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[greenleaf]

I finally managed to get a fortress up and running beyond the first few seasons, but I'm failing miserably at the military aspect.  Each time a horde of goblins comes they manage to wipe out a huge percentage of my population.  My graveyard has dozens and dozens of graves and memorial slabs.  Its kind of sad and funny at the same time.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a basic tutorial on fortress defense?  I've got a moat, drawbridge and some walls up now so that has helped a bit.  At least when I don't forget about a ramp or upper level where the bad guys can just drop in for a visit!

[hiroshi42]

The military and defense guides on the wiki might be a good place to start.  In general walling up is good, just remember that things can move through diagonal spaces (lost a number of forts to diagonal gaps).
Outfitting your dwarves can be a fairly simple affair.  early on you might consider crossbows (with quivers and plenty of bolts).  Just station marksdwarves one z-level up from enemy forces.

Traps can also be a good way to flesh out your defenses especially early on.  Cage traps are probably the most space efficient(one trap per enemy).  Some people consider traps to be...unsporting but they can give you some breathing space while you are learning.

[AutomataKittay]

If you're worried about them sneaking in, you can use military squad or dump designation on outside item to test for loose access when sealed up.

The most basic fortress defense is to wall in and have a drawbridge to seal everyone in. Not really optiminal but it's simplest and least dangerous

Traps will block wagon access, so it pays mind to think of how to lay out their access so invaders will get trapped while getting wagons still, if you're going the trap route.

When forming military, always give them shields, even wooden or leather ones. Shields deflects things absolutely, even dragonfires and fireballs, and well-trained shield skill makes up somewhat for crappy armor.

Hopefully above gives some idea on what to work with

[Juxtap0se]

this tutorial video isn't perfect but it's a solid place to start from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5a6Ntyzcd0&list=PLmEGiXisZPZFwuTkyln0zlG2-xQWvf-xF&index=9

the series is good for new people and I learned a few tricks from it, although he makes a few mistakes. Important note about watching tutorials: everyone has different play styles. Don't take any tutorial advice as concrete law and you'll do fine

[greenleaf]

Thanks guys!

Right now I'm just trying to recover from the last horrible goblin raid.  My fort went from 115 dwarves down to 48, and half of them are now children.  So everybody's busy just trying to patch up walls and finish burying the dead.  Hopefully some more migrants come soon to build up the numbers again!

[Merendel]

In general the first thing I do once I've got the initial living/storage space carved out and basic booze production up and running is to ensure there is only 1 entrance to my fort that is easily sealed.   A corridor with a raising bridge in it as your main entrance is a top priority as worst case if enemies show up you are not ready to deal with simply raise the bridge to block access and wait them out. 

Just be sure to test pull the lever befor the enemies show up.   There is literaly nothing more embarising than dropin your drawers and mooning the gobies as a taunt only to find the lever you just pulled retracted the bridge you failed to build properly and didn't actually seal anything off.   well takeing an arrow in the ass from a bowman may be runner up in that case but still.

[AmpsterMan]

One thing that may help is embarking with two military focused dwarfs. My personal preference is a speardwarf and sworddwarf with 5 in their respective skills and 5 in teaching skill. Then I give them a shield and chainmail of iron. When the game starts I make Training swords and Train ing spears to have thrm spar for like a year straight. They become my military captains afterwards

As for defensive structures, I start with a 2 wide moat and make it substantially large in perimeter. Then I make a one block thick wall inside the perimeter. As the game goes by, I add 3x3x2 towers to my wall that are interconnected by tunnels for my Marksdwarves to station themselves periodically.

My final defence is an inner courtyard. This is where my depot is as well.
This inner courtyard is walled off as well and has a biridge to the outside and and to the inside. This courtyard is where most of my late game fighting takes place. It's like a killzone where my dwarves stab, hack, arrow, etc.This setup for me strikes a nice balance of long term goals, protection and fun