Today I understood the major importance of minor things like the graveyard and the jail.
the group "Fish the big beast of the sea" from Seadog had to deal with a bloody siege.
My first-try burrows not working that well, many haulers were wandering while the Trolls charged. they eventually attacked my cattle's nursery, leaving the time for my dwarves to come at them. Nobody died there, but a sworddwarf fleed due to many injuries... straight to the goblin hammermen's group. rest in peace.
Then, epic gunfight (well, It was this awesome) between my 3 legendary marksdwarves/archers/ambushers, well protected by the Haulers-moving-wall effective strategy, against the 10 goblin bowmen. Many wounds to the goblins and the haulers, some potash makers drowned in their blood, but the goblins still stand up. My beloved captain is fully bruised.
Then the big part of the militia finished fapping the last agonizing troll and chased the bowmen, who finally escaped.
The maceman got some bolts in the rear, and decided not to do anything stupid. And so the siege was over. (on an unrelated note, right after the militia arrived, I managed to put every civilian in my bowmen's quarters burrows, and closed my platinum vertical bars-behind it is my whole fortress, a balista and an angry legendary siege operator who knows how to use it, and in front of it are a stock of cage traps)
AND THEN? THE DOWNWARD MOOD SPIRAL!
...nothing particular to say about it, it's a regular one... legendary (and only) miner accidentally struck down during a beating, legendary engraver ending in a dwarf bone scepter, mayor going insane/replacement being jailed/new one being incompetent...
...but then! I understood how it could have ended quickly.
My dorfs were sad about all that blood and those rotting bros everywhere. I should have done a big graveyard since the beginning, because everything is going down really quickly now!
And, once the dorfs are jailed, they stop annoying anyone. So, I need a big jail with many cells.
I'm trying to do these actually, but it will be hard.
(if I can't get my fortress back... well, angry legendary siege operator is facing the biggest way of the fort, so fun there will be.)