Sprok, in purple, reads a report while Sarvesh waits.

Kelthosbut stands in his office reading a dire letter written in haste by Railick Stonemane. His face is clouded with fear and doubt, doubt in his ability to make a competent decision. On his desk is a tattered page from the journal of Urist McSpelunker, giving the caverns below the fortress a glowing review. It urged Kelthosbut, nicknamed Sprok, to spare the caverns a watery fate. In his hand however was a document that edged him closer to flooding the caverns for the safety of his people. If that were not enough the leader of a caravan from the mountain homes was waiting patiently in his office to speak about trading issues! Sprok had to deal with this issue quickly without tipping off to Sarvesh that there was a serious problem in Shieldrouted, a serious problem.

Status Report – Miner’s Guild

The mining goes well and at a quick pace. With four of us working around the clock all of the goals you have set for us are within our reach. The caverns below our fortress have continued to yield massive amounts of iron ore and fuel sources for our smelters. Along with this there are smatterings of jewels in the walls there though we have yet to find anything of high value. Several miners and haulers have reporting seeing eyes in the darkness below in the cavern, but so far nothing has come up to cause us trouble. Confirming sightings include several tribes of beastmen, giant toads and olms, and most troubling a giant cave sparrow! In addition to this we have also sighted a small scuttling beast that we have no name for, its mouth is all teeth. I fear in an encounter this creature would be dangerous so much caution should be taken in exploring the cavern floor.

As you are aware Urist McSpelunker was lowered to the cavern floor several days ago by rope ladder. At the appointed time I lowered the ladder for him to return and hung several lanterns above the ladder so he would be able to see them easily. Just as the ladder reached the cavern floor I heard a scuttling noise below. I assumed at first this was Urist getting prepared to climb the ladder, but this noise was soon followed by a scream. The voice was most certainly dwarvern and the scuffling sound grew louder for a moment. As the sound died down there was a sudden weight on the ladder, as if something was climbing it.

At this point I felt certain that Urist had prevailed against whatever it was that attacked him, but my certainty was questioned as whatever it was drew into the light. The first thing I could see were the eyes, hundreds of eyes perched in an odd pattern. My instinct seized me then as whatever it was began to climb faster, as if it craved my blood. With all the might of Armok I struck the support holding up the rope ladder and in a smash the support fell. The weight of the beast dragged the support beam over the edge of the cliff and down into the darkness. A horrible screaming sound followed with a large thump as the beast hit the ground were the last things I heard.

Bailick went down into the darkness a few hours later armed with his pick axe to see what could be found. The only thing he returned with was the page of Urists’s journal! It was found in a bag attached to the largest spider web Bailick has ever seen. I worry that there is more to be found in the darkness below our fortress than we first imagined. Though Urist writes that we should not flood the cavern I much recommend that we do, any attempt at rescuing him at this point will only lead to great loss of life. He is in Armok’s hands now, and unfortunately Armok craves blood! It will be up to him to find his way home, though he had no weapons and no armor. I fear his life is as good as lost, so we must think about ourselves and the other civilians that live in the fortress.

Lake project

In other news the project above ground goes well, the artificial lake you ordered to be dug around the fortress progressing well. However we have found no safe way to remove the strip of land between our fortress and the brook. When the time comes to finally flood the lake that strip of land will have to remain, I suggest to you that it may be used against our enemies. By building a wall on that strip of land it can be used as an archer post or at the very least a look out post! In addition to this the animal pit you requested for breeding the calm animals has been completed and after a small mistake on the part of a hauler it is now in use. The poor bastard managed to lock himself in with the animals by installing a floodgate from the wrong side!

We have begun to carve fortifications in the walls at cavern level by digging straight down into the walls of the cavern where the ceiling is connected to the ground. There is a very large bounty of rare minerals and spider silk to be found there, as Urist reported. However I feel it would be a mistake to open these passages to the cavern floor itself. A troll has been heard in the deep and if we use a door to hold the passage he will easily destroy it to get into our fortress. If you do choose to continue I suggest a water lock design that can be flooded when not in use. This combined with a hall of cage traps should protect our fortress from all but the most powerful of enemies.

23rd Hematite, 1052

The cavern below our fortress is truly amazing. As I scramble through the stones and fungal growth attempting to stay one step ahead of the perils that lurk in the darkness it is hard for me not to be struck by wonder. Above me I can see the latern lights of my fellow dwarves whom are diligent in their mining duties. There up above they are safe from the dangers that skulk after me down here. With the orange glow of the laterns the gems in the ceiling glow like stars in the night skin. I, being a dwarf, have never been one to yearn for the open sky. However now that I am here deep under the stones I have found a sky beautiful enough to yearn for.

