Bay 12 Games Forum

One place steel will probably be better than adamantine in terms of axes and spears are the alternate attack styles that a blunt attacks; pommel strikes with swords, blade flat with axes, and shaft strikes with spears.  In those cases the higher weight of the steel weapon will be superior.

Might want to use dwarves or some race that you can armor better than goblins.  Goblins tend to skip using greaves, gauntlets, and boots.  Therefore a lot of the hits they take in "normal" combat can often hit spots with no metal armor.  Leading to even iron- or copper- armed axe dwarves being effective since they can chop limbs off through cloth and leather.  (Though I did once get a goblin civ that used chain shirts rather than breastplates and noted that the tendency for limb removal shifted towards lower limbs with fewer upper limb amputations.  I figured that was due to the copper or iron mail giving the goblins better coverage.)

Probably the easiest way to get caged animals or goblins into an "arena" for militia training is to pit them from a higher level.  Doesn't require hooking up the cages to levers, and your haulers can move most prisoners without issue.  It's generally a good idea to put a hatch on your pit location so that pit denizens do not scare passing civilians or haulers bringing more prisoners to be dropped in.

Not much happening in Shadeswords.  Playing with extended "fun" defenses.  Drop pits and ditches to the south and southwest for channeling attacks.  A circular mine cart track three levels down for potentially dropping invaders into.  Thinking about tapping the aquifer for a moat to the northeast to flood part of the "serene" plain. 

Digging a pit opened into one of the caverns and the mason trying to fix the hole got attacked by a giant olm.  When a few axe dwarves arrived to help out they found the mason pounding on the olm with his iron shield and copper crossbow (out of bolts).  (Most of the reserve military is tasked with masonry, mechanics, and hauling when off duty - but they retain uniform, armor, and weapons.)

The grizzly bear rooms at a few entrances proved fairly effective in dealing with kobold and goblin infiltrators.  However, two rooms of bears got killed when goblin ambush teams turned up instead.  Need many more bears, or more patrols around in case they need help dealing with intruders.

The garrison is now fully outfitted in steel armor - all the way down to the reservist units.  About 12 squads of full-time military at this point with four marksdwarf squads and the rest melee troops.  Enough to have garrisons and patrol squads for both Castle Brass and the Kill Box entrance to the main fortress.

The iron armor that has been retired out is being traded to the dwarven caravan.  Working now to reduce a backlog of extra livestock (limited pasture here in the desert) and the attendant excess of hooves, bones, and skulls).  A few more artifact soft-metal edged weapons are in weapon traps in the approach tunnels.  Including a nice gold menacing spike.

The goblin army put in an appearance for the first time in over two years.   Five squads of cavalry and three units of support monsters (184 invaders at once).  One squad loitered outside and then retreated.  Most of the other four came down to the Kill Box to visit while the Castle Brass garrison sortied to deal with some stragglers and chase the fifth squad.  Carnage below ground as traps and a series of shots from the mine cart shotgun broke the assault.  The marksdwarves finished off the rest before the melee squads could get involved. 

The haulers have spent the past two months doing nothing but hauling goblinite and recovered bolts, dumping corpses, and reloading the mine carts.  Fortress kitchens are also restocked with meat; cave croc, elk bird, and some giant olm.

Still unimpressed by human sieges.   

Two cavalry squads came and simply camped out.  So the garrison gathered and then sortied out to attack one of their squad camps.  Hit the camp with a well-timed mix of marks- and melee- dwarves where the initial bolt salvo hit them right before the melee dwarves made contact.  The humans broke quite easily and started running, but by that time the mass of dwarves had lapped around their flank and very few made it. 

The dwarves then tramped over to hit the other camp - and the humans fled as the first crossbow bolts hit them!  And they ran fast enough that only a few were caught by the advancing melee troops.  (Axe lord is frustrated, not enough things to kill.)   

At least there is now a nice supply of camel and horse meat products in the fort. 

String of consecutive goblin sieges at Shadeswords ended at four.  Goblin snatchers and an ambush team turned up, and got killed in the tunnels with a single escapee.  This included a spear dwarf squad going out through another tunnel and cutting off an escaping goblin on the surface.

Summer was the *humans* turning up to siege the fortress since a second diplomat of theirs has been killed.  He talked to the Duke, made a stupid remark, and then walked out right into a goblin siege.   Idiot.  So the humans sent a squad to siege the fort instead of a caravan.  Their camp was set up for a day or so before it was overrun by twenty well-armed and well-trained dwarves.  Fourteen humans killed, and the camel that the leader was mounted on was decapitated after it attacked a sword dwarf.

Autumn was a visit by a few kobold thieves.  They discovered the new theft deterrent system.  There are alternate paths in a few of the approach tunnels (with the others being kept shut most of the time.  Instead of walking under peacocks and being detected - after which they simply run away, they now get to walk into a room full of war trained grizzly bears.  One kobold was mauled immediately by six bears.  The other ran for it and was chased across most of the map by one bear.  He stabbed the bear three times and managed to kick its teeth out before the bear enraged and ripped the kobold limb from limb.  (The bear has now been retired from guard duty and given some living space elsewhere in the fortress.)

Artifact creation has been sort of interesting.  A black bronze mail shirt and a zinc spear.  The mail shirt is attractive, but not to the protection standard of the steel being issued.  Not sure how good a zinc spear would be, but expect that even with an artifact bonus the metal is just not as good as well-made steel weapons.

Busy year so far in Shadeswords.  Another change in the owner of the mayor's office as well.  (Back to making figurines.)

Goblins visited in the spring.  Four goblin cavalry squads invited into the approach tunnels and Kill Box.  They decided to become permanent residents of the corpse dump.  (All sixty-four of them - first time I've managed to completely wipe out all the goblins in a larger siege in a while.  Only got half the support creatures though - one weapon trap on the surface took out seven giant cave spiders before jamming.   We also got some meat slaughtering mount corpses before they started to rot.)

Another goblin visit in the summer.  Smaller siege, and it turned messy when they and some giant cave swallows they brought opted to chase peregrine falcons around rather than enter the tunnels and die efficiently.  The swallows chased down and killed four falcons, then discovered that the neat tunnel leading below contained spear dwarves and marksdwarves.  The goblin cavalry forces (three squads) got off lightly - only 50% casualties.  Some killed in a tunnel, while a squad that was wandering around the surface got too close to a bunker.  It got shot up from there, and then hit from two directions at once by a well-timed rush of melee squads.

Got a nice steel weapon artifact.  But no one in the fort is trained to use maces.   

Cleaning up now by collecting goblinite and spent bolts for melting down.  Some lingering miasma in the tunnels from goblin bits about still.