What are those goblins doing out there?

Question

My fortress is currently under siege by some goblins and some trolls. The trolls obligingly rushed my trap maze, although sadly they all got caged before they reached the goblin grinders. Anyway, I'm getting ready to have some fun with them, but the two goblin squads are just sitting outside doing nothing, or having tea maybe, whether the doors to my fort are open or closed. This happened on the last siege too, and I lost a lot of civilians because the goblins wouldn't come politely to be killed. If it matters, the only way into my fort is through the traps, which previous goblins have "encountered".

I had the opposite problem on my previous fort, where goblins routinely charged in. However, if I remember correctly, that one had a non-trapped entrance which I could seal off with a bridge.

So: are the goblins not rushing in because their only routes are through traps? Or is there something else I should be doing?

Answer

Goblins normally follow their squad captain, if he is alive, unless there's a dwarf within about 20 squares. Squad captains normally charge your base if they can find a path, trapped or not, to a dwarf, and their squads follow. (Note: the previous answer is incorrect; goblins are just as omniscient as you are, except they can't see traps.) However, a known bug right now is that goblins with flying mounts sometimes get confused and have a hard time pathing; this especially affects captains because they're mounted more often than the normal troops. If the captain's mount is confused, his squaddies will just stand around guarding him, rather than attacking on their own. This is similar to the problem that causes attackers to hang around your entrance rather than heading farther in: their captain is caught in a cage trap, but he's not dead so they just stand around rather than leaving him behind.

How to diagnose this: First, find the goblin captain on the units screen. He's the one marked "Elite" or "Master", and he'll probably have a different weapon from his squaddies. Zoom to the creature, and see if he's inexplicably floating above the world, especially if he's above a tree or something. If so, you'll have to order the militia out there, because that's the only way you're going to get rid of them; and you'll have to gain some height so that your marksdwarves can shoot at the captain, remembering that they can't shoot upward. You might have to build a small tower nearby to arrange this. An goblin master bowman stuck atop a tree with no higher ground nearby is a deadly threat, almost impossible to get rid of, because he shoots any of your masons who try to build a tower for the marksdwarves to stand on (and master bowmen are ridiculously dangerous).

If the captain's just parked on the ground, with his buddies, and not attacking you, something else is wrong: probably there isn't actually any way into your fortress. Check the doors; besieging goblins won't path through locked doors or raised drawbridges. Trolls path TO these obstacles because they're building destroyers and they like to destroy them, but goblins care only for dwarves. So go ahead and open the gates. Just make sure the militia is standing behind, and your civilians are burrow-restricted not to go outside, &c.

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What can I do with a leopard?

Question

So, a few years ago I bought this leopard from an elven caravan, hoping that I could train it as a war animal and post it to guard the entrance to my fort. I saw later on the wiki that leopards are only trainable by the Dungeon Master, so that's not going to happen. So, what can I do with it? Let it wander around being awesome? Make some delicious leopard steaks?

Answer

Aside from breeding it for food (which would require you to acquire another animal of the opposite gender, obviously) and outright butchering like any other animal, and assuming without modding anything, your options as of version 0.31.25 are limited to:

• Animal guards, mostly for thief detection. Chain it up near an entrance or main walkway.
• Bait for ambushes, chaining it up somewhere near the map edge and in safe distance from your main (closed off) entrance.
• Animal watchtower, since they don't need pasture space.
• Pets, if you have any dwarves who love leopards. Might not be the best idea if you have any who hate leopards. Same goes for using it as part of a zoo.
• Cave exploration, dropping it down the caves without any way to come back to the main living area. Use small meeting space designations to guide it around. Being a leopard, it might even get rid of some undesirables down there.

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Should I spend all points at the “Prepare for the Journey Carefully” stage in Dwarf Fortress?

Question

I'm a brand new player to Dwarf Fortress, and I've been looking at some beginners guides for starting a game. Although the guides tell you which skills it is worth investing in at the outset, they do not say anywhere if I should be spending the maximum amount of points that I can on my Dwarfs (this is after spending points on necessary items).

Should I be maxing out my points expenditure at the start, or do I need to save these for any reason?

Thanks in Advance.

Answer

All points left after embarking are lost, so use them all up.

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How to tend to a wounded dwarf?

Question

I was building a vertical tunnel down multiple levels when I realized that one of my other dwarves had already dug the lower half. When the poor dwarf dug through the upper half, he fell multiple stories and is now lying there unconscious and with both arms and both legs broken.

Now what? I don't have a doctor or anyone trained in caring for wounded dwarves yet, how do I proceed from here?

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Edit #1 OK I followed the various ideas (thanks!) but before a medical dwarf could get to him, someone else moved him a few squares cause he was in the way (heh), and he woke up. His "thoughts and preferences" still have

His left upper leg is broken. His right lower arm is broken.
His left lower arm is broken. His right upper leg is broken

BUT he is taking digging jobs and seems to be acting like everything is OK. He also now has a "health" page but it says No health problems. Is this a bug or something I'm doing wrong?

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Edit #2 The problem was that the doctor had not taken a look at him and made a diagnosis. After he took a look, here is what I see (and it hurts to look):

left lower arm, bone
 Needs setting
 Smashed apartright lower arm, bone
 Needs setting
 Smashed apartleft upper leg, bone
 Needs setting
 Smashed apartright upper leg, bone
 Needs setting
 Smashed apart

Answer

Firstly, do you have a hospital? If not, build one, even if it is just a bed somewhere random. (Your dining hall would actually be a pretty good place)

Even though you don't have any dwarfs that are trained in those skills, it doesn't mean they can't do them. It just means they'll suck. So pick a dwarf who isn't busy and activate the medical skills on him and deactivate all the rest. He should run and get the dwarf and carry him back to the hospital bed.

Make sure you have buckets and prepared meals. Wounded dwarfs who can't feed themselves need to be feed by other dwarfs. Buckets provide drinks, and prepared meals provide food. I think just any food can be given to a wounded dwarf, but I've always had the most luck with prepared meals.

Finally, wait. Either the dwarf you esoterically assigned to be a doctor will patch your dwarf back together (assuming you have a traction bench, cast powder, and crutches) or he'll keep him alive until a more skilled dwarf comes to save the day.

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