My mission here is almost over, I have discovered deep in these caverns a source of water for our fortress. More interesting is the countless veins of valuable minerals and gems as well as the extremely rare spider webs that we could skin into silk easily. It is my intent to make it out of here alive and report back to the leader that we should not flood this cavern. True there are monsters down here but it is nothing a well prepared trap could not eliminate. Trogs and olmmen, maybe a few giant cave spiders and that is it. The waters contain more beastmen but we have plenty of water up above and flooding the  cavern would only increase their ability to assault us.

Yesterday as I roamed through an underground forest of tall mushrooms I witnessed a giant cave spider tearing apart a trog like a baby dwarf tearing apart a normal cave spider. In its many cold eyes I saw a creature, not a monster. It simply hungered for food like we all do, and there is nothing that which indicates to me any sinister origins. It is my opinion that we could capture this beasts with steel cage traps or smash them with boulders, either way they are to stupid to avoid our traps. Attempting to fight them head on however would be great folly as the tribe of troglodytes quickly discovered yesterday.

There is no way for me to return to my home until tomorrow afternoon when the leader of the mining guild Railick will lower down a rope and wood ladder for me to climb up. I have seen enough here that I feel safe and sound hiding until that time, the beasts here have no idea what I am capable of and have always given me a wide berth. Even the giant cave spiders avoid me when they do catch a glimpse of me, though I fear if they knew how weak I actually am they would have killed me long ago. If this journal returns to the fortress clutched in my skeletal grip please tell my beloved Urista McLoven that I will always love her, and that I will miss combing her beard.

Whether you are in the process of creating your military forces or trying to decide what skills you want for your adventurer it is important to know what weapon is good for what. This is just as true in dwarf fortress as it is in reality, because dwarf fortress does a very good job of simulating reality! This article seeks to educate the average reader on which weapon to use and why so you won’t go blindly into combat. Please read below if you want to learn more.

This article will only cover a few weapons, I may do another one later that goes into detail about others. At this time however we will only go into seven weapons, one of which dwarves can not use. (but human adventurers can) There is the spear, the crossbow, the battle axe, the war hammer, the mace, the short sword, and the whip. Together we will quickly cover the uses and he draw backs of each weapon type and when you might want to use it. It is worth noting that in the newer version of dwarf fortress some of these weapons seem to be bugged. The War Hammer and the Crossbow both seem to have some bugs related to them, but I will report on them as the where before the bugs were introduced.

The War Hammer - The War Hammer is a classic dwarven weapon that has been used by many of my great ancestors. This weapon is more or less a weaponized version of the tool. In the case of dwarf fortress this weapon is one of the most deadly and enjoyable to use in my opinion.

• It does blunt damage
• It can cave in enemies skulls
• It can knock enemies back into objects causing them to explode
• It can destroy bones and stop hearts without leaving chunks of your enemies laying around everywhere

The best time to use this weapon is if you are fighting against lightly armored humanoid enemies. Goblins, humans, elves, beast men, ect are all good targets. It inflicts a lot of pain causing most of these creatures to retreat or black out before actually killing them. It can also one hit kill some of them if you hit their head or cause them to fly back and hit something. In this case they will explode and leave chunks all over the place.

It is best not to use this sort of weapon against larger beasts that feel no pain however. The best example I can think of is the Giant Cave Spider. Never bring a war hammer to a fight with a giant cave spider! It does not feel pain, and the blunt damage will not be enough to kill it most of the time. In this case you’ll want to use our next weapon in the list.

The Battle Axe - The battle axe is my personal favorite. It offers you a nice balance between damage and effectiveness. Unlike the war hammer it will inflict terrible slashing wounds that can result in limbs being lost. Also unlike the war hammer and other blunt weapons it runs the risk of being stuck in the wound. In this case you can try to extract it by moving away or you can just twist it, in both cases you run the additional risk of losing the weapon all together. The spear is much worse about this however, but with the axe this will happen often enough that it is worth taking into account.

• Removes enemies limbs easily, causing death in most creatures by bleeding.
• Causes high amounts of pain causing many creatures to pass out or run away.
• Can instant kill many enemies by removing head or other vital organs like a strike to the lung or heart.
• Can be stuck in wounds and twisted causing enemies to pass out from pain more quickly than normal strikes that do not remove body parts.

