How I conquered the world in 10 years in Dwarf Fortress

[@JustDontDie]

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[@saiyanwannabe6896]

You should have a little skip to time to not see the sponsor ad.

[@warmoverdrive]

Medtob feels like a dark souls boss at this point Medtob, Captain of the Guard

[@JustDontDie]

If you don't think about it, Elden Ring kinda stole its whole concept from my videos.

[@18nakedcowboysintheshowers69]

@@JustDontDietrueee, now that you say it I can clearly see it

[@carljoosepraave2102]

Medtob, Mother of Three

[@offshooter]

A wild ride indeed. Would be interesting to see an attempt at restoring the settlement to its former glory now that the mission is over and outside threats are largely dealt with

[@stripes8812]

Yes! Reclaim by a group that is fascinated by the legend here, and create a library w/ tales & statues and engravings of the legend of Medtob. And a tavern for visiting scholars and performance artists. Might have to contend with some ghosts, but would make a great story.

[@Mastercheap]

8:40 My head canon is that Zazit made a throne out of iron because in this fortress, it’s more prestigious than one made of cold

[@GideonRavenor712]

This would be a very interesting world for adventure mode. An entirely broken world of war-ravaged civilizations including the one which waged it in all of 10 years, likely thousands of wanderers struggling to re-establish diminished footholds, and although the great beasts and creatures of the world were diminished as well in that time it still being an Age of Legends means there's no shortage of great and terrible things that can bring such fragile life to an end.

[@StarshadowMelody]

"Why does Medtob keep kidnapping children?" What do you think's gonna happen when a single mother of 3 is leading your warmongering?

[@sambojinbojin-sam6550]

When good food, good beds, good grog, random nice stuff in a bedroom, and a mist generator in the meeting hall won't keep your dwarfs happy, you're either doing something wrong, or incredibly right/ awesome.

[@JustDontDie]

Right? Their friends are gone, they have to see tons of violence, and ghosts terrorize them, but they should have been happier. It's on them not me.

[@Lickicker]

Its always fun playing randomly generated colony games. You set out with a goal in mind only to figure out your map just was not meant for it. It was probably meant for your last playthrough idea. My current fort would be good for this because basically all of the ore is iron with a faint trace of silver and copper, but ive only found exactly 1 block of native gold.

[@JustDontDie]

Honestly, the map ended up being pretty decent. Early gold = lots of people, and while the lack of iron slightly slowed down steel production, I had enough by the time I started setting out in earnest. I might have sped up the initial attacks slightly with more steel, but I think my ultimate army would have been slightly smaller. I think the only decent settlable part of the world nearish the center being on the south side, when a big lake separated me from the huge # of targets in the north, was more unlucky than the iron ended up being

[@terrydavis5924]

An amazing race against the clock, both the one set by yourself and the inevitable tantrum spiral brewing through the entire second half of the run that was one legendary axedwarf rampage away from a bloodsplattered tomb.

[@DragonUH]

The only reason that din't happen was because they were too busy fighting abroad to go to the ghost tavern

[@HungryWhiteBoyGames]

You put so much effort into these videos, please don't get discouraged.

[@Ekdrink]

He reminds me of trmplays rimworld vids but without all the savescumming and giving up half way through the series😂

[@bighatdogan1086]

Love the storytelling in your videos, it's incredible how you can forge not just a story, but a legacy in one 1 hour long video.

[@JustDontDie]

Thanks so much! I feel like it's hard to balance the line between focusing on the challenge and having too much fluff, but I love when it feels like it plays out well here. My first draft of this video was about a half hour longer haha, but I think that was def too much fluff/fortress building.

[@adamguthrey6160]

​@@JustDontDieyouve got good odds that Id watch that extra half hour. Will there be a directors cut?

[@JustDontDie]

@@adamguthrey6160 Ahaha, sadly not. Most got axed before I lined it up with footage etc, and I wouldn't say much of what I do have the footage ready to go on is particularly interesting. It's mostly jokes I was iffy on = cut and taking a long time explaining things that's not necessarily great content. For example, I cut about 4 minutes from the first 20 that were setting up some of the notes hit later on. There was a bit more of a focus on the metalworkers, the human adventurers that helped before becoming ghosts, and fluff about the fortress that became the more focused 'summary' moments like digging major milestones.

[@kylecruz6346]

I'd be interested in wandering this world as an adventurer.

