Bay 12 Games Forum

So I was poking through the raws and noticed that, unlike Elves and Kobolds, Goblins don't have the [AMBUSHER] tag. From what I know this would mean that they no longer send ambushes. Do they still send ambushes in 3.18?

So imagine that you are a dwarf, wandering through a typical fortress. Suddenly you are confronted by one of the many wild animals you can encounter in fortress mode. Since you're not an adventuring bad ass, you have no experience fighting alone and are now at the mercy of a terrifying beast.

Which would you hate to encounter the most?

For me, it would be a jabberer. Those things sound absolutely terrifying. Crushed between the beaks of a massive cave bird, which then swallows you whole. To me that's one of the worst ways to go. I have no idea how goblins can tame and ride those things.

Also, try to exclude forgotten beasts, mega beasts, and clowns since those are the most obvious choices.

After over 22 in game years, I finally feel like I have hit the bottom of the barrel with my current fortress. Everything I do seems incredibly futile. There is little hope for success, yet at the same time failure never manages to crush me completley. My fortress is trapped in an eternal twilight.

Allow me to explain the situation; a series of unfortunate events cut down my fortress population to only a handful of dwarves. There was no way to keep them safe on the surface, so I herded them underground into a safety room.  There I aimed to train them into hardened soldiers, so that they could stand up to even the toughest of enemies. Fate had other plans though, as I was soon plagued by a foe I can not destroy. A mysterious disease had appeared in my fortress, one that was a guaranteed death sentence. Any dwarf that contracts the disease was fine at first, but soon after they would begin to feel faint. Every inch of their body would suddenly be covered in boils, which would then spray pus and blood all over the floor. The afflicted dwarves wandered aimlessly, leaving a trail of pus and blood behind them before collapsing to the floor as an exploding pile of disease and rot.

I had no way of stopping this disease. I didn't even know what the source was. In a panic, I forced the survivors further underground. In the dark depths of the caverns, I managed to establish a stable outpost. A renewable source of food and drink, along with materials to build with. But the dwarves were trapped, prisoners of the earth. I waited many months, not knowing what to do but continue training the remaining dwarves. Then migrants arrived, and to my joy they did not catch the plague. I quickly herded them underground into the safety of the colony. It was only when they were trapped inside that the disease killed them. All of the migrants suffered gruesome deaths, while the original dwarves remained unharmed. This process repeated itself when a new batch of migrants arrived.

It seems that no matter what I do, I am doomed to be caught in an endless loop of death. Migrants arrive, appear fine, and then turn into festering corpses. Yet the resident dwarves remain fine. As if the game is toying with me, keeping the dwarves alive while killing any chance of me reclaiming the forts former glory. I can't bring myself to abandon when I have played it for so long. And yet I feel trapped, pointlessly hoping for salvation even though I know it will never come.

So at this point, I don't know what to do. I only have 3 stable dwarves. The forgotten beasts outnumber them 4:1. A deadly disease ruins any progress I make. What can I do at this point? I don't want to abandon after spending this much time in the fort, but I don't want to intentionally send my dwarves to their death either. It just seems unfitting 

So how many of you haven't moved on to the new version yet because Dwarf Therapist isn't compatible with it yet? I've basically become dependent upon that program to keep my forts organized and efficient, so the thought of not being able to use it is terrifying.

Having embarked on a terrifying ocean, my dwarves often fight undead fish near bodies of water. One of the leading causes of death is not injuries from these fights, but rather drowning. The Dwarves will often "dodge" the undead and fall into the ocean in the process. Or they will do something that is both incredibly badass and incredibly stupid; dive into the ocean and fight the undead bellow the waves (badass), and then drown to death immediately after winning. So I think it would be worth training my military in the swimming skill. Problem is, I can't figure out a safe way to train Dwarves in water without them drowning. Anyone have any experience with water training and can help me with this?

So there is a huge variety of animals and creatures that roam the wilds in Dwarf Fortress. Some of them are harmless, some of them are irritating, and others can be downright deadly. I learned this in my most recent embark, in which I encountered the Ogre. This creature quickly became one of my biggest problems. They hunt down any Dwarf they see, mercilessly crushing the life out of them. Even my military couldn't stand up to them, due to their lack of armor and weapons. They have killed over 20 Dwarves over the span of 3 years, and there is no end to the problem they cause me.

So I was wondering if there were any other creatures that other players have bad experiences with (Obviously excluding civilizations and megabeasts).

I've got a problem with my fortress that I can't figure out how to resolve. I built a wall surrounding my underground farm to protect it from Forgotten Beasts. The top of this wall is connected to the edge of the map, which apparently means monsters can enter the map on top of the wall. A zombie troll happened to enter the map this way, and it is ruining all of the the work in the caverns. The troll can't actually do anything though since it is on top of the wall. This sounds good, but it also means my military can not reach it. I tried to construct a staircase to reach the troll, but none of the builders can go near it without getting sacred and running off. So I'm currently at a loss as to what to do to resolve the situation. Any advice?