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Author Topic: how to discover ambushes  (Read 1435 times)

noob

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how to discover ambushes
« on: February 08, 2011, 12:20:57 am »

start in an evil biome. they like killing the local zombies and revealing themselves for all to see.
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LOSING IS FUN!

tehc

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2011, 12:28:14 am »

Or start in anywhere, and when they arrive they reveal themselves and proceed to kick the shit out of each other for no apparent reason. Always happens in my worlds.
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Girlinhat

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2011, 12:28:55 am »

Catch zombies in cages, then chain zombies outside your base.  Goblins attack chained zombies, and they don't fill up your corpse stockpiles or memorial list.

noob

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2011, 12:51:36 am »

how do i chain them up? when i assign them to chains they kill someone
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ext0l

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2011, 01:17:11 am »

Build the cage right next to the chain. The chance of it killing someone are slightly lowered.
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penco

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2011, 09:08:08 am »

Or just tie puppies at your entrance. Who doesn't have puppies to spare?
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qoonpooka

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2011, 09:21:12 am »

Catch zombies in cages, then chain zombies outside your base.  Goblins attack chained zombies, and they don't fill up your corpse stockpiles or memorial list.

Ooooh, that is SUPER useful.  But how do you successfully chain them up without getting the dwarf transferring them afeared?  Every time I try to chain a hostile, they escape.
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Indricotherium

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2011, 11:33:21 am »

I like to have several hunting dogs running about. And the cats who escape butchering pull their weight here too.
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penco

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2011, 11:36:50 am »

I heard that caged animals can detect, and they can't be killed while caged.
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Greader

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2011, 12:30:01 pm »

A caged animal can detect enemys too? I should try that. But I think a caged animal wouldn't attract ambushers, which could make it harder to find them before they get to a dwarf. Maybe if you put cages everywhere or at chokepoints...
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Hyndis

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2011, 01:46:23 pm »

I have about 30-40 steel armed and armored dwarves on duty sparring in my barracks. This is the entrance to my fortress. I don't give my dwarves any reason to go outside the fortress.

Ambushes resolve themselves very quickly.
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martinuzz

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2011, 02:23:15 pm »

I use whatever spare hunting animal I have available to chain up at regular intervals (I think,  50-60 tiles apart) in a wide radius around my fortess. I still don't know who spots who - the hunting animals >> the goblins, or the goblins >> the hunting animals, but it works like a charm.
Instead of just killing the one animal they're closest to, most goblins g around, full circle, to kill all guard animals, before moving on to my entrance. When they proceed through my gates, they will spot another chained animal, on a suspended platform above my entrace, path out the entrance again, around my fortress, to get to the platform and kill said animal.
This gives me a *lot* of time to get my important crafters in the safe zone burrows, and my military in position.

The only drawback is having to replace the animals after each ambush, which takes some micromanagement both with chaining, breeding and training.
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Girlinhat

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2011, 02:42:07 pm »

I'm hoping for some automation for things like that.  Something like "auto chain X type of animal here when empty" similar to manager orders.  Or even if it just made the chaining check once a season, that'd be fine since there's only one ambush per season.

Funtimes

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2011, 03:07:19 pm »

I'm hoping for some automation for things like that.  Something like "auto chain X type of animal here when empty" similar to manager orders.  Or even if it just made the chaining check once a season, that'd be fine since there's only one ambush per season.

The station command works rather well.  :D

Personally, I let them all come into my fortress and mob them with three squads sitting around a corner. Minimum of ten on duty and 5 training, the other 15 are haulers. Works well for all weathers, so far.
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Maklak

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Re: how to discover ambushes
« Reply #14 on: February 08, 2011, 05:11:27 pm »

I haven't used this so far, and it is some work to set up, but a 1x1 pit with a few cats surrounded by glass windows surrounded by fortifications and roofed over can't be touched by bowgoblins or trolls, and should spot them. A few towers like these close to map edges should spot anything, and reqire no maintenace (the cats will just catsplode on their own) once set up. As for FPS / pathfinding issues I don't know.

On a flat terrain wandering cats discover ambushes pretty well.
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