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[Sting_Auer]

This is my first successful fort!



Thanks for all the help from the community in all the posts I have made. I'd like to do a bulk thank-you to all the people who have given me advice!

I still need more help though! There is so much I still need to learn.


(P.S.: Try to find the hidden clown in my post)



My fortress failed when I attacked a small group of ant people underneath my fort. My military was whiped out, a Jabberer got in, and then I was attacked by 2 elf ambushes in quick succession.


However, I have learned: Don't attack sentient creatures until you have a skilled military! Train on wild animals instead! Also, make sure you have a door for your mines...

[Matazat]

A goblin siege will arrive in 2 seasons and smash that capybara bone cabinet along with the rest of your hopes and dreams.

[thatkid]

Congratulations!
Now that you have basic needs met, you should brush up on fortress defense.

Also, clown is between the streamers and confetti.

[Sting_Auer]

A goblin siege will arrive in 2 seasons and smash that capybara bone cabinet along with the rest of your hopes and dreams.

''


Any tips? I have some skilled military people that migrated in. I also have my place heavily fortified with drawbridges that retract towards my base.


I can make platinum, I just need to mine it out. Platinum makes good warhammers right?

Congratulations!
Now that you have basic needs met, you should brush up on fortress defense.

Also, clown is between the streamers and confetti.

I'm working on a military right now. As I asked before, is platinum a good warhammer material?


I have access to iron, platinum, testrahedrite (copper/silver), and bituminous coal/charcoal to smelt all this. What weapons and armor should I make?

[thatkid]

Platinum does make for good war hammers, but last I checked you can only make platinum hammers through a strange mood.

My advice is to set up traps (stone-fall is easy. and should do the trick for the first siege or two), and also an emergency burrow (encompassing the farm, still, meeting hall, and maybe any levers you might need) which you can use the civilian alert to keep your dwarves in should things go badly.
Also work on getting a full-time military. At least one squad should be fully outfitted with, at minimum, a breastplate and helmet as well as shield and weapon. But everyone who fights should have a shield and weapon. When it comes to armor, it's kind of ok to skimp and use wood and bone...but I wouldn't recommend it. Ensure that all weapons are made of metal even if it needs to be copper.

Personally, I tend to put my entrance at the end of a canyon and then remove the surrounding ramps. You may not be able to do this, but you can still set up ramparts and the like if you so desire. I actually recommend you set up walls or something along those lines, with a bridge leading out of them and a moat around the side. Within the walls should be a pool of water with a raised well.

Get a sustainable water source and a well ASAP. Also, you should look into setting up a hospital. If a dwarf survives a few battles, he may well become a capable enough warrior to survive many more, as live combat significantly raises their skills.

The link I edited into my last post also has some helpful information on construction.

EDIT:
Make exactly one charcoal at a wood furnace, and then turn all your coal into coke.
From there, smelt all the tetrahedrite. All the copper bars you get should be turned into edged weapons (axes and spears. Swords can be nice, too) and breastplates/helms. The few silver bars that result should be turned into warhammers. Use wood for shields, unless you've got extra copper laying around.
Once I've got the necessities for EVERYONE in your military (so 30 or so sets of weapon/shield/breastplate/helm) I start making leggings, then high boots and gauntlets. But they aren't strictly necessary.

It might help to get a cloth industry going, and then making a lot of cloaks. Equip your military with cloaks. I don't know why, but those seem to really help.

EDIT2:
I didn't see that you had iron.
If you have flux, make steel and then make all your armor out of that.
If you don't, make all your armor out of iron. If you have any left over, make your edge weapons out of iron as well. But copper is fine, too.
While it's true that offense > defense in DF, you still want to try and keep your dwarves as well defended as possible when they go into battle and sacrificing good weaponry for good armor is good for this.
If you smelt bars and then make your equipment, you can count to see how many of each type you have. This could let you use the copper to train an armorer's skill up, and provide better quality iron armor.

