Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Eidre]

So third game with the 2014 version and blind luck got me a volcano / dolomite / lignite / hematite embark, meaning very rapid access to steel.  The local relationships are standard dwarves, humans, elves, and ------- with the local goblin tribes. 

I was in my first year, busy digging out and setting up basic industries, making some crafts to sell to the first caravan, and all that normal early fortress stuff.

Then, in early autumn, a kobold ambush shows up.  I have a population of 12 and no defenses at all.  Fortunately, the kobolds get frightened of the local wildlife and run off the map by themselves.

And then, just before the last one leaves...A Vile Force of Darkness Has Arrived!  A dozen fully armed goblins...really Armok?  Really?

...Your strength has been broken...

Sigh.

[NullForceOmega]

Your FUN has been granted!!

[GavJ]

I BELIEVE this is a bug, related to the way the calendar advances now and does not always start your fort in spring, combined with specific seasons for invasions in the raws and possibly in the source code that were written on an assumption of spring embarks originally.

But maybe not, was this your first fortress in that world?




Also, it was always POSSIBLE even in earlier versions to get early invasions if you ratcheted up wealth insanely fast. Were you doing anything that was making higher than normal wealth?

[Torrenal]

Autumn?

Gosh, you had plenty of time to setup.
I've had Fun start in early summer.  AND you have bonus dwarves to boot?!?! I bet you have 2 or 3 dwarves for every Kobold.

Lucky!

//Torrenal

[Verjigorm]

Couldn't spare the time to make 4 blocks of stone, two bridges and 4 mechanisms(could've been wood, but I assume wood was probably scarce)?  I mean, you know that steel is worth as much as gold, right? I've done the same exact thing, and had the same result.  Well, I didn't have Magma, just bituminous coal, iron ores(Hematite and Lemonite, I think), tetrahedrite and casserite.   Istarted cranking out weapons and armor, then about 12-20 gobbos showed up and wrecked shop.   

I had enough time to put a drawbridge airlock up.   You ALWAYS have enough time to put a drawbridge airlock up.   Because it's a necessity for survival. 

[samanato]

It's why I always build mechanisms for drawbridges, atomsmashers and cage traps as a first priority.  Multi-tile trees being OP helps with that.

[Shadow_Hornet]

I always dig a underground path and build a drawbridge on it so I can block it and seal my fort if a need comes around.

[Zac]

Even without access to stone, you can embark with the three rocks required to set up the drawbridge mechanism. And in .40 it's not hard to find enough wood to craft 7 crossbows and a few hundred of wooden bolts. The bandits usually run for the hills as soon as they see that your dwarves start to fight back, even if said dwarves miss or bounce every single shot.

[Chevaleresse]

My fortress of 14ish got attacked early in the second year by two successive forgotten beasts, one of which was a firebreather on my forested embark. I had one military dwarf at that time.

The fortress lives.

Moral of the story: drawbridge walls.

[vjek]

Yep, have seen an invasion on the first day of Summer (1 Hematite) when embarking near 11 Necro Towers.  I was kind of expecting it, though.

[Torrenal]

With the new version, it's important to be under cover fast.  If your bridge isn't functional, use some logs to wall yourself in.  You've a head start if you build an early workshop in your main entrance.

[mobucks]

The first siege I had was a complete joke. I sent out my squad of 5 recruits and one of them killed every invader without a scratch.

4 years later and not a single siege.

[Iamblichos]

Yes, what everyone else said.  Now that trees drop multiple logs and respawn quickly, I have had a few embarks where I got the metals industry running before the miner could get the farms completely dug out 

A million stone crafts = a few gold items in value... getting a wood furnace/smelter/forge set up even with soft metals can be the difference between having the first caravan leave you fat'n'happy or starving'n'miserable.

[Wumpi]

The first siege I had was a complete joke. I sent out my squad of 5 recruits and one of them killed every invader without a scratch.

4 years later and not a single siege.

Same. All of my forts without exception receive a single squad siege some time after the first caravan, and then never again. Almost seems scripted like the first migrant waves. You'd think embarking in the middle of a goblin civ with half a million souls at war would provoke them to send more than a welcoming party pathetic enough to be chased off by a dog and 3 puppies.

[Eidre]

Concur with what everyone has said; no, I didn't rack up any early wealth (deliberately only building things out of rock/wood early to mitigate this), but it's clear that I have learned some bad habits from the previous version, thinking I have at least a full year before the first ambush, let along a Vile Siege.  The defenses go up first from now on!