Do you HAVE to lose?

[WarMaster GoreHowl]

So if i set up the most peaceful biome or maybe just a little hazardous, do I HAVE to lose?

KeeperRL is similar to this however its EXTREMELY easy once you understand what you have to do and more party management/crafting game than management of a full blown settlement. But I do love that game but WISH it had the stuff DF has... i played DF LOOOONG ago but I hated how it seemed you were FORCED to lose even if you wanted to just enjoy building a giant fortress.

Id like to build said giant fortress TEEMING with dwarfs in full gromril armor and weapons, THEN dig too deep or piss off some fat golbin far away to induce the waves of enemies coming to attack me.

[McFuzz]

You don't have to lose. But you might lose.
If you don't want to lose, then try not to lose; fail anyway. Do better next time.

[WarMaster GoreHowl]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

You don't have to lose. But you might lose.
If you don't want to lose, then try not to lose; fail anyway. Do better next time.

No No im FINE with losing. I just don't want that to be the outcome 100% of the time.

Ideally Id like to build a giant fortress then have decent waves of enemies come at me... yet still able to prosper and grow my population or maintain it and all other operations while I expand and survive my kingdom like rimworld for example

[Warzone]

You can build a super massive fortress, teaming with dwarfs in full steel armor-

Sorry there is no gromril [without modding] but you don't necessarily -have- to die.

Granted, most species can't make steel armor and the only armor the elves, humans, and goblins are getting in that caliber has to be taken or given by dwarfs so...might as well be Gromril.

There is a, fun material deeper down, but that's "too deep" and it's not an effective armor vs blunt.

But you, don't have to die. The game will eventually throw things at you, if you have access to the caverns- from above and below. A dragon can arrive and that's usually pretty bad.

But you aren't -forced- to lose, the game just -wants- you to lose, you can simply respond by butchering the things they send at you and more or less send out dwarfs to, well, conquer the world if you'd like.

But eventually there is usually a thing that will spell the death knell of your fortress, something that causes a spiral of pain and suffering that ends with the fortress lost...

or you could retire the fortress once it has grown boring to manage [granted the AI dwarf manager is dum and you'll soon see most of your dwarfs as migrants...If same civ etc etc...And if they live.]

[Bulletproofbullet]

That's a question of skill. Just like you can make a giant city in cities skylines, you need to be good enough to keep the budget going. Same thing in Dwarf Fortress, it will last for as long as you can manage the dangers, and your dwarves

[HyperFerret]

Technically, if your world enters the Age of Death you can still play but the world will be dead outside of your starting crew.

Edit: your fort will would have to be active during the moment the Age passes

[Fæven]

BlindRL has an ongoing millenium fortress so, no, you don't have to lose.

[Sergeant A. Apone]

first of all: you can deactivate a lot now (invasions etc.)

if you like the challenge: you dont have to fail. i retired a lot of successful fortresses, just because i wanted to try something new.

it totally depends what you want to do: want to fight the huge invasion instead of closing the gates even though you are low on fighters? want to use the infected were-dwarves as weapon against invaders instead of exiling them? wanna reach hell instead of digging horizontally? that volcano looks like a good mountain home to you?

all of that can work... but often bad things happen when you try something new and bold.... but with good planning it works and that's the sweet spot you are aiming for ;-)

[jpc1918]

It will always end in death, eventually
Most likely when you mess up and cause a tantrum spiral, or digging too deep
Worst case you can always just re-settle your failed fort

[WarMaster GoreHowl]

Originally posted by Sergeant A. Apone:

first of all: you can deactivate a lot now (invasions etc.)

if you like the challenge: you dont have to fail. i retired a lot of successful fortresses, just because i wanted to try something new.

it totally depends what you want to do: want to fight the huge invasion instead of closing the gates even though you are low on fighters? want to use the infected were-dwarves as weapon against invaders instead of exiling them? wanna reach hell instead of digging horizontally? that volcano looks like a good mountain home to you?

all of that can work... but often bad things happen when you try something new and bold.... but with good planning it works and that's the sweet spot you are aiming for ;-)

can i edit things like that mid mission? In keeperRL i can encounter enemy civilizations or dragons at my own speed when im ready. Then when i encounter the knights or elves or dwarfs i can let them come in endless waves to farm xp and gear for my dark civilization until I AM the one who turns their "invasions" off by killing their town. I can also endlessly dig down and yes i do mean endlessly for more resources of ANY type i want.

Can I do all that in DF?

[PrinceOfPuddles]

There is not "win" screen. Either your fort crumbles or you decide to stop playing and retire it. The world generates civilizations and mega beasts at the start of the game and they can encounter and attack you or vice versa. In dwarf fortress sieges from goblins or necromancers or mega beasts generally scale with the wealth of your fortress as more valuables attracts more people, but there is not internal balance or pacing. A werewolf might showup the first winter because it was traveling on the map in your area. An army might show up and not attack you as they are just passing to go get someone else. The game does not generate threats and throws them at you, it instead keep track of all the generated figures and what they are doing.

A small early fortress will be probably unknown about by the near by necromancer towers at the start but it is still possible however unlikely that a dragon with path through the tile you chose to start in. There are players who have risen above the obstacles dangers and rival nations and have had worlds they cleared out of other civilizations and scoured the map to kill every mega beast and have even breached the magma sea at the bottom of the world and have overcome the things down there that should never be interacted with due to the risk they wipe out all life in the world once they kill you.

[The Former]

It's very possible to play safe in a peaceful biome for a few decades and then retire a fortress without total collapse, yeah. Theoretically possible to play that way forever on one fortress, but probably difficult because it's a rough world out there.

[magik tho]

in previous versions, like five plus years ago, sieges and invaders were invented whole cloth, and would gradually escalate. Not necessarily an eventual game over given all the tools you have, but. Now they do come from somewhere, although they're quietly gated in strength over time. They aren't infinitely powerful forever, so as long as you can keep your civilization safe there isn't some increasingly difficult tower defense game going on