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[Nyxalinth]

So, my miners are digging down a few levels to a spot where I intend to do some strip mining.  Suddenly, only six layers down, I get a message about finding the caverns!  Not being ready for some football Fun, I walled off the little corner that breached them then started forcing myself at last to learn the military system.

Is it unusual to find the caverns so quickly?  There's a troll bopping around in there someplace, and I see signs of cave spiders, but no Forgotten Beasts have arrived to say hello yet.

Speaking of, is FB appearance random, or are there certain prequisites?

I'm likely screwed in any event, since my water sources never, ever unfreeze so therefore I see infection running rampant.

[Wannazzaki]

10k of produced wealth (or is it 100k?) triggers your first titan/FB encounter

[Russell.s]

I thought it was a dwarf population over 80 that triggered FB appearance?

I'm probably wrong.

The distance from surface to caverns can be controlled in the worldgen file, but I can't remember what the default is. It's unusual to have the caverns quite so close to the surface as that, but not unheard of.

Don't be too afraid of the FB! My last two FB's were killed by the same angry water buffalo, now known as Ramustrox by the dwarves. I am building a mighty pasture atop a temple in his honour.

[Varnifane]

Build a floor or wall as appropriate and you won't have to deal with it until later.

[Stil]

Caverns, the first layer, are not as scary as you might think.

Turn off auto gather webs from the orders menu and you should be alright apart from fishermen and hunters poking around. Send out a military expedition to map the caverns, look for good places to build walls etc, you can close off a nice little area - hopefull gain access to underground lake and build a pump stack.

FB come at 80 I think - scary stuff, but animals or a squad can take them on with *some* casualties.
Trolls, spiders and other underground inhabitants can wipe out your initial 7 if you're unlucky, but usually a few staircases and doors - even a drawbridge wall, should see the worst of trouble out.

[Nyxalinth]

Thanks everyone

I wasn't too fussed about the cavern, just surprised.  I did block off with a wall, so shall be safe for now.  I've got about 50 dwarves, so I think I'm okay for a while.  Lots of useless immigrants to turn into useful military!

[numerobis]

FBs can destroy your fortress surprisingly fast, so any part of the caverns that you want to use you should wall off (including any air access, since many FBs fly).

[Triaxx2]

Yeah, map out the caverns, and look for pillars where you can drive stairs in, and carve fortifications in the walls for marksdwarves to shoot out.

[nerdyboy321123]

FB's/ Titans come at 80 pop or 100000 created wealth, whichever comes first (unless you change them in advanced parameters)

[Tevish Szat]

This is why I now alter my world gens to have at least 20 levels above layer 1.  By default, you're only guaranteed around 5Z above the caverns.  You can get more, but if you want to be assured space to build a kickass fort, you're going to have to gen more.

Also, I'm with the "wall it off ASAP" crowd -- FBs and their various dusts, secretions, gasses, and attendant syndromes are probably the most deadly thing a fort can face short of the Circus.  Sure, there's a decent chance they're wimps in combat, but even a dead FB can kill everyone.  Titans, I suppose, have the same problem but you tend to see titans less often AND they're forced to path through whatever defenses you have ready for the goblins at your gates... or at least the ones that apply to flyers, since many (most?) fly.