So I haven't played DF in a few months. Decided to try it out again. Now last time I was doing very well and had everything running tip-top. I got into a totally new fortress, and everything seemed to be going well except I hadn't found any copper yet, and had just formed my first squad. They were watching each other roll around on the floor when a minotaur showed up. Luckily a caravan also showed up at the same time and their guards slaughtered it.
*phew* thought I.
Shortly after the caravan left, a snatcher showed up. It was one snatcher. I had a few weapons, not much armor, but it was just one snatcher, against 10 guys who could almost tie their shoes. What could be the harm?
Well just as they left the safety of the fort. Ambush!!
Crap.
Like 2 full squads of goblins, at least. Probably more. It was like a siege but without the siege word. I immediately jumped in and activated the alert level and tried to get the civilians to safety. They seemed slow at first. Before I remember it was like they dropped everything and just ran. So I went in and double checked everything and then everyone started to move. Unfortunately the goblins popped up right by the door and immediately "took" the door.
This is where it starts to get weird.
I tried to pull the squad back, but they didn't make it, they did take some goblins with them. A couple goblins entered the actual fort, and suddenly like almost everyone flees the fort. Even though the burrow was still active. The alert level was up, the burrow was active on the alert level , and like 40 of my 50 dwarves just start rushing the main entrance. This is not in the burrow. I was hoping to get everyone pulled back into the meeting room or something so I could lock a door until they left, but no...
They did manage to haul down 3 or 4 goblins, but not before they slaughtered nearly everyone.
Finally in the end, all the soldiers were dead, I had the doors locked, with about a dozen survivors. and 2 large groups of goblins roaming the lands.
With miasma everywhere, and a couple people having nervous breakdowns, one of my guys decides to have a strange mood. I didn't have the materials he needed, so I just let him go to the workshop and I locked the door. I knew he'd eventually go insane.
The rest of the people were mostly smearing blood on the wall and poking dead babies. I quickly checked and noticed my chief medical dwarf had survived, but he was not in a good mood. I let him be. There was one stable dwarf, I made him a mason and had him get to work on coffins. There were a lot of bodies to bury.
About a day later, after resting..the chief medical dwarf, my hope to save the fort went insane. He got out of bed and murdered the guy beside him. Then he started chasing people through the halls. Finally he had them all cornered. So they rushed him and he took 4 people with him.
6 people dead off one insane dwarf. A couple of other random people died from insanity/wounds. I was left with 4 people in the fort.
A caravan showed up, and was promptly slaughtered by the goblins. The guards couldn't hold them off (elves)
Then two waves of migrants, who were slaughtered, and required more coffins. All told, I made like 70 coffins. I converted several smoothed bedrooms to tombs, I hoped it would give some good thoughts that there friends were buried in nice rooms.
All my legendary workers were lost. My farmer, mason, carpenter, all total noobs.
Another caravan showed up. Again, slaughtered.
Finally a group of migrants and the dwarven caravan showed up at the same time. I was afraid to open the door, but I finally tried to chance it.. I think the goblins had left, 7 migrants and the caravan came in. Unfortunately with so much going on, I couldn't trade. I finally got the new broker to the depot with goods when the merchants up and left. When I opened the door, there were a lot of bodies to be hauled among other goods left laying around the map.
It's probably going to take me months to clean up the map.
We actually ended up taking down about 7 goblins or so.
but I really wonder, what happened to the burrows? Why did like 40 dwarves rush the main entrance and leave the burrow suddenly? I probably could have saved many more of them.