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[quintilius]

Ok - so in 25 I'd get an ambusher squad - and they'd show up a couple weeks before or after the caravan... this meant i had time to get them engaged before they picked off the merchants. Sometimes i'd have an abundance of metals and fuel - and i'd trap the hell out of the entrance areas - this works well as well.  Then there was the 'channel them with walls' tactic - with a series of 10x1 obstructions to block los and force pathing etc etc - i got to be a veteran with this sort of thing.

But in 34 the ambush spawns quite literally 1 time point after the caravan shows up - and usually right on top of them.  This cant be 'working as intended' - toady doesnt really want to just give me everything every caravan brings for free, which is essentially what happens. I leave the doors wide open - i patrol - i have guard towers - none of it helps with what amount to deepstriking goblins.  I cant have the military positioned at every entry point every time - and even if they're standing right there it doesnt save that one miserable elf from the lasher that appears inside his pants.

Now i forbid everything that drops from the caravans (god help me if i dont - because the moment i turn off the burrow half the fort will rush out to add to their sock collection). - but if the map is very vertically challenged it's easy to miss something.  Truth be told I dont want all that free stuff - by Armok if i wanted everything the elves were carrying i'd kill them and take it myself.

At this point i'm tempted to only embark near towers - so i can keep a perpetual dead siege going and not have to deal with the constant waves of insta-killed merchants (this compounds the whole unslabbable caravan guard thing rather dramatically btw)

I dont mind losing a dwarf or 3 getting out there and getting busy with the locals - that's part of the job... but i dont want to have to intentionally block wagon access because the wagons cant make it the 5 steps from the edge into the tunnel before they're destroyed by a legion of ambushers that still manage to kill the merchants even when i've got squads of dwarves standing right there.  If they just turned around instantly that'd be better - but no - instead you get Horses running left and right as the caravan continues to spawn - leaving trails of free stuff.  At least spawn the guards first... or give the damned elves guards... or ideally just limit how close in time/distance an ambush can be generated

Yes - i can savescum - and it will change the entry points - but i hate doing that (even if it's to my disadvantage to do so).

[WaffleEggnog]

This, 1000x over

I once got 7 ambushes, the size of a decent siege, as soon as a caravan arrived, though i discovered them as i was fighting the other ambushes. Its to the point that i force my dwarves underground and have to escort the caravan, though i never get have a strong military (i use traps more)

This only seems to happen in areas with more goblins, or at least thats what iv noticed. In my old fort, which had gobbos second on the neighbors screen (under dwarves), i couldent get a caravan through unharmed, however in my new fort, which had gobbos last on neighbors, i havint gotten an ambush yet.

More !!SCIENCE!! is needed on the subject.

[Elf Lover]

deepstriking goblins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFSCzxV-65s

[Excedion]

My last caravan got ambushed too. 3 ambushes right on top of them but the guards managed to distract them long enough for my military to get there. The whole time problem seems to happen with sieges for me. As soon as a human caravan arrived I got a goblin siege then when they were about to depart a zombie siege arrived...

[robertheinrich]

I noticed that a lot, too. But I thought it was a "normal" feature because I didnīt play earlier versions. Ambushes more often than not come at the same time merchants arrive. What helps a bit is when you have some soldiers patrol the map all the time and/or stationed at outdoor posts.

And yeah, itīs a bit annoying. Sometimes I have more traders and guards buried in my tombs than my own dwarves. And while itīs nice to get the stuff for free it kinda sucks if my dwarves spend weeks hauling it all in piece by piece.