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[Toybasher]

The mist trick worked.

By the way, i tryed giving my militery the goblins swords for training, but no matter how long they train, their swordsdwarf skill never goes byond dabbling!

Any reason why this is happening?

[Delta Foxtrot]

Out of personal experience, squads of three with minimum of two active at any one time set to train year round works marvels. They start sparring fairly quickly, and sparring is second best thing to live combat (with none of the risks). I try to make it so that all of my squads have a militia captain with some military skills (preferably a specific weapon), but I'm unsure if it helps at all with squads overall progress. It still takes few years to get them up to a level where I'm comfortable with them. Practising on disarmed goblins speeds up the training process.

I don't use it, but many people recommend danger rooms if you don't consider it too exploity for your tastes. It supposedly gets good results very quickly.

Before you reach a point where you have an effective militia, you might want to try and beef up your defences by building traps. Weapon traps with menacing spikes (wood, glass, metal) work well and can be set up fast (wood) or cheap (glass). Metal serrated discs are probably the best you can go for, though each trap component has it's strengths (though all are capable of mincing through your average goblin). As always, wiki is a good reference tool for getting more acquainted with the game and its finer points.

[khearn]

Oh, geez, you cheated your way out of your first ever ambush? You're on the path to the dark side, and I don't mean the cool, shiny black dark side, I mean the cold, damp, sticky dark side that has to rely on cheating to do everything. But it's not too late to save yourself! Next time, go ahead and let them get slaughtered if you're completely unprepared, and maybe learn a thing or two so you can prevent it next time. Or else you'll end up making reactions to turn stones into booze because you can't be bothered to learn how to grow plump helmets when you run out of booze in the middle of winter and your dwarves start dying of thirst.

Losing is FUN! Embrace it. Learn from it. Face it again and beat it!

Or admit you can't handle Dwarf Fortress and go back to playing Farmville.

(Boy, do I sound bitter or what? Don't take the above too seriously. But geez, you cheated your way out of your first ever ambush?)

[King DZA]

Oh, geez, you cheated your way out of your first ever ambush? You're on the path to the dark side, and I don't mean the cool, shiny black dark side, I mean the cold, damp, sticky dark side that has to rely on cheating to do everything. But it's not too late to save yourself! Next time, go ahead and let them get slaughtered if you're completely unprepared, and maybe learn a thing or two so you can prevent it next time. Or else you'll end up making reactions to turn stones into booze because you can't be bothered to learn how to grow plump helmets when you run out of booze in the middle of winter and your dwarves start dying of thirst.

Losing is FUN! Embrace it. Learn from it. Face it again and beat it!

Or admit you can't handle Dwarf Fortress and go back to playing Farmville.

(Boy, do I sound bitter or what? Don't take the above too seriously. But geez, you cheated your way out of your first ever ambush?)

I'm so glad I didn't have to be the one to say it. Though you should probably get ready for a bunch of "it's a single player game, there's no such thing as cheating" responses.

[Owly]

Oh, geez, you cheated your way out of your first ever ambush? You're on the path to the dark side, and I don't mean the cool, shiny black dark side, I mean the cold, damp, sticky dark side that has to rely on cheating to do everything. But it's not too late to save yourself! Next time, go ahead and let them get slaughtered if you're completely unprepared, and maybe learn a thing or two so you can prevent it next time. Or else you'll end up making reactions to turn stones into booze because you can't be bothered to learn how to grow plump helmets when you run out of booze in the middle of winter and your dwarves start dying of thirst.

Losing is FUN! Embrace it. Learn from it. Face it again and beat it!

Or admit you can't handle Dwarf Fortress and go back to playing Farmville.

(Boy, do I sound bitter or what? Don't take the above too seriously. But geez, you cheated your way out of your first ever ambush?)

So what you're saying is that there are only two options: Playing Dwarf Fortress the way that you think everyone should play or just not playing it at all? Grow up.

[King DZA]

Actually, what he seems to be saying is something more along the lines of, "what's the point of playing if you're just going to cheat your way out of the tough situations?".

Of course, I may be interpreting it wrong.

[Owly]

Actually, what he seems to be saying is something more along the lines of, "what's the point of playing if you're just going to cheat your way out of the tough situations?".

