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[Sus]

I've been playing DF for some time now, and it seems I'm constantly running into two annoying problems during a siege / ambush as of late:

• My axedwarves assigned to defend a burrow just inside the fortress entrance seem to wander off one by one, getting slaughtered by the goblins. I've tried forbidding death items and what have you, but to no effect... Are they trying to retrieve corpses or something, or are they just feeling suicidal?  I seem to recall they do this even if I mass forbid everything outside.
• Sometimes the invaders, esp. ones from an ambush party, flat out refuse to either try and enter the fort (and get sliced & diced by weapon traps or turned into pincushions by marksdwarves firing through conveniently placed  murder-holes) or leave the map. This is patently annoying, since it prevents anyone from going outside without having their limbs lopped off by a goblin swordmaster. Of course, a couple of archer towers would solve this one neatly, but once the ambushes start, there is precious little goblin-free time to build them...

Any ideas?

[rephikul]

They try to swap their gears for better one. Dont defend. Sally and slaughter.

[Garath]

if the items are forbidden that shouldn't happen. If the goblins are just hanging around, it's possible their leader drowned or flew up, and now they're stuck

[NecroRebel]

A defend burrow order doesn't seem to actually make soldiers stay inside that burrow, instead basically just automatically giving kill orders on any hostile that enters. They're thus better suited for automated seek-and-destroy squads than they are for actual defense, though a defend burrow order on your whole fort should clear it of anything bad.

If you want your soldiers to defend a specific point, a station order is probably better. Station orders actually makes soldiers go to near that particular point, where they'll attack anything that gets into their sight (or just too close, for wild animals).

Soldiers (every dwarf, actually) will walk around more-or-less at random if they have no job assigned, and the Soldier (cannot follow order) job and the defend burrows job when nothing exists to defend against is present are basically idling. Normally, dwarves prefer to go either to a meeting area, their bedroom, or the place where their last job was done. Soldiers who have been ordered outside to kill something will consider the wilds a suitable place to idle and will go there occasionally. They're not seeking items, they're just bored.

[Sus]

If you want your soldiers to defend a specific point, a station order is probably better. Station orders actually makes soldiers go to near that particular point, where they'll attack anything that gets into their sight (or just too close, for wild animals).

Yeah, I think that did the trick. Now just to fine tune it so the whole squad won't move all at once.

If the goblins are just hanging around, it's possible their leader drowned or flew up, and now they're stuck

Say, would "flung by a Dwarven bridge-a-pult" count as "flying up"? 
It's also possible the bossgoblin was stuck in the pit under the drawbridge with mangled limbs... There was a stair out of the pit, but maybe he just kept passing out from broken limbs down there.

Note To Self: Need means to flush bridge pit. (preferably with magma)

[Garath]

make a long galery and make some ballistae shoot through fortifications at the surviors

[Sus]

Turns out everything outside was not forbidden --> "Dibs on his sock! ... Oh crap, goblins. "

As for the stragglers, a squad of marksdwarves stationed on the fort-side edge of the bridge pit (w/ bridges still up) appears to provide them with ...sufficient incentive... to get the <Circus> out of Dodge. Or lay down and play dead, which is just as well. 

Last siege also coincided with a visit from the friendly neighbourghood Giantess. After she dodged a bolt into the pit, the goblins down there suddenly felt quite motivated to leave. They did get a few good stabs at her, too. My dorfs "heroically" stood back and fired the odd bolt at either side.