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[Anonymous]

So, I was playing a fortress for the first time in a while, and I was doing pretty well. Food and alcohol production was up and running, I had plenty of storage space, and I was building what was becoming a very respectable tower.

All this progress, however, came with a sacrifice: I was putting all my resources into producing trade goods and building my fortress, neglecting defense in favor of comfort.

Que a small marauding band of goblin spearmen. They ambush a worker, slaughter him, and begin to make their way to the heart of my outpost. With few options, I draft up 15 unskilled workers and one well-trained carpenter to stave off the attack. My superior numbers win the day, but at no small price: four of my brave dwarves lost their lives, and three suffered injuries so grievous that they might never recover. Among the dead was my outpost's lead carpenter.

The ambushes did not stop there, however: I've since lost more than 30 dwarves, and I'm only just starting to build up a defense capable of repelling these attacks without casualties. I only hope that I'm able to train my dwarves up to fighting strength before the goblins organize and mount a siege.

From all this, I've learned a valuable lesson: defense must be a top priority if an outpost is to last.

Focus:

Share your stories of lessons learned the hard way, fortress or adventure mode. As bad as mine is, I'm sure there's much worse out there.

[Jreengus]

I had a similar problem but it turned out much worse, i had already lost one of my miners so when the gobbos came i only had a single woodcutter and a miner wielding the tools of their trade and wearing some dog leather armour, this was my second ambush and the last one had been fairly easy to defeat spread out they had fallen one by one to my miner. So as my two soldiers stood gaurding the only entrance to my fortress i wasnt too worried, they both had proven themselves capable before  (my woodcutter had killed the fire imp which had killed my other miner and had also had some training chasing camels). However as the goblins approached a horrible sight appeared, a green goblin!!! My miner took a couple of bolts and fainted and the speargobs must of got in a lucky shot cos my woodcutter lasted all of 5 secs, i ordered the drawbridge raised but by the time any dwarves got round to it the goblins were already inside, this meant i had locked them in and they set about trashing the place, in the end i had my sherrif take up the pick of my long dead miner (the one who died to the imp) and destroy that single wall which was all that stood between my fort and a wave of liguid fire. 40 dwarves lost their ives but no goblins survived either.

[Cthulhu]

I haven't had anything THAT bad, but mine wasn't my fault, it was the fault of my incompetent guard.  He was standing next to the magma vent to kill Fire Imps(Technically, the whole squad was assigned there, but apparently only the squad leader has any sense of duty.)  The first fire imp to come out got his head mangled(The guard had an obsidian short sword and a wooden buckler, no armor, I haven't had a chance to get steel anvils for my magma smelters yet).  He fell back into the lava and was never seen again.  A bit later I looked over, and my guard was RUNNING AWAY FROM HIS POST, trailing copious amounts of blood.  Seconds later he's vaporized by a fireball.  The imp continues to run south, into my above-ground stockpiles just as essentially my entire 27ish fort is getting food, it tears through the crowd, launching fireballs that kill a miner, my LEGENDARY craftsdwarf, and a puppy.  Then, in what may have been my coolest DF moment ever, it grabbed a farmer and held him until he collapsed in a cloud of smoke that lingers to this day, and fills my tomb now(I couldn't help but think of the scene in Legend of Dragoon where the Black Monster destroys Neet, there's a scene where it holds a guy till he shrivels up, same thing pretty much)  My guards are standing around in the barracks, staring at the walls, and an untrained dog was forced to kill the imp.  The nightmare was finally over, but the inconsistent verb-tense continues on.

The only benefit?  My engravers have a new muse, the scene has been immortalized forever in a mural in my sheriff's office.

[Asehujiko]

First time i played the 2d version: Phants hurt.
First time i played the 3d version: Carp hurt.
When settling in a mountain for the first time: Giant eagles are available to hurt as a replacement in the event that there are no carp or elephants present.

[Puzzlemaker]

A couple of hard lessons...

Water can go diagonally.  Also, Dwarves can wade through shallow water.

Don't.  Attack.  Bowgoblins.  Ever.  EVER.  EEEVVVEEERRR.

[penguinofhonor]

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[fraeuleinwunder]

quote: Water can go diagonally. Also, Dwarves can wade through shallow water.

And water can go up stairs. Especially if you try to build a reservoir with water that falls about six levels down into it. Let's say my dwarves didn't need to suffer from thirst ever again.

[Mlittle]

I just had an ambush in the winter of year two. Two squads, five gobbos each. The first squad was spotted by the leader who gave them the tour of the countryside, before shaking them off. Next they head for the entrance where three of them are caught in my only three cage traps. I have no other traps what so ever. The remaining two are pincushioned by the two marksdwarves, the only army I have so far. The eight wanna be melee dwarfs are still civilians, waiting for the smiths to make the armour.
The second squad shows at the entrance as the haulers start throwing out goblin remains and they all run in with goblins in tow. The Dogs jump on them and the marksdwarves do their thing again.
The end result was two dead dogs, seven dead and three captured goblins. Thanks Armok for watching over my fortress.

[ March 10, 2008: Message edited by: Mlittle ]