[Psieye]

After you edit the raws to allow platinum to be a weapon metal. By default, it can't be done. With one tag, it becomes an excellent war hammer metal.

[Sting_Auer]

After you edit the raws to allow platinum to be a weapon metal. By default, it can't be done. With one tag, it becomes an excellent war hammer metal.

Naw imma play legit.

Platinum does make for good war hammers, but last I checked you can only make platinum hammers through a strange mood.

My advice is to set up traps (stone-fall is easy. and should do the trick for the first siege or two), and also an emergency burrow (encompassing the farm, still, meeting hall, and maybe any levers you might need) which you can use the civilian alert to keep your dwarves in should things go badly.
Also work on getting a full-time military. At least one squad should be fully outfitted with, at minimum, a breastplate and helmet as well as shield and weapon. But everyone who fights should have a shield and weapon. When it comes to armor, it's kind of ok to skimp and use wood and bone...but I wouldn't recommend it. Ensure that all weapons are made of metal even if it needs to be copper.

Personally, I tend to put my entrance at the end of a canyon and then remove the surrounding ramps. You may not be able to do this, but you can still set up ramparts and the like if you so desire. I actually recommend you set up walls or something along those lines, with a bridge leading out of them and a moat around the side. Within the walls should be a pool of water with a raised well.

Get a sustainable water source and a well ASAP. Also, you should look into setting up a hospital. If a dwarf survives a few battles, he may well become a capable enough warrior to survive many more, as live combat significantly raises their skills.

The link I edited into my last post also has some helpful information.

I have my entrance in the side of a hill, with a walled off courtyard with 3 entrances. The walls are double layered with a space in between each wall to allow for crossbowdwarves to step in once I have them. The entrances have a drawbridge in each of them, all hooked up to 1 lever.

Unfortunately, I currently only have 1 farm area, and it is above ground and just outside the walls. I'm working on making subterranean farms right now. I'm having trouble finding a place that isn't covered in stone,

I was expecting that helmets and breastplates would be the best. I think I'll use copper for armor, and use iron for weapons. I'll use shields made of wood. Is that a good uniform?

I have a brook running nearby. I am going to make a tunnel under it that leads into my fort.

I will make a hospital as soon as I clear out the stone in my fort. I am having to make massive stone stockpiles outside of my fort because of how much I have.



As for traps, I have a long, 3 wide hallway leading into my fort. I am thinking about setting up cage traps. Is it true that you can melt down goblin armor? I'm not entirely sure based on the wiki...



Anyway, I will put the caged goblins somewhere in an arena thingy and use them to train my dwarves. How do I take away the goblins armor and weapons?



EDIT: I also have (400?) food in my stockpiles. I should be able to wait out a siege right? At least for a while to bide me time to train my dwarves more.

[thatkid]

Really, any set of armor and weapons works. The better the quality of each the better. Generally, you'll be outnumbered during battle early on and so I tend to focus on armor. But it works fine either way.

If you see any loam, silt, or sand then you should dig in that direction. You can (usually) put farms there.
If not, you can always check out irrigation techniques. I avoid doing that though, because I dislike the aesthetics of it.

To remove a captive's armor and weapons, simply unForbid it and then Dump it. Once it's removed, reClaim it (or unForbid it again, it's the same thing) and then set it so that the dwarves will Melt it. Then go to a smelter and tell them it's time to melt it down (with the letter 'o')
A hall of cage traps can be fun, but making cages can get annoying fast if you ever find yourself with a more pressing need for wood/metal. I usually use a lot of cages as well though. I would recommend varying your traps a bit though. Self-reset traps like weapon traps are very useful, and less resource-intensive than cage traps once set up. And a dead enemy is nearly as useful as a captive one.

[Sting_Auer]

Really, any set of armor and weapons works. The better the quality of each the better. Generally, you'll be outnumbered during battle early on and so I tend to focus on armor. But it works fine either way.

