THE KEY PROBLEM:
Have you met the problem, that AI doesn't participate in battle of their friends with player?This problem enters DF after 34 version. When you are became aggressive towards anyone in 40 or 42 as adventurer, it will result only in cries and run of your victim and some psychopathic watching of another dwellers of the site.
Really, as for me its awful bug which nullifies fun from the game and forces to use only old versions of DF. Even if i attacks faction leader in his own house, most of the guards ignores fighting. Completely. I remember an attempt when i attacked powerful vampire lady, and she only ran from me and cried, when her guards and civilians absolutely did nothing. When i killed this lady after about 30 minutes of boring racing, i got understanding of her equipment and battle skills as immense good (she wore all masterwork items and were dodged my attacks as quite experienced master-in-evade). So this lady could kill my adventurer in a couple of hits - but the vampire which killed thousands of living, could only die in racing.
I tried to set national bravery (i don't remember correct name of this token, so it's the one, minotaurs have at 100) at max value, but civilians and many armed guards in castle were still ran from badly armored attacker with whip or wooden spear. An experiment shows that aggression in mixed castle with about 50 dwellers in one big keeplike room results in 3 or 4 defenders (bard, 1 or 2 cookers and 1 combatant), when there were at least 7 armed guards. Another dwellers were only ran, cried and ... But stop, that's all what they did.
It's even more awful when i taking quest on killing the bandit and when i entering bandit camp i see fking friendly bandits... I tried to declare my intentions in dialogue - but it failed. They just cry and don't fight with me. The most impressive result i'd got - single bandit after my attack were fought with me. His friends did nothing. Nice, yes?
I don't want to teach anyone, but Medieval Ages were quite cruel, and even villagers weren't easy to be plundered for bands of robbers. They fought, especially when they had an advantage in numbers. What about warriors - the meaning of their life were in defense of their masters. That's what they were paid for.
Of course, situation in 34 version or earlier, when even domestic animals of nation attacks its enemy, is quite controversial too - but it's FUNNY!
And i can't say, that such hardcore roguelike, such unique openworld fantasy game with complex battle system as Dwarf Fortress brings me fun with this casual update of morale. Adventure mode in DF now is not even close to old hardcore and not even close to realism - and this hurts me as i can't enjoy updates of taverns and another sides of adventure DF as coming magic.
So the question: how to return battle system in DF? I mean, in 40 and 42 there are no battles it all without strong attempts of player to set terror and fear among hearts of peaceful good guys? (which are so awful that even bogeymans are fear to enter their sites at night). Is there any mod or something else fixing that weird bug?
WAYS TO RESOLVE:
BASIC WAY - Blessing Creatures:
This one we need all the ways as it allows to partially and softly resolve this problem, increasing civilized creatures' skills. This automatically improves their morale. Without this many creatures will run from any attackers from way bellow.
Don't think this will make creatures Terminatorlike - battle system in recent version is more casual and based on random more than on skills."Bravery", as in the personality token, does not seem to affect much, although, very high values are rumored to increase the chance of a civilian joining a fight, so, yeah, you can try that. The effect of the Discipline skill should be more noticeable though, I think.
If you're looking for a challenge specifically, I would recommend adding some more natural skills to your potential opponents, because the skill difference between combatants in DF is times more important than the numbers advantage. Here's what I use personally:
[NATURAL_SKILL:DISCIPLINE:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SHIELD:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:ARMOR:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MELEE_COMBAT:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:RANGED_COMBAT:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SITUATIONAL_AWARENESS:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:AXE:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SWORD:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MACE:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:HAMMER:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SPEAR:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:CROSSBOW:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:PIKE:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WHIP:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOW:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BLOWGUN:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DAGGER:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WRESTLING:5]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DISCIPLINE:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SHIELD:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DODGING:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MELEE_COMBAT:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:RANGED_COMBAT:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SITUATIONAL_AWARENESS:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:AXE:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SWORD:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MACE:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:HAMMER:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SPEAR:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:CROSSBOW:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:PIKE:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WHIP:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOW:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BLOWGUN:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DAGGER:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WRESTLING:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BITE:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE:9]
[NATURAL_SKILL:STANCE_STRIKE:9]
no discipline, because kobolds are cowardly lore-wise
[NATURAL_SKILL:DODGING:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MELEE_COMBAT:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:RANGED_COMBAT:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SITUATIONAL_AWARENESS:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:AXE:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SWORD:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MACE:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:HAMMER:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SPEAR:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:CROSSBOW:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:PIKE:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WHIP:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOW:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BLOWGUN:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DAGGER:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WRESTLING:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BITE:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE:10]
[NATURAL_SKILL:STANCE_STRIKE:10]
You can play with the numbers here to your liking - just take note that the value of 15 is max (Legendary). Natural skills do not affect adventurers, so you'll still have to train as usual.
You can also get some combat mod to top it off - mine (in the sig) or Grimlocke's, for instance. The game itself has a lot of loose ends in terms of combat, and it is yet uncertain when the development returns to it again. For now, such mods offer fixes and improvements to combat wherever possible.
