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[thistleknot]

So I have repeater traps.

After reading about how military dwarves can not be assigned orders when they see the enemy for they will blindly charge towards them.  Is there a way to assign dwarves to a specific locale so they don't say... run into my repeating traps.

To mitigate the problem, I've stationed my dwarves out of the sight of the enemies and only use them if the enemies breach my traps.

I was wondering if scheduled commands like "defend burrows" will prevent the military dwarves from leaving pre-designated areas so I don't have to worry about them running after the enemy
 in my repeating traps.

A way I've been managing it is to make my squads inactive in scheduling (w a civilian alert to burrows) and they retreat back (unless their hunters!) And reinstate there status when they fall back enough).

[peskyninja]

You could use 1 tile bridges or floodgates but bridges can kill them otherwise it's impossible to stop them.

[i2amroy]

If you throw up some doors then as long as nothing walks through them and opens them up your dwarves will be content to stay on their side. Of course once a goblin walks through those doors then all hell will be opened up as your dwarves charge valiantly forward into any remaining goblins regardless of trap status.

[slothen]

use lots of doors.  They can be instantly forbidden, and when unlocked invaders can go through them just fine.  Should handle 95% of your problems.

[MonkeyHead]

Blind soldiers are also highly useful.

[thistleknot]

I guess I should give credit to peskyninja, cuz the second post says "you can use 1 tile bridges".  Initially I was going to use bridges, but I decided on walls instead.

I read that using diagonal walls, example
x=wall

x x x
 x x
x x x
 x x

has some benefits as well.

I also had another idea. 

In all my forts, I have a walled off area that my dwarves have claimed.  I then setup catwalk bridges from outside of the walled off area that lead into the fort with a spiked moat beneath.  During the event of a siege, I use pulled levers to "repeat" the bridges on/off.

I have no (melee) dwarves posted to keep a view on incoming invaders for fear they might run into the repeating bridges.

Instead, at the end of the catwalk bridges, I have a stairway leading (1 z level) down into the barracks.  This means my melee dwarves don't see the enemy until there are in the barracks, and also means the enemy has to fight through the barracks before entering further into the fort. 

I could further improve upon this by setting up diagonal walls, or doors a z level above the barracks, somewhere between the stairwell, and the bridges, which would further prevent viewing of any enemies on the bridges.  This way if I have to, I can post dwarves on the same z level as the bridges.

I do have "lookouts".  Mainly marksdwarves that are a z level above the catwalk bridges, with access stairwells that go directly to the barracks (just in case they try to chase after the enemy, they have a longer route to go through, which gives me more time to react).

[Loud Whispers]

Blind soldiers are also highly useful.

Yes.

[thistleknot]

One can use supports linked to a lever to construct line of sight blockers during combat vs doors.  Doors will block trade caravans and require walls, but a support does not and can be collapsed when needed (and built on floors).

I think I just found my perfect line of sight blocker.  I'm gonna use the

X x x x
 X x x x
X x x x
 X x x x

Setup.  So the enemy has to diagonally enter thru.

I could also use

Xxx xxx xxx
   Xxx xxx

Update:
  I just learned that support's don't work that way.  I have another option.  To use bridges instead.  Bridges might not work because if I can't build them on floors, then I'm going to have to create empty spaces for the bridges.  Floor tiles can't be diagonally supported, which creates another issue.  But I'm going to try some stuff.

[thistleknot]

BTW, I tried the above suggestion, and it works pretty well (until your dwarfs get on the other side of it and see the enemies.

So I've come up with a new idea I wanted to mention.

Right now I have these catwalks running alongside my bridges for archers to shoot upon the enemy with.  I recently had to station my militia next to them as the bridges were flinging enemies onto the catwalk...

Then the dorfs would run out onto the repeating bridges over the spiked moat, and you know how that goes.

So I had this idea...

If dwarf's ignore orders when they see the enemy... why not make them cross into an area where they can't see the enemy before getting to them?

Such as if instead of having a direct route from my catwalk to the bridges, I could have a stairwell that would have to be taken down a z level (or up, doesn't matter), which would be enclosed by it's own room (i.e. can't see the enemy), then another stairwell to get to the bridge.

This way if a dorf runs off due to line of site view of an enemy, he will recover his orders as soon as he loses site of the enemy (by taking the stairs), hence RETURN to the catwalk.

I hope to try this on my next fort, as my last fell apart after a tantrum spiral caused from many deaths from said siege.

[rmblr]

(This is a bad necro, but I found it in splinterz's signature. )

Any updates on this method?

Do you happen to have any screenshots of your implementation? I can't quite follow the sketches you posted.

[greycat]

I think he was just talking about a checkerboard pattern:

Code: [Select]

.#.#.#.#
#.#.#.#.
.#.#.#.#
#.#.#.#.


[Merendel]

Personaly I just go with a coridor with at least 2 corners between the trap area and the melee dwarf station area.   In addition to this I setup a failsafe.  Just before the last corner leading into the traps I setup a presure plate linked to a hatch cover over a small pit.  The plate is set to trigger on citizens.  If a dwarf trys to cross the plate the hatch opens and blocks them from going any further.  A lever operated bridge blocks a bypass lane around the hatch so I can go retrieve the goblinite stuck in the repeating traps once I've turned the repeater off.

[thistleknot]

reporting on this,  I didn't find it effective.  Dwarf's seem to make their way to enemies once they see them irregardless if they lose sight of them.

[greycat]

reporting on this,  I didn't find it effective.  Dwarf's seem to make their way to enemies once they see them irregardless if they lose sight of them.

Depends on the orders the squad has, and the circumstances.  If you give a kill order, obviously they'll keep pursuing the target.  Also, they magically get ESP that tells them where the target is (but they only consult it at the time the order is given, then whenever they get to the point where the enemy unit WAS last time they checked their ESP, etc., which makes kill orders really, really inefficient if the enemy can move).

If you give a station order, they'll try to stay on their chosen station point (within 3 tiles of where you placed the X), until they see an enemy.  If they see an enemy, they'll pursue, and it seems to work like a miniature ad hoc kill order -- at the moment they see the unit, they memorize its X,Y coordinates, and move to that tile.  When they get there, if the enemy is still there, they fight.  Otherwise, if the enemy is in line of sight, they give themselves a new kill order, memorize the new X,Y coordinates, charge to that tile, and so on.  If at any point they get to the X,Y coordinates and can't see the enemy, they shrug and go back to their station point.