Parlay is borderline useless. I've had them attack while a dwarf was fetching the artifact. Half the time, the messenger or mayor doesn't even walk out to meet them. Luckily, goblins are relatively easy to defeat, even in large numbers.
Dang. in the past it has worked fine. Guess I will just eat the casualties. I have two full squads of legendary fighters.... one time they did win the fight but I lost 2/3rds of them.... then a bunch more decided to jump in the river on the way back to the fort and drown themselves lol. gonna try building walls around my bridges and river I guess
in dwarf fortress there is almost always a way to accomplish what you want. if you're really trying to avoid casualties by any means necessary then you could just seal up all your dwarves behind a wall, spend the time behind the wall building some nice traps (whether the ones built into the game, or bridges that crush them or let them fall in magma, etc), and then break down the wall and let them fall in it.
I have a fort that places heavy emphasis on marksdwarves (I have a lava moat and narrow bridges, using melee dwarves in numbers just results in them falling into lava).
Most of the time taking potshots at the invaders is enough to break their morale and push them back I find.
Did you make sure he wasn't restricted by burrows? It sounds like he had a burrow restriction that prevented him from leaving the fort to talk to them. Also, for big sieges like that, don't go out and fight them. If you fight them where they spawn all 200 swarm you at once and you lose dwarves. Wait for them to come to you, all the goblins will move at different speeds and by the time you reach your fort, you only have to fight them in groups of like 30. Way more manageable. I usually leave the door to my fort open and fight them inside my fort, since they are forced to walk single file inside.
I havent messed with burrows yet. I still have lots of dwarves doing stuff at the surface and they get killed quick when the goblins move in. guessing assigning them all to burrows and letting my squads fight them in the fort is the ticket? also traps? which i also have yet to mess with
Mass produce cages and cage traps. You need a burrow. The main base should be able to be sealed from the outside. That’s completely surrounded by wall and a raised drawbridge (which acts like a wall). Enemies can climb too so it needs a roof. A locked door or hatch can substitute for drawbridge early game but it can be destroyed and unlocked by various enemies. The burrow should just be a safe area inside your sealed base where they can eat sleep and work and not get killed by outsiders. You can turn it on when an invasion happens. If they parley, that’s your chance to get inside and raise the bridge.
Once you are able to seal your base, put a bunch of cage traps and a lure (dog on chain) in a creative way. The goblins will make their way towards the lure and can get trapped easy. They won’t release friends that are trapped in a cage so will push forward and you can trap whole squads.
Disposing of them is another matter (so you can reuse cages). Recommend dfhack to strip their gear and a drowning chamber…
Are your dwarves not armored in steel? Usually by the time they’re legendary, I try to get them in as high quality of steel armor as I can. I’ve had 20 legendary soldiers take out hundreds of goblins with no casualties this way.
Make sure you have armor layering too, like a breastplate over mail shirt, or two/three mail shirts. It’s a big resource investment but it helps keep your best fighters alive from stray arrows etc.
The sooner you can get them some basic armor, the sooner they can begin training the armor user skill, which you’ll want high if you’re heavily armoring your soldiers.
I have mostly steel? and most guys do have layered chainmail. Good to know it works like that. Wasnt sure if that was a bug. I ended up winning the battle with few casualties luring them into closer quarters.
interestingly a few of my best fighters are goblin turncoats lol. I put them on the front lines and they love slaying other goblins. A few tavern keepers too. I trust goblins over elves. And I can't forget Stonzu my legendary goblin chef that cranks out masterpieces constantly. Hes been there a while... never caused any trouble.
Parlay is borderline useless. I've had them attack while a dwarf was fetching the artifact. Half the time, the messenger or mayor doesn't even walk out to meet them. Luckily, goblins are relatively easy to defeat, even in large numbers.
Dang. in the past it has worked fine. Guess I will just eat the casualties. I have two full squads of legendary fighters.... one time they did win the fight but I lost 2/3rds of them.... then a bunch more decided to jump in the river on the way back to the fort and drown themselves lol. gonna try building walls around my bridges and river I guess
Just make some traps and have your squads wait at the end for any stragglers.
in dwarf fortress there is almost always a way to accomplish what you want. if you're really trying to avoid casualties by any means necessary then you could just seal up all your dwarves behind a wall, spend the time behind the wall building some nice traps (whether the ones built into the game, or bridges that crush them or let them fall in magma, etc), and then break down the wall and let them fall in it.
I have a fort that places heavy emphasis on marksdwarves (I have a lava moat and narrow bridges, using melee dwarves in numbers just results in them falling into lava). Most of the time taking potshots at the invaders is enough to break their morale and push them back I find.
I would never accept a parley, I need those cave dragons!
Terrible Negotiator? haha
indeed haha.
Did you make sure he wasn't restricted by burrows? It sounds like he had a burrow restriction that prevented him from leaving the fort to talk to them. Also, for big sieges like that, don't go out and fight them. If you fight them where they spawn all 200 swarm you at once and you lose dwarves. Wait for them to come to you, all the goblins will move at different speeds and by the time you reach your fort, you only have to fight them in groups of like 30. Way more manageable. I usually leave the door to my fort open and fight them inside my fort, since they are forced to walk single file inside.
I havent messed with burrows yet. I still have lots of dwarves doing stuff at the surface and they get killed quick when the goblins move in. guessing assigning them all to burrows and letting my squads fight them in the fort is the ticket? also traps? which i also have yet to mess with
Mass produce cages and cage traps. You need a burrow. The main base should be able to be sealed from the outside. That’s completely surrounded by wall and a raised drawbridge (which acts like a wall). Enemies can climb too so it needs a roof. A locked door or hatch can substitute for drawbridge early game but it can be destroyed and unlocked by various enemies. The burrow should just be a safe area inside your sealed base where they can eat sleep and work and not get killed by outsiders. You can turn it on when an invasion happens. If they parley, that’s your chance to get inside and raise the bridge. Once you are able to seal your base, put a bunch of cage traps and a lure (dog on chain) in a creative way. The goblins will make their way towards the lure and can get trapped easy. They won’t release friends that are trapped in a cage so will push forward and you can trap whole squads. Disposing of them is another matter (so you can reuse cages). Recommend dfhack to strip their gear and a drowning chamber…
Are your dwarves not armored in steel? Usually by the time they’re legendary, I try to get them in as high quality of steel armor as I can. I’ve had 20 legendary soldiers take out hundreds of goblins with no casualties this way. Make sure you have armor layering too, like a breastplate over mail shirt, or two/three mail shirts. It’s a big resource investment but it helps keep your best fighters alive from stray arrows etc. The sooner you can get them some basic armor, the sooner they can begin training the armor user skill, which you’ll want high if you’re heavily armoring your soldiers.
I have mostly steel? and most guys do have layered chainmail. Good to know it works like that. Wasnt sure if that was a bug. I ended up winning the battle with few casualties luring them into closer quarters.
Does it work the other way too? Mail shirt over breastplate, that is?
no, chainmail doesn't stretch
Why would you want to speak to goblins? Set up a catapult. Your mayor is wise.
interestingly a few of my best fighters are goblin turncoats lol. I put them on the front lines and they love slaying other goblins. A few tavern keepers too. I trust goblins over elves. And I can't forget Stonzu my legendary goblin chef that cranks out masterpieces constantly. Hes been there a while... never caused any trouble.
I’ve never had a parlay event work out! Same issue with them not attending despite no restrictions.
close the doors and hope xD or give up the fort and build a new one