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[anzelm]

Make 2 bronze chain leggings, then melt them both. Repeat.

If this does what I think, it only solves a small part of the problem.

[ZzarkLinux]

Make 2 bronze chain leggings, then melt them both. Repeat.

If this does what I think, it only solves a small part of the problem.

I feel ya.

My most recent idea is splitting the fort into two sections, where only one section is "Open Door" policy.
Even though the "Open" Fort keeps getting wiped, the "Closed" Fort has 2 Professional axedwarves who are fully armored.
(Note: It looks like the recruit training has sped up, because the Professional Axedwarf is also a Competent Teacher).

My next idea is to make a "dodge" hallway for the Open Fort.
Lots of Featherwood balls in a 2xN hallway. Not all of the traps would cause pit-jumps. Only some of them.
The pit would lead back outside so the gobbs could try again.

I think that this would thin-out seiges enough to be managable, without actually "abusing" weapon traps.
But until then I gotta seal the Open fort So I've already lost.

EDIT: I want it to be like this

[anzelm]

From my experience, setting up military to train early with an axe/swordsdwarf from the starting seven is a nice boost, but still not enough. The warriors get much experience from mincing thieves and later ambushes, but you have no guarantee that you get enough experience to combat an entire siege efficiently.

On another note, marksdwarves are quite efficient at thinning-out sieges and are easy to train (with bonus meat and bone ammo), however, when all the wildlife is just giant thirps and thirps men (those seem to be 90% of my wildlife populations) it gets more complicated. And there are the Armokdamn elite bowgobbos with their telescopic sights.

edit: typos

[ZzarkLinux]

I had tried that too in my earlier forts. Starting axedwarves are fine, but in this fort I just grabbed a Competent Axedwarf Migrant and that seems to be working out now (he had no friends). The problem with became tantrun spirals, so I'm trying to separate a "good barracks" fort versus "cannon fodder" fort. Even though I have a seal on the Open Fort, its almost always open.

I abhor marksdwarves, but I guess I should start considering them.

[Iton Ibrukrithzam]

I.  The Realm Under the Rock was brought forth by the gods as a gift to their chosen children, the Dwarves.

II.  Into the Realm Under the Rock shall ye build a mighty Fortress, and it shall be as a Temple, and never shalt thou force a Dwarf to live outside of this holy place.

III. The Humans of the plains, the Elves of the forests, the sly Kobolds, the wicked Goblins, and the Savage Beasts which do walk upright on two legs in a mockery of Dwarvenkind, these creatures are unclean to thee, do not suffer their presence within the Fortress.

IV.  And the gods did open their veins, and allow their molten hot Blood to flow into the Realm, that their chosen children might flourish.  Thou shalt honor this gift.  Never shalt thou suffer a forge to be fueled with burnt trees, but only shalt thou fuel the forge with Magma.

[pisskop]

Recently I've been forcing myself to experiment with new designs, often ones that fall more into RP than practicality.  Typically much less efficient or even completely pointless.  Also, I've been relying more on dwarfpower and regulars than traps; and what traps I do have are now usually much larger and more complex than 'line a hallway with cages/weapons'.

Some have paid off in the form of situationally useful designs or cool looking stuffs.  For instance, I now regularly make river drowning chambers and usually keep undead in cages by the outside gates, rigged up to a lever inside.  Dwarven bathtubs are second nature now, and I typically plan aqueducts and piping into my fortress design despite any immediate need.

[VerdantSF]

Next, suppose that I don't have iron available on-site. Considering the painfully long time to get reasonably well-trained and equipped military (well-trained = they can face a siege and live to tell stories), how do I survive against the goblin onslaught? They get a limitless supply of cannonaxe fodder, while my warriors are non-expendable. Is there some magical strategy I'm missing?

My current fort doesn't use danger rooms and doesn't have native iron, though it does have flux.  I embarked with an axedwarf and a hammerdwarf, with the following points:

Weapon Skill, 3
Shield, 3
Dodge, 2
Armor User, 2

I set them to train non-stop and through sparring, their skills increased quite fast.  Once more dwarves arrived, I kept squads small, with 3 max (2 on, 1 off scheduling).  Since I had flux, I concentrated on getting steel weapons early on, though I kept armor at iron until I had enough fuel.  With small squad training, dwarves spar A LOT.  Over the 40 years of my fort, 700+ goblins have died during sieges and only 10 dwarves & war grizzlies.

**Edit** Somehow I added 5 to all the skills!  The correct values are posted.

[Loctavus]

Some of the self-imposed rules sound pretty gruelling to me, but then I feel the same way about embarking on an evil glacier. I have enough !!fun!! in relatively serene biomes and situations.

I do however steer clear of the really exploity stuff, like atom smashing invaders.

Though a lot of my 'rules' are more personal playing style than hard and fast rules. I've been known to break them to save a fortress. Or ensure it's demise.

