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[deadlycairn]

My fort is in its third year (the longest I've ever lasted, due to a poor attention span) and I've been ambushed 6 times since the start of my second year, including three ambushes that happened within moments of each other. Incidentally, I decided to forgo traps this fortress, for a bit of a challenge. I also lacked any metal/or standing army, because I can't find any source of metal with exploratory mining and I wanted to avoid sparring injuries by training pump operaters first. As a result, I've lost two of my starting seven, as well as several hunters (handy marksdwarves) and a few innocent civilians, and a few more are quite badly wounded. Two Elven merchants were also ruthlessly slaughtered by an ambush (incidentally, the goblins and elves are at war with each other {(☼elf bone bracelet☼)}, anyone?)

In the latest ambush, led by an elite goblin bowman, the human caravan was slaughtered before it even reached my depot, and I'm fearing repurcussion. All in all, the goblins have ruined an otherwise fine fortress. My fps drops, good workers are maimed, my war dog population has been decimated, and wagons have been driven off.

Now, my question: Is it normal for goblins to be this aggressive, or am I just unlucky? Every squad has at least one elite goblin, as well as ~6 other assorted goblins. Are they attacking me because of my fotress wealth (~180,000☼, don't know if that's high or low) or is it normal?
However, I have gained one thing from this experience:So much iron I'll be able to equip everyone with steel before long!

[sonerohi]

they are always ruthless. God, I'm gonna cry when you come back after getting a siege.

[Footkerchief]

That doesn't sound really unusual.  Also, it's normal to get three ambushes at once -- usually several squads will enter the map at the same time, so if a single squad appears and attacks, stay on alert after taking it out.

[deadlycairn]

Thanks, I'd never lasted enough to receive a real goblin ambush before (ones that died on my paranoia-induced over-trapped entrances don't count )

[Magua]

When an ambush party enters the map, it's invisible.  Sometimes, the party will (for whatever reason) not make it all the way to your base.  If that happens, it'll sit and wait for someone to come near it.

Got three ambushes nearly at once this way -- the first one ambushed my fisherdwarf, and then sending my military outside triggered the second and third one.  Playing with the saved game showed that if I didn't send my military outside, I could wait for months, and then send someone outside, and they'd be ambushed immediately -- that is, the ambushers were waiting.

[Warlord255]

YOU LUCKY BASTARD

[Drunken]

I have 3 seperate goblin civs at my site and I just got one of the elf civs to declare war on me :-)
Needless to say I have a lot of casualties.
I also have 4 smelters with 'melt metal object    R' and enough flux to build a tower of steel to the sky

[deadlycairn]

Damn. 10 minutes after I loaded Dwarf Fortress and I was ambushed by goblin crossbowgoblins, resulting in the death of two more fortress founders and a tantrum spiral of doom. The cool thing was, in an earlier ambush my maxed out uber-miner dwarf attacked a goblin elite guard. The guard escaped, and later on I noticed the dwarf was missing his pick. I did a count, and figured that he must have stuck his pick in the guards leg before the guard escaped. The crossbow squad was also led by a goblin elite guard, and when I checked his inventory to see what weapon he had (something I learned the hard way after a 'recruit' turned out to be a legendary marksgoblin), I saw he had a pick stuck in his leg!

DF is the only game where that sort of thing could happen, and the only game where you can have revenge in Adventure Mode!

Side note: The goblin civ was called the 'Disgusting Devil' the most coherent civ name I've ever seen, and the goblin guard was called Stozu!

[Rhenaya]

the topic is something familiar with "wet water" or "bearded dwarf" :>

[deadlycairn]

Meh. I heard in the latest versions the goblins had been nerfed, and were more likely to trade with me than attack me. So when the first ambushes arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. The novelty wore off quite quickly however...

[deadlycairn]

I've had my revenge! I grabbed an artifact turtlebone hammer my dwarfs had made, as well as a ton of shields, trained shielding to legendary+10 and trained hammering, wrestling and amour skills, then attacked the goblins who'd invaded my fortress, with the aid of a few elves. I rescue a 6 year old elf, kill a few goblin chidren and farmers, then the elves wander out of sight and I get messages about them being beat to a pulp. I wander around, looking for them, before I finally meet the elite hammergoblin responsible, who reels off a kill list as long as your arm. My artifact hammer is superior to his iron one, and I beat him to a pulp. I then kill a goblin guard (may or may not have been one who attacked me in fortress mode) and enter the second fortress, only to come face to face with a demon!

Now by this point I was feeling confident, until I remembered shields cant block fireballs. I pummeled the demon, but he got a fireball in that incinerated me. Worst part was the whole time the goblin child just stood next to the demon and watched. Traitor elves!

[Lord_Shadow]

Allow me take a note from a journal of one of my pervious fortress.

19th of slate early spring

Goblin seige has arrived. I fear the worst, we only have 7 dwarves.

I decided to start the with the nearest goblin base on my map but hey live one learn... Anyways, i lost.

[Tormy]

Now, my question: Is it normal for goblins to be this aggressive, or am I just unlucky lucky?

Fixed. 

[RebelZhouYuWu]

I have never had a seige, but when you are hitting 4 ambushes at the same time with lengedaries, it sure feels like it. I was lucky one time when the legendary humann crossbowman decided that instead of using the bolts in his quiver he would train up his hammer skill, which he then went and proceded to be owned by my legendary miner.

[anomaly]

the only thing that pisses me off about ambushes is that they always drive off caravans.  other than that they are exceedingly easy to deal with