Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Maxrmk]

So, Ive been playing DF for a little while, and I'm stuck on one thing(actually lots of things but lets not go into that)
Now to the point...
WTF do I do with a cave?
I can never seem to safely work in them since i haven't figured out military yet, but are there any other options? I want to explore but don't want all my dorfs dying.

[Necro910]

So, Ive been playing DF for a little while, and I'm stuck on one thing(actually lots of things but lets not go into that)
Now to the point...
WTF do I do with a cave?
I can never seem to safely work in them since i haven't figured out military yet, but are there any other options? I want to explore but don't want all my dorfs dying.

Cave or cavern?

Cave is a little open area in the side of a mountain, cavern is a whole world underneath the ground.

[Maxrmk]

So, Ive been playing DF for a little while, and I'm stuck on one thing(actually lots of things but lets not go into that)
Now to the point...
WTF do I do with a cave?
I can never seem to safely work in them since i haven't figured out military yet, but are there any other options? I want to explore but don't want all my dorfs dying.

Cave or cavern?

Cave is a little open area in the side of a mountain, cavern is a whole world underneath the ground.

My bad.
Cavern

[Necro910]

So, Ive been playing DF for a little while, and I'm stuck on one thing(actually lots of things but lets not go into that)
Now to the point...
WTF do I do with a cave?
I can never seem to safely work in them since i haven't figured out military yet, but are there any other options? I want to explore but don't want all my dorfs dying.

Cave or cavern?

Cave is a little open area in the side of a mountain, cavern is a whole world underneath the ground.

My bad.
Cavern

Ok.

You can just wall it off, or you can start hunting and trapping! You can get some good dwarfbucks off of it, and you can also recruit some epic war animals!

[Maxrmk]

So, Ive been playing DF for a little while, and I'm stuck on one thing(actually lots of things but lets not go into that)
Now to the point...
WTF do I do with a cave?
I can never seem to safely work in them since i haven't figured out military yet, but are there any other options? I want to explore but don't want all my dorfs dying.

Cave or cavern?

Cave is a little open area in the side of a mountain, cavern is a whole world underneath the ground.

My bad.
Cavern

Ok.

You can just wall it off, or you can start hunting and trapping! You can get some good dwarfbucks off of it, and you can also recruit some epic war animals!

Alright. Any recommended trap setups? Do I need some sort of bait?
I'm going to check the wiki on how to hunt.

[BlastoiseWarlorf]

Well, it depends on what your hunting.

Some animals down there are building destroyers. So you want a door surrounded by two layers of traps (Two because some of them seem to have mind powers)

SOme are theifs. So you want some goodies surrounded by traps. (Once again, two layers.)

Some are violent, so you need a (insert useless animal) on a chain surrounded by traps.

~

I use these methods. An old method was a nestbox surrounded with traps to catch egg layers, but it was removed. Happy cavern hunting!

[Necro910]

Well, it depends on what your hunting.

Some animals down there are building destroyers. So you want a door surrounded by two layers of traps (Two because some of them seem to have mind powers)

SOme are theifs. So you want some goodies surrounded by traps. (Once again, two layers.)

Some are violent, so you need a (insert useless animal) on a chain surrounded by traps.

~

I use these methods. An old method was a nestbox surrounded with traps to catch egg layers, but it was removed. Happy cavern hunting!

Use a war dog if you're just trying to kill. If you want them alive however, use poultry.

[Lectorog]

I usually mine out every bit of visible and valuable ore and gems, then wall it off before having too much Fun. I have trouble getting to the last step, though.

[NecroRebel]

With a bit of effort, you can often completely wall off the caverns by constructing walls directly on the map edge. Note that critters can spawn on top of walls unless the walls are as tall as the cavern itself, and you'll have difficulty walling off any water sources, but those problems are surmountable. Also, if you do seal a cavern layer off, you will never again get wild animals on that layer, which means that you can't tame anything.

It is usually simpler to treat your cavern entrances the same way you treat your surface entrances, except without the more elaborate siege-killing traps. A few weapon traps with a set of guard animals behind them to stop gremlins is usually enough to stop anything from getting into your actual city, though you may want armed escorts defending anyone who goes to gather wood or plants in the depths. Aside from the forgotten beasts, the depths are usually actually less dangerous than the surface in my experience; no ambushes down below.

[thegoatgod_pan]

"Aside from forgotten beasts" is a pretty big aside though   I like eating them, and making little historical statuettes from their bones.

[ral]

You pretty much always want to have a defended lower gate area with traps and dogs just like your gate on the surface. Cage traps and a drawbridge over a dry moat/chasm is recommended to help keep building destroyers back. (That will work unless you get a flyer.) Personally I think that cave traps are easiest for noobs, just make sure you have a drawbridge setup for the trapavoiders.

[TicklemeFeather]

I think its just me, but whenever i breach the caverns nothing and i mean NOTHING ever happens. I get the occassional trolls and kobolds, but not as much as id expect from what ive heard.

[Jimlad11]

deleted

[Spish]

Make a kill squad consisting of 3 to 5 (or just one if you happen to have an incredible badass) dwarves with picks and axes (or anything else you might have readily available at that point) and send them down there to clear the caverns out every 5 or 10 minutes. Even if they suck at fighting you shouldn't have any problems as long as they're not horribly outnumbered, and it's good fighting practice too.