and nobody caught fire or died.
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
God, I love elephants. 114 pieces of meat + ~60-80 assorted elephant parts that can be cooked. From one animal. And 60 bones to turn into crossbow bolts.
You are forgetting about the Fat. Oh God The FAT.
I had an embark FULL of elephants, which my Hunters were quite happy to hunt. I was all set for food but ended up with several warehouses FULL of elephant fat. My cooks couldn't process it all! I had to turn off auto fat rendering so I could use my kitchens!
God, I love elephants. 114 pieces of meat + ~60-80 assorted elephant parts that can be cooked. From one animal. And 60 bones to turn into crossbow bolts.
You are forgetting about the Fat. Oh God The FAT.
I had an embark FULL of elephants, which my Hunters were quite happy to hunt. I was all set for food but ended up with several warehouses FULL of elephant fat. My cooks couldn't process it all! I had to turn off auto fat rendering so I could use my kitchens!
Needs more kitchens!
I've always wanted to make a concept fort that was basically a restaurant. Hungry merchants travel for miles for your legendary food and drink and sell you steel weapons, beds, and the like. Start off with like 1 Miner/mason, 2 hunters, 1 farmer, 1 brewer, 1 cook, 1 bonecrafter/tanner.
Drawback: Haaaate the trade request screen. Too many choices.
"I would like beds"
"Oh beds! We've got beds. What kind of beds? Highwood beds, Saguaro beds, Tower-cap beds, maple beds, willow beds..."
The kind you fucking sleep in! The only reason it bothers me is I'm unclear if they have a finite supply of each type. Like, do only they have 2 saguaro beds and 500 Tower-cap beds? So if I only request saguaro beds, I'll only get 2?
generally on the trade screen if i want something, i make it a low priority in every material type. that way it keeps the cost down and i get a good amount of whatever i need, usually that amounts to:
wood
barrels
drinks
anvils
seeds
thats about it, maybe bolts or something else if i feel like i'll have the dimdums available
TheKoolEagle on
Mon-Fri 8:30 PM CST - 11:30 PM CST
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
I don't think traders can bring beds can they?
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Good question, I've never checked*. Seems like an odd omission, but, after hearing Toady brainstorming about the construction of eggs for 15 minutes, these little oversights don't surprise me.
*The above frustration was actually over barrels or splints or something I didn't want to waste precious fuel on.
I haven't tried yet, but is making currency still screwy in this version?
I think economy is off by default in the newer few versions and might even be completely removed, because of the screwy bugs. They're still there, but with economy off and your coins locked up you should be okay. You may or may not get more bang for your ore-buck making other things though.
I haven't tried yet, but is making currency still screwy in this version?
I think economy is off by default in the newer few versions and might even be completely removed, because of the screwy bugs. They're still there, but with economy off and your coins locked up you should be okay. You may or may not get more bang for your ore-buck making other things though.
Alright, thanks. I was thinking of minting a handful of platinum coins as a kind of memorabillia for the current year since my dorfs managed to fend off three forgotten beasts and a siege. Wanted to make sure they wouldn't run off spending the rest of their lives hauling coins.
Pretty sure economy is still off completely. Toady mentioned wanting to get it back on possibly by next version.
Also, story time!
My current fort is doing well, first underground fort in a long while for me. Takes a long time (and a lot of caged/dead snatchers) before the first ambush hits. Small group of pike goblins attack and kill one of the woodcutters. Easily defeated by my military, only 2 injured, both quickly treated. Then, a year or so later, the first siege comes.
My military: a main squad of 6 melee Dwarfs and a second squad of 5, mostly well trained, all sporting full high quality adamantine armor and similar quality weapons of either adamantine, steel or silver with a less equipped 4 dwarf fortress guard. Also, 2 hunters, one a Legandary Marksdwarf, Ambusher and Dodger with 35 kills.
The siege is a single large group of mace goblins led by a pike goblin. They appear opposite my fortress entrance, on the other side of the river valley. The only year-round crossing point is a single width wooden bridge, built very early in the fortress's life. I prepare to raise it, but see that it is late Winter and 2/3s of the river stays frozen until late spring, so that would just give the goblins time to spread out and risk them getting past my defenses. Instead, I leave it down and send my main squad to the bridge, keeping the second squad back to defend if any other groups show up.
