So I've been a noobie player for a while and then I am just getting back into the game after not playing for a while.
I typically don't stick with a fortress long as I'm still ever learning new things and have never been beyond 15-20 dwarfs in my playing time.
Yesterday started off with a new world started Saturday night. Woke up ready for a day of dwarf delving. I had bridges protecting my entrance and my depot room with separate control levers and a dual connected lever for emergencies. I've used bridges before so thought...no problem.
I was expanding some of my workshop levels with my initial seven dwarfs (no migrants after two springs...ugh) so no military yet. Out of the blue comes a goblin horde (well, 7 or 8 of them at least). I had started redoing my entrance as well so I was completely open behind the bridge. I sent out the call for lever pullers to hit the emergency lever. They do their job...and the main entrance bridge flipped sideways instead of up. Facepalm moment. So, my entrance is completely open to the horde and I rally the troops into a seven man squad and rush the gate. Only to be chopped down in mere minutes. We took two with us to Valhalla but in the end seven more dwarves were sent to sleep with the stone.
So, I start anew. New world, new site. Get my depot build and both bridges...ensuring no more side flipping fiasco like last time. (Why would they make a bridge flip sideways anyway...good trap possibly though...if you build that in a tunnel would it smash goblins up against the wall?). I get my levers in and think "Hmm, maybe I should actually test that sucker before I get attacked again." I look around, no dwarfs in the vicinity of the bridges. I hit the lever...and here comes one of my dwarfs making a mad dash for the bridge from the outside (he never ran that fast for work let me tell you). So he hits the bridge just as it flips up and he....goes....flying!!! Broken back, crushed ribs, you name it. I've just started. No doctor in the house.
So I set up an emergency hospital, make one of my miners a doctor (well, he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night) and craft a Traction Table real quick. I also scan a video on wells (never done one) and start to work on that. About an hour in trying to deal with this one catastrophe, I'm committed to seeing this through with six dwarfs and a cripple. I notice my crops are dying on the vine so I start looking around and notice that my planter has been missing for days and is in the dead list. Two dwarfs down and I wasn't even dug off the first level yet? Sayonara, and I was out on that one...too much FUN.