Of course, I may be interpreting it wrong.

I may have this wrong, but it seems to me that there isn't much point of playing if your entire fortress is wiped out by the first ambush. It isn't as if it is realistic for goblins to come out of the wilderness to completely obliterate every random gathering of thirty dwarves. It seems to me, at least, that Toybasher is only delaying the ambushes until (a.) He is able to have a chance of defeating them or (b.) He understands the game better.

[Sutremaine]

You should learn how to deal with ambushes, but depending on what you want to do with the fortress losing a bunch of dwarves to an unexpected early ambush is sometimes just an unwanted irritation. Especially if you're trying to learn the military and anyone with any skill to pass on keeps getting flattened (and especially if you're testing the feasability of embarking with kicking and biting as your offensive military skills. I should probably turn invaders off or go all the way and Runesmith any replacement military, but ehh).

Anyway, how long did it take for the ambushers to show up and what sort of skill did your military dwarves have? It's very rare for ambushers to show up in the first year, and a year is just about enough to get competent fighters. I wouldn't have them charge a ranged squad, but in a battlefield set up in their favour they should do alright. I like to have barracks set up in the only entry point, so that ambushers have to go through there before encountering any civilians. I also use the first year to get most of the woodcutting and plant gathering done, because there's no point setting up a living trap corridor if enemies find something squishy outdoors first.

[King DZA]

Actually, what he seems to be saying is something more along the lines of, "what's the point of playing if you're just going to cheat your way out of the tough situations?".

Of course, I may be interpreting it wrong.

I may have this wrong, but it seems to me that there isn't much point of playing if your entire fortress is wiped out by the first ambush. It isn't as if it is realistic for goblins to come out of the wilderness to completely obliterate every random gathering of thirty dwarves. It seems to me, at least, that Toybasher is only delaying the ambushes until (a.) He is able to have a chance of defeating them or (b.) He understands the game better.

Not much point? Having your ill-prepared fortresses meet a swift and gruesome end gives even more of a point to the game. You learn to build faster and better, develop a strategy to overcome the challenges. Victory just isn't as sweet without knowing the bitter taste of failure.

And as for realism, we're playing as dwarves, my friend. Dwarves who are able to build impenetrable walls of soap, and remove items from existence by lowering a drawbridge onto them. Realism is not this game's strongest leg, so to speak..

[Garath]

for your next ambush, invest in just a few weapon traps. they dont even have to be full. 2 serrated discs (any material) and 4 spiked balls (any metal), make it 3 or so spaced out a bit, will kill ANY goblin untill they jam, but by this time most will be dead, a cage trap at the end will catch the annoying leader who has good armor and (by now for sure after dodging 3x 3x6 attacks) great dodge skills

I tend to use militairy in the beginning to support my traps, later on, the traps soften up the enemy before they have to face the militia

another suggestion: use a danger room to train your soldiers, its faster, though it has a decent chance to make them quite unhappy. If you dont have happiness things like great dining halls, good bedrooms and decent barracks, dont try. I had an axe lord come out exhausted, go to sleep and wake up to a tantrum. note to self: axelords are best kept happy

[Owly]

Actually, what he seems to be saying is something more along the lines of, "what's the point of playing if you're just going to cheat your way out of the tough situations?".

Of course, I may be interpreting it wrong.

I may have this wrong, but it seems to me that there isn't much point of playing if your entire fortress is wiped out by the first ambush. It isn't as if it is realistic for goblins to come out of the wilderness to completely obliterate every random gathering of thirty dwarves. It seems to me, at least, that Toybasher is only delaying the ambushes until (a.) He is able to have a chance of defeating them or (b.) He understands the game better.

Not much point? Having your ill-prepared fortresses meet a swift and gruesome end gives even more of a point to the game. You learn to build faster and better, develop a strategy to overcome the challenges. Victory just isn't as sweet without knowing the bitter taste of failure.

And as for realism, we're playing as dwarves, my friend. Dwarves who are able to build impenetrable walls of soap, and remove items from existence by lowering a drawbridge onto them. Realism is not this game's strongest leg, so to speak..

