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DF Gameplay Questions / Military woes
« on: April 15, 2010, 05:54:07 am »
This post is just about my questions, feel free to ask any other military topics in this thread as well, maybe we can keep this forum nice and tidy.
So relativally speaking, im a DF vet. Started to play back in the ole 2D era and the upgrade to version D was a delight. I mastered the new Z axis and farming, and from there on out never lost a fort until I got bored of it and started a new one.
That being said, it pains me deeply to say this.
I am now a noob.
Ill start off by describing my first 2010 fort. After the inital confusion of the farms reverting back to its old irrigation methods and managing to survive, I had a nice little fort going on. Was getting used to all the stone mixes on the map, the new hospital system, and just trying to get a handle on things to come. This went on perfectly for the next few years. Then I had a goblin snatcher pop up.
This is where the fun begins.
I start to scramble, in the last version it was years after the first kobold thief popped up before any sort of gobbo invaded my space. I try to press V, then A to the victim of this snatching and give permission to fight back.
A isnt working.
WHY ISNT A WORKING?!?
I press M in a desperate attempt to mass recruit all nearby dwarfs but I am barraged by this new screen that made me initally think I started a trade with somebody instead. It is at this point I bless armok that the world ceases to funtion while im working through this menu, or else every single baby and child on my map would be gone possibly eaten and trained by gobos by now.
Finally I figure out how to start my dwarven defense. I recruit a squad and then sit back happilly knowing the gobbo will soon be eating the fist of the nearist military member.
Nothing happens.
The gobbo escapes.
I begrudginlly go the the wiki in hopes of learning this new system, but apparantlly the experts over there were initally caught off guard and confused as well. But I still managed to find out I need to issue an attack order.
So much for free will in this game.
Fast forward half a year or so and I get another hit. A snatcher has picked his newest attack target. One of my legendary miners! Im ecstatic thinking that im about to kill my first 2010 gobbo and hastily recruit this legend into a squad by himself and then issue the kill order. This time im sure hes going to dig the gobbos skull in. right?
He promptly throws his pickaxe to the ground and starts trying to fondle the goblin to death. Gobbo escapes, player clueless, damned dwarf gets his bedroom demoted. Turns out that I punished him for something I should have done.
Uniforms. Freaking uniforms. I run back to the wiki with my tail between his legs and start learning everything there is so far known about this new military.
I learn how to properlly assign uniforms. And how to work with the scedule. Hell, I even learn how to make an evacuation plan for my civvies.
So another year goes by. I have a squad "training". (Even though I assigned them wooden training swords initially, my arsenal dwarf was off staring at a cat and cheese wall engraving or something. So unless my dwarves were learning how to dodge goblins to death I was still a bit confused.) I was rather confident I could hold off anything until my dwarves trained to hold off a proper seige.
My questions were answered a few months later when I get ambushed by a group of 7 goblins. I knew at this point that I was going to lose a few dwarves. I was ok with this. I was not okay with the massacre that followed.
So, with my act of foresite I declared defcon 1 and sent my civvies to the burrows (Dining hall). I had my 6 or so dodge experts guard the one entrance into my fort.
They hit the attackers and I thought I was doing good with the blood going everywhere. You witty readers are probably jumping ahead of me here, but for good reason.
They floated through my defenses. Not sailed, not eased, but floated. and then they hit the stairs.
http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-2116-failambush
Notice how im mass recruiting all 70 of my dwarves to hopefully suffocate the 7 gobbos that are attacking? Notice how its not working?
Welp, time to start a new fort. Which is where im at now.
Story time over, questions here.
1. I have my squad finally equipped with training swords, why are they only doing dodging demonstrations?
2. They only do the demonstrations when the commander is there, so its 99% of them waiting for demonstration, and 1% failing at said demonstration. Is there no 1v1 sparring for training anymore?
3. It seems that my recruits while WAITING for eduamcation in the art of not dying, they get hungry and thirsty and only go satisfy their needs before death. This causes them to be very unhappy and in one case, I had my commander throw a tantrum, and then beserk, And then had to be killed by the very class he was demonstrating for. Can I fix this?
4. I know that you can set the min and max dwarves for a certain month at a time, but the dwarves taking time off seems to be random. Is there an option for a month of the schedule in which I can have the whole squad take a day off?