If you see any loam, silt, or sand then you should dig in that direction. You can (usually) put farms there.
If not, you can always check out irrigation techniques. I avoid doing that though, because I dislike the aesthetics of it.

To remove a captive's armor and weapons, simply unForbid it and then Dump it. Once it's removed, reClaim it (or unForbid it again, it's the same thing) and then set it so that the dwarves will Melt it. Then go to a smelter and tell them it's time to melt it down (with the letter 'o')
A hall of cage traps can be fun, but making cages can get annoying fast if you ever find yourself with a more pressing need for wood/metal. I usually use a lot of cages as well though. I would recommend varying your traps a bit though. Self-reset traps like weapon traps are very useful, and less resource-intensive than cage traps once set up. And a dead enemy is nearly as useful as a captive one.

Okay, so copper armor, iron weapons, and wooden shields it is I guess.

I will combine cage traps and most likely weapons traps.


I don't think there is enough non-ore area in my fort for me to make a farm just by hollowing it out. I also am trying to keep it as organized as possible, in order to prevent confusion on my part.



EDIT: I forgot to mention that I have an area in my entrance hall set up so that I can flood an area with water, then lava. The invaders will be covered in obsidian, and I can get the drops by mining it out! There are 6 compartments, 3 of which will be maga, the other 3 water. They also double as burial rooms! I use chert coffins for everything.

[Sting_Auer]

What is the difference between Greaves and Leggings?


I'm going to make bone leg and arm armor, but I don't know which type to make for the leg armor.

[DrKillPatient]

What is the difference between Greaves and Leggings?


I'm going to make bone leg and arm armor, but I don't know which type to make for the leg armor.

Dunno, I use greaves and they protect the legs pretty well though. Greaves are plate, while leggings need to be flexible (leather/mail).

I'd recommend copper shields however-- all shields are identical in defensive capability, but copper is very heavy, and hitting someone with a copper shield does a lot of damage. Wood, not so much.

[Blade Master Model 42]

What is the difference between Greaves and Leggings?


I'm going to make bone leg and arm armor, but I don't know which type to make for the leg armor.

Greaves are basically shin guards, leggings are like pants.

I give my military access to:
Helm
Chain Shirt
Gauntlets
Leggings
High Boots
Copper Shield
Some Weapon

Set them to train in a nice barracks year round, they'll pound the hell out of anything that comes your way. Generally.

[Sting_Auer]

What is the difference between Greaves and Leggings?


I'm going to make bone leg and arm armor, but I don't know which type to make for the leg armor.

Greaves are basically shin guards, leggings are like pants.

I give my military access to:
Helm
Chain Shirt
Gauntlets
Leggings
High Boots
Copper Shield
Some Weapon

Set them to train in a nice barracks year round, they'll pound the hell out of anything that comes your way. Generally.

Thank you!

What is the difference between Greaves and Leggings?


I'm going to make bone leg and arm armor, but I don't know which type to make for the leg armor.

Dunno, I use greaves and they protect the legs pretty well though. Greaves are plate, while leggings need to be flexible (leather/mail).

I'd recommend copper shields however-- all shields are identical in defensive capability, but copper is very heavy, and hitting someone with a copper shield does a lot of damage. Wood, not so much.

Thanks for the tip on the shields. I'll use my tetrahedrite to make shields.

[andyman564]

if you make both Greaves and Leggings they can be worn simultaneously (needs a little work to be done with the uniform screen). same goes for chain shirts and breastplates.

though for a fledgling military, copper plate armor/shields and iron weapons should do nicely.

[Sting_Auer]

Okay, I decided to go with iron spears, copper shields, copper leggings, iron breastplates, and iron helmets.


I have the spears made, the armor is being made, and the shields are next. If I have time I will also make them copper greaves and iron chain shirts.


I think I will have them all lined up in the entrance hall in a sort of Spartan formation. The hallway is only 3 wide, and I believe I have 9 military dwarves. This should go well...


I will have them practice on the animal people currently wandering my map.