Bay 12 Games Forum

Once a FB finds an underground lake to splash around in, they basically won't do anything for seasons and seasons, until it randomly meanders onto land again.  Then it'll beeline for your fort entrance.  Station some archers near where it's lounging in the surf and kill it from afar.  As long as someone hits it, a water FB should fall apart quite quickly.  It's the stone ones you have to worry about.

Before I had steel I made some iron short swords.  Fortunately I got a weaponsmith early in the migration waves and she went into a mood.  (Bone sword, woopie, but at least she became Legendary.)  So she started churning out some masterwork iron weapons for me.  Even goblins wearing armor, because it's usually leather/copper stuff, go down like a lawnmower hit them as the sword squad engages.  My speardwarves also somehow manage to chop pieces off of any invaders.  Unless you are playing a mod that allows steel armor for invaders, iron slicey/pointy weapons work pretty well.

I personally like using glass weapons in my weapon traps because it's not all that deadly.  I usually have a trap corridor leading into my fortress, with it exiting directly into my barracks.

Goblin axe, sword, pike wielders, not that big a deal.  I'd send my military out after them without worry.  But lashers and bowgoblins worry because bowgoblins often get a lucky shot in and lashers are just plain vicious.  So I like the traps to soften them up before they actually hit the military. 

And I want my military to have something to kill, so I don't just make a huge minefield of dozens of steel-filled weapon traps.   

This thread has got me thinking.  Can ghosts detect ambushes?

If so I might have to start causing some Unfortunate Accidents in key approach areas to my fort.

Sign me up as well.  Hopefully I can find a place with plenty of microcline and spend my 10 years making microcline crafts for any hardy adventurers to come collect and enjoy. 

I haven't really played adventure mode much.  What happens if your lil dude steps in a cage trap?  Is that pretty much game over?

I dunno, maybe its just me, but do any of you vets dwarfs really need to trade at all?  If anything, its more of a nuisance interrupting my otherwise busy work in fort construction, and generally I just do it because, well, its there.   Why not grab a few gems or spider silk or whatnot just in case there is a wierd mood, but nothing really out of necessity.  Course, I usually dont play maps yet that are devoid of metals extra !fun!, so what do I know?

When the fort first starts out, I'll build up enough crafts and other trade goods to buy out barrels and booze.  It takes a while to get the farming/brewing industry up and running, so I always play better safe than sorry when it comes to plentiful booze.  Often I'll also have to ask for wood, at least until I breach caverns and hopefully find things to cut down if I've embarked where there are few trees.  Initially I'll also buy out some cloth and leather in case of strange moods.

Once the fort is established, I'll often ask for interesting animals and gypsum plaster from the dorf caravan.  I don't know that I've ever embarked anywhere that I could actually make gypsum plaster.  (Can you even make it?)  Also, again depending on where I've embarked, more wood. 

Humans always bring tons of food for me to make more lavish meals which I use to trade for more food.  (As well as plenty of raw materials for training chefs and making my dorfs happy with decadent meals.)  I always try to embark where there is metal, but if not, they usually bring lots of armor and weapons I can melt down.

Elves...  elves are useless.  Except when occasionally they bring interesting animals, which is almost never.  I have gotten breeding pairs of grizzly bears or badgers from them on occasion.  So I'll usually check out what they have before slaughtering them mercilessly.  which, sadly is still kind of useless, because they won't even siege me.

A good way to train your broker up very quickly in the necessary skills is for him to trade one item at a time.  Each trade seems to grant a little bit of experience.*  If at first he has no useful skills, trade out as much of the caravan as you can, one useful item at a time.  By the time the first caravan leaves, he will have gained some good experience in the necessary skills for the next caravan to come along. 

You need to assign your broker through the (n)obles screen.  I tend to make my broker the bookkeeper and manager as well, and then leave all his other skills off.  This keeps him from doing anything other than assigning jobs, keeping track of what's in the fort, and trading.

* This is what I have observed.  Someone correct me if I've got this completely wrong and there is some other way this is happening.