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[Ryo]

Is it just me, or, when you order all dwarves to stay inside, do they not...stay inside.

Just had my second goblin siege, ordered my dwarves inside, but they (including the ones who were already inside) didn't want to stay safely behind my strong military and many traps, so they just gathered near the entrance. I thought, 'No big deal, I'll just raise the drawbridge so the goblins can't get in, and let my marksdwarves shoot through the fortifications.' But just as I told them to pull the bridge lever, my dwarves decided to start walking away from the entrance of the fortress, over the drawbridge and further outside...

Long story short, I lost several dwarves including a legendary miner  

[Quiller]

It's not just you, there is something called the entrance dance, where they are continually trying to do jobs outside, then cancelling, and when there is enough of them, they have issues with crowding.  I can usually avoid this by 1, making sure there isn't much for them to do outside (no designated trees to chop down, no active outdoor construction, etc.), making sure they have alternative preferred pathfinding, and eventually when there is enough space, the door can be forbidden.  But that is one reason you want to make sure your entrance isn't exposed, as you can't always get everyone to stay inside.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

I answer this problem by constructing an exterior section of my entrance. Inside the mountain I have an S-shaped corridor, and outside I build an external S-shaped corridor capped off by a roof. This way, if a goblin is outside, he has to walk left and then right before he can even see a subterranean space where a dwarf is doing an entrance dance. By that time he's been chopped up by my traps set in the external segment.

Even though the roofed area is called "inside" dwarves will count it as outside if you tell them to come in. Which is also why I can't channel out the roof of my giant communal bedroom and floor over it to prevent Cave Adaptation - if I do, the dwarves count it as Outside and won't sleep during an attack.

[Surma]

Basically things lacking the 'subterranean' tag are counted as outside (above ground), when you k over it. That includes all constructed floors(roofs), as was previously mentioned.

[Derakon]

Here's the entrance design I've taken to using:

code:

Z-1:
    #...#
#####^^^######   ^: ramp up
...^     ^...    .: floor
...^     ^...    #: wall
...^     ^...
#####^^^######
    #...#
Z:
#########
#..vvv..#
#v.....v#
#v.....v#
#v.....v#
#..vvv..#
#########

West is the farms, north is the food supply, east is the rest of the fortress, and south is the main entrance and trader depot. Dwarves who pick up a job to go outside must pass through the walled-in outside area to get to the "real" outdoors, and are thus well away from the enemy when they turn around. This design also forces dwarves to go outside any time they want food or to harvest plants, which in turn helps cut down on cave adaptation. Finally, the central courtyard provides a nice spot to put a refuse pile for vermin remains.

[Elitay]

Clever. I might use a version of this.