Most bug reports are cut-and-dried comments on a particular issue. For variety, I will describe my most recent siege and let Toady determine what is working as designed here and what might benefit from improvement. For a picture, see bottom.
Early winter, a very convenient time for a siege. Four squads of goblins and two of trolls arrive and immediately march for the gates. We learn the hard way that you need to conscript civilians out in the forest because, when you summon dwarves inside, some will walk right across enemy lines to get there. 3 dwarves die. My woodchopper lives only because I did conscript him and carefully made him walk across a ford and to the walls, and only then to the gates.
Immediately upon the start of the siege, I begin the rather tedious process of arming my dwarves for war. This involves marching each dwarf to the steel weapons armory to stop them picking up the remaining "(iron warhammers)" and "+willow crossbows+" and changing their weapons preferences. Armor was already done: I had previously outfitted them all with steel armor (a *very time-consuming* process involving locked doors and repeats to handle dwarves that put the helm on before the cap). Some dwarves require only a weapon change; all five marksheros or markschampions drop their training on wrestling or hammers and pick up steel crossbows. I also have a large number of Professional and Accomplished Marksdwarves. Although the 20 of them are certain to wipe the floor with anyone who gets too cute with us, I don't want to see them become Heros except in an emergency because I also need them for labor. So they arm with crossbows and act as a backup. A number of immigrant soldiers came at one point or another and have become civilians; the melee chaps are almost useless (they can't wear enough armor), but the immigrant marksdwarves grab a crossbow and head to a safe place near the front line. Seven effective melee dwarves and two wardogs complete the tally of our front-line troops. I shorten their leashes to keep the guard dogs out of direct ranged fire.
Thus the theory. Now, here's what actually happens. Half my total soldiers are eating, sleeping, drinking, or far out of position because they just did these things. Some are sparring or shooting at targets and I don't know how to make them stop until they are done. The fortress is much bigger than the outside so, despite most of my soldiers being much faster than any non-elite goblin, many cannot make it to the gate before the enemy start arriving. They will arrive one by one as the battle builds up. For every moment I spend guiding the battle, I have to spend five equipping soldiers, stopping them from freezing in place at a previously assigned station point, urging them towards the front, and keeping tabs on where the key players are doing and what they're wielding so I can calculate where we can make a stand.
But I have prepared for some of this - and not with traps. There is a gatehouse fortified and filled with high-quality bronze arrows, with a single door I can lock. A marksdwarf inside the gatehouse has abundant ammo, near-total protection from melee troops, and - most importantly - cannot wander off to sleep, eat, or drink. Once on duty, he will very likely stay on duty. Defence is very simple; if I can get enough good marksdwarves in there before the enemy rush the gates, we win at little cost. If not, things get messy in the corridor.
Of my five hero-level marksdwarves, one is sleeping and will miss the battle, one is sleeping and will only wake up almost as the battle ends, champion Olith (the best of the five) is drinking deep in the fortress and will be a while arriving, one is enough out of position that he'll need a little more time then the first wave of attackers will give, and the fifth and last we'll talk about shortly.
The enemy is almost as disorganized as we are. Unlike us, the enemy troops are on a sychonized eat-drink-sleep schedule (do they actually have to do these things? I've never had a siege last long enough to find out). Like us, however, they have no clue how to hit a target with their full strength at once; they arrive in dribs and drabs, one or two squads at a time. Worse for them, most of their melee troops are over-burdened with heavy armor they lack the strength or training to handle. They walk in circles around each other, crawl over each other crossing the narrow river bridge, and in short move so slowly that one of my professional Marksdwarves can move two grids to their one. This speed disparity is the only thing that stops this seige from becoming a messy gangfight at the cave river.
The first wave of trolls come in. A single heroic-level marksdwarf with superior-quality steel crossbow and a full set of exceptional steel chain armor makes it to the gatehouse. I lock him in. He slaughters five trolls, none closer than six grids.
Despite all haulers being ordered to stone-hauling duty, a steady stream of haulers amble towards the gates, intent on pursuing either previously-tasked jobs (yes, I should have manually deleted them from the 'j' menu, but I was distracted, OK?) or on handling unknown jobs near the battle. As they approach the danger zone, I conscript all of them and, ignoring their screams of outrage, order them past the cave river. Three children and four nobles decide to play tourist; marksgoblins sure are cute, aren't they?
