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[ScorpioN]

Hey, I'm pretty new to this game but I've gone through a few fortresses.
I put a good number of hours into them and just as things start getting set up the goblins come and wreck all my progress.
My military gets stomped by them - it isn't even close.
Killing them isn't what I care about though right now. The problem I have is that once goblins arrive, every single one of my dwarves decides it's time to play outside and get murdered.
So, how do I tell all of my dwarves to stay inside the fortress?
From what I've read I'm supposed to issue the order to stay inside [keys o+i], but that option seems to be missing.
This game seems really cool but it's frustrating to have all my work taken from me time after time due to the same issue without much of a solution in sight.
Thanks for reading.

[Urist Imiknorris]

You could create a burrow (with w) and designate the entire inside of the fortress as a part of that burrow. Or you could seal off the fortress with a drawbridge or similar, although trolls might bash down doors and the like.

[jjcarver]

Previous versions of Dwarf Fortress included an option to toggle whether or not your dwarves could go outside.  However, the latest version (0.31.25) no longer has that option, because it has been replaced by the concept of "burrows".  For a detailed explanation of exactly what a burrow is and how to define one, see the wiki page.

Basically, what you need to do is define a burrow that represents your "safe zone", the area of the fortress to which you want to restrict your civilian dwarves whenever there's danger (such as a goblin siege).  Then, you assign that burrow to an alert (see this other wiki page for more information on that).  Then, whenever danger happens, you just activate your alert and then watch as all of your civilian dwarves scurry for the safety of the burrow (along with dropping stuff they were carrying and spamming cancellations of jobs they can no longer reach).

[i2amroy]

The "stay indoors" order was removed several versions ago and replaced with the slightly more complicated but thousands of times more useful burrows. In order to tell all of your civilian dwarves to stay inside you first want to create a new burrow (w)-(a) and then define it with the "enter" key. You want this area to be somewhere safe inside of your fortress. Exit out of the burrow menu and then go into the (m)ilitary (a)lert menu. This is wear you can define burrow restrictions for an alert level, and this is where you will change the alert level to tell your dwarves to come inside or that it is safe to go out. Now press down until you have your "danger" alert level selected. The easiest one is the default "Active/Training" alert. Then press right twice and hit enter on your burrow that you just created. Now you can leave this screen and whenever you want your civilian dwarves to stay inside simply go back to the military alert menu, scroll down to the "Active/Training" alert and hit enter. This should confine all of your dwarves to that burrow you created. when its safe for them to come outside again, simply go back into the alert menu and scroll to the "Inactive" alert and hit enter. This should then let your dwarves be free to wander around again.

As for defending against goblins, I would suggest looking into some of the trap designs on the wiki. Of especial help to early fortresses with a  small number of traps is the Goblin Grinder, which can effectively double or triple the damage capabilities of your traps with only a small amount more effort.

[ScorpioN]

Thanks for all your help guys! I'll try this all out on my next attempt.

[Garath]

will merchants trigger plates that are set "not civilians"?

[Iton Ibrukrithzam]

If burrows seem too much, you can do what I do.  Try to keep dwarves inside by not assigning outside jobs or meeting areas.  In addition, behind your drawbridge and barracks, make the fort enterable only by one door(I usually have two, but on the same corridor).  When an ambush pops up, lock 'em.  This generally leaves my militiadwarves outside and my civvies inside, which is what I want during a raid.

In addition to militiadwarves, traps will be a great help, especially weapon and cage traps.

[Tirion]

will merchants trigger plates that are set "not civilians"?

Nope. Merchants, their animals, your animals, and diplomats count as citizens as far as your pressure plates are concerned.

[Garath]

great, then i just made a drowning room

[Person]

will merchants trigger plates that are set "not civilians"?

Nope. Merchants, their animals, your animals, and diplomats count as citizens as far as your pressure plates are concerned.

However, their civ now knows where your traps are, and you must rebuild them if you go to war or the invaders will avoid them.

[i2amroy]

That only applies to actual traps mind you. Things that are triggered by a pull of a lever to drown/magmaize/burn/whatever them are still completely useful.

[Garath]

i never had one of their diplomats around yet, nor do they habitually go to war with me out of nowhere.... dont destroy the caravan is my advice. Usually you'll have enough junk you want to sell them anyway, and they dont have anything you want that you cant buy, usually...