Preparing for the caravan

With autumn halfway over, I set about trying to get as much done before the caravan arrived.  More mugs were ordered up ("#1 Miner!"), and the first two bars of steel coming out of the forges were turned into battle axes for the military.  Smelting is going slowly, even with three smelters, so it will be a while before we have full tin cans to defend us.

In Mid Autumn, a wholly unexpected message arrived...

But it was a whopping *two* dwarves.  Admittedly, one was a high master furnace operator, who is sorely needed, but still I was hoping for a lot more.  I had started digging a second set of bedrooms, which turned out to not be necessary.  Ten of em did start to be dug out, though, so if you have a little time you can furnish the rooms to be ready for the next wave of migrants.

Three puppies were born; one was assigned to guard the front hallway, and the other war dog was assigned to the hunter.   Who is getting better with his crossbow, and even managed to bring back a couple buck rabbits to the pantry.  But with all the meat from the useless animals that came with the second wave of immigrants, I think we should disable hunting on him so as not to risk losing him.

On 17th Timber, my tenure as Chief Noble comes to an end:

Some things the next ruler may want to make sure they do or change:

1) I had just designated a 11x11 area in the clay near the front door traps.  This was going to be the barracks.  Feel free to change this.

2) We are short on some critical skills.  We could really use more masons (of the two we have, Kenneth is our only woodcutter and in the military, and Miranda is a miner. Both are often busy.) and nobody has stone detailing at all.  Other crafters are burdened with other duties.

3) For our 18 dwarves, we have over 100 drinks and 200 prepared meals. I like Quarry Bushes as a  food source for making meals, but you do have to remember to micromanage them (do Process Plants (To Bags) at the Farmer's Workshop) to actually use them, otherwise they just clog up your food storage.

4) I queued up two steel shields, a steel breastplate and a steel helmet in the blacksmith.  Smelting coke is the limiting factor, especially with only lignite around. I designated areas for another four smelters.

5) The next person should get the leatherworker's workshop built, and trade for bins of leather (since they're really cheap, and you get the bins) and crank out leather cloaks, hoods, backpacks, waterskins, and armor for the military.  There are 81 mugs ready to trade, which should get you a few thousand schmuckers in trading value.

6) I haven't gotten any perimeter defense built yet.  I would have dug a moat (claiming as much of the plateau the entrance is on as possible) but the miners were more urgently needed for CoalQuest.  Hopefully the ambush that comes with the caravan will just be a couple thieves.  Remember, the lever to close up the fort is in the dining room.

7) We are going to need to keep digging for coal.  The eastern side of the map looks like it has the deposits.

8) I haven't made a well yet, but it should be easy with the river sources right there.  This should get done soon though, since we may have our first gobbos arriving shortly after the caravan.

9) I haven't made a hospital yet; this should probably have a well inside it too.  Trade for gypsum powder.