Can I take on a Guardian without Mithril Weaps

[Lionera]

atm can only make steel armor

[tamorr]

yes... it really just matters how you go about atacking them, and really depends on which level; since each level is different biome, and the middle 2 are same difficulty, but generally more difficult than prior.

On the first level I guess steel would be fine, just don't expect all to survive if you only use melee. They can be attempted at any time. The ice and desert ones might require at least gold, but still can be done earlier depending on how you go about it.

The more dwarves the better chances of survival. Wouldn't attempt if all you have is leather/chiten though. That is just asking for trouble, or well quite a challenge in the way to go about it.

Sure the safest bet would be mithril just for damage reduction, but will still take a bit depending on how many dwarves you have. It can be done with less...

[Lionera]

Got 11 dwarves overall and half of them on full steel armor... I'm guessing I'd get obliterated

[tamorr]

Armor only reduces the damage, which is good for surviving... I mean one will lose a few here and there, especially vs. tougher opponents. It is the weapon that will determine how quickly they will go down obviously. Like I said it all depends on how you go about the battle. Ranged units are nice to have.

[Tamren]

It depends on how many dwarves you have. If you have 10 or more dwarves go ahead and attack, even if you just have steel. Ideally you'll want silver gear or above. Guardians do not regenerate (quickly?) so you can do hit and run attacks and heal your dwarves in between fights.

If you have access to mithril weapons you should be set, particularly mithril bows and staffs because they can do damage from a distance and the dwarf weilding them doesn't need as much armour.

[Warchicken]

The big skeletons? yeah I had clubs and wood bows. 10 dwarves.

[Tamren]

Honestly the guardians are kind of underwhelming. They hit hard in melee but that's easy to deal with, the fireballs are pretty dangerous but they don't throw them often.

[󠀡󠀡]

I'd love to know how you've managed to not lose all of your Dwarves at your current level. That's my issues. I spend 5 hours in game reach 10 dwarves they lose their brains and start going to die to dumb things when I tell them to go do different things. It's like they don't retreat to live anymore. :/

[Tamren]

It shouldn't take you that long to reach 10 dwarves. You may be taking the tech tree a bit too slow. Focus on crafting items and unlocking tech from day 1. If you can outfit your dwarves well enough you can defeat whole monster invasions and get a large XP bonus from doing so. This will help you get more dwarves faster, which makes crafting and exploring easier, which makes tech easier etc.

If you can manage to make some arrow turrets and put about 6 of them on a bridge platform just above your door, you can almost defeat whole monster invasions without risking a dwarf.

[󠀡󠀡]

Originally posted by GWJ Tamren:

It shouldn't take you that long to reach 10 dwarves. You may be taking the tech tree a bit too slow. Focus on crafting items and unlocking tech from day 1. If you can outfit your dwarves well enough you can defeat whole monster invasions and get a large XP bonus from doing so. This will help you get more dwarves faster, which makes crafting and exploring easier, which makes tech easier etc.

If you can manage to make some arrow turrets and put about 6 of them on a bridge platform just above your door, you can almost defeat whole monster invasions without risking a dwarf.

No clue where arrow turrets are on the tech tree, and my issue is finding a good iron location early in the game and then also making a defenseable house. The only way I've managed to find a defenseable location so far is if on the starting map I can tunnel down 7-10 squares and 2-3 wide and that way my house is on a "tower" of dirt and monsters can't reach it. Then I put my mine shaft opening down the floor of my tower my house is on with a hatch.

[Tamren]

I always build a 6x4 block fortress around my starting stockpile and put my totem on the wall above the pile. This makes it so that when dwarves are confined to shelter they cluster around the stockpile in a group and it's easier to direct them to attack stuff. A stone fort with wooden doors allows dwarves to attack enemies through the door in relative safety. A simple setup like this will last you many invasions even if all you have is wooden clubs.

For ladders I dig two tunnels down on the immediate right or left of the stockpile, adding ladders as I go. I then carve out 2-tile tall side rooms on either side of the ladders. These rooms are where I put beds and workshops. Later on in the game I can put elevators on top of the fort that use the same shafts as the ladders.

The best way to find iron is to dig horizontal tunnels that span the entire map every 10 levels or so. If you fill them with torches it lights up the ground around them and you can spot ore inside the walls.