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[Jake]

1. Given that if you activate a dwarf instructed to carry weapons or armour and the enemy is closer than said items, they'll take on a whole goblin ambush as-is, is it not sometimes more useful to let the dwarf in question leg it home and hopefully draw the ambush towards your carefully-prepared array of traps and marksdwarf posts with overlapping fields of fire?

2. Given that a kobold invariably takes off like a rocket if discovered, is it worth activating the nearest dwarf and gambling against the little sod getting a lucky stab in for a mediocre weapon and a couple of items of clothing that you might conceivably sell to a trader for spare change? (Not applicable if said kobold is only located after grabbing something you care about losing.)

Discuss.

[Efun]

Depends if there are gobby archers, then it doesnt matter if he runs or not....he will die either way

[Derakon]

Always kill the kobolds. It's not about the risk/reward tradeoff; it's about punishing those who would dare try to steal from your fortress.

[Cavalcadeofcats]

Plus, the more they steal, the more'll come. Reference the story of the poor dwarven expedition whose anvil was stolen by kobolds in their first year; in their second, they were swarmed by kobold ambushes and annihilated.

The first point is reasonable, though.

[Time Kitten]

Kobold ambushes?  Sweet! I'm letting them take anything they want!

[Refar]

Also they never actually run home and "towards your carefully-prepared array". 

[sneakey pete]

Just give everyone a little training with axes, and make all non miners woodcutters. Oh, and if you can somehow hunt all wandering animals to extinction, you could make everyone hunters too, and give them leather Armour...

[John Johnston]

Kobold ambushes?  Sweet! I'm letting them take anything they want!

I love kobold ambushes - I usually keep the fortress drawbridges up and gates locked at the moment, so any thieves who arrive make off with armour and clothes from the various dead traders and goblins lying around outside.  As the kobolds must be getting quite rich from all those narrow giant cave spider silk items, they tend to arrive in ambushes a lot.

Er, and die a lot, too.

[Jake]

*harrumph* Did you guys not read as far as the part where I said, "Not applicable if said kobold is only located after grabbing something you care about losing" in point two? When they're half-way across the map from the fortress when they're spotted, I tend to just let them run; closer to the fortress it's another matter.

[Time Kitten]

Just pull the switch to completely enclose the map, then let the games begin...

Bwahahahaha haha!

[Forumsdwarf]

I love how kobolds will run right up to the raised bridge then stand there for a while praying that it lowers.

I used to put retractable spikes in the "place of contemplation" at the foot of the bridge so I could skewer the kobold as he stared at the spot the bridge used to be, but using a nerve-damaged Swordsdwarf to slice him up gives experience and a happy thought to your soldier.

[pushy]

Always kill the kobolds. It's not about the risk/reward tradeoff; it's about punishing those who would dare try to steal from your fortress.

Aye, I do this if I have someone fast enough to catch the thieving little bastards but my meeting area is often a considerable distance from the trap corridor with a chained puppy that actually spots the kobold, so unless the puppy can kill it before it bolts (which I've yet to see happen; in my current game my guard puppy was only able to get into combat with one kobold of the dozen or so that arrived - it took a couple of chunks out of the kobold and got cut on its head before the kobold managed to get away), they usually get to escape with their lives. No point drafting and sending an inexperienced dwarf out when I know there's very little chance of them successfully catching and killing the thief.

[Refar]

From my experience 3 chaned dogs (in my 3 wide main entrance / wagon access corridor) will spot and eat every Cobold/Sntacher.

[Dadamh]

Eh, the question is moot most of the time for me.  Usually it's a stray cat that spots the k and it runs off anyway.

They are skittish things.

[Refar]

Well... If he got spotted by a cot (or wildlife ) somewhere outside with no one even near... I don't think there is much to discuss about - oyu just can't  catch them. In the plus-side - they did not have the chance to steal nothing yet.