The first to reach the bridge ends up being my commander's second in command, a dwarf I've dubbed the "Peacock Knight". She was one of the stand outs in the ambush battle, killing 3 before being injured. An Expert Swordsdwarf and talented Dodger, Armor User and Fighter decked out in the 2nd best adamantine armor in the force. Her nickname comes from the fact that, for pets, two massive peacocks follow her into battle. Well, she hits the bridge and from the other side comes the leader of the invasion, the Pike goblin. They meet at the very center of the bridge, she charges and swings her adamantine sword with it's hanging gold rings and bands of pink jade. The pike goblin dodges, right off the bridge. He falls, stunning himself but otherwise uninjured, to the frozen river below. I move my view down to see him and, just as I pause it, a shower of little white "2"s land all around him. "Hmmm" I wonder, "What could those be?". I check. They are the "Peacock Knight"'s teeth. The Mace goblin that was directly behind its leader, as soon as it saw the pike goblin fall, swung at the well armored, well trained, well regarded dwarf and... hit her directly in the face, shattering her skull and killing her instantly. The mace goblins swarm over the bridge as I pull my 2nd squad up. The militia commander, his trained War Bear in tow, meets them and holds the bridgehead as they begin the overwhelm the rest of the first squad. The second squad joins, my legandary hunter taking shots from the nearby hill as it turns into a massive mess. Dwarfs and Goblins dying left and right, some rumbling down and fighting on the frozen river. The bear kills the pike goblin and, with most of the invaders dead, the goblins attempt to retreat, most being run down.
Only 2 members of the first squad survive, including the commander who made a real showing for himself, killing 5 goblins at the bridgehead and earning the name "the Armored Saint of Stockades" (which is the coolest honorary I have ever seen in DF). The 2nd squad lost 2 of their members in their relief effort. A further three were injured, but thanks to my well trained (migrants) medical team they were all quickly fixed up, though one is currently walking with aid of a crutch.
A new wave of migrant have arrived, the military is redwarfed, improved defenses have been planned and new engravings, statues and tombs ordered. Let's see if the next siege comes before I decide to send them against the giant mutated loon that's prowling around the 2nd cavern level.
Current fort: embarked on a volcano island, no water source, can't find aquifer, farms and peahen/guineahen ranch are set up, two alpaca graze outside, magma metal production is in swing but no iron. FUCK. So I'm a'diggin'. I have a legendary weaponsmith and two expert armorsmiths; who are constantly churning out copper bucklers which are then remelted. But no damned iron.
I just got invaded by a giant in my second summer. I have two piss poor melee dwarves and two good marksmen, and two war dogs. Fun has ensued. The lead marksdwarf was outside, randomly deciding to hunt for the first time, and ends up in melee with the giant. He had a ridiculously good dodge though, so the fight was taking forever. I thought, "this is the top 25% of my military, if the others were here maybe they'd have a shot." So I order kill commands for both squads on the giant - and the marksdwarf he's wrestling with promptly dies.
At this point, one would think it would be wiser to retreat back to the killing grounds in my fort - but.... Is there an un kill command? Maybe for you. Not for us. We are dwarves. So I let them go. My militia commander, a melee'er, gets there first and makes a good accounting for himself before going down. The giant is pretty beat up, and on the run from a war dog who tears some more bits off of him before dying. Then the giant decides my two alpaca look pretty tasty and starts chasing them down which buys me a moment to think. I assign my woodcutter, one of my first seven who has the last war dog, to the position of militia commander. He promptly goes and loots the fallen militia commander and starts chasing the giant with the last marksman and the last wardog, while the giant chases the last alpaca. It's a goddam circus. Right before going to bed I realized that my woodcutter, Axe had inherited the previous commander's sword, so I told him to swap to his axe then continue the chase. To be con(tinued/cluded)
I have a short story, which I feel is how my dwarves would like it.
Plump Helmet Men lead into Hall of Statues by Melancholy Mason. Voracious cave crawlers arrive by the tens and proceed to die via fine serrated blade traps. Blind Ogres stumble through spent silver mine, met by chained Giant Eagles. Goblins loitering to south, completely lost, currently fending off lions and a caravan of elven merchants.
Actual Fortress, which is only three layers deep, located miles away, behind a metal wall.
I learned that you can attempt build walls over open space if they are adjacent to a bridge.
I also learned that what actually happens is that your mason will pick out a nice boulder, haul it to the site, lay out all his tools, and then just toss the fucking thing over the side.