Additional Improvement 1 - Domestic Death:
This variant allows to spawn different evil creatures as domestic animals, allowing them to attack dwellers of site. Fun depends on site generator. This changes DF atmosphere a bit.
it should be doable with animal tokens in the entity usually allow always some NIGHTCREATURE_# would do it
just shove this in an entity you want and the game will add them to the civ now night creatures 1-11ish are night trolls 12-23 are bogeymen and the rest after 23 are werebeasts and the number range of these 3 are varied on world generation if you say Took out bogeymen you probably either get werebeasts where bogeymen are so results of this may very oh and doing this also unlocks them as playable after 1 retired adventurer of that civ.
[ANIMAL]
[ANIMAL_TOKEN:NIGHT_CREATURE_15]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_PRESENT]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_MOUNT]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_WAGON_PULLER]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_PACK_ANIMAL]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_PET]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_SIEGE]
oh probably best to include this too
[ALL_MAIN_POPS_CONTROLLABLE]
[LOCAL_POPS_PRODUCE_HEROES]
[LOCAL_POPS_CONTROLLABLE]
also went back and check what humans have for ethics and uhh
[ETHIC:KILL_ENTITY_MEMBER:JUSTIFIED_IF_GOOD_REASON]
[ETHIC:KILL_NEUTRAL:JUSTIFIED_IF_NO_REPERCUSSIONS]
[ETHIC:KILL_ENEMY:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:KILL_ANIMAL:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:KILL_PLANT:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_AS_EXAMPLE:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_FOR_INFORMATION:ACCEPTABLE]
probably find Justified as "ehh we accept this would spit at ya if you bring this up or return"
vs say dwarves which has
[ETHIC:KILL_ENTITY_MEMBER:PUNISH_CAPITAL]
[ETHIC:KILL_NEUTRAL:ONLY_IF_SANCTIONED]
[ETHIC:KILL_ENEMY:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:KILL_ANIMAL:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:KILL_PLANT:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_AS_EXAMPLE:UNTHINKABLE]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_FOR_INFORMATION:UNTHINKABLE]
so killing someone in a dwarf fort is just grounds for a hammerin and the book thrown at you, and if you're ordered to, checking Goblins and we got
[ETHIC:KILL_ENTITY_MEMBER:PERSONAL_MATTER]
[ETHIC:KILL_NEUTRAL:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:KILL_ENEMY:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:KILL_ANIMAL:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:KILL_PLANT:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_AS_EXAMPLE:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_FOR_INFORMATION:ACCEPTABLE]
which is why you got the kids that got snatched taking up their new home's ethics and bringing that along with them to the new home... and deciding hey Time to Murder my neutral or Enemy parents since I'm required to do so.
have fun slapping required on some of the Kill bits for some of the other civs if you want a wild bloody, violent, no safe from hell world.
oh and for bonus
[ANIMAL]
[ANIMAL_TOKEN:DEMON_8]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_PRESENT]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_MOUNT]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_WAGON_PULLER]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_PACK_ANIMAL]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_PET]
[ANIMAL_ALWAYS_SIEGE]
have a fiend so you can really have fun with everyone just wanting to murder each other in this hell ethic world you wanted to play, as folks just don't bend to Armok worship like they used too.
oh yeah set banditry to 100 percent so everyone of that civ up to and including the animals get to join bandit groups.
[BANDITRY:100]
[LOCAL_BANDITRY]
so have fun in the insane world of every farm animal is a bandit and required to murder each other.
Additional Improvement 2 - Really Evil Nations:
This variant allows to make many creatures so hostile as undead in trivial DF are. This allows to create and sustain really big bloodbath. Atmosphere is injured, however. As it based on adding creatures tags 'Opposed to Life' and this means they're all part of one big evil faction, you need to chose which nations will be evil (for example, dwarfes are evil and humans are trivial, than in mixed settlement dwarfs will attack everyone who not undead. So trivial creatures will run and fight with evil ones.)
Another alternative is turning up everyone craziness dial in a DF world to eleven with a mini mod like this one
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=152661.0
That make people (and animals too because without that it wouldn't be up to eleven) extremely "specist" and truly hate to violent death anything and anyone belonging to a different specie, regardless if they're on the same faction or if they're much more powerful than themselves.
Of course a mini mod for adventurers that seek more insanity than immersion.
Additional Improvement 3 - There Is No Surrender:
This variant allows to partially resolve the problem slightly by turning all possible conflicts into "No Quarter" (maximum lethal) state. Quite soft decision.
[ETHIC:KILL_ENTITY_MEMBER:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:KILL_NEUTRAL:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:KILL_ENEMY:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:KILL_ANIMAL:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:KILL_PLANT:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_AS_EXAMPLE:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_FOR_INFORMATION:ACCEPTABLE]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_FOR_FUN:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:TORTURE_ANIMALS:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:TREASON:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:OATH_BREAKING:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:LYING:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:VANDALISM:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:TRESPASSING:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:THEFT:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:ASSAULT:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:SLAVERY:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:EAT_SAPIENT_OTHER:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:EAT_SAPIENT_KILL:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:MAKE_TROPHY_SAME_RACE:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:MAKE_TROPHY_SAPIENT:REQUIRED]
[ETHIC:MAKE_TROPHY_ANIMAL:REQUIRED]
so far if you want a world where military folks slaughter their own peasants and towns are ransacked on start go for it.
Thanks to all members of DF community for taking part in this discussion! More ways to bloody fight in the name of Armok!