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[Vunutus]

I believe I've finally grasped most of the basics of DF (in other words, my dwarves survive without hating me) except for when it comes to military matters. I want to start a more serious fortress (all mine thus far have been shortsighted and not scaled well) which means an adequate military and defense. I plan on having my fortress entrance carved into a mountainside with several defensive features. I'd like some suggestions on what I could do better (or if it will even work)

# = Rock
. = Floor
@ = Fortification
* = Trapped floor
F = Exit to wilderness
% = Stairs down to main level

code:

#####################################
@...................................#
@...................................#########
#################################...........#
F**************************** % #.%.Barracks#
#################################...........#
@...................................#########
@...................................#
#####################################

I have a few questions:

1. Are those fortifications adequate for marksdwarves so shoot out? What kind of firing arc do they have?
2. Should there be fortifications carved into the dividing wall of my military area and entry hallway?
3. How big should my military be and how should I divide them up? Obviously I want a few marksdwarves to fire from inside the fort, but what kind of melee fighters should I have?
4. Would it be worthwhile to widen the tunnels with the fortifications to add in a siege weapon? If so, what kind?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Formatting issues

[ March 21, 2008: Message edited by: Vunutus ]

[gerkinzola]

my setup is often very similar although i always have 3+ tile wide passageways so the caravans wagons can get in and more traps. for the defensive ring have 3+ as well so you can put siege weapons there and always have a bend in your entrance to you can jump the goblins as they come around the corner so they don't machine gun you to death. also have a double drawbridge setup, so you have two seperate drawbridges linked up to to seperate levers so you can trap goblins between the two and hammer them with marksdorfs.

[Deathworks]

Hi!

Okay, this is 2D information, so things may have changed. Anyhow, if they haven't you may want to consider this information in your plans:

Units using ranged weapons can shoot very well through fortifications - this goes both for your dwarves as well as for the goblins. I think it was my first siege where I actually had fortifications next to my main entrance - the goblins just stood at the other end of the trapped corridor, shot their volleys right across seven or so layers of traps, through the fortifications as well as through my civilian dwarves... It was a horrible massacre. Therefore, I never put fortifications near designated 'civilian areas'.

Deathworks

[zagibu]

In my opinion, a double-entrance approach is best. One for the wagons, one for the nasties. The one for the nasties looks something like this:

code:

                  #################
                  #.^^^^^^^^^.....#
###               #.#############.#######################    ###
#>#################+#######/  ..#.#==========#==========######<#
#...................O......|-H.<#..----------.----------.^^^^^.#
###################+#######\  ..#.#==========#==========########
                  #.#############.#######################
                  #...............#
                  #################

They enter from the stairs down at the left side, then have to walk down a 50 tiles long corridor (drawn shorter above) towards a fortification, where a ballista can shoot through (fortification = O, ballista = the structure with a H in it).
At the fortification, there are two doors leading to an upper and a lower corridor, which rejoin after the ballista-room. The upper corridor is usually locked, and full of cage traps. I use it mainly to capture megabeasts and "actors" for my arena. The usualy nasties go unharmed through the lower corridor (if I didn't shoot them to pieces with the ballista).
Next comes a room with a retractable bridge and magma below it. There I dump the gobbos, when I don't want any annoying small stuff. After the magma chamber, there comes the same room, but with water below the bridge. This is for magma-proof non-water-dwelling creatures.
At the end of the whole thing are some masterpiece weapon traps with several spiked steel balls. They are there for when I forget to use either ballista, magmachamber or waterchamber.

[Kagus]

I came up with a design shortly after the z-level release came out, and although I haven't gotten a chance to actually test it out yet, it should still work.

It is, essentially, a pit.   But it is a pit that allows for less digging, while still keeping a respectable number of kills.  It can plunk goblins into a space where their goodies can be easily and safely claimed, and maybe even finished off with a few upright spikes if they survived the fall.  Or, if you don't want the extra clutter, flood the bottom of the pit with magma.

So here's how it works:  You channel two-tile (or whatever you want) wide pit for a very long distance in front of your fort.  You decide the depth.  Then, build retracting bridges over the top of it all.  Finally, build the largest drawbridges you can along the side, and set them to raise inwards.  Connect all bridges (retracting and flinging) to one bridge.  When a siege comes, pull that lever at an appropriate moment.

This will allow you (provided the drawbridge doesn't just fling them in a random direction) to extend the reach of a pit by ten tiles to either side, and if you build a long enough walkway you can collect a rather nice number of gobblies.  They get funneled into the central pit, drop down a fair number of levels, and then do their jelly impression when they hit the bottom.  

Or, go with something along these lines:

code:

(extends for some distance)
    #...#
    #...#
    #...#
    #...#
    #...#
    #...#
    #...#
    #...#
   #.....#
  #.......#
 #.........#
#...........#
#...........#
#...........#
#...##╬##...#
#...#▒╥▒#...#
#...#▒║▒#...#
#...#▒O▒#...#
#...#.X.#...#
#...#####...#

I used a catapult in this diagram because they're more fun to look at.

This allows for one entrance for both caravans and sieges, since it's wide enough.  The 'X' is an up/down staircase, leading to an ammo reserve below and a marksdwarf station (if you feel like carving out the second level enough for your shooters to hit something) above.  A good siege weapon should be able to handle the larger amounts of enemies that can come through the corridor, and the wider space allows for a greater chance of the projectile actually making it far enough to do something.

Note that if you are going to use catapults, in may be more beneficial to use a design that puts more of them in, such as this:

code:

###╬╬╬###
#.▒╥▒...#
#.▒║▒...#
#.▒O▒...#
#•••▒╥▒.#
#X••▒║▒.#
#•••▒O▒.#
#..▒╥▒..#
#..▒║▒..#
#..▒O▒..#

This allows for both an auxiliary stone supply, and more catapults flinging stone.  I would not recommend ballistae in this setup, as bolts have a funny habit of killing stuff.

But then again, all my designs are theoretical.  I have never actually had a need for a defense system, and as such I have had no chance to test any for effectiveness.

[ March 22, 2008: Message edited by: Kagus ]

[Frelock]

Here's my take on your original questions:

1. Personally, I think no, you should probably have more fortifications, perhaps on the Z-level above if you can.  I'm not sure what kind of firing arc they have though...

2. With your current setup, I would not put fortifications along the entry hallway.  While it would be an ideal way for your marksdwarves to take out enemy melee, any enemy ranged would be able to shoot through without a problem.  This may not be a problem to you, but I try to never lose a dwarf (though I always do).  In order to make your marksdwarves safer, put a channel between the fortification and the enemy's walkway.  Then the enemy ranged will be required to make a skill check before shooting your dwarves.

3. Military size is a matter of preference.  I tend to rely on traps and marksdwarves with the opinion that, if anything can stand 10 weapons traps loaded with 10 iron spiked balls each, and about 10-20 fairly skilled marksdwarves shooting at it, and get over a channel with my drawbridge raised, my fortress is basically doomed anyways, no matter how many melee I throw at it.  However, I've heard that having about 20% of your population as military is easy to manage, so it's all a personal thing.  Remember though, once your marksdwarves make champion, you can set them up to practice with maces, making them into fairly effective melee fighters too.

4. With your current setup, the best siege weapon spot would be a ballista about where your barracks is, with a fortification next to the stairs.  Ballistas will kill everything in a straight line, so your straight hallway would be perfect for one.  Be careful, though, any civilian caught at the top of the stairs would be shot along with the goblins/megabeast behind him.  Personally, I don't really use siege weapons either, though they can be quite useful, so I'm not really an expert.