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[Xen0n]

Has anyone else had issues with goblins failing to pathfind through unlocked hatches?  My fort has two surface entrances, a main and backup, both using hatches, both surrounded by walls sealed with drawbridges.  However, if I lower the drawbridges, goblins will only ever pathfind toward my main entrance with the trade depot (It may also be because that's where I typically station my military.)

This would make sense if they ignored the other entrance, but what invariably happens is that some of the squads head off towards each entrance, but the squads near the backup entrance always just sort of loiter around the inner or outer gate of the backup entrance, and never path through all my traps towards the unlocked hatches.  For some reason, Trolls have no problem sniffing out those hatches and will rush to destroy them if the bridge is not up.  In the event the trolls do break down the hatches, it seems the goblins suddenly realise there's an entrance and go for it, but otherwise, they just sit there. 

Even after I wipe out the forces at the main gate, and start letting civilians mill around the main gate, the goblins by the backup entrance just sit by the backup gate, and I have to either bring the fight to them or wait for them to leave.  Is this issue because goblins just don't recognise hatches as viable doors? 

[Urist Da Vinci]

If you post a screenshot of your entrance, it might help us help you.

All I can think of is that the goblins' squad leader was caught in a cage trap or something, so they won't move from his location.

[Starver]

I've also noticed that once a previous invasion has encountered a trap-corridor (or open-air equivalent), subsequent waves are extremely cautious in the same area.  They approach the traps then stop.  If you open up another route (with or without traps, as yet unseen) they'll path towards there.

Not sure if this depends on one of the first invaders getting out alive, or not.  It would be logical, but I'd need to test this more.

Also, for testing, is whether they 'miraculously' lose caution when approaching a previously trapped area from which the traps have been removed, and further testing to see if they continue with their amnesia even when completely new traps are emplaced, because that might be a simple pseudo-exploity thing to do if it refreshes their credulity about the route.

[malvado]

Actually you should have a look at each group of goblins that runs towards your traps, if you take out the Squad leader then the rest of the squad will just stop dead on the spot and wait there untill they are either killed or driven out from the area.

This seems allways to be the case with Cage traps as the leader is still alive and thus technically leading the squad.

[Xen0n]

Here are my Main and Backup Entrances:
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=4866
(Haven't figured out how to embed images)

The purple arrows show the general paths that various goblin squads take.  The only difference I can think why they go for the main entrance but wait at the backup is my main entrance usually has the trade depot and waiting soldiers?

Hmm I do have a few goblin squads leaders caged in my arena, but I doubt that's the cause since I have cage traps at both entrances, and the 'loitering' at the backup entrance happens without fail, every single siege.  I just tied up some gibbons outside my backup entrance to see if those will entice the next siege to go through my Backup trap corridor. 

Re: Starver,  That's interesting, about remembering traps.  But in my case, usually they feel quite content to blunder into the same row of cages and spinning death discs at my main entrance siege after siege, and it usually happens that while the squad by my Backup entrance is milling about one or two will stray too close to a giant axe blade and get chopped each siege.

Re: Malvado, At least twice so far the squads came while the cage traps hadn't been reset yet, so the squads had their leaders intact for sure while they sat around.

[acetech09]

I've had sieges where the leader, riding a giant olm, makes way to my fortress entrance extremely slowly, i thought they weren't moving at all but eventually they moved a few paces. They kept moving extremely slowly, and I've never had any traps in

I dunno what was happening there, but they weren't moving slowly due to physical concerns, ran like hell once 7 of them got slaughtered by my militia.

[Vattic]

I've seen similar back in 40d with ramps. Sometimes invaders don't seem eager to charge. I don't know what causes this.

Edit to add: In one fort I had this problem really bad, with the orc mod, so I contacted Toady about it. This is what he said:

In general, they should shoot off squads periodically instead of charging all at once, I think, if that's what goblins do.  The siegers are way more timid about it.  It doesn't calculate paths all at the beginning, so what the fort looks like at the beginning shouldn't be crucial, though it would matter for early charges.  They periodically check for targets though.  It would be the sort of thing I'd check a save with, but my save backlog is so large now that isn't really feasible.