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Dwarf Fortress => DF Dwarf Mode Discussion => Topic started by: delphonso on March 04, 2020, 08:41:43 am

Title: Is siege length related to active violence?
Post by: delphonso on March 04, 2020, 08:41:43 am

This is really a question about small embarks and sieges.

I just had a year and a half undead siege. Pretty rough, considering they arrived as soon as the first caravan left, and I had less than 20 dwarves. I built a trap hallway with my paltry population and we attempted to break the siege, but ultimately failed. So, I didn't get to check if it was that bug where undead siege eternally.

It brought up a question in my mind, though. Is siege-length related to violence? Presumably the siegers felt quite successful, as they killed all wildlife on the surface for months and months. If so, this is a pretty big negative for small embarks, since siegers not only appear close to wherever your entrance is, but are likely to stick around forever if they're hostile to wildlife.

Just wondering if anyone has some ideas on this or if it's worth testing...somehow.

Title: Re: Is siege length related to active violence?
Post by: PatrikLundell on March 04, 2020, 11:09:06 am

The length of a siege is either 1 season or 1 year, normally (assuming you don't break it, of course). There have been occasional reports of other durations, but I assume those are bugs (not the reports, but the siege lengths).

Title: Re: Is siege length related to active violence?
Post by: Shonai_Dweller on March 04, 2020, 04:45:17 pm

Zombies seem a little flexible. I had a 13 month zombie siege. Maybe depends on how much they get to feast on passing visitors?

Regular races, yeah, seem to follow the 1 month or a year rule.

Title: Re: Is siege length related to active violence?
Post by: delphonso on March 04, 2020, 06:19:50 pm

Yeah, I've never seen a siege break during battle, unless sufficient numbers are killed, which I guess means that combat overrides the timer.

The zombies and experiments up top never went more than a few minutes without killing something, as it's a small embark with a lot of camels and few birds and the experiments were quite fast.

Title: Re: Is siege length related to active violence?
Post by: coalboat on March 05, 2020, 02:18:45 am

I haven't seen any siege go away on its own, but I didn't wait for a year either.

Undead invaders, unlike humans who mill around on surface, actively path into your fortress. Exploitable.

Title: Re: Is siege length related to active violence?
Post by: Loud Whispers on March 05, 2020, 05:21:11 pm

Besides bugged eternal sieges, I've known sieges to give up after not more than a year, or if it's a siege by living gobbos and they've sustained demoralizing casualties