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Author Topic: River as natural defense?  (Read 3228 times)

Aslandus

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #15 on: March 08, 2015, 12:38:44 pm »

And don't forget to build a walkway over the water, dwarves can hop the riveer if they're scared, but they can't haul things across unless there's a walkway...

Salmeuk

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #16 on: March 08, 2015, 01:04:35 pm »

My current fortress is built in a similar location:



The left branch was artificially created. I'm building the walls to 3zlevels but I haven't completed them yet.

Obviously penetrable by fliers but I like the challenge :D
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Afghani84

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #17 on: March 08, 2015, 01:57:46 pm »

Looks like a good setup! I will probably have an outer and an inner wall with the inner one being roofed over. I'm not good enough at the game yet to invite too much FUN!! ;)
Same as with your fortress, I will artificially create a stream to the north by piercing the river for ...but more so as a trap with floodgates. When I raise my drawbridge, the only other entrance to the fortress is through the moat. I'll put a retractable bridge in it with a 1z area below it. Once invaders are on it, I press the lever and they fall down while the bridge quickly closes again over their heads. Then the floodgates open for a mass water funeral. :D

I think it's possible to capture and train aquatic animals for war. You don't seem to be on an ocean though so you probably can't find any aquatic animals. If you do find some that might be good for training, I think somewhere on the forums there's a thread where somebody farmed sea monsters.
It's a calm embark, so not sure what kindd of animals I will get. War hippos anyone?

BTW...can invaders climb trees to get over your walls or is that only implemented in adventure mode so far?
« Last Edit: March 08, 2015, 02:05:56 pm by Afghani84 »
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Salmeuk

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #18 on: March 08, 2015, 02:25:20 pm »


BTW...can invaders climb trees to get over your walls or is that only implemented in adventure mode so far?

Yes. I think it's possible but I don't know if they actually path through the trees.
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Skullsploder

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #19 on: March 08, 2015, 03:21:17 pm »

I recommend a 2z deep moat with water on the lowest level. That way hey have to be able to both swim and climb to get through. Make it at least 4 tiles wide too.
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Methadone

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #20 on: March 08, 2015, 03:30:34 pm »

The danger of climbing invaders led me to build roads outside my most to prevent inconvenient tree growth. Maybe not the best solution (labor intensive, and prone to slower work than constructed floors thanks to the job switching midway through.)
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iceball3

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #21 on: March 08, 2015, 08:51:31 pm »

The danger of climbing invaders led me to build roads outside my most to prevent inconvenient tree growth. Maybe not the best solution (labor intensive, and prone to slower work than constructed floors thanks to the job switching midway through.)

Slower?! Two dwarves could get a large designated area done a lot faster and more stone efficiently as long as they dedicate, yeah?
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Sadrice

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #22 on: March 08, 2015, 09:03:25 pm »

Yeah, but I have found that architecture jobs, and road building in general seems to have a lower job priority than floor construction.  A few fortresses back, I dug a deep dry moat and floored it with native gold blocks, hoping to push people into it (never got around to it).  It took forever to get done, and specifically, I had to remove construction from my architect because he would rather build walls and floors on the main tower and curtain wall.  Constructions seem to get done extraordinarily promptly, compared to older versions, so I have switched to rather elaborate above ground structures, whereas before I mostly just dug in, and did all my work underground.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2015, 09:05:38 pm by Sadrice »
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iceball3

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #23 on: March 08, 2015, 09:13:06 pm »

I do not think that Roads are counted for falling damage, but i am not sure. It helps to have dedicated architects, though. Burrows work too if you want to micromanage a little to force your masons to work on the right stuff.
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Aslandus

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #24 on: March 08, 2015, 09:25:26 pm »

I do not think that Roads are counted for falling damage, but i am not sure. It helps to have dedicated architects, though. Burrows work too if you want to micromanage a little to force your masons to work on the right stuff.
Falling damage is calculated as the ground attacking you, so heavier floor material means deadlier impacts... and lighter floors such as featherwood reduce fall damage... That said, stone block floors can be built pretty fast if you have a few masons...

Salmeuk

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #25 on: March 09, 2015, 01:05:54 am »

I do not think that Roads are counted for falling damage, but i am not sure. It helps to have dedicated architects, though. Burrows work too if you want to micromanage a little to force your masons to work on the right stuff.
Falling damage is calculated as the ground attacking you, so heavier floor material means deadlier impacts... and lighter floors such as featherwood reduce fall damage... That said, stone block floors can be built pretty fast if you have a few masons...

I think he understands that but was referring to roads specifically, which I am also curious as to whether the falling damage quirk applies to them.
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Niddhoger

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #26 on: March 09, 2015, 02:31:03 am »

Roads tend to be built slower because I think the architect alone is the one that actually carries all the material to the site and designs it.  So unless you put a block/bar stockpile nearby, he's going to make waaaaay too many trips to the bottom of your fort and back. 
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Uzu Bash

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #27 on: March 09, 2015, 06:28:43 am »

Roads are still faster than construction, even with just one guy. A max size road takes 26 blocks, floor of the same size takes 100. You would have to have a team dedicated to construction to get it done as fast, a team of dwarves that could've been doing other tasks while an architect made a paved road. Example: I placed a stretch of 6 5x10 paved roads on one lvl, and on the lvl underneath I had to construct a 3x10 floor to cover part of a canal. Both drew from the same pile full of blocks. 3 of the roads are finished and the other three are waiting for road builders, but the floor is ~25% complete.
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Montieth

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #28 on: March 09, 2015, 04:35:36 pm »

I too have used cliffs backing a fort as a barrier. The problem is that forces can appear on that edge and rain arrows down on your towers and bastions. So you must have some level of standoff from it. Also, getting such cliffs protective from giants/titans gets intensive as you have to add in multi-z-level facings to prevent them from stepping down Z-levels.

I have found it faster to build a ditch and palisade type barrier in woodlands, no matter what the elves say. a 2-3 square wide ditch with a 1-2 level palisade (over hang the second wall atop the first with the first wall acting as the walkway for a good barrier. If you're doing this through woodlands, you can cut trees along the path and have building material's ready to only a few steps away from the wall positions.

Remember, any barrier should be to slow an enemy down. Sometimes having such a barrier is nice as it increases the cost to move and they'll just path around rather than try to go over it. This can be worked to your advantage. Running the verdammt gobbo forces through a hill that's been integrated into the palisade and the tunnel through the hill is lined with cage traps. Makes for a great way to catch wildlife too as it will path through the tunnel and be caught.
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*“Under the Mountain dark and tall The King has come unto his hall! His foe is dead, the Worm of Dread, And ever so his foes shall fall.
*The sword is sharp, the spear is long, The arrow swift, the Gate is strong; The heart is bold that looks on gold; The dwarves no more shall suffer wrong.
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Felius

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Re: River as natural defense?
« Reply #29 on: March 09, 2015, 04:47:10 pm »

You got me kinda curious about what kind of FPS you are managing to get in this fortress. Using rivers like this feel that while it might be useful for defending against invaders, it'd murder your frame rate before you needed to worry about that.
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