The second wave of trolls come in, closely followed by ~30 goblins in two squads. The goblins are taking half of forever to shove each other across the main bridge, so the trolls are quicker and hit first. Just at that moment, my second heroic-level marksdwarf arrives at the gatehouse. I order him in and lock the door. Several melee dwarves arrive. Steel-clad and armed and moderately well trained, they fear no melee foe lesser than a warlord. But they dare not risk the fire of archers and crossbow-goblins, and so prudently lurk behind the gatehouse. All the trolls are shot down or flee, except for one or two which the Hammerer accounts for. Sadly, he gets the munchies before a goblin can put an arrow in him.
The Goblin main body marches into the kill zone. For the first time this day, firepower works both ways as their ranged-fire troops open up on us. Only constant intervention over controllable dwarves and sheer blind good fortune protecting the uncontrollable ones prevent more of us from dying this day.
Olith the fortress Markschampion arrives. Once in the gatehouse, she and the two Marksheros lay down an awesome carpet of fire - six or eight bolts in the air at any one moment. The goblins, overwhelmed, melt away under fire; the closest goblin kill is at a distance of 16, and it was that of a spearlord.
The siege is broken; the survivors turn to flee. Two squads of goblins have seen no combat this day. The first is far away to the north and slips away as uselessly as it wandered. The second has crossed a ford far to the south and, marching hard, had almost made it to the gates before the breakup. A human spearlord mounted on a beak dog leads them; he is personally responsible for the deaths of two dwarves, and I badly want his head. He and his followers begin to flee for the river across our front lines.
I form a squad of all ten front-line soldiers who have made it to the battle thus far (4 marksdwarves, 4 hammerdwarves, 1 speardwarf, and one wrestler) and order them at the enemy. They do nothing. Cocking an eyebrow, I set them to "chase" instead of "hold position". Olith, leader of the squad, races out of the gatehouse for the foe. She is followed by ... one (much slower) dwarf. The other eight are heading for the cave river! No, I haven't a CLUE why. Only a couple wanted to eat/drink/sleep. The squad leader was doing the right thing - this wasn't a case of "everyone guards the drinking leader". So surprised am I and so focused on the pursuit that I don't realize what's going on until the eight are almost to the cave river bridge and all chance of a concerted pursuit is lost.
Cursing myself for, one again, falling into the trap of using squads to save keystrokes when I know full well that they are NOTHING BUT TROUBLE, I assign orders to each and every dwarf to turn around, make up the 50 grids lost distance, and kill at many as can be killed before somebody gets lucky on Olith.
We are much quicker than the goblin footsoldiers. Olith and (eventually) the others catch a fair number before they make it off the map (including all of the rider's squad). To our intense frustration, their leader rides safely off well in advance of his meatshields. He mocks our disorganization and, waving two dwarven pelts, promises more ironmongery deliveries next year.
Map of the main action:
Butcher's bill:
Dwarves: 3 dwarves (peasant haulers caught early; two ridden down, one riddled by fire) and 1 pet dog dead, no wounded
Siegers: 15 trolls and 26 goblins dead, 1 troll in cage.
Gameplay lessons learnt:
- "You really need a moat, Mr. Fedor. Yes, I know you think liquid defences are unsporting, but this business of 'race the enemy for your own bloody gate' is just stupid."
- "Put the steel crossbows with the quivers, both much nearer the main arrow stash, and all three more directly on the path to the gatehouse. Hide or chasm any weapons not made of steel. Dwarves coming to the front with silver weapons because you forgot to lock the door to the training stash are going to cost you a battle some fine day."
- "Lock marksdwarfs with good crossbow and wrestling skills in the gatehouse *at all times*. If you had even one competent dwarf safely in position when the siege started, things would have been a lot less dicey."
- "Pay more and earlier attention to dwarves outside. Conscript them and tell them to run directly away from danger. Three deaths, beak dog or no beak dog, was embarrassing."
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Topic: The story of my most recent siege (Read 433 times)