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Author Topic: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers  (Read 1344 times)

Nasikabatrachus

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Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« on: April 22, 2011, 05:45:30 pm »

So my cage traps have been way more effective than I thought they should have been. Right now, after about four years, my fort has 25 goblin prisoners--including thieves, who I thought were supposed to be able to avoid cage traps--at this point a quarter of the dwarven population.

I wish I could put them to work or something, but of course no luck there. I would sic them and the three forgotten beasts in my caves on each other, but I suspect the goblins would just immediately flee through the caves.

Right now I'm considering using them to train my squads and my war leopard and grizzly bear, but is there anything more fun to do with them? What would you do with 25 goblins?
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"I want to have goblins about me, for I am courageous. The courage which scareth away ghosts, createth for itself goblins--it wanteth to laugh." Thus Spake Zarathustra, chapter 7, Friedrich Nietzsche

Cyroth

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2011, 06:06:04 pm »

An idea I had when reading the thread title:

Build a huge overground fortress, that only has one entrance. Every room is closed with floodgates, linked to a nearby lever.
Build all the cages inside and link them to a single lever. Now release the goblins, but keep the fort closed. Form up a small band of dwarven milita and let then clear the fort room for room like some pen and paper rpg.
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A noble just suffered a genuine unfortunate accident.
Has that ever happened before?

TheeBaconman

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2011, 06:36:27 pm »

militia armed with the finest steel but training weapons.
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Seriyu

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2011, 06:47:26 pm »

As a note, only goblin master thieves avoid traps, so don't think you're perfectly safe.

I've seen them used for live target practice, might try that.

Syrup Roast

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2011, 09:04:47 pm »

As a note, only goblin master thieves avoid traps, so don't think you're perfectly safe.

I've seen them used for live target practice, might try that.
I've had a few master thieves in cages.
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ext0l

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2011, 09:21:41 pm »

only kobold thieves trap-avoid. both goblin thiefs and goblin master thiefs will trigger traps.
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JmzLost

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2011, 09:49:05 pm »

My experience has been that snatchers get caught in cage traps, while thieves avoid them.  Both of them show up as "thieves", but snatchers have a bag of holding (children).

On topic:
1) train your military, armored gobbos with no weapons, armored dwarves with training weapons  :D
2) pit all of them in a room, lure the cavern FBs into another room, open connecting door, at least 1 of your problems will be solved  :P

JMZ
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Also, obviously, magma avalanches and tsunamis weren't exactly a contingency covered in the mission briefing.
I can assure you that Ardentdikes is not the first fortress to be flooded with magma. What's unusual is that we actually meant to flood it with magma.

Poindexterity

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2011, 03:31:50 am »

An idea I had when reading the thread title:

Build a huge overground fortress, that only has one entrance. Every room is closed with floodgates, linked to a nearby lever.
Build all the cages inside and link them to a single lever. Now release the goblins, but keep the fort closed. Form up a small band of dwarven milita and let then clear the fort room for room like some pen and paper rpg.
this is one of the best ideas ive heard in a LONG time.
I'm gonna DO this dammit.
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noodle0117

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2011, 06:26:14 am »

I was originally going to suggest using them as live targets for catapult practice, but then I read the room by room rpg fort idea.
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Nasikabatrachus

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2011, 01:00:37 am »

1. I have several goblin master thieves in cages. It's comical, really.

2. The target practice idea is very tempting, especially considering I can't get my marksdwarves to practice, even though I give them plenty of ammunition, a place in the barracks, a proper archery range, etc.. But--

3. Subsequent to the OP a siege gave me 11 more goblins, a few more have percolated into my traps, plus a Cyclops came to my fort and (to my surprise) was caught by a cage trap. I'm now strongly considering the RPG fort idea, though I think I would rather carve the fort out of the unused parts of the mountain and decorate the place lavishly, with the idea that the Cyclops would be the final confrontation. If I can get my FPS back up to a respectable level (kill a bunch of dwarves?) I will definitely attempt this.

EDIT: I'm thinking set up the dungeon, then abandon the fort and have the reclaim part be the adventurers. Does anyone know if captives in constructed cages die after abandonment?
« Last Edit: April 24, 2011, 01:05:03 am by Nasikabatrachus »
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"I want to have goblins about me, for I am courageous. The courage which scareth away ghosts, createth for itself goblins--it wanteth to laugh." Thus Spake Zarathustra, chapter 7, Friedrich Nietzsche

Reelyanoob

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Re: Gobbo Fortress, or, The Best Use of Thieves and Ambushers
« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2011, 02:31:21 am »

I let 3+ sieges pile up in cages, ended up pitting and marks-dwarving them. There was a total of 140+ goblins to get rid of.

One idea I had was pit them into their own danger rooms to train gladiators. Gotta let them keep their weapons and armour for the best effect.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2011, 02:35:04 am by Reelyanoob »
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