Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[MisterLich]

Hi, new DF player here.  I think I've got a good handle on the basics of the basics of the beginning basics.  I was just wondering something though, since sieges are a big problem for a fortress.

Why don't you just get your fortress to make everything it needs inside of a mountain or something, (I still don't understand how you get an underground tree farm but someone said you could) then after you have everything, why don't you just close off all the entrances?  Like, just find a way to cave the entrance back in or something.

The sieges cant get to you then right?

[Jim Groovester]

Yeah, but the thing is, the game gets boring if you don't have sieges, or just wall yourself in. Remember, the average Dwarf Fortress player is a vicious, blood-thirsty sadist, so they need those goblins to quench their blood-thirst.

And if you wall yourself off, there's no way to get caravans in, and without caravans, there's no way to get rid of the mountain of junk that a fortress produces.

[Demonic Gophers]

It's quite possible to do so.  But then you can't trade with merchants, and immigrants will be stuck outside.  Besides, slain goblins are a valuable source of iron and trade goods.

[Christes]

Some players use an "airlock" system where the fortress is usually sealed off,  but there is an airlock zone that the trading depot.

Really, though, just build lots of traps if you want to be free of worries about goblins.

[JoRo]

Or if you really want to be free from goblins, you can turn off invasions in the init.  For me though, trouble = excitement.  I love the early days of a fort when you don't have nearly the manpower to do everything and you have to keep a wary eye on the zombies.

[ZeroGravitas]

Hi, new DF player here.  I think I've got a good handle on the basics of the basics of the beginning basics.  I was just wondering something though, since sieges are a big problem for a fortress.

Why don't you just get your fortress to make everything it needs inside of a mountain or something, (I still don't understand how you get an underground tree farm but someone said you could) then after you have everything, why don't you just close off all the entrances?  Like, just find a way to cave the entrance back in or something.

The sieges cant get to you then right?

i thought this way my first week of playing DF.

don't worry, you'll get over it.

[Tormy]

Yeah, but the thing is, the game gets boring if you don't have sieges, or just wall yourself in.

I agree...in fact after a period, you will find the vanilla game way too easy, since it's ridicolously easy to defeat the siegers even if you use only use your military. So, after you will find the vanilla game easy, just download some mods, like Cpt. Mayday's Legendary Lands. It's quite challenging. 
[PS. I suppose the next major (vanilla) version will be more "challengive", because of the body layer system, venoms, upgraded weapon+armor system etc.]

[Kalimar]

Dwarf Fortress without sieges is macaroni without cheese. I'm sorry, but you're just not in the right business... unless you're roleplaying a Fallout Vault.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

peronaly i wish i would get sieged! i have yet to get sieged and it seems that the worlds i gen are filled with pacifistic gobos! its like i make a fort right in the middle of 4 or 5 gobo towns and what do i GET!!! PEACE THATS WHAT! its like insane. so yah like any tips on being sieged?

[Mephansteras]

Well, it's perfectly valid to go for a siegeless fortress if the point of the fortress is a Megaproject. But otherwise, yeah, it gets boring.

As for getting sieged...more wealth! More dwarves! That should fix it. Goblins are greedy.

[Deathworks]

Hi!

It basically depends on what you are interested in.

If you close the entrance to your fortress permanently, you will have no sieges, no kobold thieves, no animal incursions, no merchants, and no immigrants. In other words, you do not have any outside stimuli.

If you want to concentrate on the social developments in the fortress, this is probably a good approach, otherwise, you may find it a bit stagnant without the stimuli.

Turning off invaders eliminates sieges and kobold thieves, but you still have animal incursions, merchants and immigrants. For a peaceful fortress, that is probably the best approach as you still have outside stimuli via the merchants and the immigrants also bring permanent renewal to your society.

The better version of turning invaders off is actually having goblin civs extinct. However, that requires a lot of luck with world gen (I currently have such a lucky world, yeah!). Contrary to turning off invaders, you still have kobold thieves, offering a minor challenge (they are mostly harmless but they tend to steal the most valuable stuff if you don't catch them).

The main point, I think, is the question "Why do you enjoy Dwarf Fortress?". Ask yourself that question, and you should see what you need and what you don't need. Then you can choose your measures accordingly.

Have fun!

Deathworks

[Dareon Clearwater]

The goblins can't siege you if you're on fire!

[Skorpion]

You can very easily just leave the goblins out there. But more will come.

Sooner or later merchants will turn up, and get slaughtered.
Your only food source will be your farms.
Wood will be reduced to tower-caps.
The other civilisations will hate you for getting merchants killed, and the humans and elves will send sieges.
Your carefully-crafted entrance will be awash in blood and vomit and unwashed socks.

Even if you install a 'fuck the world' lever to dump water/magma/war dogs on invaders, you'll need some sort of outside.
A good way to get it is to build a curtain wall around your entrance. Nice and big, so you can grow trees and outdoor crops. Enclose some water for fish, install a gate system for caravans, and you can send foraging squads out to kill animals.
Or just install cage traps around and harvest them when you dare venture out into the bright, vomit-inducing light.