Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

In Progress Let's Play Towns, or I want to be a Human Fortress!

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
W2Nli.jpg



I'll be honest, while playing Towns I seriously thought I had Dwarf Fortress playing in on the backround, the soundtracks are so alike eachother.
What is Towns? Simply put, it's Dwarf Fortress for people who can't into Dwarf Fortress.
Human Fortress, if you will. A less complex way of running a fortress town.
To be fair, it has some of its own ideas.

FAQ TIME!
Aren't you already in a Dwarf Fortress LP sucession game? Why yes, I am. Thanks for asking. Go read it now. Besides this is Towns. Not Dwarf Fortress. Towns. (Shameless plug)

Aren't you already doing a LP? Why yes, I am. Thanks for asking. Go read it now. Besides, that's an AAR, not a LP. (Shameless plug)

Isn't that going to be too much to handle? No. Besides, I'm going to have a lot more free time than I already do in a week or so, so I might as well fill up that time with something.

Is there going to be this needless and annoying FAQ before every LP you do? I have no idea, I highly hope not. I suspect I won't make it past page 3 on anything I do here and I doubt I'll manage to finish a LP let alone start any more.

So, with all the boring shit out of the way.
Oh, and I ought to mention that Towns is in alpha, and you can buy it for like 10 euros on Desura(Steam for Indies), which is the cool fad for indie alphas to do right?

am9Vz.jpg

STRIKE THE EARTH
p6AaN.jpg

Here's the HUD (MS PAINT FOR THREE MINUTES FTW). For anyone who plays Dwarf Fortress, there's your quick guide.

For everyone else. It's not that difficult to get a grip of.

tUskV.jpg

First thing first, chopping trees.
I've played the demo(which is a free demo of playing 20 of in-game days on Desura(shameless plug)) of this game a while ago, so I dunno how much has changed since I brought it today for this LP(my excuse for actually..buying..a...game). From what I remember, you burn through trees like you were a wood burner ( :M ) and they regrow like rabbits fuck or teenage boys wish they could fuck like.
PMqyc.jpg

And then we harvest food. This is important because Humans, unlike dwarves, have to eat constantly, like, two times a day rather than a season, and start starving painfully fast. There's fruit to be picked off trees, then there wild wheat and animals such as the bull featured above for food, farming comes slightly later.
9FwfO.jpg

Here's the townfolk moving into action.
RuYth.jpg

The fruits of our labour(ha-ha-ha)
0bIxE.jpg

Stockpiles are made around the carpentery workshop(the wooden floor)
61nT6.jpg

rJ1lz.jpg

Aahh mining. I feel at home.
FFYae.jpg

Here's an interesting thing. The stone hammer has stats. The crappy looking combat has a lot of stat use. Also the hammer is used to make a masonry, which we need to make.
t0cR8.jpg

So I start on the personal rooms, which takes two days, and in the end I paused the game as it was taking long to flat the land out.
7WBU6.jpg

About a quarter of the stockpile was full, by the time the masonry is done, we barely have enough for a couple more minutes.
So I start every to get _All_ of the pickable fruit on our side of the river.
And start tilling some land for farms.
oB7mo.jpg

Suddenly something happens that makes me pause.
fOKVm.jpg

A fight! Sadly most of the flavour text that makes Dwarf Fortress combat so awesome is lacking, they just sort of..wiggle in the air..at eachother.
PenMM.jpg

Zs0h8.jpg

21mBE.jpg

EPq8y.jpg

With our first victory over nature, I think that's covered enough of the basics for me to properly start the LP, which'll be from the point of view of Gregory Cairon, one of the townfolk who looks like he's from a metal band that has a hard-on for viking history.
uS7Vx.jpg

In case you haven't noticed, the thing at the top is the date, I think it goes Days/Months/Years(like it should), but I don't fully know because 20 days =/ month in the demo.

As always, if you've got any questions, complaints, suggestions, rants, insults, etc to give, by all means do so.
 

Phelot

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
17,908
I've been looking for something like this for awhile.

The rooms you're building... they don't have walls?
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
Took a quick screenshot for this (halfway doing the next update)
For the time being they don't have walls, you have to set some ground for a room, then build the wall around(around looks best) or in the room(like I've horribly done), like so, then you put doors in(note the empty spaces between the wall blueprints), you can also set to build walls with like glass in them and stuff, but that's new since the last time I played and I've got no experience at it.
osFR2.jpg

It makes building a room feel like actually managing something important, and that's nothing to speak for actually building a full house which takes a fuckload of effort. It's far easier to mine out the rooms under ground, but it's not quite as town-like. The progress on building walls depends on how much importance you put on it(You can see that right of the soliders button(helmet townfolk next to the fork/hammer) there's a little green up arrow and red down arrow, that's where you pick which jobs are the most important to complete), and how little of the other odd-jobs you have to do.
Since I'm still trying to stop the population from starving horribly, it's going slow.

