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Author Topic: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)  (Read 7989 times)

Vehudur

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There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« on: September 17, 2011, 12:48:25 am »

So, I just left the back door to my fortress open and a 50-ish strong goblin siege showed up with like 12 trolls.  I didn't even think sieges could BE that big.

It went very very poorly.

I forsee a tantrum spiral, literally everyone is <30 happiness and most are at 0.  Continue and you will understand why.

I started with 283 dwarves.

I won, but with 33 dwarves left.  30 military, 3 civilians.

I can't even BEGIN to bury all these dead.  I just can't - there isn't the dwarfpower left to do it.  I have one legendary mason left and almost all of the rest of the survivors (except for two recent migrants) are military.  And THEY even got hit hard.  The halls are literally covered in blood.

To expand:

The siege showed up.  I deployed all my forces, and sat back to watch a good show.  Then I got a message that my strand extractor had died.

The back door was open, but I got an understrength melee squad (mainly made of recruits) there right away...  and they got horribly slaughtered, despite being skilled and in Candy armor, because they were outnumbered handily and got surrounded (it was rather like watching an amoeba eat something).

The rest of my squads were still en-route from the west keep.  The goblins and trolls reached the main stairwell.  Job cancellation spam ahoy!

Three trolls went up, five trolls went down.  I didn't even try to count the goblins.  They also had a dwarf that had been previously snatched with them.  The dwarf went down.

Down into the living areas.  This was the most concentrated slaughter - trolls breaking down people's doors and killing them in their beds, ext.  In my pursuit of an efficient design, they had no other way out.  One third of the fort died right there.

Then they reached the trade depot. and killed the merchants who had just unloaded.  One of the merchant guards killed a troll here, before having his head relocated off his body by a goblin axeman.

Up above, the trolls killed a few dwarves who were hauling in my stockpiles on the floors above there.  In the main entrance to the east keep, they smashed floor grates in just the right places to block my squads who were almost across the bridge at that point (but not quite).  My marksdwarves got a troll and a handful of goblins here.

Below in the living quarters, the slaughter continued.

I directed one of my miners (also skilled to 3 in masonry) to dig out into the lower caverns and wall himself in the passage he dug.   He completed the wall on the mine side just before a goblin rounded the corner, but a GCS ate him from the other direction before he could finish the second wall.

My squads are now having to take the long way through the tunnels.  Compare 250 steps using the bridges to almost 1,000 - and they were half way across the bridge, so even more than that.

Another troll, clearly too dumb to find the back door, began beating on the front gate.  It's legendary quality Candy, he's gonna be there a while.  Why didn't my traps get him?

Even while the slaughter was still continuing in the living halls (the death halls?), a troll wandered down into the dungeons and began killing the 14 prisoners, the 2 guards were helpless (they had inferior equipment). 

Many other dwarves were dieing in other hallways of the fortress at this time.

Three trolls found my magma forge area and began smashing the metalworking equipment as a few goblins found the unlocked door to the metal stockpile where my metalworkers were hiding...

I watched as an axegoblin cut a Dwarven child in half.  A troll punched a cat over 40 tiles.

Somehow a fire started and began to spread in the wood stockpile level.  Now everything is obscured with smoke.  A dwarf falls down a well.

The trolls and goblins reach the noble's living quarters, and nothing of value is lost.

My squads have reached the lower mines, and begin to clean up the goblins and trolls there.  At this point, I'm down to 79 dwarves.

I manage to wall a mason and one other civilian in the end of a hallway.

A troll somehow found its way deep into my mine works, and smashed the floor grate sealing the stick of a Candy vein, letting ~150 clowns into the fun. 

My military is tied up with the Clowns now.

50 dwarves.  Almost everyone is dead.  The floors are covered in blood, and there are four bodies at the bottom of the well.  Somehow, magma is flooding the forge area.  Water is gushing in 3 or 4 places due to smashed doors and floodgates, and my frame rate is going to hell.

The water dams the magma, preventing it from blocking the main stairwell.

The clowns are dealt with, I take one civilian who had fled into the mines and have him replace the floor grate with a true floor.

My military heads up the stairs, clearing out goblins and trolls relatively easily, and 20 minutes later the fortress is secure.  I position a melee squad and a squad of marksdwarves outside the back door (the trolls broke the controls for it, I can't close it).

There is still a troll in the dungeons, but I have not killed him yet as there is nothing left for him to destroy.

And, finally, I have time to breath and I realize how bad the last hour was for this 14-year-old fortress.
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...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

I used to have an avatar, but I was told to remove it after it kept making people go insane.

Corneria

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2011, 01:13:17 am »

Aren't you the guy who said he has never buried a dwarf?
Isn't this a great learning opportunity?
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Vehudur

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2011, 01:21:08 am »

I did bury that one who died in the well before.

