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[ElthMysterius]

_{( wow, try saying that title three times out loud )}

Well, due to a Fun overdose (namely, getting 2 forgotten beasts every season for the past year, along with a siege consisting of 3 goblin squads, all mounted on giant toads, and accompanied by a dozen trolls, while I had 11 dwarves left and no military), my fort went from 80 dwarves to 1. She is a Legendary Armourer, but lacks any military skills. Still, she picks up a steel axe, a shield and some chain armour, and prepares for her last stand.

At this point, she's stuck between a slowly-advancing but massive goblin siege from above, and a gas-spewing Forgotten Beast from below. By now, I'm just waiting for the swarm of flailing goblin death to pile on top of her. Instead, a bunch of trolls bust in, and start running all over the fortress. A few end up in the lower levels and get assaulted by the Forgotten Beast, but a few others finally find my last dwarf in the armoury. A fierce battle ensues!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

What you can't see in the picture right now is that there's also a ghost standing on top of her.

She was a valiant dwarf and will be missed.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

She would've made quite a soldier with some training.

After having most of her limbs broken, she was finally strangled to death. During that time, those trolls in the hallway began some sort of weird ritual dance, and started hopping around each other. They looked like they were constantly dodging each other, but they weren't fighting. Just... hopping around.

Most of the goblins were still topside. And those that weren't had barely cleared the entrance by the time the last dwarf fell. One squad was stuck around a pond where their leader's giant toad mount had hopped into, drowning the rider. Not only did they send over 50 (not including mounts) invaders against 11 dwarves (before the FB got most of them), but they suffered casualties!

Through all this, the invaders have been incredibly passive, often milling around a door for several seconds before somebody steps over to knock it down. The goblins had a clear path to the dwarves for quite some time, but they preferred standing around in the fields outside. Some of the trolls wouldn't even attack targets that were in plain sight.

At first, I thought it was a bug, that invaders wouldn't path to dwarves properly even though they were perfectly able to path to each other. But they still slowly and methodically explored my fort in the search for the last surviving dwarf. The trolls were sent in first to demolish defences while the goblins hung back in safety. Only after the trolls were down there for a long while did some of them start heading inside. And the way they were slowly milling around outside almost seemed like they were either waiting or didn't know where the fort was.

Did Toady change the way invaders work or did I just get hit with a bunch of bugs that made the AI actually look smarter?

_{Edit: I should proofread my posts, goddamn.}

[abadidea]

They've been looking odd to me too. Specifically they seem prone to fleeing and afraid of entering the fort.

[612DwarfAvenue]

Bugs or not, that's pretty cool .

[strongrudder]

What you can't see in the picture right now is that there's also a ghost standing on top of her.

Use the Force, Inod...

I agree - bugs or not, it makes for a cool story! The mental image of trolls dancing primitively in the halls while one of their brethren beats on your lone survivor is awesome.

[celem]

The bunch of goblins gathered round the pool where their leader died seems familiar.

I often find that a single weapon or cage trap is enough to turn back seiges.  The leader dies or is impounded and his guys just hang about where he fell for a year

I never really mean this to happen, the leader just gets pinched by a cage and they give up entirely.

Also I'd agree, they no longer seem nearly as eager to path into the fort, I havent actually had a sealable fort since .12 and still the seiges spend most of their time outside, trying to work up the courage to run the traps perhaps

[Max White]

Hmm, perhaps, with a little moggik, adding the [NOFEAR] tag would change this and cause them to fun in like dwarves to a sock. IF this changed anything, it would indeed confirm that toady made goblins smart enough to fear for there lives.

As for primitive troll dances, that is simply too cool for me to explain.

[Pilsu]

It's a siege. You know what that word means right? I wouldn't be surprised if it's a placeholder mechanic to replace the old suicidal charges until something better can be conceived. Are ambushes affected?

[USEC_OFFICER]

They've been looking odd to me too. Specifically they seem prone to fleeing and afraid of entering the fort.

Can you blame them with all the magma/drowning traps we've made over the years?

[NewSheoth]

Hmm, perhaps, with a little moggik, adding the [NOFEAR] tag would change this and cause them to fun in like dwarves to a sock. IF this changed anything, it would indeed confirm that toady made goblins smart enough to fear for there lives.

As for primitive troll dances, that is simply too cool for me to explain.

I think we've just discovered a new verb.

And yeah, this sure seems more realistic. A siege is a frenchy way to say 'blocking off a fortress's supplies until the defenders die of hunger/thirst', so their behaviour fits the definition quite well. As for the troll ritual dances - I hope it's a feature.

Besides, wouldn't you agree with goblins not rushing into a fortress after generations of their forces' inconceivably horrible deaths in unthinkably devious traps in fortresses all around the world?

[ElthMysterius]

It's a siege. You know what that word means right? I wouldn't be surprised if it's a placeholder mechanic to replace the old suicidal charges until something better can be conceived. Are ambushes affected?

Never had an ambush, even though this was the second siege they sent.

And you're probably right. The first siege was a squad of crossbowmen that just parked itself in a single spot and did not move for the entire siege. They killed everything that got close, and only left when they got bored. And since Toady is working on resource management and caravans, that means supply lines for armies are coming very soon. True sieges!

[Hateweaver]

I've seen the same behavior in .18 where they do more milling about outside.  I thought it was maybe them seeing the first of their friends die on the long hallway of steel spinning disc traps and deciding maybe to not go in.  But then the next invasion they all charged in together - and 2 of them made it past all the traps (well, past those traps the next hallway full got em )