Oh, and the blue little mark ontop of the walls I think shows what colour the roof(which is created automatically once a room is complete) will be, I've set a different colour roof for each row of rooms.

Another sort of Dwarf Fortress game but not as difficult or complex that's coming out soonish is A Game Of Dwarves which'll be more of a Dwarf Fortress experience, I'd assume. So that might be worth a try when it comes out if you're interested in Dwarf Fortress-ish games that aren't as painful to play as DF can be.
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/a-game-of-dwarves
Also it's Paradox Interactive, so it's a safe bet it won't suck horribly.
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
While I haven't had much experience with the combat overall, from what experience I have had it feels somewhat on the level of Dwarf Fortress(Goes horribly wrong if you decide to do something stupid, but generally goes okay), but most of the difficulty from Dwarf Fortress is from not really knowing what you're fully doing, and cocking something up. Here it's pretty clear and easy to know what you're doing, so you don't have the worry of fucking something up without knowing it, to suddenly find everything has gone wrong.

The first main challenge is sorting out food production, if you don't get that sorted out in the first week, you're going to start losing people to hunger(Earlier builds had it as if any of the townfolk started getting too hungry, they would refuse to do anything but move to food, which was extremely dangerous), but there's tutorials which make sure you know what you're doing before being faced with that while you haven't got your head together.

I'd say if Dwarf Fortress is a 7 on difficulty(out of 10), I would put Towns at around 4.

It might get much harder later on when you start getting heroes and explore the dungeon much more in-depth, but I'm not sure about those things.
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
I have no idea.

They're going for more of a focus on adventuring than DF has though, I think it's like, build your town and set off to conquer the dungeon for the loot and glory, having your town as a base to set off from.

Personally, I think it's just another game going for the 'I want to play Dwarf Fortress but I can't get past the learning curve, indie company, please help me!' market.
I expect it to be dwarf fortress with a dungeon keeper feel to it later on. I can see promise for it and I'm hoping it will turn out as Terraria did compared to Minecraft, kinda the same, but with much more focused gameplay.
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded

It's like, a whole new game!

Cairon Journal 01.

We've been sent here to create a colony, the expedition leader commander died to the froggies across the river, the rest of us swam over, after five days of nonsense I've been elected as leader after a fight started that I won. They were weak.
xoLT5.jpg

The walls are planned and a few have started to be built, but everyone is crying about food.
Food?! FOOD!? Weak mortals.

OiOuZ.jpg

To shut them up I've demanded some cow-mills and a bakery started, the farms are nearly done being seeded.
dVbGO.jpg


I clearly made the perfect place to stop and make our colony at, our location is across the river from a jungle area
vcOUg.jpg

Where the Froggies live. But the river stops frogs because frogs can't swim.
But some of the jungle has reached our side of the river, so we can get some bananas and jungle roots to eat.
R0uLw.jpg

After yelling at them for a while, they've finally started making some bread. Maybe we aren't going to die because of their uselessness after all.
kYP8Z.jpg

Nuxdamn that's one handsome hungry fellow right the chuffing durn dungeon there.
Oh yeah it's me.
BCApo.jpg

They finally got around to making my chair and table so I can write this journal on, they elected me and someone has to keep a record of things.
xqUSq.jpg

Here you can see the new pig farm, and some more bread production. Under my leadership, everything is going smoothly.
yM51N.jpg

On the far side of our desinated colony borders coal is located and so we get started on mining some.
HZdS5.jpg

I've also demanded that experiments on water-building are conducted, the only rightful place for my throne room in in the middle of the lake. It didn't go well.
rBKfo.jpg

Cunningly spotting a hole to expliot in the market, I decide to create a forest out of pear trees and apple trees.
BsSX3.jpg

The Housing Estate is going brilliantly, and here they thought 9/1/1 would be a bad omen! The swine.
Ontop of that..
6P6pv.jpg

Under my brilliantier leadership, some copper is spotted.
NKF2N.jpg

I order the new forest to be harvested, and speaking of a forest..
3ZD9Z.jpg

Here's a forest north of our settlement, I'm going to keep an eye on it and see how big it expands and grows, we'll use it as our personal wood stocks.
The next day the first door is put up
pWmnh.jpg

This is what Catherine gets for being a flirty minx, everyone does her house for her first, the cunning witch.