Right on top of my replacement crop of miners who were trying to take the ramps out of the moat. The newest of the three tried, and succeeded, to catch the rock. He gave my bone doctor a lot of practice before he gave in to massive, system wide infection. The best of the three was nearby, but he made it to traction with a compound breaks in his left upper arm and shoulder. He only has one infection, we'll see how that plays out.
So that's 3 miners in the catacombs, possible 4th on the way. I wish the picks kept track of who their previous owners were, I feel like that list might be pretty long before this is over. No one else has died. A few goblin snatchers made me worry, and two soldiers got a nasty foot injury from the same tigerman, but they cleared up. Also, my soldiers wear metal boots now... those guys fight dirty.
Not sure if this has been changed, but trying to build a wall like that also used to create a dust cloud, stunning the mason and [strike]possibly[/strike]almost always knocking him off the bridge too. So at least you avoided one likely casualty there.
Argh! Why is it that every time I come back to Dwarf Fortress it's just more complicated and broken. I had a fort up that was going pretty well until a siege arrived. I wanted to organise all of my civilians inside but they've taken out the simpler "Dwarves Stay Indoors" order and replaced it with having to use the incomprehensible "Alerts" system. Between that and trying to handle the military I've given up on it again (though I have kept the save for the future).
I wish Toady would have the good sense to either overhaul the interface or remodel the code so that DF is simulation engine that other people can build GUIs for (even then I imagine the code could do with being reworked to streamline it down a bit). Either that, or some sort of FortressCraft:MineCraft equivalent clone (except one that does a decent job).
Who is in charge of each squad?
Who is in each squad?
What are they equipped with?
Where are they doing what; when?
What if there is trouble?
What about everyone else?
The military/alerts system basically handles all of this with a handful of toggles and spreadsheets. Once you crack it, it's honestly not that bad.
so I started a new fort, I wanted to make an indoors field for grazing animals but I have a lot of sand, I flooded a huge room and actually another room below, some sand, some loam but its been over 2 seasons and I haven't seen any plants grow, anything I am missing? should I just try deeper on stone?
so I started a new fort, I wanted to make an indoors field for grazing animals but I have a lot of sand, I flooded a huge room and actually another room below, some sand, some loam but its been over 2 seasons and I haven't seen any plants grow, anything I am missing? should I just try deeper on stone?
According to the wiki, you can't get non-farmable underground vegitation to grow on muddy soil until you've hit an underground cavern.
alright, sounds like i will just forget about the rooms i did flood and try further down, maybe i'll set it up in the cavern
edit: scratch the new grazing field, a cyclops showed up and I tried to get my animals inside, unfortunately the cyclops was faster then i thought and got into my fort, he was punching limbs off and then strangling everyone. my measley 3-dwarf hammer squad didn't even make a dent on him.
i really need to get my military up and running faster then I do right now, I haven't even started training military and had 2 ambushes show up, thankfully I had planned ahead and and made my fortress cut off from them
edit: also I just realized I haven't hit any metal ores yet... that is slightly problematic...
The Mountainhomes will pay top dollar for some []Plump helmet Roast[]. Like, well over 1,000/barrel. Request steel, iron, flux, and fuel next time they show (or weapons/armor) and get a'cookin'
i almost have an entire 11x11 finished good stockpile full of crafts so i'm not too worried about affording crap but a migration just showed up, oh god it was terrible, I was hoping the ranger would put a few down but all he managed to do was enrage them and lead the goblins to the children, gunna have to start work on a graveyard.
at least no one knew any of the migrants so there shouldn't be any said thoughts?
Posts
Mine out a region of soil, or flood a cavern with mud and then penetrate a cavern. Bam.
The problem of pastures is the need to remember to add the new animals to them. And not to overstock.
My current system is butchering heavy, so I try to kill the new animals before they starve.
Excellent design choice! I hope it never changes!
who doesn't love drinking stagnant water that has been sitting in the same place for months?
it goes really well especially when the hippo poop saturates it.
i mean who doesn't want to drink from
actually i kind of want to make my dwarves drink from that.
e~ That must have been just for fishing. I'm going to drain the pools into an underground cistern and see if I can use that to bucket over to the well.
Then again, he did just kill one with some quick shooting so...yay, Elephant meat!
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Allan Quaterdwarf, an Extraordinary Gentleman
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Make a pump which moves the murky pools into a cistern, this will purify it (or at least it works for forcing dwarves to drink salt water).
I think magma in "outdoor" locations may not cause horrible burning. I had a dwarves merrily wading through a 2-3 deep corridor filled with it, and nobody caught fire or died.