This weapon is useful in situations where you will be fighting a lot of different types of enemies. It is useful against just about anything but doesn’t shine in any one area. Unlike a crossbow or spear it does not do piercing damage so there is less chance of it hitting vital organs. However it does have an advantage over those weapons in that it can cut off limbs and body parts. This is obviously an awesome bonus! I can’t think of any negatives, it is more or less my all around favorite weapon in the game.

The Mace – The mace and the war hammer for all intents and purposes are the same weapon. They do the same amount and type of damage as of version 40d. They do however use skills that are unique to each weapon so a dwarf skilled with using war hammers will not be skilled with a mace.  As far as I know there is no perk to using a war hammer over a mace, or the other way around. The only thing I would note is that it may be useful to train both skills for an adventurer just on the off chance you find an artifact mace or war hammer (that way you’ll be able to use which ever you find) Otherwise I don’t see any difference between the two other than personal preference. If you know something I do not please leave a comment to correct me.

The Short Sword – A short sword shares all the benefits and draw backs of a battle axe weapon, much like the mace is similar to the war hammer. It is worth note however that as of version 40D of dwarf fortress the short sword does slightly less damage than a battle axe. If you had to choose between the two I would go with the battle axe every time. Again this comes down to personal style and preference. Personally I don’t see short sword and dwarf in the same sentence. For me a short sword is more suited to a gnome or a halfling or something small that can’t handle a full sized weapon. As far as I know both weapons use the same amount of material to construct in fortress mode so there really is no advantage for being with a short sword over a battle axe. In the new version things may have changed but the stats have not been published on the wiki as of it. Realistically speaking a short sword has many advantages over a battle axe. For one it is smaller, lighter weight, and faster to use. In real combat between someone with a battle axe and a short sword the sword user would have the dexterity and speed advantage while the battle axe user would have the power and damage dealing advantage. In the game as in real life it all comes down to the skill of the warrior in the end, and the quality of the weapons. If you’d rather your dwarves use short swords you will not be hurting yourself at all so long as the weapon quality is good and the dwarves are well trained!

The Spear – The spear is a weapon class all to itself. There is nothing else like it available to dwarves that can be used at close range. Similar to the cross bow bolt spears do piercing damage and can turn the tide of a battle very quickly. In ancient times the spear was a very popular weapon because it was cheap to produce and easy to train people with. Any farmer can pick up a stick and jab it at someone else, instant fodder for your army!

• Piercing damage that goes straight to the heart of the matter, and the monster!
• Gets stuck very easily due to the fact you’re stabbing it into someone, twist away!
• Carry two or three with you on the off chance one gets stuck and you lose it!
• Can instantly kill many monsters, has the highest critical boost you can get

Spears are called for when you are fighting a large monster that would otherwise take a long time to kill. Dragons can be killed very quickly by an army of spear users. The reason for this is because all it takes is one lucky stab with a spear to stab someone’s heart or lung and kill them. Instead of having to hack at something until it bleeds to death or you get lucky and cut off the monsters head you have several instant kill internal organs to hit. Also even if you only hit a stomach or a spleen you can disable an enemy by causing them to vomit over and over again until they die from other wounds! What more could you want? As described above however you must be cautious as it is very easy to get the weapon stuck. With your weapon stuck in an enemy it is possible to lose your weapon all together. Like I say above carry an extra spear with you, and if you like you can even start combat by throwing one!

The Whip – The whip is truly my favorite weapon in the game. Out of all the other weapons you can use in adventure mode this one is the most sadistic you can find. We’re not taking a leather whip here either theses things are made out of metal! In adventure mode you can use this weapon to torture your enemies and tear them apart. Rip off ears, fingers, entire arms, and so on until your enemy passes out from sickly sweet extraordinarily intense agony.

• Is special in that it inflicts more pain than it does damage, very useful against living targets that can feel pain
• Tears body parts off very easily, expect to see a lot of chunks laying around.
• It’s just freaking cool to use a chain whip!

It must be noted that a chain whip is not the most useful weapon you can find. It doesn’t do a lot of damage and is mostly useless against the undead and giant cave spiders. Anything that can not feel pain and will not run away from you when in intense pain will not respond to this weapon. It does almost no internal damage unless you get very lucky indeed and it does not pierce armor very well at all. Over all this weapon is fun to use if you just want to torture some enemies into a comma, don’t expect to last long against more serious opponents. Key note, a dwarf can not use a whip! From what I know Lashers can only be humans.