[@Notaforumguy007]

there'd be nothing as in those 10 years medtob led her dwarven army to destroy the world even at the cost of her only city's existence which is now a mere shell, hallowed out by a decade of wars, its front lawn soaked in blood and bones of the world's previous super powers attempting to end the war path leading to what is effectively mutual destruction. It'd be a very hallow and empty world to explore with every previous major city in ruins and littered with bodies of their residents.

[@brody7714]

Would be interesting to see this made into a happy, prosperous fortress.

[@JustDontDie]

Why do you ask the impossible of me? :^)

[@BoroMonokli]

@@JustDontDie 10 years lets go

[@dasbooterror]

Gotta look out for those diagonals on staircases!

[@JustDontDie]

I was trying to rush. I should not have rushed =(

[@xqt6339]

The improvement in editing from the conquest video is insane, keep up the hard work! It is being appreciated!

[@evanwilliams1839]

Gonna autism everywhere real quick, but the material of shields don't matter for protective purposes. A wooden shield will stop spewing fire and silver mauls with the same ease as steel shields. However metal shields and steel shields are "better" in the specific scenario of when your troops bash enemies with the shields. Also blunt weapons like maces and hammers can be used as suitable alternatives to bladed weapons as the peak materials for bludgeons are steel AND silver equally, meaning ore like Tetrahedrite can be used to produce silver maces and hammers, which will perform admirably in combat.

[@hiredgoon4269]

I feel like silver maces and hammers is much more fitting than steel, at least in my head canon.

[@RoyalFusilier]

If Dwarf Fortress is primarily an engine for generating emergent stories through gameplay, then it's one hell of a well-oiled machine by now. Gone are the legendary days of Boatmurdered, for good and bad, so much has changed, but there's still the core there. This ended so perfectly, so bleakly, that it could have been written to turn out that way and be a great narrative about, you know. How war is bad, even the 'winners' are left with nothing by the end, an eye for an eye makes everyone blind, a civilization that only exists to support a huge military's endless wars isn't much of any civilization at all, all that stuff. All from a fun challenge run, which you smashed out of the park.

[@SmileyPineconey]

That’s really thoughtful and original, you must be a writer for reddit movie studios

[@spankyjeffro5320]

There is so much wrong with your comment. War is always necessary. If you are not prepared to defend yourself you need to befriend someone who will, 'cause there is always someone out to walk all over you. Vengeance is justice, rules only work when you are prepared to punish wrong-doing. Punishment is only effective if it's feared. You need to do some serious learning. The world is not and will never be "the marshmallow fairy wonderland of friendship".

[@nikkimitchable]

@@spankyjeffro5320 yeah but it could be

[@randomguy019]

@@spankyjeffro5320 While I'll admit that it's ultimately practical to treat war/violence as an inevitability, it is not naive to not see it as necessary. The thing about war is it's biggest proponents are often those who directly benefit from it or those who cannot conceive of a world of peace. The former are always those in charge who do not need to send themselves to battles, but stand to gain spoils and power from them. The latter are those broken by war, having to adopt bleak and ruthless mindsets to survive the beast of war so that they won't be swallowed up themselves. Ultimately, your perspective posits that humans can never follow their better natures. They will always devolve to brutality and violence when given the chance. And while that perspective is not necessarily wrong, valorizing it as anything but bleak, cynical defeatism strikes me as tasteless.

[@borginburkes1819]

@@spankyjeffro5320war isn’t necessary. Wars are only fought to benefit a corrupt ruling class. Every single war.

[@andreasguillot2057]

This is the best DF content I've ever seen. The mantra "happiness is a resource" fits you perfectly 😂 "10 years to fix this fort's happiness" next? sounds harder than one would think, and you may need a well deserved break 😂

[@JustDontDie]

Stop asking the impossible of me!

[@melkormorgothbauglir.4848]

@@JustDontDie Hey if anyone can do it, its you.

[@Ekdrink]

That would take 10 actual irl years💀

[@Runetrantor]

Wonder how much it would take to restore the fort into a nice place to live, or if migrants are just not gonna come again and it would be a slow grind of births to bring the fort back to glory now that the world is defeated.

[@JustDontDie]

I could be wrong, but I believe it'd be possible but very difficult. The fortress' wealth is much lower now that all the steel gear is abroad, but the meals and gold at home should keep migrant waves coming. I think the big problem is going to be attacks. There won't be any sieges now that everyone's dead, but megabeasts and titans and the like will be scaled to a huge fortress that has no military and only 17 tantrum-prone dwarves. Births alone won't be enough, as the human ghosts I can't do anything about were killing about a person a year, outpacing births.