Edit - Should I be concerned my starting location is called Diemachine? lol
Avoid starting with an aquifer and you'll do fine.
You are forgetting about the Fat. Oh God The FAT.
I had an embark FULL of elephants, which my Hunters were quite happy to hunt. I was all set for food but ended up with several warehouses FULL of elephant fat. My cooks couldn't process it all! I had to turn off auto fat rendering so I could use my kitchens!
Needs more kitchens!
I've always wanted to make a concept fort that was basically a restaurant. Hungry merchants travel for miles for your legendary food and drink and sell you steel weapons, beds, and the like. Start off with like 1 Miner/mason, 2 hunters, 1 farmer, 1 brewer, 1 cook, 1 bonecrafter/tanner.
Drawback: Haaaate the trade request screen. Too many choices.
"I would like beds"
"Oh beds! We've got beds. What kind of beds? Highwood beds, Saguaro beds, Tower-cap beds, maple beds, willow beds..."
The kind you fucking sleep in! The only reason it bothers me is I'm unclear if they have a finite supply of each type. Like, do only they have 2 saguaro beds and 500 Tower-cap beds? So if I only request saguaro beds, I'll only get 2?
wood
barrels
drinks
anvils
seeds
thats about it, maybe bolts or something else if i feel like i'll have the dimdums available
Good question, I've never checked*. Seems like an odd omission, but, after hearing Toady brainstorming about the construction of eggs for 15 minutes, these little oversights don't surprise me.
*The above frustration was actually over barrels or splints or something I didn't want to waste precious fuel on.
Sounds like you're ready for some Fun!
You know it's a great game when your checklist of things to get done includes "make plenty of coffins."
I think economy is off by default in the newer few versions and might even be completely removed, because of the screwy bugs. They're still there, but with economy off and your coins locked up you should be okay. You may or may not get more bang for your ore-buck making other things though.
Alright, thanks. I was thinking of minting a handful of platinum coins as a kind of memorabillia for the current year since my dorfs managed to fend off three forgotten beasts and a siege. Wanted to make sure they wouldn't run off spending the rest of their lives hauling coins.
Also, story time!
My current fort is doing well, first underground fort in a long while for me. Takes a long time (and a lot of caged/dead snatchers) before the first ambush hits. Small group of pike goblins attack and kill one of the woodcutters. Easily defeated by my military, only 2 injured, both quickly treated. Then, a year or so later, the first siege comes.
My military: a main squad of 6 melee Dwarfs and a second squad of 5, mostly well trained, all sporting full high quality adamantine armor and similar quality weapons of either adamantine, steel or silver with a less equipped 4 dwarf fortress guard. Also, 2 hunters, one a Legandary Marksdwarf, Ambusher and Dodger with 35 kills.
The siege is a single large group of mace goblins led by a pike goblin. They appear opposite my fortress entrance, on the other side of the river valley. The only year-round crossing point is a single width wooden bridge, built very early in the fortress's life. I prepare to raise it, but see that it is late Winter and 2/3s of the river stays frozen until late spring, so that would just give the goblins time to spread out and risk them getting past my defenses. Instead, I leave it down and send my main squad to the bridge, keeping the second squad back to defend if any other groups show up.
The first to reach the bridge ends up being my commander's second in command, a dwarf I've dubbed the "Peacock Knight". She was one of the stand outs in the ambush battle, killing 3 before being injured. An Expert Swordsdwarf and talented Dodger, Armor User and Fighter decked out in the 2nd best adamantine armor in the force. Her nickname comes from the fact that, for pets, two massive peacocks follow her into battle. Well, she hits the bridge and from the other side comes the leader of the invasion, the Pike goblin. They meet at the very center of the bridge, she charges and swings her adamantine sword with it's hanging gold rings and bands of pink jade. The pike goblin dodges, right off the bridge. He falls, stunning himself but otherwise uninjured, to the frozen river below. I move my view down to see him and, just as I pause it, a shower of little white "2"s land all around him. "Hmmm" I wonder, "What could those be?". I check. They are the "Peacock Knight"'s teeth. The Mace goblin that was directly behind its leader, as soon as it saw the pike goblin fall, swung at the well armored, well trained, well regarded dwarf and... hit her directly in the face, shattering her skull and killing her instantly. The mace goblins swarm over the bridge as I pull my 2nd squad up. The militia commander, his trained War Bear in tow, meets them and holds the bridgehead as they begin the overwhelm the rest of the first squad. The second squad joins, my legandary hunter taking shots from the nearby hill as it turns into a massive mess. Dwarfs and Goblins dying left and right, some rumbling down and fighting on the frozen river. The bear kills the pike goblin and, with most of the invaders dead, the goblins attempt to retreat, most being run down.
