Bay 12 Games Forum

As I mod almost all metals to be weapon/armor craftable, this is relevant to my interests.

Almost all. Until Toady One enables radiation NOBODY needs a lead breastplate.

I will toss in a suggestion.
Have two entrances.
One is short, wide, and fun for the whole family! This is where dorfs go in and out, caravans arrive, etc.
The other is narrow, twisty, and packs as much distance into a compact space as possible. Its also filled with traps.

When goblins arrive, you Raise the (R)etractable drawbridge, sealing off the short/wide/fun entrance. You Lower the other (R)etractable drawbridge to open up the twisty trap path.

Goblins will take the shortest available method to get in, which happens to be the trap path! I suggest a lot of cage and weapon traps! A weapontrap full of masterwork serrated steel discs will instablend just about anything, but even if you fill the corridor with crap-traps, at the end the goblins might be so exhausted from dodging and blocking that they just pass out!

There was a succession fort a while ago. I dug out a room, filled it with levers (561, if my math is right), hooked all of them to an atomsmasher in the entrance, and restricted every dwarf except mine to a burrow under the raised bridge.

I then, at the very end of my turn, ordered every single lever to be pulled. My dwarf was one tile away from the lever he chose to pull when I zipped up the save for the next player.

This fort had about 110 dwarves, and when I tested my handiwork, the only survivors were myself, the cripples in the hospital (who couldn't get to the killzone), some noble who I forget (was locked in his/her room), and the one farmer who ignored burrow restrictions to get a drink.

My avatar is well-deserved, I think.

That is meta cruelty. Really, all you are is a pathetic griefer.
It would be one thing if it were your fort, but that was a succession game. Do you feel big and sexy for ruining other people's fun? Makes you feel potent and sharp, huh?

ALERT! A FORGOTTEN BEAST HAS EMERGED!
ZOM SMOXSPUZOSPU!
A towering quadruped composed of sardonyx. It has a curling trunk and it squirms and fidgets. Beware its deadly spittle!!!

Urist McBaron: What, in the caverns? Which we walled off?

IGNORE!

Urist McBaron: We have a caravan to deal with from the homelands! Broker, GO!

Urist McBroker: Hmm, we'll take that, and that, and that, and that other thing. Hell, give us the whole kit n' kaboodle. Here, we'll overpay you buy one hundred thousand dorfbucks.

Urist McMerchant: Wha-wha, buh, *drool*

Urist McBroker: Yeah, just take all these useless trainer helms and goblinite. Now GTFO, we have a Danger room to construct.

Urist McLiason: Go on merchants, I'll catch up.

A VILE FORCE OF DARKNESS HAS ARRIVED!


Urist McScout: By Armok, there are over 80 goblins out there suh! And a half dozen trolls!

Donkey McChainedbytheDepot: The trolls are too fast, they passed the Seal!

Troll Von BuildingSmasher: RAR! Die depot die!

Urist McMason: Nay, tis my prized depot, smashed! Ruin and spoil, rue and moil! You'll pay for this, yah green basterd!

Troll Von BuildingSmasher: Not bloodly likely. Now to go smash this donkey!

Hidden McWeaponTrap: MASTERWORK SERRATED STEEL DISC ATTACK GO!

Troll Von BuildingSmasher: Razor sharp steel moving at high velocity? My only weakness! HOW DID YOU KNOW?!?!?!


Goblin Von Warleader: Stupid trolls. Come, into this long entry corridor past the ominous brass drawbridge!

Goblin Von Spearstabby: These obsidian bridges underfoot are pretty nice, actually. Needs a hint of dorf blood though.

Goblin Von Hammerguy: The glowing red steel bridges that make up the ceiling are slightly unsettling though. I'm glad we're just here to kill and rape, because flipping this shithole would be an ordeal.

Urist McScout: Baron, the goblin forces have moved into position for Holy Tear's of Armok's Fury! Shall we activate it?

Urist McBaron: Yes, let them know the price of attacking! Activate Magma Trap 2: Electric Boogaloo!

Urist McMechanic: You know I worked really hard on that. Could you use the proper name at least?

Urist McLeverpuller: Pulling Safety Seal Lever! Engaging Main Gate Lever. Safeguards in place. Commencing the manipulation of the Lava Release Lever!*

SLAM! SLAM! POUR!!!

Goblin Von Everydamnoneofthem: OH OUR DARK GODS! THE MAGMA BURNS SO HOT!

Goblin Von Warlord: Ohhh! You cursed brat! Look what you've done! I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought drunk little dorfs like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness! Ohhh! Look out! Look out! I'm going! Ohhhh – Ohhhhhhhhhh!

Urist McLeverpuller: Ending Sequence. Activating Drainage. Disengaging Safety Seals.**

Urist McScout: Corridor cleared! All goblins melted, Baron sir!

Urist McLiason: Hhheeeeeyyyyy gggguuuuuyyyyy, did you know that we're promoting your fort to a county? 


*I use the Note function to label all levers in Forts I make, and their corresponding bridge/floodgate/whatever. The Doomsday lever does exactly what is says on the tin.
**A small operator error on my part caused the magma trap to overflow. Thankfully I had designed a safeguard. The only casualty was my original brass drawbridge, which melted once completed covered.

Turns out that I am not as excell

My fortress is currently boring. Sitting at a stable population of about 170. Looking at the list of the dead.... a lot of it is babies and children <_<  Sieges happen, my hallway of death kills everything, and I go about life as usual. Half of the time caravans slaughter the sieges and then I take their goods muahahah. I have large outside fortifications encasing my above ground farms, a few ponds, and part of the brook. The outer fortifications are double-thick, and everything closes with floodgates, not doors. Mostly because I was getting that weird pathing error with doors so I just did away with them completely. I'm thinking of starting a new fort, somewhere... challenging.

Sounds like you need to do some science with ghosts, my pal.

After the relatively pathetic human siege got terribly murdered in the three-way free for all with a Goblin Siege and a Kobold ambush, I thought I'd never see those tall jerks again. Yet lo and behold, a caravan?

To make amends, I bought out the whole damn thing, and gave them profits of over 5k per trade, so maybe 70k profits all told.

Seems to have worked, as the diplomat is asking if I want to stop the human/dwarf war!

It turns out that Holy Tears of Armok's Fury works wonderfully.

Generally speaking I have a tendency to compact my fort horizontally and spread out vertically. A central staircase offers access to all floors, going down from the volcano summit where the forges are to the mining complex at the bottom. Generally, the layers go like this.

Volcano Summit/Magma Forges
Metal/Bar Stockpiles
Repeat As Needed (RAN)
General Stockpiles
Workshops
General Stockpiles
Workshops
General Stockpiles
Buffer Buffer
Entryway, Barracks, Trading Depot/Stockpile
Buffer
RAN
-River Level-
Water Works
Farming/Food Complex
Dining/Hospital
Apartment System
RAN
Buffer
Mining complex
RAN

I like volcanoes. Also, my levels and such generally have a given layout and/or pattern to them. I like consistency in my designs. Other things, like tombs, or gardens or zoos are put in as needed.