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[Raikaria]

I just lost another fort to some goblin ambushes [No ambushes for 3 years then two at once...]

I can't see to design a good trap to stop the goblins, when I do design one they either come before it's finished, it doesn't work for some reason [Gobbos too fast/Urists too lazy], or it dosen't actually *kill* them, or gets overwhelmed. Or it involves a pit and causes cave-ins constantly.

I'm thinking for my next fort to have a drowning chamber/Water flow to drop, but I need a way to 'flush' it. That involves making a pit, which will inevitably cost me about 10 miners as Urist Mc Miner decides to drop another one 12 Z levels.

The basic design idea is to have a drawbridge to close off the main path, which diverts the goblins to the chamber. Which them closes behind them, locking them in. Let the river in, and either wash them into the Caverns, or drown them and then wash the water into the Caverns.

How would I go about this without killing about 7 miners and having it ready before goblins decide 'Yeah let's murder those Dorfs'

[Imp]

One option is to initially wall off a large portion of your embark area, with a few rising drawbridges allowing access in and out of the area.  These can be guarded with traps both inside and outside of the bridge as well if you wish, but should be sealable when and if you want more time....

I'd let merchants in and out through an airlock/hidden merchant path system.  If your depot is sealed off from your fortress (maybe with a bridge) and there's only one small area merchants could spawn to allow them to reach that area, they're pretty safe from attack if you design that path right.

Once your outer walls are up, then you design whatever defense you want inside that secure area, taking however long you wish and testing it as needed.  You can then build more walls or tunnels to connect the defense to whichever entrance gate(s) you wish and continue normally.

[moki]

If keeping your fort alive for some time is the priority, just use some serrated disk traps (with a chained puppy to make it work on ambushes) until you have the time and dwarfpower to build something proper.
If you want to actually build this trap before the first goblins arrive... well, make it your second priority right after producing food and booze. When everybody does some mining, masonry and mechanics, it definitely is possible to do it in your first year.

About the miners dropping eachother down the pits: There are safe ways to dig. You could designate each layer for channeling, starting at the top and only start the next when the previous is completely finished. Or designate the whole thing as up/down-stairs with up-stairs at the very bottom, and let them dig it out. Afterwards you need to designate the stairs channeled, again starting at the top and not designating a new layer until the previous one is finished. Water can flow through the stairs with no problems, but enemies may not be flushed properly through them and just drown.  A plain old drowning chamber may be more effective and gives you the chance  to collect their equipment once the water is drained.

Draining into the caverns is one possibility, but you could also drain it off the map if you're near the edge. I like to carve a large artificial cavern to drain the water into. If it's big enough, the water will spread out and evaporate, leaving mud for an underground tree farm.

[Fluoman]

Diagonal pits. Channel the right tile at Z0, channel the left tile at Z-1. Rinse and repeat until you have found your output.

What I do is that I completely shut the fortress from the rest of the map until I have an actual, working defence system. I open only for the merchants to come in (because they already have their own soldiers to protect themselves and my fortress by proxy).
I dig enough rock to build an 11x11 wall around my usual 3x3 (or 3x1) entry stairs and raise the drawbridge as soon as possible. No moats because it takes too long digging it out.

Digging your initial hallway as a "snakeway" also breaks line of sight and protects your melee against any ranged attackers:

Code: [Select]

XXT
 XTT
  TTX
   TXX
  TTX
 XTT
XXTYou can even take advantage from the pathfinding which will make any moving unit hug the bends (and trap there).

[mscantrell]

I dig enough rock to build an 11x11 wall around my usual 3x3 (or 3x1) entry stairs and raise the drawbridge as soon as possible. No moats because it takes too long digging it out.

Surely you jest?
Digging then building is faster than digging?

No, no.
1. Embark
2. Dig moat
3. Build bridge
4. Think of a permanent defense.

[AutomataKittay]

I don't have much to speak of for your trap plan, but my plan of defending is pretty simple, relatively.

Have a one tile floorway above and across the pathway to trade depot, fortification them up in the 'back' ( the side opposite the entry ) and wall the front up, put armor/weapon stand in there and set a whole bunch of markdwarves to train there and some ammo stockpile in easy reach. Invaders seems to get surprised pretty badly once they get past the underside of it!

I don't know what it's called, but it worked pretty well for years and I used it for trade path more as anti-kobold device but it worked surprisingly well even on goblin bowers.

