Bay 12 Games Forum
Dwarf Fortress => DF Dwarf Mode Discussion => Topic started by: Em3rgency on April 14, 2013, 06:25:48 pm
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Sooo yeah. The regular goblin sieges weren't cutting it for me, decided to settle my next fort not too far away from a necromancer tower. But now it seems I am overwhelmed with fun. Bastards sieged me just before winter, when I was supposed to get my first caravan. I expected a siege fast, but not THAT fast. I'm only 20 dwarves strong, with no military to speak of. The sieging army is some 40+ zombies/corpses and two necromancers. The terrain is completely flat, next to a river and lake, both currently frozen at winter. I had the foresight to construct a "bunker", which is essentially a 3x3 enclosed box around my staircase, with locked doors leading to the outside. I have a considerable stockpile of wood inside, so I can pretty much stay hunkered down for years... Though I'd like to get rid of the rotting horde a bit faster than that.
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dig a underground maze and line it with 50 cage traps, then open the maze to the outside with a digger, use burrows so your dwarves dont run outside and forbid the cages and traps until all undead are caged.
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I've had this problem before. From my experience since your only 20 dwarves strong, theres very few things you can do.
1. Set up tons of traps in within this bunker, and all around main-staircases in which the zombies could get in. Make sure their cage traps though because otherwise if you start cutting them apart and the necromancers see the body bits, you'll have even more problems on your hands
2. Wait it out. Up to you whether you want to take the chance of losing your entire fort because you wanted to get rid of them quickly with such little dwarves <--------Safest Choice!
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So the siege WILL go away eventually? I've never really resorted to trying to outlast my opponents before. The cage trap maze sounds promising.
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So the siege WILL go away eventually? I've never really resorted to trying to outlast my opponents before. The cage trap maze sounds promising.
Should go away if you leave them alone long enough.
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It worked for me.
Well, until the kobolds sieged due to having stolen enough dwarven clothing while the necromancers sieged, but that wasn't directly related and had more to do with my complete lack of defense, which was in turn mainly due to my inability to pierce the aquifer.
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Its really up to you, whether you'd rather take the chance of losing your fort and have some fun with the zombies and cages or taking the safe approach and just waiting it out
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cage mazes are really reliable, make the maze entrance on the other side of the map away from the horde if you're afraid of losing your miner (though this is very unlikely as zombies and necromancers are pure melee, and cage traps slow them down).
my method is foil-proof if you do it right since you're underground and there is no way the zombies can get at you, only dig the up and then down stair after all cage traps are loaded (you can dig up from underground if ppl didnt know). You need at least 50 for a army that size though and having a door at the end in case you somehow dont have enough cage traps works too, just forbid it if they get too close.
the maze can be sealed with a lever-controlled retracting bridge later for future use, raising bridges in place of walls in the maze makes for easy maintenance, just dont forget to raise those walls when in use.
oh, but be warned that mazes on their own are not good against goblins since if a squad leader is caged then the goblins wont advance down the maze (zombies are different as they each path independently). Mazes can be adapted for goblins via a way to flood the entire maze with water (or magma if you use green glass cages only and magma safe mechanisms). Water is easier because of aquifiers, but magma is funner.
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Marksdwarves. As noted, undead are melee only. Build an up/down staircase onto the top of your little bunker, station marksdwarves up there, profit. When you run out of undead in range, open your doors and they'll come barrelling into your bolts. (Re-close them before they get there, of course.)
Only danger is since this is your first siege, there are definitely necros accompanying - and necros stealth and can pick locks. I hope you're using some drawbridges, not exclusively doors.
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They pick locks? Holy crap, i need to do something about that. Currently the two necromancers just built themselves some campfires and are chilling outside. And I can't go on top of my bunker, because I made a staircase to it from the outside to build the roof. Woops.
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Currently the two necromancers just built themselves some campfires and are chilling outside.
They do that?? Man, they must be planning to be there for a while.
I wonder, what's the best way to combat the undead?
I know edged weapons just seem to make more undead, and I remember one time I tried blunt weapons and it didn't seem to go over too well.
Anyone have any tips on fighting the undead in combat?
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Currently the two necromancers just built themselves some campfires and are chilling outside.
They do that?? Man, they must be planning to be there for a while.
I wonder, what's the best way to combat the undead?
I know edged weapons just seem to make more undead, and I remember one time I tried blunt weapons and it didn't seem to go over too well.
Anyone have any tips on fighting the undead in combat?
By having something else do the fighting for you, preferably a forgotten beast or a titan, or a Bronze Colossus.
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In adventure mode bonking them on the head works, though they just turn into a corpse that can be resurrected again. I suppose you need to kill the necromancers first.
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They pick locks? Holy crap, i need to do something about that. Currently the two necromancers just built themselves some campfires and are chilling outside. And I can't go on top of my bunker, because I made a staircase to it from the outside to build the roof. Woops.
Hmm, maybe they can't pick locks then. Maybe my run-in with a lock-picking necromancer was due to an ill-timed kobold. I never gave it a chance to happen again! ;)
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Anyone have any tips on fighting the undead in combat?
Don't.
Seriously, not worth the pain as long as the necro still lives.
Once they're down, just about anything works as long as you use enough of it. There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to undead.
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do not engage undead ever if possible, i've seen legendary fighters go down to them since they shatter bones through candy and steel, and even 1 undead can usually cause casualties if engaged by 1 dwarf. Apparently the undeath syndrome gives them attribute boosts from 300% to 1000%.
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To add insult to injury, that legendary fighter will come back 300-1000% stronger. XD
You really need to kill the undead quickly or indirectly else you will find that your strength will be added to theirs.
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Anyone have any tips on fighting the undead in combat?
A drop pit with a minecart grinder or a coinstar grinder (http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Danger_room#Coinstar_Room)(only with weapons instead of coins) on the bottom. Make sure the grinder is isolated from the rest of your fort with a buildingdestroyer-proof, tantrum-proof raised bridge gateway, with a bridge or a hatch covering the pit's mouth to break the necromancer's line of sight.
(You can just drop them into a one-tile-high shaft with a floodgate between them and the rest of the fort, but don't blame me when a tantruming dwarf tears down the floodgate and the zombies break free.)
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do not engage undead ever if possible, i've seen legendary fighters go down to them since they shatter bones through candy and steel, and even 1 undead can usually cause casualties if engaged by 1 dwarf.
Oh they're not that bad. Once I have steel armor I use chained undead for melee+morale training, and I've never lost anyone except new recruits who forgot to put on their armor.
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Anyone have any tips on fighting the undead in combat?
a coinstar grinder (http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Danger_room#Coinstar_Room)(only with weapons instead of coins)
I believe that is called a Dwarven Shotgun.
As for dealing with the dead, I recommend Atom Smashers. They don't leave a corpse to get resurrected, even if it does seem exploity.