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Author Topic: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem  (Read 1721 times)

Cespinarve

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Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« on: June 19, 2010, 07:55:06 pm »

Ah, Bellock. My fortress just died on me, breaking my heart. It was my first sustaining long term fortress in the .31, and I was pretty proud of it. What killed it? SIEGE. The second we'd had. Now 16 soldiers, either axedwarfs or spear dwarfs (with one hammerdwarf), all of them legendary except the hammerdwarf. Steel armor and weapons for everyone. What went wrong?

1) Four dwarves were absent. Two of them stuck in sickbay with there leg muscles destroyed- they'll never walk again. A militia captain had lost his hand, and spends his days glitching out in the armory, occasionally going to get a drink. The last soilder was asleep at the time of the attack, and was sealed into the fortress when I closed the entry ways.

2) I have never been able to get them to drop there BLOODY TRAINING WEAPONS. This probably raped me more than anything else.

3) The goblins showed up riding bat men, giant olms, cave crocodiles, giant toads, huge worm things- how the hell am I supposed to compete with that, huh?

4) Goblins can now dismantle mechanisms and furniture, apparently. Including floodgates. Like, the ones I sealed my fortress with. What the hell?

Anyways, They mauled my army and then broke through my sealed fortress. I surrendered- watching a slow FPS death of 111 dwarves would have just been depressing. Thoughts?

EDIT: According to the legends, I face 8 trolls and 32 goblins. Also, the whole war with the Goblins was called The Conflict of Crucifixions
« Last Edit: June 19, 2010, 08:01:21 pm by Cespinarve »
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Nice one, not sure when I'll be feeling like killing a baby but these things are good to know.
This is why we can't have nice things... someone will just wind up filling it with corpses.
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife — chopping off what's incomplete and saying: "Now it's complete because it's ended here."

gopa4

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2010, 08:04:26 pm »

The mounts that the Goblins were ridding most likely had building destroyer, hence your dead floodgates. Thats why I tend to use draw bridges they form walls.
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Asellus

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2010, 08:05:56 pm »

Find their civilization, destroy it. Preferably with magma!
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Sphalerite

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2010, 08:07:34 pm »

Thoughts:

Never make training weapons.

Many of the creatures the goblins were riding were building destroyers.  Goblins also now come on mounts that can fly and/or swim.

In my current fortress I use an elaborate pumped-magma trap system to kill sieges.  Soldiers just aren't reliably up to it.
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Asellus

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2010, 08:21:47 pm »

I use cave ins to kill invaders, there's nothing quite like collapsing an entire z level to kill a single groundhog  :D
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Eric Blank

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2010, 08:25:20 pm »

Don't rely on drawbridges anymore either. Building Destroyer 2's(mostly mega- and semi-megabeasts, titans, and forgottenbeasts, but also the HFS) can smash them as easily as any other building.
Use these constructions to buy yourself time to build a solid wall, and nothing less. I'd use dwarf therapist to quickly switch off everyone's real jobs and activate them as masons/carpenters and tell them to build several walls across the entry passage at different lengths. If it works, have all the walls except the one farthest forward deconstructed, both to let your dorfs out and to free up the passage as much as possible. It should look like this;
________________________
F..c...c...c...c...c...c...c....O
F..c...c...c...c...c...c...c....O
F..c...c...c...c...c...c...c....O
________________________

_ = sides of hallway (should be solid rock walls already)
F = fortress
O = outside/direction of attackers
. = Path
c = Constructed walls

It's the only way you'll ever be safe.
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I make Spellcrafts!
I have no idea where anything is. I have no idea what anything does. This is not merely a madhouse designed by a madman, but a madhouse designed by many madmen, each with an intense hatred for the previous madman's unique flavour of madness.

Cespinarve

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #6 on: June 19, 2010, 08:40:05 pm »

I'm on a Mac, no DT for me. Actually, no one makes DF apps for the MAc, it's all windows and... shudder... linux.
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Nice one, not sure when I'll be feeling like killing a baby but these things are good to know.
This is why we can't have nice things... someone will just wind up filling it with corpses.
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife — chopping off what's incomplete and saying: "Now it's complete because it's ended here."

Eric Blank

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2010, 09:30:32 pm »

Guess you get to do it the hard way then. Just go through a large section of your unit list, all the idlers at least, and activate masonry and order walls constructed.

Remember that dorfs always want to build a wall standing on either to it's left or above it(north), so if you build a wall sealing yourself from enemies on the north or west, the builder(s) will be trapped outside and murdered, unless you're quick and build an outer wall for them. they'll be outside that one too.
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I make Spellcrafts!
I have no idea where anything is. I have no idea what anything does. This is not merely a madhouse designed by a madman, but a madhouse designed by many madmen, each with an intense hatred for the previous madman's unique flavour of madness.

Shade-o

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2010, 09:46:32 pm »

You can also put your bridge over a pit, just like a real drawbridge. That will stop the ground-based attackers from breaking it down, at least. And even if fliers get in, the grounders can't.

You can also avoid the trapped-builder problem by setting a wall to be built where you don't want them to stand, and then suspending it. They'll avoid standing on the designation.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2010, 09:58:57 pm by Shade-o »
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Internet Kraken

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2010, 10:51:38 pm »


You can also avoid the trapped-builder problem by setting a wall to be built where you don't want them to stand, and then suspending it. They'll avoid standing on the designation.

Is this reliable? In my last fort I had a big problem with stupid dwarves attempting to remove floors whilst standing on tiles that would plunge into the ocean as a result of the deconstruction. So a way to keep them off of these tiles would have been great.


EDIT: Nevermind. I just remembered that walls can't be built on constructed floors.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2010, 10:53:18 pm by Internet Kraken »
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Cespinarve

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Re: Bellock (384-388)- a post mortem
« Reply #10 on: June 20, 2010, 12:28:20 am »

In one fort I built a series of spanning bridges that retracted onto little islands, like the bridges you'd find in Shadow of the Colossus. Guess I'll have to revive that plan.
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Nice one, not sure when I'll be feeling like killing a baby but these things are good to know.
This is why we can't have nice things... someone will just wind up filling it with corpses.
Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife — chopping off what's incomplete and saying: "Now it's complete because it's ended here."