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* Royal Engineers tune *

A warning: weapon traps are currently bugged. Use whatever you want, but stay away from weapon traps. (Other tips are outdated / ref. to older versions / as well.)

Copper makes decent blunt weapons, but excellent minecarts.

Water and magma are your friends.

* Royal Engineers tune *

[Starver]

My only addition, coming late to this, is that a dry moat (depathed, by removing at least the ramps up to the inner edgings) is better than wet.  Although magma-filled can be quite distracting (also just as lethal if you can't stop your own troops dodging in, by - for example - not even letting them melee anywhere near it).

I tend to dig 2+Z deep (at the inner edge, at least) and 4-or-more wide moats, keep them dry, put strategic drawbridges (main accesses capable of Wagons, normally open and, monitored for sneakers/zig-zag traps laid inside or out; plus strategic sally-port ones normally closed but capable of both taking incoming and outgoing dorfs from whatever place is far from an idling invasion force) across them, line the rest of the inner with walls (overhung with sufficiently roofed firing positions) and a few other little tricks Imhave mentioned elsewhere, giving me the capability of turning turtle on besiegers.

With edge-flush raising bridges (1xN tiles, the 1 end tile at the edge, the opposing 1 tile at the moat edge or other obstacle) I can even isolate zones of border, such that an invasion from the Eastern edge of the map can be prevented from interfering with immigrants who might also wander on, but from the south, west or north edges if they're lucky enough not to arrive where the hostiles are/vice-versa (or, if I've been even more industrious, isolate the cardinal directions even from the semi-cardinal cornergzones, or more, upon suitable command-levering, at least from non-fliers and the more determined climbers).


But turtling (ever part-turtling!) always seems a bit exploity. Mostly I justify it as protection (without going so far as to configure-off invasions altogether) for the Grand Plan Megaproject I'm (seperately, or in close conjuction with the otherwise resource-grabbing moating/walling-off action) attempting to pursue...

[Werdna]

But turtling (ever part-turtling!) always seems a bit exploity. Mostly I justify it as protection (without going so far as to configure-off invasions altogether) for the Grand Plan Megaproject I'm (seperately, or in close conjuction with the otherwise resource-grabbing moating/walling-off action) attempting to pursue...

Oh, I don't think so.  There's certainly drawbacks to turtling - missed caravans, missed migrants, limited ability to work with the map while they're there.  For newer DF players, I think turtling is perfectly fine until they get the hang of training a military and "when" to be ready for sieges.  The very act of being able to turtle requires they have mastered building defenses and a lock-out and what not after all.  I think it's an important step on the learning curve, let's not attach any shame to it. 

[Dunamisdeos]

But turtling (ever part-turtling!) always seems a bit exploity. Mostly I justify it as protection (without going so far as to configure-off invasions altogether) for the Grand Plan Megaproject I'm (seperately, or in close conjuction with the otherwise resource-grabbing moating/walling-off action) attempting to pursue...

Oh, I don't think so.  There's certainly drawbacks to turtling - missed caravans, missed migrants, limited ability to work with the map while they're there.  For newer DF players, I think turtling is perfectly fine until they get the hang of training a military and "when" to be ready for sieges.  The very act of being able to turtle requires they have mastered building defenses and a lock-out and what not after all.  I think it's an important step on the learning curve, let's not attach any shame to it. 

Well written! I agree. I tend to turtle while I prepare whatever engine of death I intend to handle sieges.

[mross]

On world gen, set mineral scarcity to 100 and give yourself plenty of z levels before the first cavern. I usually go with 20. Disable aquifers, of course.

Don't make crafts or decorate anything; in fact don't produce anything that isn't survival related (food, booze, medical, beds, containers, arms/armor, etc). Make everything you can from wood.  Low fort value will delay invasions. Trading is pointless in this game, you can make anything you need. I rarely ever build a depot. Of course it's different if you're on a glacier, desert or something crazy like that.

Channel to your running water source when you can and bring it to your fort, make a little pond, wall it off. Set a water source next to it. Zone only drinking.

It'll take a while, but wall off a big chunk of forest too. Or dig straight to magma and wall off your shaft from the caverns. Either way, the point is to wall off the outside so you can't be attacked. If you go the first way, remember to either remove all ramps or build a roof.

[Thorfinn]

There's nothing cheaty about building a fort in a game called "Dwarf Fortress." It's not called "Dwarf Undefended Hole in the Ground". You were sent out to build a thriving dwarfhome, not to get every man, woman and child slaughtered. You have to keep it a certain level of open or they don't bother to attack (often caused by excessive use of traps), sure, but there is a limit.

Re: traps, I think their best use is to get the invaders to dodge off a 1 wide causeway into shallow pits on either side so your melee dwarves can take them at their leisure, or they can be target practice after you run the rest off. I find one decent trap is enough to get about 1/3 or so in the pit on each side, and the remaining third all that are still in battle for the initial engagement. And they are wounded, sometimes seriously.

Copper is not great, but I've had to defend with just that many times before. Just need more defenders. Off-hand, I'd guess about 3 squads partially trained with copper equipment would have fended it off with maybe a half-dozen KIA. Still an unacceptable level of loss at that point, IMO. If you pull out 3-4 from your second migrant wave and start training them to be squad leaders, by the time you have 90 dwarves, it's pretty easy to fill the ranks of those squads. Personally, I find 3 squads on the low end for a 100 dwarf fort. Especially if I can't equip them in steel.

I think dwarf happiness should guide the overseer. A good overseer needs to make sure his fort sees enough battle to fulfill martial needs of the dwarves, but not so much that there are a lot of losses. If dying a glorious death were the "dwarfy" thing to do, it wouldn't give them unhappy thoughts.