[@Sonnavind123]

That would be fun to watch tbh

[@maxpont8989]

​@@JustDontDie If I recall you can memorialise guests that died in your fort on slabs, so that could be worth a try. As for the beasts, sealing off the caverns and using laser bridges in the overworld might yet save the fort from its military impotence...

[@charlesv4434]

My god what storytelling, sweet music to my ears !

[@VerySpicyMemes]

Wonderedcastles is the type of fortress that would probably get generated as a "Dark Dwarven Fortress"... tagged as Friendly

[@wolf2403]

I have one, extremely simply request. Please make the most prosperous and we'll defended fortress ever. I mean designed to be impervious to forgotten beasts and external threats alike. A fortress built with the goal of weathering every possible storm while keeping the inhabitants in as good spirits as possible. Basically the safest game. Not some blitz across only a decade, but years of slow build up resulting in a steady, immovable foundation on which expansion may progress. Keeping enough soldiers at home and a high enough amount of workers that the troubles you face here aren't even a concern. TL;DR: I wanna see an absolute victory, regardless of how boring it may seem. I wanna see legends forged of a fortress stronghold so grand that even sleeping quarters are lined with marble and gold, while masterwork artifacts like grand hallways, their walls covered in glorious engravings.

[@RilfDanielson]

Sir, this is a Wendy's. aka this is the normal goal of all Dwarf Fortress playthroughs and is genuinely thought to be impossible. Either from a player's failure to do some little crucial thing or factors outside your control, there's a saying in the Dwarf Fortress community. "It is inevitable" and "Losing is FUN".

[@procrastinationpanda3911]

Sir... The mission, the nightmares... they're finally... over. Outstanding video. Good to see you again :)

[@StarshadowMelody]

"And the fifth artifact in 4 years is a boot." **video buffers** This is a copper high boot. All craftdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is decorated with giant cave spider silk and giant olm leather. This object menaces with spikes of copper. On the item is an image of a radiant cut gem in alunite. On the item is an image of a diamond in alunite.

[@C0rruptedSpY]

would be cool to see adventure mode of this bloodied world

[@Gorillahamburger]

it would be cool to see a second challenge in the same world ~50 years later, maybe building a utopia with an iron rule and siphoning resources from the last few colonies on the planet

[@BuddyWudzyn]

Bravo bravo! I was on the edge of my seat at the end of the

[@dopy274]

I want to see an adventure mode in this dead world

[@underdoug]

Little tip for blunt weapons, steel is too light a metal to make for effective bonking. You want as heavy as possible. Platinum is best but can only happen through strange moods, so silver or copper, in that order, are a your best bets. This is the same for crossbows, since dorfs will use them as a blunt weapon if they run out of bolts. Can't make silver crossbows, so copper is the way to go for those.

[@blakekendall6156]

I want to see what would happen if you tried to salvage this colony. Maybe you'd need to just bury everything you've done and convert your army into the ultimate civilian workforce, making an entirely new, unassailable fortress from scratch. I mean, what does any threat really amount to when every farmer is a walking war machine?

[@LanceThumping]

After seeing how empty the fort progressively got, I think it'd be nice if the next series was creating the largest population possible. P.S. I was a little sad that it dwindled like that but I'm guessing that it's just impossible to keep getting large amounts of migrants while also throwing so many people into war.

[@stripes8812]

What an incredible, heroic, tragic tale. I'd love to see you dedicate a final statue to Metob, in the finest metal your few dwaves can still muster, before retiring and leaving the city to ruin and legend. Then come back with a new challenge - make a library dedicated to a military of legend.

[@anibarukyouran1145]

"Did you conquer the world?" "Yes" "what did it cost?"

[@MrMcSpiff]

"Yes"

[@Obermufti]

The single ambulance ride joke hits way too hard. I'm laughing but also crying inside.

[@scotty4189]

Congrats on winning the challenge! What a run.

[@mithranruwodoalvisbeseitri9811]

kinda wonder why you didnt make your fortress into a vampire farm and declare war upon the world once you had enough vampires, its pretty easy to set though you will need a lot of tombs for "accidental purposes"

[@AmorEtPsyche]

Wow that was an experience to watch. It really turned out to the last day? Nicely narrated too

[@Streetcleanergaming]

Would Karl be proud of this? I believe so I mean its dwarves after all

[@elanasilverman4468]

Good God, this makes the Holocaust Museum look like a Disney property.

