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Author Topic: The battle for bitelabor! A very memorable Fortress moment!  (Read 1084 times)

herblin

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The battle for bitelabor! A very memorable Fortress moment!
« on: September 30, 2016, 11:42:54 am »

My first attempt at writing a DF experience!

The year of 129, I had just committed my forge to minting some gold coins and digging what was to be a massive trench system in one of our most ambition defense projects to date. Things were quiet, fortress had a limit of about 120 dwarves who feast under a waterfall.
I assigned a few miners to start digging downwards as things had grown so quiet, I thought maybe some fun could be unlocked under the base (We've had lots of practice flooding the fortress, so I thought worst case, we can put that to good use!)
Nothing was found under the base, except for a gold cluster and some gems that could be brought up to the surface. My disappointment was growing when suddenly a horde of goblins approached with human thralls.
The goblins seemed to be led by a lady consort ? Though I am unsure. We've dealt with goblins and their trolls in the past with our elite guards who consist of some Masters & Lords of their weapons of choice led by a Legendary Axe dwarf named Ryukan.
Our previous battle they had done so well I was currently constructing a new barracks for them (As they had been training in a dirt closet I built in the first year) The new barracks had a golden door, silver weaponracks and armor stands, and a mantelpiece waterfall I constructed along one wall (again we had previous experience with flooding)
This time the force of 120 goblins at our doorstep I judged to be too strong of a force for our 10 elite warriors to get slaughtered in so I garrisoned what I dubbed our "Cannon Fodder" Dwarves at the front gate to slow down the invasion force.
These are ill equipped somewhat trained dwarves, who I was in the process of getting geared slightly better. A few of them had poked their heads out around the gatehouse and I realized they had started taking some serious damage from missiles so I pulled them back inside the hallway assuming a stance for a final stand showdown to commence.
The goblins started to rush the main gate (And Urist still hadn't flipped that damn switch to raise the draw bridge!)
So I rushed my cannon fodder dwarves forward to the narrow bridge to their deaths, they were cut in ribbons like dogs. They had no hope...
Until the Militia captain of our elite guards suddenly appeared on the draw bridge next to them, without his squad! He was armed, and armored. Previously he had dubbed his sturdy iron shield "Gomathokir" ~The Legendary Elder~ .
Now he must have felt a moment of inspiration as he saw his brothers and sisters being cut down, as he rushed in to help (without orders I remind you) He named his old Iron Axe "Elbel Asmel" The Renown of Merchants (Maybe something to do with the dwarven merchant I had him cut down in a robbery? )
Not wanting to loose such a legendary dwarf I rushed his comrades in to the bridge to assist. They geared up and made their way, all the while the few of my expendable dwarf squad fought along side the elite guard captain leaving a mess of bodies on the bridge.
The elites arived and pushed forward (even though I kept trying to pull them back) And created what looked to be a literal wave of blood rushing out in front of them. The goblins quickly fell. One of their human thralls with a crossbow survived and tried desperately to retreat, though he got sidetracked and took a few shots at a muskox on the way out and my dwarves were able to catch up with him and cut him down.
Somehow, not one of my Elite guard had a single scratch on them. 6 of my secondary force were killed and four others with injuries in what was probably one of the most memorable experiences I've had in dwarf fortress! (this is my first fort in years, haven't played in ages.)
I had recorded this if anyone's interested! But I thought I'd share that. It seemed super epic to me! And I was proud of these dwarves. Is this above and beyond their usual capabilities? Or are goblins just that awful?
https://youtu.be/AUC-WUceRVE?t=5m9s (At the point of the invsaion notice)
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GhostDwemer

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Re: The battle for bitelabor! A very memorable Fortress moment!
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2016, 01:44:14 pm »

Legendary dwarven warriors are truly awe-inspiring, it is not unusual for them to take on ten to one odds and escape without a scratch. The only really dangerous goblins are the legendary ones. Specifically, the legendary lashers and marksmen can put some real hurt even on well armored legendary dwarves. The forums have dubbed whips as "lightsabers" for the way they can cut through anything, and a legendary marks-goblin can put an arrow through a dwarf's eye even when the dwarf is hiding behind a fortification. Other than that, goblins are mostly cannon fodder. Their iron equipment will fail to protect them from steel, and if you notice, they generally don't wear greaves, boots or gauntlets, so leg, foot and hand hits tend to take them out of combat immediately.
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herblin

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Re: The battle for bitelabor! A very memorable Fortress moment!
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2016, 01:49:10 pm »

Legendary dwarven warriors are truly awe-inspiring, it is not unusual for them to take on ten to one odds and escape without a scratch. The only really dangerous goblins are the legendary ones. Specifically, the legendary lashers and marksmen can put some real hurt even on well armored legendary dwarves. The forums have dubbed whips as "lightsabers" for the way they can cut through anything, and a legendary marks-goblin can put an arrow through a dwarf's eye even when the dwarf is hiding behind a fortification. Other than that, goblins are mostly cannon fodder. Their iron equipment will fail to protect them from steel, and if you notice, they generally don't wear greaves, boots or gauntlets, so leg, foot and hand hits tend to take them out of combat immediately.

Ohh, okay, yeah they fell pretty quickly.  I was just surprised to see no hits land, after the militia captain just ran off to defend without his squad hah.   I kept trying to pull him back just because it was literally a squad of 10 vs over 100 and we had a drawbridge in place to help  But it worked out.  I wish he hadn't gotten so attached to iron gear, I'd have loved to give that dwarf some steel weapons and stuff but he grew attached before I had steel ready, and the guy I named him for was adamant that he keep his old iron stuff haha.
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