The problem is that during that time between failure and victory 90% of players have quit. There is no "sandbox mode" for dwarf fortress, there is no way for players to experiment and explore the game and grow feet to stand on. Is it cheating to look on the wiki?

[Iton Ibrukrithzam]

The problem is that during that time between failure and victory 90% of players have quit. There is no "sandbox mode" for dwarf fortress, there is no way for players to experiment and explore the game and grow feet to stand on.

Uh, "a sandbox mode where you can experiment and explore the game and grow feet to stand on" is pretty much the entirety of what Fortress Mode is.  Confronting ambushes and any other obstacle or opponent is part of learning to play the game.  Dwarf Fortress isn't over when you lose your first fort, it isn't even over when you lose your hundredth fort.  If an ambush wipes you out, you look at what you did, try to figure out what you did that led to that defeat and consider ways you might handle it differently next time.

If you quit, you quit.  Not every game is for everyone.

[urick]

Like anything really worth doing, DF takes research and preparation. And it is worth doing over again, from scratch - they call that "replay value" don't they?
DF is like life; sometimes it just won't work out the way you planned, acccept what the RNG gives you and work with it. DF is not like life; you can do it all over again, this time better, and with magma.

 Editing things out of existence mid-game because they are inconvenient is certainly "cheating", you have externally inflenced the game rather than using its internal rules.

This is DF, all your dwarves are gonna die anyway, dont waste your time haxxing to save them!

So anyway DF is a weirdly extensible tool that you are free to use as you see fit. Forgive us for lecturing you on the GAMEPLAY FORUM for solving your gameplay problems without actually playing the game.

[Delta Foxtrot]

It's a single player game and everyone plays it how they please, but do keep in mind that the "losing is fun" creed is there for a reason. Despite what some might say, you can't win Dwarf Fortress. All forts end, be it either a gloriously violent spiralling death of doom or a slow unceremonious FPS death. While too late for this particular situation, in the future you should have other options for taking care of an ambush. The trap system can be abused quite well (especially with cage traps), and you should be able to wall yourself in from the outside world until you can take care of it (at its most simplest: wall around your fort entrance, and have a non-retracting drawbridge linked to a lever act as your front door).

We make mistakes so that we might learn from them. The smouldering remains of one fort are the solid foundations of another one.

[coolio678]

Actually, what he seems to be saying is something more along the lines of, "what's the point of playing if you're just going to cheat your way out of the tough situations?".

Of course, I may be interpreting it wrong.

I may have this wrong, but it seems to me that there isn't much point of playing if your entire fortress is wiped out by the first ambush. It isn't as if it is realistic for goblins to come out of the wilderness to completely obliterate every random gathering of thirty dwarves. It seems to me, at least, that Toybasher is only delaying the ambushes until (a.) He is able to have a chance of defeating them or (b.) He understands the game better.

Not much point? Having your ill-prepared fortresses meet a swift and gruesome end gives even more of a point to the game. You learn to build faster and better, develop a strategy to overcome the challenges. Victory just isn't as sweet without knowing the bitter taste of failure.

And as for realism, we're playing as dwarves, my friend. Dwarves who are able to build impenetrable walls of soap, and remove items from existence by lowering a drawbridge onto them. Realism is not this game's strongest leg, so to speak..

The problem is that during that time between failure and victory 90% of players have quit. There is no "sandbox mode" for dwarf fortress, there is no way for players to experiment and explore the game and grow feet to stand on. Is it cheating to look on the wiki?

My first fort was swiftly cut down seconds apart from each other by thirst, but I never saved before the end, and go add the [NO_DRINK] tag or what ever it is to my dwarves. I chuckled, and started again. It probably taught me more, that I need a well, and stills to keep the little guys from dropping, than if I had edited the raws.
How did you get the idea of "the wiki must be cheating, then?" It's the only way that I would have ever even learned how to dig out rooms, let alone setting up a military. The wiki isn't editing the game to our advantage with an outside source, but educating us on what we need to help the dwarves survive. Without it, I doubt anyone would play the game.

P.S. the whole fortress mode is a "way for players to experiment and explore the game and grow feet to stand on." There is no right or wrong way to survive, but there are the "accepted" and "not accepted" ways. (editing raws to remove threats, vs letting the little suckers die, to start again)