 I don't use pepetual motion engines simply because I rarely have applications that need that kind of power. A few windmills provide about the same on a good map and don't occupy that much more space.

Atom smashing invaders seems far too cheap to me as well, but given my typical military is seldom worth speaking of I make liberal use of traps. I do atom smash things as a means of speeding up natural rot.

I only use coal burning furnaces in an emergency too.

[TheBeardyMan]

The founding seven must have the best tombs, even if it upsets the nobles.

All farm plots must practise crop rotation with 2 growing seasons and 2 fallow seasons in a year.

Moats must be at least 3 cells wide and at least 3 z levels deep.

No exploiting the water pressure algorithm flaw that causes water from a natural water way to settle 1 z level lower after going through a U bend.

[anzelm]

My current fort doesn't use danger rooms and doesn't have native iron, though it does have flux.  I embarked with an axedwarf and a hammerdwarf, with the following points:

Weapon Skill, 8
Shield, 8
Dodge, 7
Armor User, 7

I set them to train non-stop and through sparring, their skills increased quite fast.  Once more dwarves arrived, I kept squads small, with 3 max (2 on, 1 off scheduling).  Since I had flux, I concentrated on getting steel weapons early on, though I kept armor at iron until I had enough fuel.  With small squad training, dwarves spar A LOT.  Over the 40 years of my fort, 700+ goblins have died during sieges and only 10 dwarves & war grizzlies.

How do you get that much skill for your starting dwarves? There is a 10 point limit per dwarf. I do the exact same thing - 2-4 of my starting seven are military, but when the first ambushes arrive, they are not trained enough not to suffer casualties. In my current setup the entrance guards are reinforced by a crossbow squad - we'll see if it helps.

[matskuman5]

1. No danger rooms.

2. Cage traps are only allowed to catch wildlife and must not be inside my fortress.

3. No DFhack (except for stonesense) or dwarf therapist.

4. No long corridors of traps or dodging walkways.

5. No metal duplication or other metal cheating.

6. Cave-ins are not allowed to be weaponized.

7. No robbing caravans or siezing trade goods.

8. Minimize quantum stockpiling; only allowed in certain situations.

9. No atom-smashing.

10. Pop-cap always at 110.

[VerdantSF]

My current fort doesn't use danger rooms and doesn't have native iron, though it does have flux.  I embarked with an axedwarf and a hammerdwarf, with the following points:

Weapon Skill, 8
Shield, 8
Dodge, 7
Armor User, 7

I set them to train non-stop and through sparring, their skills increased quite fast.  Once more dwarves arrived, I kept squads small, with 3 max (2 on, 1 off scheduling).  Since I had flux, I concentrated on getting steel weapons early on, though I kept armor at iron until I had enough fuel.  With small squad training, dwarves spar A LOT.  Over the 40 years of my fort, 700+ goblins have died during sieges and only 10 dwarves & war grizzlies.

How do you get that much skill for your starting dwarves? There is a 10 point limit per dwarf. I do the exact same thing - 2-4 of my starting seven are military, but when the first ambushes arrive, they are not trained enough not to suffer casualties. In my current setup the entrance guards are reinforced by a crossbow squad - we'll see if it helps.

Whoah, I needed more caffeine when typing that!  I added 5 to each of them  . 

Weapon Skill, 3
Shield, 3
Dodge, 2
Armor User, 2

Do you have steel weapons and iron armor by the time the first ambush arrives?  The goblins are usually in copper for the first few ambushes and iron armor really swings things in your favor.  Injuries do happen, sometimes serious ones, but I also embark with a medic/manager and have the hospital up and ready early on.

[anzelm]

Whoah, I needed more caffeine when typing that!  I added 5 to each of them  . 

Weapon Skill, 3
Shield, 3
Dodge, 2
Armor User, 2

Do you have steel weapons and iron armor by the time the first ambush arrives?  The goblins are usually in copper for the first few ambushes and iron armor really swings things in your favor.  Injuries do happen, sometimes serious ones, but I also embark with a medic/manager and have the hospital up and ready early on.

Thought I missed some vital aspect of the game for a moment.

As to the armor: hell, I even take some ore with the embark to make some armor quicker. The problem is, 90% of the time, the first ambush are bow/crossbow goblins. Half of the time I get kobolds with ranged weapons as well. Maybe I just had bad luck a few times. Funny thing is, once you train your military up to legendary in the basic combat skills, they become unstoppable, save a nasty syndrome. I remember having a squad of 6 axedwarves who took on entire sieges (the ladydwarves probably did their nails in-between chopping goblin heads off). Well, that's DF for you.

As soon as I have some time I'll try some science with weapon skills and teachers.

[VerdantSF]

Yeah, I've been lucky in that regard.  By the time goblin bowmen started showing up en masse, my troops were rather good at dodging/blocking shots.  Though, now that I think of it, my first military death, and the only one for quite some time was from an arrow.