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[Angel-of-Dusk]

I just can't seem to fend off the goblin seiges reliably. Got any tips? Any strategies to building a strong military? What weapons are good to use?

[Corneria]

Use dragons.

[jc6036]

I normally set up 2 half hammer half sword squads, with various "reserve" squads to replace those that died. . .and I use lots of traps to soften the enemy ranks.

[jaxy15]

Danger rooms
Danger rooms
Danger rooms

[Angel-of-Dusk]

Danger rooms
Danger rooms
Danger rooms

Danger rooms train insanely fast, its like cheating to me

[Corneria]

Danger rooms
Danger rooms
Danger rooms

Danger rooms train insanely fast, its like cheating to me

All of the best ways to fend off a siege are "like cheating"

[IT 000]

I find dwarves dressed in steel with steel weapons are nigh impregnable. Heck Bronze and Iron do great as the goblins are usually sparsely armored, but for the sake of armok stay away from ranged guys.

Traps also help, I usually scatter a few around, even if they're only half full you can usually pick off many of them they even get near your fortress.

Constant Sparring for recruits will help them level up. (M -> A -> active move to the squad that you want active hit enter, they must have an armorstand or a weapon rack though) but it does make them unhappy, that's why you need to give them a few breaks or keep the golden statues lying around.

Marksdwarves are super effective, move them behind fortifications and they can only be targeted by the best gobbo archers.

[VerdantSF]

If you eschew danger rooms, multiple small squads are the key.  I prefer 3-dwarf squads with 2 minimum on active duty so that they can rotate breaks.  The ideal is 2-man squads without any breaks, but I don't mind the slightly less efficient set-up.  Oh, and squad members should all have the same weapon so that anytime they decide to hold a weapon demonstration, instead of sparring, they all benefit.

[Berserkenstein]

You could make a single square thick tunnel leading to a more open area where your militia is stationed so they gang up on the enemy as they trickle in one at a time.  Eventually your militia will train up to a level where they are almost impossible to kill.

[itg]

Traps are key to a safe fortress. I like to fill the entryway with a ton of cage traps then use the prisoners for training. Or throw them into the magma sea. Whichever.

[GhostSade]

Traps are key to a safe fortress. I like to fill the entryway with a ton of cage traps then use the prisoners for training. Or throw them into the magma sea. Whichever.

This.

[Crustypeanut]

I generally don't like to use traps, because I love the idea of uber dwarves running around with over a hundred kills.  Traps for me are more of a 'last line of defense'.   Any stranglers who sneak by (or are just lucky) get caged / killed by auxillary traps I have farther from the entrance. 

[Stil]

I love traps, fortifications and ranged attackers - anything that lets me turtle up and attack with impunity. I'll have some melee squads if I need to chase gobos away from migrant wave/caravan or if I wake something up in the caverns, but usually layers and layers of weapon traps and some good walls with archers does it for me.

Anything that lets you control space and filter access is good. If you're going to go along the traditional castle route of high walls and moats then drawbridges so good that they are cheating in a sense, magic doors that can't be broken down or picked when they are retracted. They can block an enemy or squash them into oblivion. You can have bridges vanish under the gobbos feet and let a nice pit finish off the job. Dodge traps are good too - narrow walkways with traps, those that don't kill the enemy will push the creature into the pit (they dodge away from danger of trap and into the air above the pit mwahahaha).

Complicated traps, traps that don't build from the trap menu, are another option, you can connect supports to levers and trigger a cave in to destroy even trap avoid creatures. Flooding with water/magma are other alternatives too. I've been liking waterworks in river embarks for very early mass farm and flooding coridoor defenses - but that's just me, alot of feasible options are open to you, some are better than others but don't play whats meta, go with what appeals to you

[Mickey Blue]

I agree that danger rooms are clearly an exploit, there are other ways that are arguably 'like cheating' in that you have a high probability of success but dangerous are clearly a problem with the coding, thus an exploit (as opposed to walling yourself in, or creating a thin passage over a deep pit and making your enemies fall in, etc).

As for me, make one way in (I don't wall off, but I will made a bottleneck three squares wide), when the enemy comes I try to get hammer and axe dwarves up front and some archers behind, chaos breaks out quickly but if your dwarves respond fast you can pull it off.

Also for armor helmets and shields seem to be the key.  SHields are great for blocking arrows and weapons and stunning the enemy, and it seems most of my dwarves who are killed die from having their skull smashed and bones entering the brain, so having a helmet will help protect that.  Obviously 'full steel' is a general armor advice but you are low on metal and/or need to prioritize I'd go with helmets and shields first.

If you've built walls on the surface you can also have your achers on the walls and have your melee dwarves meet the enemy in the chokepoint so they are getting hit with arrows from all sides while the melee dwarves hold the line. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That is a good way to block enemies using pure military, once you get into traps (some traps are fine, but using too many, like spamming stone fall or cage traps, and you don't really even 'have' a battle) and walling in and of course exploits like danger rooms things get a lot easier but, IMO at least, far less fun.

[czolus]

In war, there is no cheating, and there is no over-kill: There is living, and dying.

I'd agree largely with Mickey on armor:  Shield, Helm, Chest, Feet are roughly your top priorities (in order).  Siegers like ranged quite a good bit, and no good military dwarf does well when (s)he's too busy leaking fluids.