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[Roevoe]

Relatively new player here (6 fortresses in)

With the arrival of the last 'Villain' update I have been in the complete dark about some of its features.

I have tried to find answers, yet most forum posts or wiki articles leave me clueless. So I post this topic in the hope that, maybe now, more knowledge is available.

On the topic of Artifact theft, Criminal Bosses, and their Organizations (in fort mode), I have a few questions:

1. Sometimes when an Artifact gets stolen I am able to apprehend the thief (and imprison him/her) with the item still in their inventory. Yet, sometimes, the Artifact is nowhere to be found although both the thief (and sometimes middleman) is/are apprehended rather quickly. Question: Am I missing anything? Did I do something wrong? How does the Artifact leave the map? Does the thief/agent give it to the middleman, who will then leave the map with it? Because sometimes, when you unravel the criminal organization it turns out that there is no middleman, just the [BOSS] >> [THIEF].

2. What can be done to STOP plots and Bosses? Can I find the place where the Boss lives and kill him/her? 

3. Am I able to get Artifacts back once they have left my map? Can I find the place where the Boss lives and steal/pillage my Artifact back?

4. As of now, it seems that the only thing I can do to prevent Artifact theft (from what I have read so far) is to A: put all my artifact displays behind windows/bars or B: Close my fort to visitors. Or are there other ways?

This whole update frustrates the hell out of me. I don't mind losing Artifacts as long as the whole intelligence/counter-intelligence system allows me to get them back.

But right now I get the feeling this system is completely unfinished and that you can't do anything with the information you acquire on criminal organizations/plots. Or, again, am I missing something? 


Sidenote: I am still kind of unfamiliar with the world map/civilization screen and the things you can do there (e.g. raiding etc.). Maybe this is where I am missing something (?)

[PatrikLundell]

The Villains mode fortress component was cut short due to the time constraints for the Premium release. This meant that Villains got some tools, and you're left with almost nothing.

1. Presumably the middleman/boss has left the map with the item. It might be that they're back for more... It's very possible to get a theft reported only after the villain carrying it has left.

2. Essentially nothing. You can invade the site they live in (and risk your game corrupted by the still not completely fixed raid equipment corruption bug), but most likely that will have no effect as most villains probably are civilians. There were some idea that fortress players should be able to send out parties to assassinate, or possibly capture, villains. Whether that will be implemented in the post Premium Villains cleanup remains to be seen (I don't think there are any official words on the matter).

3. If the villain has stored the artifact a raid ought to be capable of stealing it back. If it's carried on the villains person there's currently nothing that can be done (but the villains will move verry slowly if carrying all of the bazillion artifacts stolen at the same time). You probably will have to use Legends Mode info to find out where the items are (although an artifact recovery party ought to be able to find it in time, but I don't know if anyone has tried and has something to report).

4. Essentially correct. You can also kill every visitor that might be a villain, but that will probably kill your fortress in loyalty cascades, and, at the least, cause a mess when other visitors take the side of the villain without showing it openly (pretending to socialize while actually attacking/running in panic from your citizens/scaring your citizens so they run away in panic).
You can also use DFHack's "exterminate him" script on them to avoid cascades, and it's possible to detect which visitors are legitimate and which are villains if you can write a script for it using "army controllers".

No. You're not missing anything important. It is an unfinished mess, for known and understandable reasons. However, I'm not too optimistic that any useful countermeasures to prevent villains from succeeding are planned (it all seems to be based on catching up, so something will probably be added on that side), as Toady didn't seem interested when in the FotF a fair while before the Villains release.

[Fleeting Frames]

Rgarding 3, you can retire the fort (read the wiki page and make backup first), create an adventurer and send them after the villain if you know who and where they are. I know at least one case where the adventurer found the villain wearing the stolen artifact robe, and was able to return it to the fortress.

[knutor]

The criminal boss doesnt just steal, Ive had an assasination, in my crime logs. No immediate leads, but later I interviewed a suspect/actor, we were given some intel on the boss's real name and race, in counter screen, but ya that looks in there like an unfinished update.

Nguslu something. Hes been at it for 10+yrs. Stole 3 artifacts. I did what other poster said. Put all of um in a furniture display, behind a levered bar. Dont label furniture display to a meeting area, or dorfs will mingle there, and get trapped, when lever switches.

I miss the guys coming to fight me for artifact stuff once a bard brags of it in tavern. Seems they peeter out or get bored, no longer happening.

I respec'd three temples and visitors are still seeking the old one... something is failing to update in my world.

[PatrikLundell]

An assassination is interesting (but it's still unsatisfying that nothing can be done to prevent it).

Questers would be reasonable if the came in reasonable number (which all of them have done in this version so far) and don't cause loyalty cascades (which they do), but rather would attack openly (all of them, including the ones in the tavern, and that they wouldn't bring half the regular visitors into it). But yes, in previous versions they've come in huge hordes early on and then return later as regular mercs.

Did you actually delete the temple object, or did you just repaint the zones and associate them with another temple? The temple object is the one you'd find on the details screen. I'd be careful about doing that, though, as I've got a vague memory of something breaking when that was done, possibly related to visitors being present to visit it when it's removed. Might be nothing worse than visitors who'd never leave, though.

