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[florxnog]

I've been playing Dwarf Fortress for a long time, though I've never encountered a goblin siege (Or any other siege for that matter) until this most recent game, mostly due to me being a perfectionist about my early game + Several fortresses being lost to dumb glitches.

So today I learned exactly what the disadvantages are for not having the land on your side. (I didn't bother to build any walls, remove any ramps, build drawbridges, sculpt out moats, etc. etc.) But I learned perfectly well what the advantages are for having a human caravan on your side 

[The Bastard of France]

Sieges early on aren't terrifying
It's when goblins arrive with cave dragon mounts and their general being a Demon that you have to start worrying

[Larix]

The very first siege is usually just one large squad with a mounted weaponmaster as leader. It's like an ambush consisting of one triple-sized squad that doesn't sneak. Later sieges become much more fun, when you get several siege squads and each goblin in those squads brings a large war animal for company. For those, you really want effective traps and/or a highly skilled military (highly skilled meaning legendary+20 or so).

@below - I'm not sure, but it may be that actual attack squads (ambushes and sieges) run off a different timer from thieves/snatchers. If the goblin civ is a long way away, they can take a while to actually go on the offensive. For sieges, you also need 80 people minimum; below that, you'll only get ambushes (and some types of semimega-/megabeasts).

[FallenAngel]

My fort has entered Year 3 of its existence (Year 103 of the world itself) and so far, no sieges.
Some baby snatchers and a few kobold thieves but no sieges.
I have encaged goblins in my fort for a lack of a purpose for them.
Spoke too soon.
Ambush.
Time to send my one-man army, the slayer of two forgotten beasts, wielder of two iron short swords, Mater Urkafek Egatunul Thrimes.

[FallenAngel]

Heck yeah.
She sliced through the bowman and four macemen like a molten knife through butter.
NO INJURIES SUSTAINED.

[florxnog]

The very first siege is usually just one large squad with a mounted weaponmaster as leader. It's like an ambush consisting of one triple-sized squad that doesn't sneak. Later sieges become much more fun, when you get several siege squads and each goblin in those squads brings a large war animal for company. For those, you really want effective traps and/or a highly skilled military (highly skilled meaning legendary+20 or so).

@below - I'm not sure, but it may be that actual attack squads (ambushes and sieges) run off a different timer from thieves/snatchers. If the goblin civ is a long way away, they can take a while to actually go on the offensive. For sieges, you also need 80 people minimum; below that, you'll only get ambushes (and some types of semimega-/megabeasts).

Yeah, that's precisely what it was I look forward to learning how to actually train a military and take care of the enemy more effectively.

[sl4very]

A populations of 80 seems to be a strict a boundary condition for a siege (and of course you should have enabled sieges in your d_init.txt). Over and above that I guess the time for first siege and the size of following sieges depends and scales on the wealth of your fortress. So if you play a very rare-mineral-map and your only riches are represented by crafts made of granite, then it takes a long time, before the first siege will show up. As an Advantage this might give you enough time for seeting up a powerfull defence.

On the other hand, if you play a everywhere-mineral-map with iron, gold, and silver veins all over and if you start to produce a great number of valuable metal bars from the first day, then you should not be suprised if the first siege will kick your ass.


I have absolutely no proof for that, It is more a empirically feeling from my side.