[@alwinlowdham2670]

ah, dude, shield material doesn't matter, don't waste your steel on shields

[@JustDontDie]

Oh really? That's super counterintuitive haha. Good to know though, thanks!

[@Juffe137]

Best channel for dwarf fortress content

[@GokayCEKLI]

Single ambulance in the us? I know you found gold but let’s not dream that big now alright?

[@StarlightLumi]

41:10 the word you're looking for is antepenultimate :)

[@JustDontDie]

See, prepenultimate sounds so much better. It should be the right word.

[@ronaldp7573]

When you play Stellaris in Dwarf Fortress.

[@Sideway8]

I asked for something to watch and the world obliged - haha yes!

[@quinnwasson2399]

Excellent story telling, wonderful video! Well done!

[@bigfootstoe1332]

Why steel shields first isnt that the one piece of equipment that you dont need a good mqterial for?

[@JustDontDie]

Because I didn't know that! In my defense, it feels like it should.

[@rileywraith5247]

Next challenge: 12 years to conquer the world, but at least half of your dwarves need to be neutral or happier.

[@JustDontDie]

I want it to at least be possible! I'm apparently really bad at keeping dwarves happy...

[@TheDreadedHope]

Love me a good Dwarf fortress story!!!!

[@koquarian]

How long do you put into these colonies in real time? I just got back into df recently and a 10 hour base for me is like 500 dwarves with a completely smoothed over safe haven, full of food and usually bronze (sometimes steel) gear. I assume you probably build for function to get towards your predetermined goal faster?

[@JustDontDie]

About 25ish hours for the gameplay, mostly due to just having to wait. My raw footage for this run especially has lots of that in the latter years when there weren't enough hands around the fortress to do much but I had to wait for years to pass while raiding. Then about 70-90 hours for editing, scripting, recording, making animations, thumbs, etc. Progress is definitely slowed down by all the wars though. While the fort's population topped out at around 160 thanks to constant attacks killing migrants as fast as they came even before i started sending them off, almost half of that was in the military, so my 'real' population for growing is much much slower.

[@koquarian]

@JustDontDie I see. I don't normally pick fights until I have around 4 squads heavily trained, so I probably have less pressure on my forts compared to yours, but you need that sweet, sweet content. Lol Been loving the videos, bud. 🫶

[@Poleit317]

Watching you waste so much steel on shields and blunt weapons hurt my soul...

[@JustDontDie]

In my defense, it really feels like it /should/ matter!

[@vonnegutfrey8714]

I would love for you to do another run in this weird messed-up world where one fortress completely conquered and destroyed the status quo to their doom.

[@hexyzforce2250]

I just randomly clicked for some white noise but damn what an Epic Journey. A fitting end for Medtob the cook and the scholar. They won but they have nothing to be proud of.

[@lilbred4044]

Medtob gets Khorne's approval and become a Daemon Prince, they now battle endlessly against the Imperium of Man.

[@vsnlps]

Really snuck that ad in there perfectly Didn't take me out of the story or video at all good job!

[@nachos34961]

For Hashut!

[@unalive_me]

That was awesome, would have loved to see the fort cleaned up, but it makes sense that they would abandon it. 10/10

[@koboldproductions2998]

If dwarf fortress was darksouls. 😅

[@WilliamL7]

God, just, my god. Awesome job and story telling.

[@adamguthrey6160]

I could say that I had a premonition that caused me to check your channel for your newest upload. the truth is that I habitually check your channel because I love your content

[@holdyourbreathandswimunder]

Dwarf Fortress is the epitome of a game that'd I'd never play, but LOVE watching somebody play it that knows what they're doing. This was a fun one bro

[@StrikaAmaru]

13:25 "A terrifying 2,000 strong". I'll worry when they have 6-10,000 inhabitants. 18:55 XD 23:45 "Dang, cave dragon". Accurate reaction.

[@voxlknight2155]

If you don't want your dwarves using the iron, put it into it's own stockpile and forbid it and the mood dwarves won't use it for anything... But it has been a while since I last played so I might be misremembering the exact way to do it, but I know there is one.

[@dogleader1126]

Watching this twice because i can

[@JustDontDie]

You madlad...

