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[coinich]

Is there any special or effective way to detect ambushes prematurely?  Chained dogs (and cats?) in random places and/or chokepoints?  Cage traps?  I've had something like six ambushes in the past year, and they just keep picking off my dwarves near the entrance, so I'm damned if I call all dwarves in, and damned if I allow them to keep going out.  Lost 10+ this way...

[Double A]

Cage traps.

Is there anything they can't solve?

[steveman0]

I thought most (or even all) ambushers had [Trap Avoid].  Dogs at my one entrance is usually included in my fort designs.

[coinich]

The thing is, I'd rather catch wind of them long before then.  I'm working on a not quite mega construct, and it would be helpful to keep my legendary miners and engravers safer, at least until the system gets finished.

[Murphy]

Then you can chain dogs all along the perimeter of the map. Use hunting dogs as they have better vision range.

[gtmattz]

I use chained war animals, usually dogs, but if I can get bears or elephants I use those too.  This works rather well for me, as I usually use a 2x2 embark and completely wall off the map leaving only one opening into the fort proper which I cover with cage traps backed up by a couple rows of chained animals.

As for ambushers having trapavoid, for the most part they do not, as my animal stockpiles filled with cages of goblins can attest to.  Megabeasts and some of the more exotic creatures that show up in some seiges have trapavoid I think, however.

[Double A]

I thought most (or even all) ambushers had [Trap Avoid].  Dogs at my one entrance is usually included in my fort designs.

The wiki says they can be caught by cage traps in the current version.

[Passive Fist]

You can just turn off invaders in the config, or remove the trapavoid tag from the thieves in the raws.

I like to play at my own pace and not worry about enemies showing up just in time to wreck nine seasons worth of work, so I turn them off completely.

[rodya_mirov]

You can just turn off invaders in the config, or remove the trapavoid tag from the thieves in the raws.

I like to play at my own pace and not worry about enemies showing up just in time to wreck nine seasons worth of work, so I turn them off completely.

Seems like that'd be fun for a while but then ... lacking in Fun

[unknwnsoljer]

Combine tactics: chain a hunting dog, then surround his square with cage traps. The goblins walk over to stab the dog to death and are trapped instead. This is a much better early warning system than just cage traps, as gobbos will path over towards the dog-bait and then you get warned when they're spotted. They're much more likely to walk to your chained up dogs than hit your cage traps (if you had no dogs).

[CognitiveDissonance]

Considering the marksdwarves are finally functional, consider building a few crossbow turrets outside (using dwarves, of course) and chaining hunting dogs outside of them.

[Cyntrox]

I thought most (or even all) ambushers had [Trap Avoid].  Dogs at my one entrance is usually included in my fort designs.

The wiki says they can be caught by cage traps in the current version.

I can confirm that.

Combine tactics: chain a hunting dog, then surround his square with cage traps. The goblins walk over to stab the dog to death and are trapped instead. This is a much better early warning system than just cage traps, as gobbos will path over towards the dog-bait and then you get warned when they're spotted. They're much more likely to walk to your chained up dogs than hit your cage traps (if you had no dogs).

I usually just litter the map with random cage traps... They tend to walk into them at some point. Bonus: so do animal wildlife. Who needs individual combat drills when you have an arena?

[ghosteh]

if your mega construct is outdoors, why not build a perimeter wall with small 3 wide entrances, and chain guard animals in the centre of them, then have an 'escape tunnel' either dug or constructed to allow safe fleeing

[cyks]

Aside from walling everything off, a few cross shaped choke points with the center covered with a trap (allowing a single diagonal pathing space) should help provide early warning.

[Quietust]

Land mines.* That is all.

(* pressure plate linked to adjacent support, floors built above support and plate. A pain to set up, but very satisfying when they go off.)