[knutor]

Both. Even took the figurine of god, out of furniture display, and smelted his silverstatue. Bin a yr, game thinks I still have old temple, visitors when t menu quote says they came to visit ol' place. Going to keep exterminating those oddballs, but will it ever update enemies rumors of my changes, or is this a fruitless venture? Ya no mention of temples in l menu, no activity zones. They are all now, 1 greatbig all-god temple. Got sick of Worship! in job menu, got old as that seems to be a higher priority than 4, the default. So it appears, they just ignore my dig/trade orders. This DFhack command Siren needs updated to snap dorfs out of Worship and Sleep, imo.

[PatrikLundell]

Worship! and Socialize! are emergency activities by dorfs who have been denied these activities for too long. The ordinary ones, without exclamation mark, are interrupted by job orders.

If you've been starving and finally get some food, would you listen to your boss saying you need to work NOW! or would you finish your meal first?

[knutor]

If I had workaholic trait, dutiful and and maybe student, I would work to death to please my boss However, if I had gluttony, individual, and teacher, I would prolly eat and show boss my union card. But this is Social and Worship, not Dine. Industry and Booze are unapologetically dorf priorities. Social seems more elf. Worship more animal man. It feels a lil off balance, and untested, this version. Ive another child going haggard... Hows that even happen, when they do what they want?

Ive had luck with theft by sticking a soldier from sheriffs squad on defend burrow, at door into artifact pile. Still get thefts, but the happen before item is hauled, usually. Soldier on d in burrow will give me a witness.

[PatrikLundell]

A child could go haggard for a number of reasons:
- Horribly bad traits. Some dorfs are just doomed.
- Bad parenting. Letting the kid play on the corpses on the battle field ought to result in lots of seeing corpses negative thoughts (with repeats). The same goes for getting rained on and getting sick from cave adaptation on said battle field. Retching from miasma and playing in the corpse stockpile isn't good either, not would it be healthy to be in the tavern when a were visitor turns or an attacking artifact quester's buddies attack (without admitting it).

[Leonidas]

I think the whole theft business is kinda fun. I just beat a putrid rotting corpse to death as he tried to get away with a rope reed shirt. His necromancer accomplice is in custody. I plan to move him to special accommodations and involuntary permanent residency for training purposes.

Aside from windows or bars, you could also display artifacts in a place that's never empty, such as a tavern or dining hall. Then you can check your visitors, find whoever has the artifact, and beat them to death with your militia.

[PatrikLundell]

I think the whole theft business is kinda fun. I just beat a putrid rotting corpse to death as he tried to get away with a rope reed shirt. His necromancer accomplice is in custody. I plan to move him to special accommodations and involuntary permanent residency for training purposes.

Aside from windows or bars, you could also display artifacts in a place that's never empty, such as a tavern or dining hall. Then you can check your visitors, find whoever has the artifact, and beat them to death with your militia.

And get a loyalty cascade as some of your population and half the visitors join the villain' side...

[Leonidas]

Aside from windows or bars, you could also display artifacts in a place that's never empty, such as a tavern or dining hall. Then you can check your visitors, find whoever has the artifact, and beat them to death with your militia.

And get a loyalty cascade as some of your population and half the visitors join the villain' side...

That depends on where you adminster the beating.

[knutor]

A child could go haggard for a number of reasons:
- Horribly bad traits. Some dorfs are just doomed.
- Bad parenting. Letting the kid play on the corpses on the battle field ought to result in lots of seeing corpses negative thoughts (with repeats). The same goes for getting rained on and getting sick from cave adaptation on said battle field. Retching from miasma and playing in the corpse stockpile isn't good either, not would it be healthy to be in the tavern when a were visitor turns or an attacking artifact quester's buddies attack (without admitting it).

Do you think its the quality of toy? Ha. I did have fewer haggard kids with that artifact puzzlebox. Not sure if that was by design.

Tucking kids in a burrow does it work? The last I was here on bay12 board in '17, it didnt.

Having had a few awful games, Ive gone the way of 0.0.0 stress. These last three games have been interesting, since disabling dorf stress. Getting to see more dancing in tavern, and less brawling. Saw the music, shields in unison, but stress was so bad, I never saw twirling dancing until I shutoff dorf stressoff.

Maybe the way to outsmart a criminal boss is similar to outsmarting a gremlin. Pet dogs chained everywhere. Can a named pet be a witness?

[PatrikLundell]

As far as I know my kid burrows work, although civ alerts override them, letting them out into the rest of the fortress.

How would you get the named pet to tell you what it saw? Unless the pet is a gremlin I don't think they'll work as witnesses, and I wouldn't bet anything on gremlins either. As far as I know you outsmart gremlins with gremlin traps, although you can detect them with sentries. Kobolds, weres, snatchers, and necros can be detected by guard critters, though.

[knutor]

Ya. Your right, about that. I cannot put named pets into cages. Do they go on chains? I know the already chained up pets, can be named when assigned as a working pet.

Ive never had a built artifact stolen, have you?  Maybe build um, to avoid theft, the furniture, anyway.