I Can't get my dwarves to their sleeping rooms I prepared with difficulty (they sleep on the work), I try to keep barrels only for drink preparing, then I fall short of plants to brew, and not to mention now I must gear up for increasing threats. The Goblins didn't come yet, and all my male dogs died. I am yet to make traps and whatnot. I need dogs to be trained, and weapons.
Any help here? Advice? I think this game needs a "not so overly enthusiastic for order" mode.
What would be the best armament for a regular defense force?
For now I have 4 obsidian and 2 trappers in a squad, I seem to be doing well.
Is it normal for a player to start forging later, and use mechanics to stop the hordes? I itch to make a full iron armored mad dwarf
And no, you aren't going to get fully plated dwarves that early. Settle on some leather armor, train up a leatherworker. Make leather armor, leather high boots, bone/shell helm, bone/shell greaves, and bone/shell gloves. This is a decent set of armor for any new defense force.
Also, obsidian swords are as strong as steel, so if all you want are swordsdwarves, don't worry about training up a weaponsmith. Have one person making stonecrafts nonstop so you can churn out high quality obsidian swords later.
Make sure to have all your food and seeds inside asap, to prevent theft and rain washing seeds away.
quote:
Originally posted by Veroule:
<STRONG>I ussually aim to get cage traps up, then let things come and get caught. I will tame those silly monkeys then set them loose and let them defend me. 50 or so just hanging around outside can actually be a very solid defense and of course the cage traps and other traps I make will take care of anything that gets past my monkey army.</STRONG>
Veroule I have never used this strategy. What do you do.. place random cage traps in the outdoors and trap them? I have had no luck with trapping using my hunters, they always get small vermin and what not, no big game. Any advice would be great!
You can tame creatures in cages (especially with the dungeon master noble), and use them to defend your fortress.
This isn't the same as 'capture small land animal' using an animal trap from the kennels.
quote:
Originally posted by Veroule:
<STRONG>I ussually aim to get cage traps up, then let things come and get caught. I will tame those silly monkeys then set them loose and let them defend me. 50 or so just hanging around outside can actually be a very solid defense and of course the cage traps and other traps I make will take care of anything that gets past my monkey army.</STRONG>
Now that's a wacko strategy, but seems fun. Time to set some mechanical parts, horse leather, and MOAR Obsidian blades! Though I'd love to see some obsidian axe option made later on.
My idiot dwarves have adopted cows. I think I'll kill these and slaughter the cows.
Personally, I agree with the 'move all light goods inside and put traps in front of them'. My preference are weapon traps, but if you have racoons or macaques, you don't have enough time for that, so go with multiple stone fall layers (since they are one-shot, you need a lot of them).
Hunting the little critters is usually not working out. You may get lucky, but half the time, they get away. But there is nothing as satisfying as that certain 'squish!' at your front door :) :) :) :)
Traps also have the advantage that they don't get wounded. You can simply restock them or clean them, and presto!
While they seem quite efficient against kobolds, cats don't seem to bother too much about racoons or macaques. At least that is what my current experience is.
Anyhow, good luck, and let us know if you find yet another interesting way to handle the little pests.
Ah, and let's just say that I have seen my fair share of named cougars in my fortresses. They are among the creatures I watch out for before allowing any hunting.
Deathworks
quote:
Anyhow, good luck, and let us know if you find yet another interesting way to handle the little pests.
As for macaques, putting a few stone crafts as bait seems to draw them. Though Cougars need some turtlebone crossbows of doom...
By the way, bringing turtles with first shipment rockz0rs
The monkeys will wander about for a time before they decide you have all the good stuff inside. If you managed to trap all that before thier first arrival then you will likely capture all of them. East just tends to be done first by the walking AI for them so they will hit that outer line of traps. Later your monkey army will force new groups into that outer line of traps.
I had dwarves living on maque stew for 20 years using this tactic.
Make weapons. Just weapons. Any kind, just forge/build alot. It seems bone and obisidan stuff works for this too, but i'm not fully sure. Anyways, this attratchs already trained, armored and armed soldiers to come with immigrant waves! they show up in full iron armor and with iron weaponry. The more weapons you made, the more that show up. Iv'e had a goblin siege broken by arriving "reiforcements" before, actually.
Here's my entrance fort on the surface. One of my priority builds. I don't have a final design yet, and it tends not to be a permanent structure (blocks are great for quicker building and destructing as you can fit more into one stockpile square). It gives me a small secure surface area to work without Dwarves panicing _all_ the time. It's got some flaws, but I'm slowly improving it.
code:
Phase One:
+++++++
+.....+
+.www.+
+.www.+
+.www.+
+.....+
+..V..+
+++D+++Phase Two:
+++++++++++++++
+...+.....+...+
+...+.www.+...+
D...+.www.+...D
+...+.www.+...+
+...+.....+...+
+...+..V..+...+
+++++++D+++++++
....++...++....Phase Three:
+++++++++++++++
+.............+
+.<.........<.+
D.............D
+.............+
+.............+
+.....VVV.....+
++++++...++++++
....++GGG++....
......GGG......
......GGG......
The brigdge is set not to retract, but to close upward, becoming a solid wall. I leave it closed most of the year, only opening it to trade or road building. My Depot is below, along with a lever (indoors) to close this bridge.
Everything on the ground level is solid wall, giving my civilians nothing to panic over.
The stairs in the corner are there for a couple of reasons. Especially so near a cavern. I build a second level for marksdwarves to stand and to block out fliers. The perimeter of that roof is floor, for usable area, but the large stretch in the center is a bridge as its an economcial use of stone. Maybe a refuse pile up there as well.
Cougars are a threat of their own, but I find a single stationed/patrolling activated Dwarf can keep away the Rhesus Macques long enough for construction to complete. Things will still sneak inside from time to time, but since there are walls restricting visibility, civilians panicing means an instant lockdown, giving the thief no chance at escape.
A channel is much quicker to build (common desert defense), but leaves lots of spotting problems in place. I'm thinking of trying out a two-tiered channel to simulate my structure above, leaving the natural tiles as walls, and making the open-air 'ground floor one z-level lower.
[ December 30, 2007: Message edited by: Lazy_Perfectionist ]
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v706/SkankyBurns/DFPuppies.jpg)
With easy access to obsidian swords, such traps are deadly fun! Tis the dwarvenly approach to defence.
[ December 30, 2007: Message edited by: Skanky ]