Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Loud Whispers]

1. No.
2. They never sleep. With every bone broken in their body, they will steadily roll their flesh towards your Dwarves to envelop and digest them.
3. This means they will never collapse.
4. The weapons do not fire. Kobolds get past traps by being sneaky. Diplomats get past them by noting how to bypass them, same with citizens and former citizens. FBs and Titans simply walk onto traps and the traps are all 'no, just NOPE...' Or the FB is deliberately stopping the trap from activating somehow, i.e. by holding it down with its weight.
If you web non web-immune FBs while they are standing on traps, they'll trigger them though.

[Whackjob]

Ok, so how do you "web" them?  This is beyond me at my neophytic level.

[Lich180]

Find and capture a giant cave spider, and have it spray webs on the traps.

Or use dfhack and autodump to select and move webs, but that's cheating.

[Whackjob]

Too... hrm.  Onerous.

I think the way I'm going to go is with something I've sort of put together.  I doubt I'm the inventor of the idea, but I did at least independantly verify the creation.

I've got this setup figured out where I can drastically reduce the dwarf-hours spent on hauling, basic mass-production industry is streamlined, and stockpiles are configured in a way to condense everything into smaller rooms.  I use four main industry rooms, now.  I can make each 9x9 tiles and have it do OK.  In the center, I put a custom stockpile, 3x3, and then cut it in half.  Then I place yet another stockpile in one of the side gaps, a two-length of track pointing towards the 1 tile pile, then put a dumping track stop in.  As below:

XXX      X  X      X  X      X||X       X||X
XXX  to X  X  to X  X  to  X||X  to  X[]X
XXX      X  X      XXX       XXX       XXX

Then I assign, in example for my Wood/Stone/Furniture/Crafts shop, that both stockpiles take wood, stone (not clay or ores), furniture, and barrels.  Then I just set up a route to collect from the outside six X's, then dump it on the bottom center X.  I assign a cart, and it condenses vast fields of materials to a single convenient point.


So, I guess what I'm saying, is, now that my industries take less dwarf power, that's more people I can give a sword and board and march them to almost certain disfigurement, as it should be.

[Whackjob]

Sigh.  I am just not good with militia.  Had a great fortress going.  Had food production going very well, all my industries were mostly automated, and I'd even equipped a squad of 5 dwarves with fine steel weapons and armor.  Even leather cloaks just to absorb some hits.  Had them out and training, and after a time my first goblin ambush turns up.  I send in my dwarves, which are promptly slaughtered.  Trade caravan guards clean up, and I designate my last two undesignated dwarves as military.  They have longer to train, but I'm waiting on my next immigrant wave to come so I can replenish their numbers.  Another ambush happens, and this time both remaining militia die and it doesn't even slow the gobbos down.  They flood my fortress and wreck everything.

Fun is fun, of course, but I really need to figure out how to have a better militia, and more importantly, in time for this kind of nonsense.

I suppose I'd better start off with traps.

[BoredVirulence]

I'm a firm believer in conscripting large portions of migrants. The ones that survive several battles, those become your militia. 5 dwarves training nonstop, even for a year or 2, in my experience, isn't that great.

Eventually a 5 man militia can stop a siege (until the next update), but they have to be well armed as well as extremely skilled. 5 dwarves with little or no experience, sitting in a room pretending to try and kill each other for a year won't produce those results.

If you insist on having small squads training constantly, don't go out and meet them. Make them come to you. Have some weapon traps to weaken them, or better yet have some marksdwarves cripple them. Marksdwarves do wonders at maiming, usually takes a while for them to kill though, so using them to maim a siege and then using your melee troops to clean up works quite well.

[Whackjob]

I'm also seriously considering the menagerie defense.  Specifically, trapping and training up animals.  Usually I abhor cage traps, given how bloody effective they are, but, eh.  My current defense is seriously lacking.  Perhaps a few caged gobbos being disarmed and beaten up could help.  Um... how do you disarm a caged gobbo?

[BoredVirulence]

I don't mind a handful of cage traps (1-7) in my entrance (I usually start with 1, but I may add up too 7 when things are bad). My focus on cage traps isn't to get rid of enemies, but to capture "training partners."