The Crossbow – The crossbow is the weapon of choice for defending a fortress. If you have plenty of ammo and plenty of psychopathic dwarves with crossbows you can handle almost anything. I have heard that this may have changed in the newest version of dwarf fortress but in 40D the crossbow is king. With clever construction of walls and fortifications you can have several watch towers full of crossbow wielding super midgets waiting to rain death down on your enemies! Because of the way fortifications work you must build them one Z level above the ground level. This way your archers can shoot through them without penalization but any incoming fire from your enemies will be heavily penalized! If you do not build it a Z level above the ground the goblins will simply walk up to the edge of the fortifications and shoot through just like you.

• Does piercing damage like  a spear, internal organs beware!
• Easy to train in version 40D by just by setting up archery targets and making bone/wood bolts for them to use
• Easy to get entire army of marksdwarves to rain death down on your enemies.
• Also used by hunter dwarves. It is possible to make all your dwarves hunter dwarves so they are constantly armed.
• Long range, keeps your dwarves out of harm while they deal death to sieges!

In adventure mode the crossbow is only of limited use. Generally speaking your view range is short and any other archer will be able to out range you. Any monster that you can see will be able to see you after your first shot, possibly sooner. If you are a good archer then you may be able to destroy them before they reach you, but if not you’ll be in big trouble! In fortress mode however you don’t need to worry about these issues. Just give your dwarves crossbows and get them training! The more squads of these fellows you have the better. With a few melee dwarves to protect them they can fire away with impunity and probably take out a dragon before he has a chance to char your entire fort.

Shield Dwarf Rule # 4 – A Shield Dwarf must be intoxicated at all times.

This one sounds easy, but let me tell you it is the hardest rule yet! Anyone can get drunk and pass out in a ditch some place but only a Shield Dwarf and maybe Jackie Chan can use this to their advantage. You have to know exactly how much alcohol you can handle and then push yourself just a slight bit beyond that limit. Once there you must have the self control to stop drinking and get to your job whatever that might be. Not everyone can defend an outpost wearing heavy steel armor and holding heavy steel weapons and a shield while drunk. Indeed this ability is what sets a Shield Dwarf apart from a corpse waiting to die!

My best suggestion to those who aspire to be a Shield Dwarf is to handle this like you would any other training. Start slow and establish your max drink level and work on it every day. Over time you will be able to build up a tolerance to the liquor while also training your muscles and your mind to respond to your garbled commands more effectively. Before you know it you will be able to do all sorts of things drunk that people on TV tell you not to do! Operating heavy machinery is a lot more fun if you’re slightly toasted and the only machinery a shield dwarf should be required to handle is a bridge lever or trap trigger! Trust me when I saw watching a goblin explode into a mist of gore and bone chips is a lot more entertaining when you’re drunk, though I must admit it is a hoot regardless of your blood alcohol level.

Now that you have the liquor you hate the most before you, you can start your training. Your first task is to drink all of this alcohol between now and the next time I post a rule. You obviously have no idea how long that may be so your best bet is to get drinking and hope for the best! Remember drink responsibly and have the self control to stop drinking once you have reached your limit. Once you are in this sweet spot it is time to put down the bottle and pick up the plastic weapons you’ve purchased for training. If your friends or family ask you what you’re doing just tell them you’re drunk and they’ll understand. They may call the police, but they’ll understand!

Having discovered a great maw exists under my outpost I have moved forward with both great haste and extreme caution. First things first I removed the stairs leading down into the massive cavern so that any flying creatures could not make their way up into my defenseless fortress. At this point my only defenders are pick axe wielding psychopaths that are more concerned with mining stone then they are with defending the fortress. Now an even more pressing issue comes to the fore front, my food stocks are falling fast and I still don’t have a farm. Read below to see how I’ve solved these problems and how I plan on dealing with the cavern below. A little hint, it involves waterfalls and major assumptions that are probably incorrect!

