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[lemmily]

So the last couple of forts I've had have gotten a little boring because I couldn't get my metal industries up and running as the only metal I have access to was zinc..... oh wooooo! I guess I could assign a zinc craft as a weapon and get them to fling stuff at the enemies? bah. So yeah the fun was taken out of fighting stuff/anything because I couldn't make my dwarves cool weapons and armour, I really dislike using traded items for them - not satisfying otherwise

ANYWHO. My real question is anyone got any good tips to finding a nice embark location? preferably (if possible to actually find this out before embarking) having some iron available! Also if there are some good world-gen settings that would increase the frequency of these sites would be helpful I guess!

So frustrating, the first fort I made had EVERYthing! but alas I didn't know how awesome it was or whatthehelliwasdoing.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[SpiralDimentia]

Easy. Goblinite. Kill goblin seigers/ambushers, take their stuff and melt it down. Then use the resulting metal to make your own gear. How to kill them, you ask? Marksdwarves. Bone/wood crossbows and bolts, kill goblins, take stuff, etc. It won't matter if you don't have metal, because the goblins will bring you all that you need! Not to mention, you don't have to buy GEAR form caravans.. buy metal objects, melt them down, and make gear.

[lemmily]

I have been doing this a little bit! But I still fail fairly badly at setting up good defenses with marksdwarves. Guess I will have to improve my skills! Though I was reading a post about arming the marksdwarves etc and I think I was making the mistake of ammunition was per dwarf not per squad.

One problem on the last fortress I had was that sieges just weren't happening for some reason, and I was at peace with the goblin civ nearby O.o I finally got my first siege after maybe 2-3 years of being there.... the leader drowned on his alligator ...... the shame!


Also I failed at forum skills too and realised this was a couple of pages back http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=93579.0

[DrKillPatient]

DFHack's prospector utility can show you all the stones and ores present on a map, if that helps you out. There's no way to check specific metal content before embark, but you can check immediately with that, and then close DF through taskmanager/"kill -9 $(pgrep Dwarf_Fortress)" [depending on your OS] if the site dissatisfies you. That's how I do it (and probably should stop doing it, since some randomness wouldn't hurt).

In worldgen, set the mineral scarcity to 500 or so, lower numbers give more ores. 2500/sparse gives extremely low amounts.

EDIT: two posts as I finish this one. That's what learning a new keyboard layout does to you I suppose

[Victuz]

Easy. Goblinite. Kill goblin seigers/ambushers, take their stuff and melt it down. Then use the resulting metal to make your own gear. How to kill them, you ask? Marksdwarves. Bone/wood crossbows and bolts, kill goblins, take stuff, etc. It won't matter if you don't have metal, because the goblins will bring you all that you need! Not to mention, you don't have to buy GEAR form caravans.. buy metal objects, melt them down, and make gear. danger room + 2 dwarfs = Siege breakers

Corrected

[jaxler]

I have been doing this a little bit! But I still fail fairly badly at setting up good defenses with marksdwarves. Guess I will have to improve my skills! Though I was reading a post about arming the marksdwarves etc and I think I was making the mistake of ammunition was per dwarf not per squad.

One problem on the last fortress I had was that sieges just weren't happening for some reason, and I was at peace with the goblin civ nearby O.o I finally got my first siege after maybe 2-3 years of being there.... the leader drowned on his alligator ...... the shame!


Also I failed at forum skills too and realised this was a couple of pages back http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=93579.0

try bridge fall trap.
step 1
build big pit under bridege.

step 2
pull leaver an what ever in on top of bridge will fall to its death

use flood gates to trap little goblins it gets the job done

and do this set up for stone fall traps.

