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[Illanair]

So I've been giving a lot of thought in to my current fort. Long hallways with Fortifications, a couple of traps, drawbridges etc... - but then I noticed that I have a couple of tiles where an invader could "drop down" a Z level to get easy access to my vulnerable fort. But are they clever/stupid enough to actually do so, or will they see it as an impassable route? (No ramps, just a regular one level drop, like from the top of a wall and down)

Another thing. Thieves are everywhere now - how do I detect them? I've got a sizeable dog meat industry, and I was wondering if DF will treat dogs as guard dogs when restrained - eg. will spot a gobbo. Will the thief run if detected? Will it attack the dog? (If so It'll need to be behind some bars or a fortification?)

Strike the Earth! Thief!

[NecroRebel]

So I've been giving a lot of thought in to my current fort. Long hallways with Fortifications, a couple of traps, drawbridges etc... - but then I noticed that I have a couple of tiles where an invader could "drop down" a Z level to get easy access to my vulnerable fort. But are they clever/stupid enough to actually do so, or will they see it as an impassable route? (No ramps, just a regular one level drop, like from the top of a wall and down)

They won't path through places where they can't walk through, no. Fliers, however, will, so if you want your fort to be as secure as possible, seal those roofs!

Another thing. Thieves are everywhere now - how do I detect them? I've got a sizeable dog meat industry, and I was wondering if DF will treat dogs as guard dogs when restrained - eg. will spot a gobbo. Will the thief run if detected? Will it attack the dog? (If so It'll need to be behind some bars or a fortification?)

Strike the Earth! Thief!

Yes, restrained animals, including dogs, will spot thieves and ambushes. Thieves and snatchers will always immediately attempt to flee off the edge of the map once detected, though they might occasionally take a swipe at one of your guard animals. Ambushes will not run, and will almost always instantly slaughter your guard animals.

Since animals only consistently detect stealthed units that are directly adjacent to them, the usual design for entrances is a 3-wide path with a restraint on either side and an animal chained to both. This way, it is impossible for any thieves or anything to sneak by. This fact also makes putting animals behind fortifications or bars to be somewhat impractical; you can do it, but they're less likely to actually detect things, so you need more than 2 animals on guard for the same effect (more guards = more chances to detect), which means you lose more than 2 every time ambushes show up with archers. Hunting animals are believed to have a somewhat larger chance of detecting things at range, but probably still not 100%.

[beekay]

Yeah, only flying creatures will drop down voluntarily. They're pretty rare, but buzzards flying in could be a nuisance.

[Fellhuhn]

And don't hunt fleeing thieves when playing on Linux because it will crash your game when they leave the map (version 31.18).

[celem]

hunting fleeing thieves is pretty pointless without marksdwarves anyway, kobolds are fast.  They will often swing once as they leave, especially if someone/thing gets infront of them, this can often cause 1-hit kills on civilians since they carry daggers.

I like to use a pair of dogs in a 3-tile wide corridor like stated above, further out toward the entrance however is a single war dog.  thieves regularly make it past the lone dog, to be caught by the pair.  thief then turns to flee only to be intercepted by the solo dog (which can now see it).  War dogs will kill thieves if they get a good first hit in and latch on

Hunting dogs do seem to have a noticably larger sight range, interestingly ive also noticed some of my dwarves spot a thief from a distance of 2 tiles, I've never yet observed a war dog spotting anything not directly adjacent.

Also: Observer is the skill that should be at play here.  If you dont have a higher learning/genesis style mod then its likely not directly trainable though.


On the z-level drop.  As mentioned fliers can use that path.  or obviously if a non-flier dodges at the top of the cliff he may wind up at the bottom (probably unharmed after falling 1z)

[ed boy]

One note - If your entrance has a corner in it, then you can predict where the incoming kobolds and gobbos will come. The pathfinding means that before the corner they will get into the inside wall as early as possible. Therefore, if you put a restrained animal on the inside wall just before the corner, it will detect all incomers. However, they are only guaranteed to take that path if your entrance is longer than it is wide before the corner.

[mrbobbyg]

Bulls and land-carp, aka horses, make good sentries, as they can often do some damage before they go down.

[MiniMacker]

Related to thieves, do they have a higher chance of spawning when there is a merchant caravan on the map? I was trading with the dwarven caravan on my first year when suddenly I kept detecting Kobold thieves.
One, two, three, four, five. All in different places.

[Illanair]

I have no idea if such spawning behaviour is actually coded into the game or it was pure chance, but considering that caravans means taking out your precious goods from the safe confines of your fortress to the (possibly) unguarded trade depot, it would make for thieves to try and strike.

Because I'm so paranoid I always make sure to make a portcullis (vertical bar gate) on each side of the hallway leading into my trade depot to "sluice" the merchants in and out instead of having them stand in the "open" - thieves or not.

Though I'll admit that I lost my first prosperous fort to an ambush that tagged along with a caravan. 50 dead dwarfs.

[Fellhuhn]

I always have the Trade Depot at the entrace of my fortress. This has some advantage:
1. it is a good defense against minor attacks as they have capable guards
2. building destroyers will stop to destroy the depot and will not fight back during this time
3. if the caravan gets killed you get a lot of loot

[Jacob/Lee]

Also note, if the dog/animal bites and latches on to the thief, he or she will be forced to fight back to either kill the animal or break the grasp before it can run away.

[MiniMacker]

Also note, if the dog/animal bites and latches on to the thief, he or she will be forced to fight back to either kill the animal or break the grasp before it can run away.

Not sure if they ALWAYS fight back, though.


One of my embark dogs kept biting one of the Kobold thieves I spotted.

Take note that he wasn't a war dog nor hunting. He was an ordinary dog that attacked the Kobold. Looking at the combat logs, the Kobold never fought back. The dog kept biting, bruising the skin, fat and muscle for a few pages until the thief finally fell unconscious, from where he died.