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[Brhino]

I've just started playing again, first time in the new version, and as the title says, I'm astonished at what the goblin snatchers are doing to my army!

When I discover a snatcher in my fortress, I lock him in and send in my military.  The military consists of 10 dwarves who have been practicing for a couple years now but are mostly rated at "adequate" or so with their chosen weapons, armed with iron weapons and a full set of iron armor.  I should expect them to take down a unarmored goblin with no trouble but that hasn't been the case.

The first goblin killed two war dogs, one untrained dog, and put two soldiers in the hospital before finally being brought down, I think by another war dog.

The second goblin I actually unlocked the hatches so he could escape, because he had put no less than four soldiers in the hospital without taking a scratch of damage himself.

What's going on here?  Are dwarves utterly useless until they get several more military skill ranks?  Have goblin snatchers been turned into indestructible juggernauts?

[Moonshine Fox]

They're actually quite formidable fighters and those large daggers are a nasty weapon. It comes down to what armor your dwarves are wearing. You should probably have them in bronze at least...

[bungler]

A call for help! I'll send a fresh garrison over immediately. They will arrive in 2 days time. Until then, hold fast brother!

Also, make sure their armor is metal. I had a really tough time with military dying quickly and slapped my forehead when I realized they were not fully armored. Then make sure to put up traps to weaken them before they hit your front lines.

[Brhino]

As I've said, they're in full suits of iron armor.  Iron armor is superior to bronze, isn't it?  Not that I've found much copper so far anyhow, I don't think I have much choice.

[Organum]

Primitive iron is weaker than bronze, and the iron in DF is the primitive sort. If you don't have copper, go for the magma and get yourself some steel.

[Xirad]

I thought bronze was only superior to iron for weapons. For armor I was under the impression that iron was better.

[Brhino]

well hey, finally found marble, 15 levels down.  That should help.

[Drakeero]

Where does copper place compared to iron?  I got tons of copper and iron but no tin to make bronze.

[AngleWyrm]

Copper is the weakest of the metal armor types; a weapon made of anything better than copper can cut through it pretty easy.

What type of metal do the goblins make their daggers/swords from? It is that metal that you need something better than.

[Drakeero]

Ah well, good news is I wasn't thinking of copper armor.  I was thinking of copper trap components.  But if iron is better then copper then I suppose its worthwhile to go with it.

I don't want to make like 160+ steel serrated disks when I don't have a reliable flux supply and my smiths aren't, y'know, legendary.  But I'm pretty much sweating hematite so I'll go with some of that.

[Valdus]

I usually equip my soldiers in bronze for a few years before I get steel out, it seems to hold up well against goblin weapons.  In a typical battle my soldiers either have superficial wounds or they take a massive hit that kills them instantly (like one dwarf getting bitten in half by a cave croc, or a jabberer ripping an arm off).

As for the goblin snatchers, they are master thieves and rather skilled in combat.  I've lost quite a few unsuspecting dwarves and animals to them.  It's the kobold thieves that are sissies.

[Knigel]

According to the wiki, whether bronze or iron is better for armor depends on the version: in version .31.11 and earlier bronze was third best armor material and iron the fourth, but since version .31.12 it's been the other way around.

[ungulateman]

In fact, that's because Toady started using period-appropriate numbers for bronze in the game, but he's still using the modern values for iron, copper and other metals.

Which means copper is better than bronze.

T_T