The cavern below my fortress could be huge, or it could be tiny. Given what I’ve read online I’m guessing it is rather large and runs across my entire play area, but I could be wrong. From what I can see it is many Z levels high and many of those levels have platforms that could extend into unknown parts. I have noticed that there is giant cave spider silk all over the place down there and if I understand correctly that guarantees that there are giant cave spiders somewhere in the cavern. If this is the  case there is no way in hell I’m going down there with any of my dwarves as the giant cave spider is my most feared enemy. With its ability to web up pray and then inject poison they are deadly, but the thing that makes them truly dangerous is their inability to feel pain. They cannot be knocked out; they will never give in to the pain! They will never run away, and even if you cut off several of their legs they can still bite you which will result in death most if not every time. The only way I’ve ever killed them in adventure mode is from dumb luck with critical strikes to one of their very few vital areas. Many a final resting place for my previous adventurers lies in a giant cave spider’s stomach, I despise them utterly!

With this in mind I have only two choices as I see it. One is to totally ignore the cavern and try to find a way to get past it without every going into it. The other, and the one I intend to use, I will go into at the end of this article. It is possible that I may explore the cavern with stray cats, as I have seen suggested online. By pitting several felines I will have automated explorers that can never lead the wild creatures below back up to my fortress. If things go well I may find I am wrong and that there are no giant cave spiders down there. If things go poorly I’m guessing they will explode on contact with the ground as the ceiling for this cavern is rather high! With this additional info it may make it easier for me to make my final decision on which route I will take. At this point in our story however the cavern is the least of my worries.

After I left off last time I found that the level I have chosen to build my primary fortress on is rich in rare minerals. I have found large amounts of coal and bauxite which I intend to put to good use. Right now I have created a stockpile on the surface for coal so that it does not get wasted and I am planning on starting metal production very soon. Along with this I have found a vast number of gems as well as horn silver which may come in handy in the near future. Other than this I have yet to find anything very useful, but it is worth noting I also have not gone looking for anything. All of these items fell into my lap so to speak as I was digging out my fortress design. If this version is anything like the last I should expect to find large amounts of iron on this level and I’m going to go looking for just that as soon as my basic needs are met.

The first thing I did after starting my fortress back up was plug up the cavern, quickly followed by building a small bridge across my moat. This allowed the migrants to come inside and I put them to good use in short order. With their help I was able to lighten up the work load enough to allow my farm to be constructed. It has been a long time since I’ve had to use irrigation and I am a bit rusty but my basic set up is sound. With the use of floodgates and levers I flooded a small area for the use of farming. However I accidently pulled the wrong lever when trying to shut the flow down and locked Railick inside with the water which was quickly rising all across the small cave. He kept his cool and decided to take a break and wash his feet while I got the levers sorted out. I got lucky and with quick action from my dwarves I was able to shut off the water flow and release him from his water prison before it became his watery grave. The side effect to this was that a lot of water flooded back into my fortress and ran down the main ramp and into my primary fortress area. There was not a lot of it and I had dug out a large number of tiles so it evaporated quickly, but not before flooding into my expedition leader’s new office! Several dwarves got good thoughts caused by the mist so all in all things went rather well.

It took a great deal of time for the farming area to dry out but on a hunch I went ahead and tried to build the farm plot while there was still 2/7 deep water in the area. The planter had no trouble with this and went right to work. All the while my stocks are dwindling and another group of migrants has arrived. I may have built my fortress in a remote area far away from the reach of dwarvern caverns as none have shown up yet. I must admit I don’t recall checking to see what other races were around at the time I was picking my location. My major concern at the time was finding a location without an aquifer because almost every location I tried had one. I don’t really know what to expect in the way of sieges and trade caravans from other nations. Right now I’m just going to assume that there is no one coming for me and I’m going to have to make everything myself. Luckily that should not be much of a problem with the wide variety of things you can now find underground.

I love the newly extended profiles that each dwarf has. Now the profiles also include detailed descriptions of what the dwarf actually looks like as well as what they like and dislike. Also there is a relationship manager that lets you know which god they worship as well as who they know and are married to. This may have been in the last version I’m not totally sure, either way it is a nice feature that makes it easier to know who is who. I noticed a dwarf sleeping in another dwarf’s bed and went to check if they were married or dating. The owner of the bed was watching the other dwarf sleep so it seemed rather logical to me. Also I have assigned every dwarf beds right next to each other in an apartment complex so I didn’t see why they’d be sleeping in another person’s bed when their bed was right there. Of course I found they had no relationship at all and the dwarf that was asleep had some sort of strange fetish for sleeping in other peoples beds. (it didn’t say that in the profile, I just drew that conclusion on my own)