X= trap

H= cave wall

HXXXH
H      H
HXXXH
H      H
HXXXH
H      H

works best for me

[SpiralDimentia]

Easy. Goblinite. Kill goblin seigers/ambushers, take their stuff and melt it down. Then use the resulting metal to make your own gear. How to kill them, you ask? Marksdwarves. Bone/wood crossbows and bolts, kill goblins, take stuff, etc. It won't matter if you don't have metal, because the goblins will bring you all that you need! Not to mention, you don't have to buy GEAR form caravans.. buy metal objects, melt them down, and make gear. danger room + 2 dwarfs = Siege breakers

Corrected

I am avidly against danger rooms. I don't use exploits that make the game far too easy. I just set them to train 24/7, give them training weapons to begin with if I have nothing better, and go with it. I end up with legendary dwarves two can hold back hell itself if I ask them too.

[Victuz]

Easy. Goblinite. Kill goblin seigers/ambushers, take their stuff and melt it down. Then use the resulting metal to make your own gear. How to kill them, you ask? Marksdwarves. Bone/wood crossbows and bolts, kill goblins, take stuff, etc. It won't matter if you don't have metal, because the goblins will bring you all that you need! Not to mention, you don't have to buy GEAR form caravans.. buy metal objects, melt them down, and make gear. danger room + 2 dwarfs = Siege breakers

Corrected

I am avidly against danger rooms. I don't use exploits that make the game far too easy. I just set them to train 24/7, give them training weapons to begin with if I have nothing better, and go with it. I end up with legendary dwarves two can hold back hell itself if I ask them too.

Well nowadays I usually get two dwarves to start practicing as soon as I get weapons anyway.
So truth be told I don't REALLY need a DR because before the first raid/siege both of them have almost legendary skills. Danger room just makes it much faster and I sadly don't have as much time to play as I'd like .

[SpiralDimentia]

Understandable. I just don't have fun when I'm in ZERO danger of dying due to the random seige or ambush. Even FBs and the like arne't a big deal then. I prefer sending in a military and half of them coming back after a hard fought victory. Immersion is Glorious.

Though I understand where you're coming from on the time thing. DF isnit a quick game.

[Tevish Szat]

to find a good (easy) embark, use the finder: Shallow metal, deep metal, no aquifer.  At least some soil and some trees would be best.  Try for an embark that is neither savage nor evil.

If you lack metal and don't want to invest too heavily in marksdwarves, early ambushes can be stopped cold by a small cluster of cage traps at your entrance.  Recover the weapons and armor from the caged goblins (Wiki for how to disarm prisoners), and then have your shiny new military beat the former owners of their shiny new grungy, scavenged goblin gear to death with it.

[jaxler]

to find a good (easy) embark, use the finder: Shallow metal, deep metal, no aquifer.  At least some soil and some trees would be best.  Try for an embark that is neither savage nor evil.

If you lack metal and don't want to invest too heavily in marksdwarves, early ambushes can be stopped cold by a small cluster of cage traps at your entrance.  Recover the weapons and armor from the caged goblins (Wiki for how to disarm prisoners), and then have your shiny new military beat the former owners of their shiny new grungy, scavenged goblin gear to death with it.

bridge trap
ITS ALWAYS BRIDGE TRAP. STICK WITH THE BRIDGE TRAP!!!!
and i don't like useing cage traps. they make it too easy. i keep them in my finnal row of traps. i like cage traps but not if im relient on them. i do wan't goblinite. and if you can't find any metal for weapons. do what i do. DIG TO THE MANTAL AND BRING UP BLUE FUN

[lemmily]

Thanks for all the tips one bonus I found from having a seemingly endless supply of zinc was I had super shiny bins/cages/barrels/pots couple with a legendary metalsmith was pretty suh-weeet

I think I am going to experiment with DR's - never tried it! Don't get me wrong I don't want to create and invinci-squad, just train my first two military up so they can be super teachers

I may try out the bridge trap- so far I have only tried having a drawbridge which directs the enemies through a room being pelted with stones/ballista arrows


I have gone and reclaimed my first ever fortress location (apparently I didn't use it, and there was only the caravan here... but anywho it's a pretty good spot for now!