I'd just never updated to a newer DF2010 version that had the ghosts in it, and thus the unhappy thought of a friend rotting was relatively easily countered by legendary everything else, which I was doing anyways, so I never bothered.
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...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

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Frogwarrior

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2011, 01:35:57 am »

time to start engraving slabs?

Which caravan was it that was present when the attack came? If the dwarven caravan sends word back that you're no longer over the pop limit, maybe migrants will show up and can be sequestered somewhere before the tantrums claim all...
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Lately, I'm proud of MAGMA LANDMINES:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=91789.0
And been a bit smug over generating a world with an elephant monster that got 87763 sentient kills.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104354.0

Vehudur

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2011, 01:39:28 am »

My pop limit is at 300 and thus wasn't at cap, and no, they won't send anyone back because they're all dead.  Migrants are due shortly, but the fortress still has obscene wealth (even with a large fraction smashed) so sieges / ambushes are a big threat, and I may not be able to secure it well besides the squads I have left (for now, unless they tantrum) for some time.  There are still extensive high-quality food and ale reserves and extensive resources that were ready for use, so there is a CHANCE of recovering this if I can keep that tantrum spiral away.

It was an elven caravan, regardless.
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...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

I used to have an avatar, but I was told to remove it after it kept making people go insane.

ThatAussieGuy

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2011, 01:43:06 am »

Dwarf up and revel in what's become of your Fortress.  It's more fun that way.

That said, your fort's still alive with usable dwarves.  You can rebuild, learn from your mistakes... and set three masons to do nothing but grind out coffins.  It's going to take YEARS to bury them all, i know because it happened to me.  tantrummed 200 dwarves down to about 70, plus accidents and incidents while burying the initial amount.  In the 40 years of Knifemurders, there's only been TWO times I haven't needed more coffins. (it's a wonder I ever got migrants at all, really).  Oh, and you might not get migrants this year or possibly even the next with a population drop that big.


And really, do bury them.  You don't want to know what a fort with 20+ active ghosts is like... Especially when some decide to start producing miasma and haunt a specific dwarf.

Vehudur

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2011, 01:45:35 am »

They're already cranking out coffins.  I hope it'll keep them busy at least.  Looks like the mason that survived was 12 skill, so he's doing a really nice job.
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...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

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Erkki

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2011, 03:09:27 am »

Nice story.  :D Screenshots?
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Erkki

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2011, 03:20:46 am »

Double post, but... If your 30 military Dwarves are professional military and have little to no friends, shouldnt they be OK? You could make them all masons and mechanics, first wall yourself in then the coffins. If you had good food and drink reserves for 280 Dwarves, they should last years for less than 40. The first migrant wave you get can start the farming, brewing and cooking again.
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Vehudur

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2011, 03:30:57 am »

Double post, but... If your 30 military Dwarves are professional military and have little to no friends, shouldnt they be OK? You could make them all masons and mechanics, first wall yourself in then the coffins. If you had good food and drink reserves for 280 Dwarves, they should last years for less than 40. The first migrant wave you get can start the farming, brewing and cooking again.

This is it exactly.  Sealed it up, broke up the squads and it's all working pretty well now.

Nice story.  :D Screenshots?

Alas, I did not think to take any :(
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...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

I used to have an avatar, but I was told to remove it after it kept making people go insane.

EggFibre

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2011, 10:21:54 am »

Troll in the Dungeons?

Quote
"TROLL, TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"
*faint*
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Vehudur

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2011, 11:46:28 am »

Troll in the Dungeons?

Quote
"TROLL, TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"
*faint*

Ya know, I can picture a dwarf doing that...
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...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

I used to have an avatar, but I was told to remove it after it kept making people go insane.

Jakob

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2011, 02:42:54 pm »

I was contemplating deleting DF and you changed my mind.

Pure awesome like that is the reason I play the game and the awesome Fun I want to have a fortress aspire to.

Thanks and good luck.
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Vehudur

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #13 on: September 17, 2011, 03:38:52 pm »

I was contemplating deleting DF and you changed my mind.

Pure awesome like that is the reason I play the game and the awesome Fun I want to have a fortress aspire to.

Thanks and good luck.

That's exactly it.

Rebuilding the fortress is going to be a headache, no doubt, but it'll be totally worth it.
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...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

I used to have an avatar, but I was told to remove it after it kept making people go insane.

Vehudur

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Re: There's a troll in my dungeons. (military failures)
« Reply #14 on: September 17, 2011, 06:25:37 pm »

Early sieges are not so interesting and more readily dealt with.
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...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

I used to have an avatar, but I was told to remove it after it kept making people go insane.
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