Construction goes well with the rest of the fortress though my miners seem to always have some work to do. All of the shops have been moved indoors now other than the fish processing workshop which I believe makes more sense outside. All stock piles are inside other than the one for rare materials I don’t want accidently used by masons and mechanics. Everything is looking rather up. Railick and Bailick have dug two down stairs leading into the ceiling of the cavern below which is just the start of my genius plan for dealing with those monsters living within. My plan is to reroute the brook running past my fortress so that it runs directly into the cavern. My assumption is that the brook will fill not fill the cavern up, but that it will drown anything on the ground level. My hope is that a sweeping current will fill up the lower levels long enough to drown any monsters down there as well. However before that flood is able to fill the entire cavern I believe it will flow off the map where the cavern meets the edge of the level I have chosen. This should stop me from drowning my fortress, but just incase I will hook up a lever to a series of flood gates that will put the brook back on its proper course. Please join me next time so we can explore together how well my little idea works out, will I kill everything down below or will I just piss them off causing them to assault my fortress and kill everyone inside? Only time will tell!

I have a certain place in my heart for Indie games. Ever since I started computer gaming I’ve been drawn to certain niche titles that now a days only indie companies seem to be making. Turn based strategy, puzzles,adventure, ect. These are all the sorts of games I grew up playing. For example I have fond memories of playing Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest, Quest for Glory, and other series in that vein. At the same time most of my friends didn’t even have a computer at all. Now I’ve got this complex tool set of critical thinking abilities where as my friends from school look at all problems in their lives in one dimension. Then we have Space Empires, Reach for the Stars, Panzer Generals, and Gold Box D&D games that I was playing when my friends were baffled by Mario Brothers . . . I thank these sorts of games for making me who I am today and I give them most of the credit and my school teachers none of it!

Now a day most if not all of these sorts of games come from indie developers. Companies like 3000 AD making complex space simulations and Stardock making interesting turn based strategy games like Gal Civ 2. The indie titles always pull at my heart strings when I see them. World of Goo, Gish, and Crayon Physics are all wonderful puzzle games that keep your brain always on its toes. There are really just to many of them to list at the moment but the list does go on and on.

Now we have a chance to pay back the wonderful Indie developers. Maybe some of us pirated copies of their games in the past and would like a second chance to give them some money, any money. Maybe others of us just want to give some cash to a charity, that is fine too. With The Humble Indie Bundle you have a chance to  do both. Pay what you will for these fives games and you even have a choice as to where the money will go. Would you rather it all go to the developers, the charity, or split between the two? It is up to you with this deal, and you leave feeling better about yourself and five indie games heavier than you were before.

I myself have fallen for this deal and have been playing the games over the night. Out of all them so far the stand out title for me has been Lugaru. You wouldn’t think playing an insane kung fu rabbit would be that much fun but I must tell you it is! Run over to their website now and even if all you pay is a dollar that will be a dollar they did not have before you gave it them!

The Humble Indie Bundle

Here is a poll, tell me what you think about the new poll. I will go with the general consensus if enough people vote. There are a few things I don’t like about it, namely the pink and light blue colors. Also the title is forced into lower case and I can’t edit the Cascading Style Sheet without paying for an upgrade. Any comments leading me to a more open but still free blog site would be appreciated as well !

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Alpha Tucanae I is a jungle planet, found in the Alpha Tucanae star  system. Though you first meet these cute little buggers in Rigel. Their planet has serve as their home for many years but at the time that game takes place they are having troubles. Large star ships from other races are using their space as battle grounds and when they miss each other they hit the Foq-Fot-Pik’s planets causing mass destruction. With this in mind it is rather easy to convince them to join your alliance because they need you more so than you need them.

Their space ship is odd to say the least. The Stinger in my opinion is one of the weakest and most pointless vessels in the game. The ship’s main unique feature is the tongue attack, which is very short range. Compared to some of the other more powerful ships the range of this vessel is extremely short. While the Ur-Quan ships are bombarding you from far away you’ll be desperately trying to reach them before they destroy you. If you don’t believe me try setting up a Melee with one team all Stingers and the other team every other ship in the game. This will give you a good idea how well the Stinger holds up against other ships.

Even though their ships are mostly useless they are still lovable characters and they are up on my chart of favorite races. Their playful banter between one another is amusing to me and they are just cute enough that I feel obligated to protect them. Though you never find out which alien is which I’ve always had a great feeling of attachment to them all. The little blue one in he right corner is my favorite by far, I really like his spunky attitude.

Tune in next time to learn more about the mysterious Orz, make sure to bring your best universal translator.