Here are our food stocks
BKW5U.jpg

Well, fruit stocks. We're got over 50 fruit which is grand for us, but fruit isn't filling at all! I've worked out that it's only enough to fill us up a fifth of our stomach!
Tarnation, we're going to have to come up with something better.
Ak0ji.jpg

The bread is much more filling, but we're having a hard time producing it.
I might switch to apple pies, we've got a lot of apples after all.
And that brings us to today, I remember being woken up in the night by Catherine screaming merrily
d71qC.jpg

"Thanks guuys~~~~!" Nux, why did I have my house across the road from hers!?
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
To be fair to the game, it is kinda still getting started, think of it like the first season in DF, nothing really happens, but I felt it was important to detail what is going on so that the game is understood more. Once the housing is roughly done(which should be finished before the first month is over) and the food production is fine, before I do what would be akin to digging for the HFS before your farms are working.

I don't find Dwarf Fortress too difficult, just don't cock up, know what you're roughly doing, and be prepared to lose most of the fortress if you need to. Think ahead and all will be fine, basically. The difficulty comes from biting off more than you can chew without fully knowing it. At least, that's me personally.
As for what would be 10/10, a game that's still difficult even if you know what you're doing. Like Dwarf Fortress with mods to make it more difficult and in a difficult area to settle.

And yeah..It's a cow on a hamster wheel for a windmill. It's still called a windmill. The lack of wind seemingly moot, hence why I called it a cow-mill.
I think it looks pretty fucking stupid personally.

Since there's two people saying we dig greedily and deeply as soon as possible, that's what I'll do, when I'm somewhat assured that we won't starve halfway through digging.
 

Destroid

Arcane
Joined
May 9, 2007
Messages
16,628
Location
Australia
I agree with Urist, Dwarf Fortress really isn't difficult at all once you have the basics down, it's one of the points I tried to address in my mod.
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
Another update, it's going pretty fast 'cause I actually wanna play this game, so I'm doing the LP in my free-time and not just in the time I've set apart from LPing.

Cairon Journal 02

dxKr7.jpg

A hospital has started to be built, in my sleep I had a dream from Nux himself, demanding me to rid the world of evil. And we might get hurt doing it, hence the hospital.
KqMwv.jpg

First apple pie. We shall conquer this land with Apple Pies, immigrants, and.. a manifestation of destiny.

clZqe.jpg

Here is where the breach shall be made into the lower levels..
t100E.jpg

The forest is being expanded further to help stockpile food.
Fx3lF.jpg

By the 17th, a ladder has been ordered built to give us a way down.
I looked down the hole..
6aZLB.jpg

Huh..Shouldn't it just be stone?
Nux be praised, it must be a dungeon!
WAR, EVERY BODY BUILD FOR WAR!
DewKe.jpg

ARMOUR FOR THE ARMOUR GOD
wJaBp.jpg

WEAPONS FOR THE WEAPON GOD!
NOm5o.jpg

The first green house is completed.
RDuFp.jpg
And the first of my armour is created, I shall lead from the front and charge head first into the dungeons!
mTxEU.jpg

CLOGS AND BARK PANTS, VICTORY SHALL BE MINE!
pikUO.jpg

THE FIRST HOUSE OF BLUE!
x8xPD.jpg

The jungle area on this side of the river with my fabulous banana farms.
wqtj3.jpg

Some bones are made, eventually we will have suits of armour made from the bones of our fallen foes!
mTL6l.jpg

SJWsL.jpg

ARMOUR FOR ME! ALL MINE!
eWkfQ.jpg

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA
D5LQJ.jpg

THE LADDER IS READY, WE SHALL CLEAR THIS LAND!
QYarE.jpg

Maria has gone down for mining and I went with her to protect her.
LET US BATTLE FOES OF NUX! I SHALL EAT ITS BRAINS AND FEAST ON ITS SOUL!
5BhzS.jpg

:M
cXhWA.jpg

Even I couldn't save Maria. I have decided that the top of the hill shall become the graveyard.
I shall name the hill.. Cairon Carrion Hill.
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
m4davis Aw man, you don't have faith in my ability to play a game that I'm rushing faster with than I ought to and which I have just enough knowledge of to know this is a bad idea without enough knowledge to do much about it without backtracking?

