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[Drovoxx]

Title says it all. I've been slowly building my first fortress with the help of the wiki, and have amassed a considerable population of over 100. I've also strip-mined pretty deeply, about 35 z-levels or so. But My fortress is thriving but I haven't encountered any sieges, caverns, or other particularly fun stuff yet, and was wondering if this is a glitch or just luck of the draw.

I am using the LNP, but I don't think I changed any gameplay settings at embark or in LNP. Any advice would be appreciated! I can post my save file on here if needed.

[smjjames]

Make some horizontial exploration tunnels, if you did one shaft, it's entirely possible to miss all of the caverns completely.

For the sieges, are you sure you didn't turn off invaders?

[0cu]

If you're having goblin thieves or snatchers, there will be sieges one day. Sometimes the goblins need more time to build up their armies.

For the caverns, chances are you missed them with your shaft. As said above, dig exploratory horizontal tunnels.

[Drovoxx]

I've gotten 3-4 goblin bandits, so hopefully something is coming.

Also, I didn't realize you had to dig horizontally to get to the cavern; I thought it appeared if you just reached the floor. I've been sideways digging from z~25 onwards but will go do it for higher levels as well.

Thanks for the info!

[0cu]

Basically you have to breach the caverns anywhere, from the side, from the top or from the bottom, it doesn't matter, as long as there's a open path to the cavern. If you have found it, most of the time it's better to seal it off and dig a proper tunnel for defenses.

[Garath]

not all caverns are the wide open things you might expect. They can be a small collection of connected corridors too

One thing to realize about sieges and such is that it isn't just depending on population and wealth. It also depends on time. If you're in the 4th year it's not a big surprise. By the time it gets to year 8 it's a cause of worry and by year 12 you should have had plenty of ambushes and should seriously worry if you havn't and most likely a couple of sieges too. However, that is still a possibility especially if the nearest goblin civ isn't too strong or far away

[AutomataKittay]

Sounds like had bad luck of the draw. Caverns have solid blocks that can let you miss it entirey even with 2x2 stairways, as I've found out often enough. Dig some exploring shafts off to the sides every few levels and you shall discover it.

As for siege, it's triggered by population and wealth level, I know it's at least 80 pop but I don't remember the wealth level. It can take years for goblins to come and visit, due to distance to major cities. If there're ambushers or snatchers around, then it's matter of time and wealth.

[gabrek]

You also may be in an area that simply has abnormally deep caverns. My current fortress has cavern layer one at Z-58, layer two at Z-120, layer three at Z-138, and the magma sea at Z-154.
Of course, you'll not see a FB buddy until your breach the caverns, so that's a pretty meaningful Fun event you're missing out on so far.
Wealth also has a substantial impact on your appeal as a target. Are your bedrooms engraved and furniture encrusted, does your military wield masterworks? Getting steel production going and making the place fancy will get your fortress on the Parade of DoomHomes for sure.
Unless you embarked on an island- that can get pretty lonely! Remote areas far from civilizations will also be slower to be visited, but this applies mostly to mountain valleys and glaciers.

[WanderingKid]

You also may be in an area that simply has abnormally deep caverns. My current fortress has cavern layer one at Z-58, layer two at Z-120, layer three at Z-138, and the magma sea at Z-154.

Dear gods, I didn't know the map would GO that deep.  What's your surface layer at?

[gabrek]

Honestly, I don't know how to check that. I'm comparing Z levels vs. my surface level. Surface has a hill that spans 10 levels.

[WhimsyWink]

the right side of screen has a depth indicator .... logically (but annoyingly) it'll flutter as you go horizontally due to the surface terrain

[WanderingKid]

The top number on the right side of the screen is depth from surface.  The bottom number on the right is true depth, with 100 (I think) being sea level.  Which value are you discussing, the upper or lower one?

[gabrek]

Ah, I had wondered what the happy black number was. There's a 166 Z-level difference between them. I feel Slightly Stoopid. ^_^;