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[Aaarrgh!]

Hello, erm, again. I've run into another problem. I'm currently in a goblin siege, and have set an alert to restrict my dwarfs to inside the fortress. However, they haven't obeyed this - instead, they're all milling about in my courtyard complaining about how thirsty they are. There is a well inside my fortress, and it's inside the burrow (though it's quite a way down) but they refuse to go inside!

EDIT: It bears mentioning, by the way, that I've done this before, successfully. I have no idea why it isn't working now. Oh, and they're also complaining about how hungry they are (and there is food inside the fortress).

EDIT2: I am also getting spammed with messages telling me that "Urist McSomename" has canceled his job because they have been interrupted by one of  soldiers outside - but no enemy is inside the courtyard, and said jobs are inside the fortress. Some dwarves are going in and out of the fortress, albeit in very small numbers, so the entrance is not blocked.

My alerts screen

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The outside of my fortress, with many milling malcontents (warning - very big)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

P.S. On an unrelated note, but I didn't want to create yet another topic...
Before the siege, I was having trouble getting my two squads to train. I had armour and weaponry forged, I dug out a barracks, I installed armour stands and weapon racks, q->r'd them into rooms, and I set the squads to active through "s->A&B->t", but nothing happened. The squad members became their squad roles and changed appearance, but didn't train (though they did sleep in the barracks).

[Aaarrgh!]

Okay, I have now figured out the first problem. When I closed the first set of bridges, I trapped a merchant caravan inside my fortress, which made my dwarfs freeze up for some reason.  Unfortunately,  rather than waiting at the bridge like sensible people, the caravan had frozen where they stood at the depot, meaning that I had to expose my dwarfs to the invasion until everyone was inside. Still, it's something to remember.

[Rutilant]

I love settling on good biomes!  So blue!

So... Trapping your merchants also prevents dwarves from following civ alerts?

[celem]

I'd be more inclined to suspect the cancelation spam you have been recieving.  If your dwarves were outside when the seige arrived, you set your alert and they stream toward the entrance.

Even if no enemy have reached the courtyard yet they are still scary to your moronic dwarves who fail to grasp the brilliance of your safety measures.  Their panic range is something like 20-25 tiles, if they move toward the entrance but spot a hostile at the last moment then they will do their panic-flee thing (ya'know, run away from safety, towards foes/rivers/carp and so on) even though there is no real threat.  You cant have your civvies ever see a hostile or it all falls apart.  Those trickling inside may be slipping through when it just so happens nothing was visible.

This is a bit of a guess, I cant see the gobbos on your screenshot, but its possible the dwarves can.

Also yes the merchants are muppets, if they cant path to the map edge they will stay where they are (depot) until they get suicidal or beserk.  The pathfinding isnt smart enough to know where a viable path might appear if you alter some stuff, they just see no path.

On your military training....  It might be a typo but s-A&B-t isnt something i really recognise.  the s menu is normally used to specifically station dwarves somewhere or issue specific attack commands, both of which are active jobs and will prevent training.  Both will cause a role switch and them to gear up, but their duty is done when they arrive in position.  'q' over the armor stand that designates the barracks and you will see the flashing room indicator.  You will also see the names of your squads, hit 't' here to toggle this barracks for training for that particular squad ('+' will let you scroll down to do the same for the second squad).  This is also where you use 'r' to toggle sleeping in the barracks.  If you saw them sleep there before doing this step then its likely the good old 'random dwarf picks random bed' that causes your hospital to be full of napping haulers when Urist McAwesome needs surgery.

[Rutilant]

On your military training....  It might be a typo but s-A&B-t isnt something i really recognise.

Ooh, let me help.  I think he means

S - (open squad menu)
A (to select the first squad)
T (to toggle their Training/Active status.

Repeat for second squad (B).

[celem]

Ahah gotcha!  I didnt recognise that since im not sure I ever used it.  The control is duplicated in the alerts menu which is where i've always handled that, the same screen that you set the civvies to their inside burrow from can be used to flip squads from inactive to active. (the interface of this game is manic, sometimes duplicated and always arcane).

In that case the 't' toggle there will switch them between their active schedule, as defined through the military interface (which months to train, how many dwarves to train etc) and their civilian lives where they do whatever labours are enabled.

While this is a good control and very useful, they still need the designated barracks to train in whilst being set to Active/training mode.

For this you need the 't' setting for the squad on the room designated by the armor stand/weapon rack/whatever as described above.

[Aaarrgh!]

I'd be more inclined to suspect the cancelation spam you have been recieving.  If your dwarves were outside when the seige arrived, you set your alert and they stream toward the entrance.

Even if no enemy have reached the courtyard yet they are still scary to your moronic dwarves who fail to grasp the brilliance of your safety measures.  Their panic range is something like 20-25 tiles, if they move toward the entrance but spot a hostile at the last moment then they will do their panic-flee thing (ya'know, run away from safety, towards foes/rivers/carp and so on) even though there is no real threat.  You cant have your civvies ever see a hostile or it all falls apart.  Those trickling inside may be slipping through when it just so happens nothing was visible.

This is a bit of a guess, I cant see the gobbos on your screenshot, but its possible the dwarves can.


On your military training....  It might be a typo but s-A&B-t isnt something i really recognise.  the s menu is normally used to specifically station dwarves somewhere or issue specific attack commands, both of which are active jobs and will prevent training.  Both will cause a role switch and them to gear up, but their duty is done when they arrive in position.  'q' over the armor stand that designates the barracks and you will see the flashing room indicator.  You will also see the names of your squads, hit 't' here to toggle this barracks for training for that particular squad ('+' will let you scroll down to do the same for the second squad).  This is also where you use 'r' to toggle sleeping in the barracks.  If you saw them sleep there before doing this step then its likely the good old 'random dwarf picks random bed' that causes your hospital to be full of napping haulers when Urist McAwesome needs surgery.

Alright, I think I've figured things out now. The goblins were all clustered near the north gate, and I opened the south one to let the caravan out. The goblins started moving to the south gate to get in...putting them out of terror range for the dwarves, who could then get inside. I've designated the armor stands and weapon racks for training, and that's worked - thanks! Rutilant, you are correct in the commands I was using, though I pressed A&B to select both squads.