[MasterShizzle]

You can even take advantage from the pathfinding which will make any moving unit hug the bends (and trap there).

This. It's simple enough to set your traps up in a decent way. Instead of setting your traps along a 3-wide hallway (because wagons can't go over traps any longer, blast it) just dig your entrance a little wider and do something like this:

Code: [Select]

#######           W
###########^^^^^^ W ##
###########       W ###
########### WWWWWWW ####
########### W       ######
########### W ^^^^^^#######
########### W       #########
########### WWWW    ##########
###########    W    ###########
############## W ##############
############## W ##############
############## W ###############
The wagon can path down the W's like normal, but any other creature getting into the base is pretty much guaranteed to step over either line of traps, due to the AI pathing.

[Andrew425]

I have a fairly simple plan. First only allow one way into your base. Then since you know the route that they will inevitably take make a trap consisting of 10 wooden spiked balls. With a decent mechanisms it should stop most goblins. Add three more and you're set.

Put the traps on corners while having the path to your base be a bunch of u bends. It's not goblin proof but as long as you have someone to kill maimed goblins you should be good. Be careful though as they get clogged with thieves corpses.

[Aigre Excalibur]

you can also use a 3-tile wide hallway for the wagons, then lock it down with a drawbridge, and channel the gobs through an alternate, trapped passage way. That's the simplest way to get blood-filled trapped !fun! in early game.

Even then, I find it difficult to get metal production up fast enough, and often have to resort to cage traps.

[Andrew425]

You really don't need metal for traps. Wooden spiked balls work fine.

Think quantity not quality.

[Drazinononda]

My current trap setup is that the only entrance into my fort is through the roof of the barracks. It's not a very proper trap, but it's more fun IMO than "oh look, my 30-tile long trap hallway has killed a siege again" and then a zillion "Store Item In Stockpile" jobs.

[cvar]

I build what is intended to be my last ditch emergency line of defense first, since it's usually enough to handle thieves and small ambushes.  But my entryway is a 3 tile wide hallway that is channeled down from the surface (usually about 3-4 levels, one stone layer past the soil) where I plan out a twisty path to be covered in weapon traps and a drawbridge to force gobbos through it.

But down at the end where the depot is (I build a "circular" room to put the depot in and leave natural pillars up for looks) I leave a 3 tile wall up at the end and put my first set of doors behind that.  Gobbos have to path around it through a single tile space to get to the doors.  I pack this area with glass weapon traps (I have 6 in there right now, with 10 serrated discs each).   These by themselves can be enough to turn ambushes into a set of parts to be stockpiled, but behind that door is the armory where my military dwarves are training (pretty much nonstop after I get a second dwarf with good stats to spar with the one I bring) to finish off any stragglers that go through the doors.  It's pretty cheap to bring an asston of sand for the sole purpose of making this trap set up too, all you'll need to do is burn wood into charcoal (bring a ton or strip the surface) and then make enough mechanisms for the traps.  Pretty easy to have it setup by the 2nd/3rd year and then all you have to do is stop dwarves from randomly wandering the surface.  I usually turn off hunting and draft them into marksdwarf squads and build a fishing platform (set the orders to Zone Only and you can force them to stay inside the fort except for this little walled off area).

I nabbed a bear from the elves and pastured it up in front of the entryway to deter thieves.  It's a black bear and I can't train it, so I'm not super concerned if an ambush kills it.  I'll just get another random critter from the elves.

[King of Blades]

I dig enough rock to build an 11x11 wall around my usual 3x3 (or 3x1) entry stairs and raise the drawbridge as soon as possible. No moats because it takes too long digging it out.

Surely you jest?
Digging then building is faster than digging?

No, no.
1. Embark
2. Dig moat
3. Build bridge
4. Think of a permanent defense.

1. Embark
2. Dig moat
3. Build bridge
4. Watch Marksgoblins make your dwarves into pincushions.

Fixed that for ya!

[Eurynomos]

If you want to go the military route and you feel cheap, use a danger room. Turns them into legendary shield and weapon users from my experience. Alternatives include walling yourself off until you can afford to defend or just use traps in mass numbers. Turn everyone into a mechanic. Use a one narrow hallway to lead into your fort. And have a bunch of crossbowmen stand back and rain hell upon them. Pretty sure wooden bolts do good damage.

[Fluoman]

Use a one narrow hallway to lead into your fort.

Not wide enough. Make it 2 tiles wide to reduce congestion and "snake it" to break line of sight and trap the bends.