[@JakeTalksGamesYT]

Amazing video! There's somehow still not enough dwarf fortress videos to show how fun the game truly is

[@deltadrag00n19]

wait did they change how shields work? cause my memory of the DF I played was a wooden shield had the same blocking power as a metal shield iv always just used wooden ones myself lighter weight

[@LeAlexo]

8:30 I want everyone to be happy……… except zasit, I hope they’re fucking miserable that line killed me xD

[@allgreatfictions]

When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

[@RisaxTheImp]

Those were a long "3-ish weeks", but well worth the wait.

[@JustDontDie]

A mixture of being busy and motivation being ehhhh, but it came together well. I realized I do a worse job if I'm forcing it, so I only work on vids when I'm in the mood, which means way slower progress but higher quality when they arrive.

[@RisaxTheImp]

@@JustDontDie Life gets busy sometimes, and I can understand being dissatisfied with the results if you force it. I'm just glad to get a new Dwarf Fortress video from you because it's how I originally found your channel. And yes, it is a lengthy and good one. Keep up the good work!

[@lukex1337]

Never played this game but you sound like the biggest nerd in this game so I’m here ✌🏽👍🏽

[@khanwinter2740]

Absolutely nutty finish holy crap

[@astreanightfang2622]

i know it was not planned but its like this fortress could not find any iron at the place they started so they made it Everyone else's problem

[@diraska]

loved it! Does the game have mutators that change rules to raise difficulty or add new challenge?

[@KingoftheWelsh]

Great vid, great story, great finish!

[@BEANLORD6-9]

The G question. The Dwarfish solution. The 1000 year fortress.

[@Twistshock]

So you conquered the world, now you just gotta take on the underworld.

[@Narks-]

I watch some of your videos but every one i see an ad in without chapters that let me skip them i stay unsubbed.

[@salvagedude625]

36:30 compulsive absent single mother

[@JustDontDie]

She really chose being general over her kids in even coming...

[@zrazghost]

i hate grave stones so much its not even funny screw ghost dwarves and dead dwarves and graveyards and headstones and corpses and water and war cleanup

[@ursusludens7174]

I wannna play adventure mod in this world, it seems to be very athmospheric

[@PremiumChad]

57 i9 14900k and 3 threadrippers died in the making of this film

[@Т1000-м1и]

No way we got part 2

[@williamhohoho5198]

AMAZING video mate!

[@jcmottern]

I really want to play this game but I'm kind of intimidated😬

[@diraska]

"... leading to a zoo that is generously called animal cruelty."

[@CrabMusicCrabMusic]

peak

[@jacobislucas]

So glad you’re back

[@SiesenLanguageCenter]

What an adventure!!

[@szadek1337]

nice goblinite vein you got on the surface after the big raid on you

[@MarshallAsmus]

Moore Jennifer Williams Sarah Jackson Susan

[@jordanwidmer3561]

The word you want is 'antepenultimate'.

[@seadog8807]

That was simply an incredible challenge and an even better video! Very well done! While I have played Dwarf Fortress a little, I’m by no means an experienced or even competent player, but did wonder if the challenge would have been easier had you more evenly split the focus on the war fighting and the home economy. A fortress with a population of 500-1000 could easily support a military strength of 50%, leaving some at home for defence and still having hundreds of highly trained soldiers to decimate the civilisations around you. That said, 10 years was an enormously aggressive timescale so perhaps not! 😂😂 Huge fun to watch, and many thanks for this great content! 👍👍

[@lfarrocodev]

"There's a point where you can't do evil to somebody else without doing it to yourself."- Tom Snyder after interviewing Charles Manson

[@edoggy327]

Balin’s reclamation of Moria good ending

[@MageSkeleton]

Was there cheating involved in any of this?

[@i0am0superBlast]

In the coming centuries, story dwarves tell legends of the valient dwarves the rid the world of evil giants that stood over 5' high, and the green skinned monsters that thought nothing of dwarven lives. The city of heroes that disappeared from history once their mission to defend all of dwarvenkind completed.

[@richardtorruellas2370]

Still waiting for that play where you spend 5 years building up a fortress with a massive army to go on a one time crusade per kingdom because they cannot survive the hundreds of dwarves attacking every site they have simultaneously.

[@Para0234]

So this is what a movie villain thinks like.

[@MisterBones2910]

Getting your iron from combat? Back in the day we used to call this "mining goblinite."

[@Azazel-uv3sx]

China taking notes for Taiwan right now