:troll: Good call.
Got two updates to post today, and I'll wait until the second one is out tonight before playing some more 'cause there's a choice for you gits to ignore at the end of it.

Updatan now while I eat my breakfast.
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
aEUXw.jpg

OH GOD MISAMA PANIC EVERYONE SEEK THE BARONESS TO SAVE US
Oh no. OH NO-~~~
..Oh it was just a dream..a bad dream..

Cairon log 3
scQff.jpg

I order some stone spears created, the complete lack of iron is very worrying so we'll have to make do with what we have.
IqjFi.jpg

Under my awe-some ability to shout at workers to move faster, the houses are complete faster than even I expected. And the hospital is coming along nicely.
In fact..
kk3zA.jpg

Later that same day it's finished.
CE1eY.jpg

Here is the fruit stocks. I am still uneasy about relying on fruit like we were elves hippies.
cmxLd.jpg

iroZz.jpg

Here's the production line for the military, I want to have half the settlement battle ready.
k7oc0.jpg

I also put in an order for bones, the Lord Protector must look his part..
Hespe.jpg

Another way down to created and laddered for the stone.
VYw0T.jpg

And the wooden armour is complete.
wOB0V.jpg

MINE YOU SLAVES MINE!
bvnYU.jpg

The first grave is complete.
Did I say first? Damn right I did. We're going to murder everything here, we'll lose good men doing so but it's acceptable losses.
czAOf.jpg

The first spears are completed!
50UKo.jpg

After rearming myself I go onwards FOR GLORY!
vb0ry.jpg

"FREEEEEEEDOOOM!" I bravely cried, knowing that I was saving the entire human race from these passive-aggressive monsters.
Tj2Jd.jpg

I noticed I had in my berserk rage of Nux collected some Spiderite! Wonderful!
What do we need to use it..
bSmcs.jpg

Oh jig off you iron.
FC7K2.jpg

I enlist Beatrix to the military, I might be all powerful, but I'm not all powerful enough.
Lvddk.jpg
Because she's a woman I equiped her with our best weaponry and armour, I, on the other hand, created glory with sub-par equipment. Haha.
U81Na.jpg

Some mining is demanded and the worker slaves get right on it.
EHly6.jpg

Because they whined about being eaten alive I decided to send Beatrix and myself to guard them as they worked.
I saw Beatrix was wounded! She might be a feminist plotting to overthrow the men one settlement at the time like the rest of them but damnnit this is my settlement and I'LL SAVE HER.
0bU6R.jpg

I quite literally leaped across the mining site as it was expanded, Beatrix running for her life like I knew she would.
Good. It's just me and him now..
qH21A.jpg

There was three of them and I cut them down and..nearly died for it.
a89Ip.jpg

I retired from active service.
And here I am on the 27th in hospital writing this account of my heroism.
Was it reckless and fool-hardy to risk my life against such odds for a mere woman who would only stab me as I slept anyway?
Yes, but I am the Lord Protector, it is my duty!
 

TripJack

Hedonist
Joined
Aug 9, 2008
Messages
5,132
what is this? some kind of liberal paradise of feminist oppresion?

wimmins should be second-class kitchen workers urist they have no place on the field of battle
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
Good sir I see you live up to your Kwanzanian roots, Gregory already has a brilliant plan to remove the womyn folk from an active and useful life don't you worry!
 

Arpad

Educated
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
248
What is that woman doing in the battlefield? Women are like budgies - they learn by speech stimulus to follow simple instructions while flirting in the front of a mirror and they are overly fond of glittery things like corvids. Women are fit for bearing children and simple work tasks like filling out race track lottery coupons. Not for swofs swinging.

Equality is a dangerous falsification. A foot massager is useful, even pleasant but it is not equal to a man; It is ssame with woemen. A woman outside of her her natural habitat consisting of bedroom, kitchen and ham-bingo is like an ape dressed in organ grinder's clothing begging for coins. A sight that only makes one ashamed fo seeing it.

Morre, looks somewhat promising game.
 

Urist McLurker

Learned
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
238
Location
Virgintraded
What an awfully verbose way of putting it.
Next update has 60 images in it, we're four more posts away from the next page, and it's got a choice in it at the end.

So..Bump for the bump God.

Edit: Managed to cut the next update down a lot, but was fucked over by cats and the back button.
 

Arpad

Educated
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
248
Ew, so many mistyped words. Have to quit posting while boozing.

Anyway BUMP!
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom