Print

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

[Afghani84]

In my newest embark, I have steep cliffs on two sides and a river on the third. My plan was to put up a wall in the north and use the cliffs and the river as natural defenses. I know that this setup is very vulnerable to flying attackers but if we leave those out, do you guys think it works against regular non-flying sieges? How far can units jump? The river is 3 tiles wide...

[krenshala]

As long as the river doesn't freeze while they are there, it will work pretty well.  Just make sure you have a way to cross the river or you'll end up with migrants stuck on the other side.

Also, for the cliffs, you will need to carefully survey them to ensure there isn't a way down if you plan to use them as a defense.  I've tried that in the past, only to have a goblin ambush walk down a path I didn't see and right into my 'backyard'.

[Niddhoger]

There are swimming enemies as well.  Cave crocs and probably trolls.  They'll cross that river as if it wasn't even there. You can also go down that cliff face and begin smoothing parts of it.  Enemies can't climb smoothed stone.  You can build a floor and then extend bridges to make it quicker to dismantle.

[Uzu Bash]

Were-elephants can swim, I found out. Kind of dumb, cause the bridge was open right in front of him. In fact, the walls prevented him coming in any other way, yet he had to jump in my drinking water. The beast.

[§k]

Although dwarf doesn't path through water deeper than 3/7, invader can walk through any water from 1/7 to 6/7. The downstream end of river is usually 6/7 or even less. Besides, zombie can move across river.

[utunnels]

Goblilns can also jump accross or swim across river.
But keep in mind river has a shallow near its downstream part. Even if they can't swim or jump, they can ocassionally walk through from there.

[Afghani84]

Thanks for the answers so far!
Here's a picture of the area:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

To the north I started building parts of the wall. West and south are not accessible for non-flyers. I'm not too concerned about anyone trying to cross the river at the downstream part. They will most likely be taken over the edge by the current and find themselves 15 z levels below in a splash of gore.

Any other suggestions on simple features that would improve safety?

[iceball3]

Make sure your wall is at least 2 Z levels tall. A 1 level wall is easily scaled.

[Bearskie]

Alternatuively, instead of building a wall, dig out the cliff face to the north, leaving your fortress as an island canyon.  It'd look cooler tbh.

[Afghani84]

Make sure your wall is at least 2 Z levels tall. A 1 level wall is easily scaled.

my plan is to carve fortifications (which are apparently harder to climb...DF logic ftw) and to put a 1z deep moat in front of it. would 1 tile be enough or should I rather go for 2?

digging a cliff to the north might look better but is also quite an investment of labor with only 7 dwarves at this point. and a moat probably serves the same purpose in terms of safety.

[Paaaad]

Really, it would be a good idea to have at least one Z-level of wall all the way around- bows and crossbows have a very significant range. The northern wall would at least need an overhang on the outer edge though- that stops attackers from climbing over. Period. Even any legendary climbers.

[Insert_Gnome_Here]

Wall off the river just before the waterfall where it gets shallower. Keeps both invaders and dwarves out of the river. (Seriously, I've lost entire embarks down waterfalls.)

[Magnus]

Were-elephants can swim, I found out. Kind of dumb, cause the bridge was open right in front of him. In fact, the walls prevented him coming in any other way, yet he had to jump in my drinking water. The beast.

This. Werebeasts will laugh at any moat you set up, and Bronze Colossuses and probably also Giants will simply jump over it.

[Wheeljack]

I always use a combo, river/moat + 3z wall with overhanging fortifications. Works pretty darned well for non flying invaders.

[vjmdhzgr]

I think it's possible to capture and train aquatic animals for war. You don't seem to be on an ocean though so you probably can't find any aquatic animals. If you do find some that might be good for training, I think somewhere on the forums there's a thread where somebody farmed sea monsters.