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[Mister Always]

The fortress of Barbedgear (how awesome is that name?) was fledgling. Three, maybe four or five years old. It had no military yet, but it had lots of workshops and good trade relations. There was a corridor with some traps behind the entrance - not a lot of them, and most of them stonefall. They were just working on constructing an execution pit (the plan was to construct some cage traps and build menacing spikes at the bottom of the pit) when the goblins came.

The lack of proper burrows, military, and traps saw them quickly slaughtered.

Rest in peace, all ye dorfs.

But I have learned. My next fort will have a long, twisty corridor lined with cage traps (one should be enough per goblin or whatever else comes creeping by). Well actually, the plan is to have stonefall traps, then more stonefall traps, then MORE STONEFALL TRAPS, and THEN cage traps to provide an honourable execution for any intruder that somehow survives. You know, with a little speech. Menacing spikes at the bottom of the pit, though, definitely.

I'll also designate a proper burrow, with stockpiles for food and booze, beds, dining tables and all, in advance. Priority. And itll be smoothed and engraved to ensure my dorfs don't go melancholy during a siege. There'll be a door in front of the stairway at the end of the second corridor (first corridor is the trap-lined one, the second one will be one z-level down and have a trade depot...and probably the farms) that I'll [f]orbid when the siege comes, just in case, and there'll be an "EVERYONE INTO THE DAMN BURROW" alarm. The door is there in case one of my dorfs unexpectedly enters a fey mood during a siege and needs to access the workshops.

I'll also do my best to actually figure all of the military crap out. Not so much for sieges as for when we inevitably breach the caverns (not to say that those won't be protected with traps either...).

I know my mistakes and I have learned from them.

Any comments on these decisions?

[rephikul]

You can just skip stonefall traps all together and stick to cage traps. They arent that hard to make if you can afford lots of trade already.

[Mister Always]

It's got to be -somewhat- challenging for the gobbos, doesn't it?

'sides...gotta get rid of all that freaking stone somehow...

[Hans Lemurson]

Stonefall traps seem to be rather more trouble than they're worth.  Cage-traps are the cheap and super-effective solution.  Or a drawbridge, to just seal yourself in.

Alternately, buy up lots of cheap low-quality weaponry from caravans, or make some yourself, and build a bunch of weapon-traps.  But not stonefall.  If you need to get rid of stone, I recommend atomsmashing it.  Look up "quantum stockpiles" and "drawbridges".

[vadia]

I like a wider tunnel with some 1 space sections where I put my first traps (it may even work like this)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  X            X
ggggggggggggggg
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

X= wall
g=The gobbos

This allows your Dwarves to avoid each other when exiting while you have yet to put in the traps. 
 

[ChairmanPoo]

Build a moat

Or even better, build an elevated fortress entrance, which leads to a bridge, which leads to a secondary guard tower, which is moated

[malroth]

with a couple of catapults permanently shooting across the bridge to get rid of the excess stone. 

[synkell]

with a couple of catapults permanently shooting across the bridge to get rid of the excess stone. 

may i suggest along malroth's idea that this happens along a one tile wide bridge/floor to your fort above a moat of magma? good way for an extream dwarven version of wipeout!

[Stuebi]

Personally i stick to Weapon Traps, followed by Cage Traps. Every lucky bastard that survives running into spinning Swords, Axes, Spears and Spiked Disks gets Caged and has the Honor to sparr with my Military Dwarfs, naked of course. I dont have any problems with sieges because of the attack itself, but firstly because they are rare and second because all Invaders seem to stand around on the Edge of the Map doin nothing. It pisses me off badly, im under siege for two seasons now by Goblins and these asses wont enter my Trap Corridor. They stick to stare at the Cliffs instead of testing my Defense 

@ Malroth, i thought Catapult only fire over one Z level , wouldnt their shoots just hit the raised Drawbridge and do nothing?

[TheJackal]

I will toss in a suggestion.
Have two entrances.
One is short, wide, and fun for the whole family! This is where dorfs go in and out, caravans arrive, etc.
The other is narrow, twisty, and packs as much distance into a compact space as possible. Its also filled with traps.

When goblins arrive, you Raise the (R)etractable drawbridge, sealing off the short/wide/fun entrance. You Lower the other (R)etractable drawbridge to open up the twisty trap path.

Goblins will take the shortest available method to get in, which happens to be the trap path! I suggest a lot of cage and weapon traps! A weapontrap full of masterwork serrated steel discs will instablend just about anything, but even if you fill the corridor with crap-traps, at the end the goblins might be so exhausted from dodging and blocking that they just pass out!

[Mister Always]

I...like that idea. Well, the serrated steel discs will be hard to realize, but uh, I guess maybe I can substitute spike traps.

With a metric fucktonne of wooden spikes in them.

Should do well enough, 'cuz goblins only wear breastplates and helmets anyway. Goblin arm shish kebob, anyone?

[Kogut]

Wooden? Bad idea - see danger room for better use.

[Internet Kraken]

I dislike using traps in the forts early years, aside from a small amount of cage trap to catch wild animals for taming. I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's becuase they're incredibly cheap against some enemies but others jut breeze past them. So I just have my military kill everything they see. In the event of total wipeout, I have a drawbridge to raise.

But when I do use traps, I mostly stick to repeating spikes.

[Stuebi]

My main problem with military is, that im never sure if they actually are training or not, and it pisses me off that they seem to change their profession back and forth at month change. Also i had an accident where my steel armored Warhammerdwarf got hospitalized by a Koboldthief for 2 seasons, since them i only have a military because migrants need some work (another cheese maker, great! Take your Leather armor and prepare to Defend the Fortress from these Gobbos, yes the ones with the axes that look very angry.).

Im often surprised by ppl telling in Threads how they got owned by Goblins and Megabeasts. Im Playing my 5 Fortress now, explored Caverns and even tried to settle near a Goblin Fortress. But i never got an attack that would have been able to even endanger my fort (well maybe the goblins that currently siege my Fort COULD have killed one or two dorfs, but they are standing around for a good year now, maybe im walling them in and use them as Archer Targets), and i never actually saw a megabeast until now, nor big creatures like Dragons or ogres. Its a bit sad because for the most part im sitting around waiting for a goddamn attack to come, or atleast some elves so my Military can actually KILL something for once.

[K17U]

The profession change depends on whether they're "on duty" or not, which in return depends on the schedule you set for them.
For instance, if you've set them to train every second month with 3 dorfs at least, then every second month three of them will change their profession to Recruit/Axedwarf/Markdswarf/Whatever and start sparring. Or waiting for dodging demonstrations with their thumbs up their asses.
After their scheduled month of training is over, they'll change back to their regular civilian jobs.

I always turn all jobs off for my soldiers, which usually causes them to spar in their free time, even if they're "off duty".