Thursday, September 14, 2006

Dwarf Fortress (4): The Witness

I said last week that Dwarf Fortress was a candidate for PC Game of the Year, along with Oblivion and Galactic Civilizations II.

Well, it’s a candidate no more. This afternoon, it unquestionably became the PC Game of the Year for me. And it’s not because I built this fantastic fortress with hundreds of dwarves and dominated the world.

It’s because of what happened when things started to go wrong.

It was mid-winter. I was obsessively working on building floodgates by the river for farming, because I wanted to understand the process well enough to give you guys a step-by-step guide. I built floodgates, levers, and a containment room successfully, I thought—and flooded two squares (instead of about twenty).

Oops.

So I’m working on this, head down, not really paying attention to anything else. Then I get a message: Datan Tanmosus, Carpenter cancels Store Item in Stockpile: Hunting vermin for food.

Well, good for you, Mr. Tanmosus. Thank you for showing initiative so that I can keep working on this farming and floodgate problem. And while I’m sure the vermin aren’t that tasty, it’s better than starving, right?

In truth, this was entirely my fault. I’d passed up opportunities to increase the food supply, confident that I had plenty for winter. Even with the new immigrants arriving after the trade caravan, and a total population of 19, I was confident that we had more than enough food.

I keep working on the floodgates. Within a few minutes, everyone is hunting vermin for food. Still, though, I can manage this. I butcher two horses to add some meat. It’s late winter now, and spring should be here any second. We can all survive this.

Of course, I’ve momentarily forgotten that animals have to actually be butchered, and meat has to be transported, and dwarves have to physically retrieve that meat to use it as food.

As I wish for spring, almost on cue, I see this message: Spring has arrived! That’s followed immediately by: It has started raining.

Then I see this: Datan Tanmosus, Carpenter has starved to death.

Oh, hell.

I’m still thinking about the dwarf as a unit, though. Nothing personal, sir. You’re just a number in a spreadsheet.

Sibrek Sigunnin, Craftsdwarf is throwing a tantrum!
Ingish Athamilral, Miner is throwing a tantrum!
Kogan Dumatimik, Metalsmith is throwing a tantrum!

I use the jobs list to find Kogan Dumatimik and look at this thoughts and preferences. First, I see this: He was forced to eat vermin to survive.

Then I see something that stops me cold.
He has witnessed death.

And at that moment, I both feel terrible guilt over the fate of carpenter Datan Tanmosus and realize why the dwarves are throwing tantrums: because they have witnessed death.

And in that one moment, Dwarf Fortress became Game of the Year.

Cerol itdungeshud, Jeweler, has starved to death.
Sibrek Sigunnin, Craftsdwarf, has starved to death.
Ablel Sibrekoddon, Jeweler, has starved to death.

Shale table destroyed by Morul Alniskeskal, Peasant.
Trade Depot destroyed by Kogan Dumatimik, Metalsmith

Starvation. Anger. Fear. Rage.

Panic.

I desperately wanted to abandon the fortress at this point. Desperately. I didn’t want to deal with the remaining dwarves. There are forty-nine other sites, and I could start from scratch. I’ve learned so much and I know I’d do a better job of planning this time.

That would be totally missing the point though. The point is and always has been: can we survive?

Well, I’m going to find out.

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