Only 2 members of the first squad survive, including the commander who made a real showing for himself, killing 5 goblins at the bridgehead and earning the name "the Armored Saint of Stockades" (which is the coolest honorary I have ever seen in DF). The 2nd squad lost 2 of their members in their relief effort. A further three were injured, but thanks to my well trained (migrants) medical team they were all quickly fixed up, though one is currently walking with aid of a crutch.
A new wave of migrant have arrived, the military is redwarfed, improved defenses have been planned and new engravings, statues and tombs ordered. Let's see if the next siege comes before I decide to send them against the giant mutated loon that's prowling around the 2nd cavern level.
I just got invaded by a giant in my second summer. I have two piss poor melee dwarves and two good marksmen, and two war dogs. Fun has ensued. The lead marksdwarf was outside, randomly deciding to hunt for the first time, and ends up in melee with the giant. He had a ridiculously good dodge though, so the fight was taking forever. I thought, "this is the top 25% of my military, if the others were here maybe they'd have a shot." So I order kill commands for both squads on the giant - and the marksdwarf he's wrestling with promptly dies.
At this point, one would think it would be wiser to retreat back to the killing grounds in my fort - but.... Is there an un kill command? Maybe for you. Not for us. We are dwarves. So I let them go. My militia commander, a melee'er, gets there first and makes a good accounting for himself before going down. The giant is pretty beat up, and on the run from a war dog who tears some more bits off of him before dying. Then the giant decides my two alpaca look pretty tasty and starts chasing them down which buys me a moment to think. I assign my woodcutter, one of my first seven who has the last war dog, to the position of militia commander. He promptly goes and loots the fallen militia commander and starts chasing the giant with the last marksman and the last wardog, while the giant chases the last alpaca. It's a goddam circus. Right before going to bed I realized that my woodcutter, Axe had inherited the previous commander's sword, so I told him to swap to his axe then continue the chase. To be con(tinued/cluded)
Plump Helmet Men lead into Hall of Statues by Melancholy Mason. Voracious cave crawlers arrive by the tens and proceed to die via fine serrated blade traps. Blind Ogres stumble through spent silver mine, met by chained Giant Eagles. Goblins loitering to south, completely lost, currently fending off lions and a caravan of elven merchants.
Actual Fortress, which is only three layers deep, located miles away, behind a metal wall.
There is a party in the Royal Throne Room.
I also learned that what actually happens is that your mason will pick out a nice boulder, haul it to the site, lay out all his tools, and then just toss the fucking thing over the side.
Right on top of my replacement crop of miners who were trying to take the ramps out of the moat. The newest of the three tried, and succeeded, to catch the rock. He gave my bone doctor a lot of practice before he gave in to massive, system wide infection. The best of the three was nearby, but he made it to traction with a compound breaks in his left upper arm and shoulder. He only has one infection, we'll see how that plays out.
So that's 3 miners in the catacombs, possible 4th on the way. I wish the picks kept track of who their previous owners were, I feel like that list might be pretty long before this is over. No one else has died. A few goblin snatchers made me worry, and two soldiers got a nasty foot injury from the same tigerman, but they cleared up. Also, my soldiers wear metal boots now... those guys fight dirty.
I wish Toady would have the good sense to either overhaul the interface or remodel the code so that DF is simulation engine that other people can build GUIs for (even then I imagine the code could do with being reworked to streamline it down a bit). Either that, or some sort of FortressCraft:MineCraft equivalent clone (except one that does a decent job).
Who is in each squad?
What are they equipped with?
Where are they doing what; when?
What if there is trouble?
What about everyone else?
The military/alerts system basically handles all of this with a handful of toggles and spreadsheets. Once you crack it, it's honestly not that bad.
According to the wiki, you can't get non-farmable underground vegitation to grow on muddy soil until you've hit an underground cavern.
edit: scratch the new grazing field, a cyclops showed up and I tried to get my animals inside, unfortunately the cyclops was faster then i thought and got into my fort, he was punching limbs off and then strangling everyone. my measley 3-dwarf hammer squad didn't even make a dent on him.
blood was... everywhere...
edit: also I just realized I haven't hit any metal ores yet... that is slightly problematic...
at least no one knew any of the migrants so there shouldn't be any said thoughts?