If I remember correctly, you have to designate the cage for dumping with the area dump (d-b-d). That kind of dumping desgination will mark everything in the area, the cage, and all of the goblins items. You then look at the cage and un-mark it for dumping. With minecarts you can look inside its contents, then select individual items for dumping, but I don't think you can access the inventory of a goblin the same way.

Animals aren't very good at combat, even in grossly large numbers, unless they are large (cave crocodiles). Of course, I've heard the puppy bomb can be quite fun.

[Whackjob]

Agony.

I'm at the office, and for once the day is fairly slow.  I tend to classify my days into one of two categories;  Days where I sell like a champion with +12 legendary skill, and days where I do nothing but put out metaphorical fires, where I correct errors others have made that they know bloody well better than.  This day was a slow day, but it was a sales day.  I am content.

While awaiting my next chance to pick another friendly pocket, and leave him superior services in lieu of currency,  I nose around on the internet. I keep my mind fresh and active, ere I loose another capitalist barb unerringly at another unguarded wallet.

It's been some time since I've last dwarfed.  My machine is still antiquated and bothersome.  It lacks elf bone inlay and is not pleasing to the eye.  The mouse is not cunningly made from a cat skull totem.  It irritates me. 

My nosing about finds this thread.  I reminisce, I read.  And before I know it, the vision of the chicken and glass again circles my mind.  But it is faint.  The inspiration is gone quicker than an exhausted, bedless dwarf toppling over on a legendary weapons trap.   Nontheless the Necromancer appears.  She entreats me to post yet again.  Before I can muster some sort of defense, a fell mood comes.

I have another vision.  A thick forest, packed with cavorting elves.  Unsuspecting, migratory elves.  They leave to the next forest in their chain of unending fey celebrations.  Seven dwarves arrive.  The centre of the hallowed grove falls.  In its place, dead things made of stone.  A city.  A surface dwelling city.  A very undwarf-like city, built of stone block and anti-elfen spite.

Its sole purpose to trigger war.

I dwarf once more.

#EDIT:  Side note:  I think I have finally, finally resolved my graphics crash-out issue.  Turns out all I had to do was put a FPS limit in the .ini file.

[Will_Tuna]

my thoughts on training military: embark with a warrior : some points in weaponskill and dodging, and some skills in teacher.

Then place him in a 2 man squad with a agile/strong migrant, let them spar/train nonstop ignore bad thoughts (make sure to give them good thouths with room/lavish meal/waterfall)

Then when the student has decent skill, split the squad in 2 squads. now you have 4 warriors training. rince and repeat

Capture and breed wild animals, do not train them, just chain a wild tiger to a rope, surrounded by cage traps, then when the tiger delivers cubs, you let the small tiger grow and repeat, when you have about 10 wild tigers chunning out baby tigers, now you can let them grow and slaughter them with millitary, giving them some ez skill, and you some tiger leather/meat.

also split your entrance into different sections with bridged linked to levers in your dining room, so while being burrowed, your dwarves can split different groups of goblins, then send you millatary to attack small groups of goblins.

if they are not outnumbered there chances are greatly increased.

when your population is bigger there are some more ez/lazy ways of training an army.

-equip 10 PEasants in armor + warhammer and send them to clean up / after your main millitary.

-set all your peasants to pump operating(pumps on the floor, dont need water)
when they are legendary pump operators, use any of the methods above.


the following are the more exploity way out, but some find the game fun when you have strong millitary, although it is less !!FUN!!
-falling items room
-danger rooms
-saft of enlightment

[YvAd]

I'm also seriously considering the menagerie defense.  Specifically, trapping and training up animals.  Usually I abhor cage traps, given how bloody effective they are, but, eh.  My current defense is seriously lacking.  Perhaps a few caged gobbos being disarmed and beaten up could help.  Um... how do you disarm a caged gobbo?

Place the cage, do d b c over the cage, then d b d to dump all armor, clothes, and weapons, taking them  off the goblin. You can, ofc, use the stocks menu to not-dump their armor so they are tougher to kill. This gives your military more experience.