@s_a_n_t_b's comment on 'Mostibkun, "Orangecat" - an rdrama succession fort: Chapter 6 "Rapid Expansion"'

Spring

1st Granite

My name is Mistem ‘Rankine_911' Gikutmuthkat, broker, and I've somehow managed to get myself here despite not knowing what the heck I'm doing. We currently find ourselves trapped in our fortress, stuck behind closed gates while the undead wait for us outside. Unable to rely on trade from outside, this might be an opportune moment to start up our own steel industry with help from the recently discovered magma lake underground. Hopefully then we can better equip our militia for the eventual fight to drive off the undead.

Looking through the stockpiles we find quite the surplus of iron and coal but there is a complete lack of any flux stone which we'll need to begin smelting the steel. Fortunately, there is a limestone layer up near the surface and orders are given to begin mining it out. A work order is also put out to begin smelting pig iron, the first step in the process for making steel.

3rd Granite

Only a couple days into the spring and it seems as if the undead that were sieging us down have given up and left? This could be a great turn of fortune for the fort. There is no sign of the dark hunters that had kept us holed up in our fortress. We're still hesitant to open the gates just yet, but perhaps some trade caravans will stop by now. There does still seem to be an axedwarf corpse poking his head over our walls and interrupting the dwarves, but he doesn't seem to be much of a threat for the time being.

12th Granite

One of the dwarven children has gone stark raving mad and is now running around babbling, apparently as the result of a strange mood. Unfortunate, but there doesn't seem to be anything we can do for him now.

24th Granite

The axedwarf corpse that had previously been harassing our dwarves from outside the gates somehow managed to find a way inside. It was able to slaughter some of our animals but fortunately the militia was able to respond quickly to eliminate the threat. However the entrance to our fortress is now rather bloody.

12th Slate

With the undead siege having given up, it looks like a migrant wave has arrived! With the new migrants, we now have a population of 70 dwarves. The orders are given to open the gates and let them in, and work immediately begins on new bedrooms to accommodate the arrivals.

16th Slate

The Guild of Creatures, a farmers guild, has formed and is now demanding we build them a guildhall. Without any reason to deny them, work is begun on a new guildhall in the fortress.

24th Slate

Oh no.

A gila monster werebeast has come to attack our fort. However in what can only be described as a miracle, its stumbled directly into our trash compactor.

The orders are given to pull the lever and all that remains of the frightening creature is a splattering of blood on the ground. An admittedly anti-climatic ending but its for the best that none of the dwarves were brought into direct contact with the werebeast.

Summer

1st Hematite

Summer has begun. We've been hard at work expanding the base, but as for our originally plan of starting up a steel industry we've made a whopping total of 3 pig iron bars. In hindsight having to carry all that stone down to the magma lake was perhaps not a great idea. Hm.

3rd Hematite

Two thieves have been spotted, but thankfully it looks like we caught them before they were able to get inside.

The militia is raised, and the two thieves are quickly dispatched. It seems that we have a rather talented axe lord in our militia who was able to quickly lop off both of their heads.

8th Hematite

With such little progress made on smelting the pig iron, we begin to question why our work orders are taking so long. Its discovered that a huge number of dwarves are spending all their time just trying to keep the animals in the pasture. It's not clear what is causing them to keep running away, but it seems like it might be worthwhile to start slaughtering some of this vast herd of animals we have.

14th Hematite

A human caravan has arrived. We use this opportunity to sell off some of our old equipment in return for leather and cloth.

17th Hematite

The dwarves have decided that with the recent expansion of our fort this would be an appropriate time to elect a mayor. It is decided that @60horsesinmyherd, our expedition leader, should become the mayor of the fort. Work begins on making a bedroom and office of sufficient quality for such an important role in our fort.

27th Hematite

And more migrants have arrived. This might be getting to be too much to handle, we'll need to get to work making more beds now. Our population is now up to 79 dwarves. With this new wave of migrants, a rangers guild has been established and now also wants their own guildhall.

12th Malachite

One of our dwarves has been possessed, I wonder what this will lead to?

21st Malachite

And that possessed dwarf has created Sosadmot, a chestnut bucket.

20th Galena

The 10 pig iron bars have finally been smelted, and it only took nearly half of the year. Work is started next on smelting the steel. Some work is now being done to set up the stockpiles so that everything needed will be hauled down to the magma smelter which should hopefully speed things up a little.

Autumn

11th Limestone

A caravan has arrived from Atir Zas, and our mayor meets with the liaison (who is apparently a goblin?). There's nothing in particular we need, so no requests are made from them, however they do ask for us to supply meat next year and are willing to offer more than double for it.

2nd Timber

More migrants have arrived, and along with a couple of children born the previous month our population has now reached 91.

4th Timber

The first 10 steel bars have been smelted. The new stockpile was able to help speed things up after clearing up some confusion the dwarves had about where the stone should be hauled. We've assembled several more magma smelters and are now prepared to really get the steel production going.

Winter

4th Moonstone

It's now winter, and right away we find two more thieves outside our fortress. However, they are no match against our militia.

28th Obsidian

Winter passes us by mostly uneventfully and my year comes to an end. We've been hard at work smelting steel and now have a sizable supply ready for us to forge into whatever may be needed in the upcoming year. A baby was born this month, bringing our growing fort to a population of 92. Thanks to the incoming migrant waves, we are now seen as a town rather than just a hamlet. And with that, I will pass this chronicle over to the next dwarf.

Well that generally went better than expected. If it's not clear by now, I really don't know much about Dwarf Fortress and had only played for a few hours or so before jumping right into the succession fort. It's a game that I really want to like, but when I play it more often feels like I'm fighting against the UI rather than actually dealing with any game mechanics. As you can see, it took me half the year just to figure out how to get the stockpile set up so dwarves would actually bring stone to it.

As for the actual fort, the siege is over (not that I really had anything to do with it) and the population has more than doubled. I did have to save scum once when that zombie climbed over the walls because he somehow managed to kill the entire militia and I have no idea how. When I repeated it they took it out no problem. The werebeast could have been disastrous, but it walked right into the trash compactor. Other than that, the fort mostly just ran itself without much issue.

~~I will send the save back to @BFBugleberry since he was busy and had to pass on his turn.~~