Dwarf Fortress – Kobold Kamp Guide

Kobold Kamp’s starting to grow into having a fair bit of systems and reactions, so I’m gonna detail how it works here.

Guide to Kobold Kamp

All credit goes to Sif Muna!

The Absolute Basics

Kobold Kamp is my take on a mod that’s been around in many iterations for quite a long time in Dwarf Fortress’ history. I’ve decided to take them into a direction where they range from anywhere between total primitive stone age to the early inklings of working iron and bronze. Most ores aren’t of much value to you (but still make for nice crafts to sell) and overall you’re at a disadvantage compared to standard dwarf living.

Some facts about Kobolds:

• Kobolds are small, smaller than a dwarf. Stuff that’d be a minor annoyance to a dwarf can be a legitimate threat to a kobold. It also means that most sets of armor from foreign civs won’t be able to be used without first refitting it.
• Kobolds live (relatively) fast and die (somewhat) young. With a maximum age of 50 and reaching adulthood at 5, a few sets of kobolds in love can help populate your kamp if you live long enough.
• Kobolds struggle with a lot of attributes. They’re somewhat stronger for their size and rather nimble, but many of their mental attributes have an average below the human range, from a small malus to serious handicaps (don’t go to a kobold music session.).
• Kobolds are a little more mundane. They don’t need alcohol to be happy (but water or some other drinkable is still a requirement to live.) They also lack the capacity for strange moods, and lack the innate ability to enter a martial trance.

Kobold Technology

Here’s the real meat of the matter, how kobolds use tools and tech in their own bold manner.

The kiln

Abstracting primitive smelting methods such as pit kilns and campfire smelting, the Kiln is going to be where you get your hands on metals. Clay’s an important resource gathered through Kiln orders as well. It’s used to cast bronze items if you’ve got tin and copper, plus factors into a form of writing material and building blocks.

The crafts shop

Where most of your other reactions are gonna take place. Includes carving wood, bone, and cold hammering copper/silver along with primitive ironworking. Fairly straightforward, you just need the prerequisite materials to knock stuff out. Wood and bone make for poor weapon and armor materials, but they are lightweight plus cheap. You need to make blooms from meteoric/bog iron in a Kiln before you can work them here. You can also refit outfits here, though I’d be wary about refitting items you can make natively without linking workshops first since reactions might just pluck up armor you’ve made.

The clothes shop

Has some options for primitive clothing plus some really bad armor like cloth or woven straw if you’re pressed.

The leatherworks

You can make leather cord (rope) here.