5. Main question here, is most of this stuff here im asking bugs? Or am I just incompetent?
Thank you for reading this and feel free to post any other military inquiries you have as well.
So relativally speaking, im a DF vet. Started to play back in the ole 2D era and the upgrade to version D was a delight. I mastered the new Z axis and farming, and from there on out never lost a fort until I got bored of it and started a new one.
That being said, it pains me deeply to say this.
I am now a noob.
Ill start off by describing my first 2010 fort. After the inital confusion of the farms reverting back to its old irrigation methods and managing to survive, I had a nice little fort going on. Was getting used to all the stone mixes on the map, the new hospital system, and just trying to get a handle on things to come. This went on perfectly for the next few years. Then I had a goblin snatcher pop up.
This is where the fun begins.
I start to scramble, in the last version it was years after the first kobold thief popped up before any sort of gobbo invaded my space. I try to press V, then A to the victim of this snatching and give permission to fight back.
A isnt working.
WHY ISNT A WORKING?!?
I press M in a desperate attempt to mass recruit all nearby dwarfs but I am barraged by this new screen that made me initally think I started a trade with somebody instead. It is at this point I bless armok that the world ceases to funtion while im working through this menu, or else every single baby and child on my map would be gone possibly eaten and trained by gobos by now.
Finally I figure out how to start my dwarven defense. I recruit a squad and then sit back happilly knowing the gobbo will soon be eating the fist of the nearist military member.
Nothing happens.
The gobbo escapes.
I begrudginlly go the the wiki in hopes of learning this new system, but apparantlly the experts over there were initally caught off guard and confused as well. But I still managed to find out I need to issue an attack order.
So much for free will in this game.
Fast forward half a year or so and I get another hit. A snatcher has picked his newest attack target. One of my legendary miners! Im ecstatic thinking that im about to kill my first 2010 gobbo and hastily recruit this legend into a squad by himself and then issue the kill order. This time im sure hes going to dig the gobbos skull in. right?
He promptly throws his pickaxe to the ground and starts trying to fondle the goblin to death. Gobbo escapes, player clueless, damned dwarf gets his bedroom demoted. Turns out that I punished him for something I should have done.
Uniforms. Freaking uniforms. I run back to the wiki with my tail between his legs and start learning everything there is so far known about this new military.
I learn how to properlly assign uniforms. And how to work with the scedule. Hell, I even learn how to make an evacuation plan for my civvies.
So another year goes by. I have a squad "training". (Even though I assigned them wooden training swords initially, my arsenal dwarf was off staring at a cat and cheese wall engraving or something. So unless my dwarves were learning how to dodge goblins to death I was still a bit confused.) I was rather confident I could hold off anything until my dwarves trained to hold off a proper seige.
My questions were answered a few months later when I get ambushed by a group of 7 goblins. I knew at this point that I was going to lose a few dwarves. I was ok with this. I was not okay with the massacre that followed.
So, with my act of foresite I declared defcon 1 and sent my civvies to the burrows (Dining hall). I had my 6 or so dodge experts guard the one entrance into my fort.
They hit the attackers and I thought I was doing good with the blood going everywhere. You witty readers are probably jumping ahead of me here, but for good reason.
They floated through my defenses. Not sailed, not eased, but floated. and then they hit the stairs.
http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-2116-failambush
Notice how im mass recruiting all 70 of my dwarves to hopefully suffocate the 7 gobbos that are attacking? Notice how its not working?
Welp, time to start a new fort. Which is where im at now.
Story time over, questions here.
1. I have my squad finally equipped with training swords, why are they only doing dodging demonstrations?
2. They only do the demonstrations when the commander is there, so its 99% of them waiting for demonstration, and 1% failing at said demonstration. Is there no 1v1 sparring for training anymore?
3. It seems that my recruits while WAITING for eduamcation in the art of not dying, they get hungry and thirsty and only go satisfy their needs before death. This causes them to be very unhappy and in one case, I had my commander throw a tantrum, and then beserk, And then had to be killed by the very class he was demonstrating for. Can I fix this?
4. I know that you can set the min and max dwarves for a certain month at a time, but the dwarves taking time off seems to be random. Is there an option for a month of the schedule in which I can have the whole squad take a day off?
5. Main question here, is most of this stuff here im asking bugs? Or am I just incompetent?
Thank you for reading this and feel free to post any other military inquiries you have as well.
