Best way to seal off my fort?

[Ikit Claw]

What's a good way I can defend my fort if I get attacked? Should I build stairs down one level and then a long hallway with traps? Or should I just throw a hatch on my stairs? I heard drawbridges are good but I'm not sure how I can build one.

[McFuzz]

Just go to bridge, make a lifting drawbridge toward your fort entrance, link it to a level. EZPZ.

It's not foolproof since they climb now, but it'll get you most of the way.

[db48x]

There are as many fortress designs as their are players. Get creative with it :D

[Testikles]

Quick bridges and levers tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYw2go17SqI&ab_channel=Blind

[The Trashman]

A stone door and a corridor of traps will help keep most basic enemies out, though some more dangerous ones might be able to get through.

Early on, I like to produce a bunch of mechanisms and make cages. I also get my carpenter to make spiked wooden balls and 3 or 4 of those in a weapon traps. Then I have a mix of weapon and cage traps by my entrance

Enemies can get past traps and doors, but a raised drawbridge is invincible to them.

You need mechanisms, then:
-Build the bridge from the build->constructions menu. You want to pick a direction that will block access when raised. If you have a corridor running east<->west, the you want it to raise to the left or right and be wide enough to fill the corridor
-build a lever somewhere your dwarves hang out
-link the lever to the bridge from the lever's menu, like a workshop
-once it's linked, pulling the lever should raise the drawbridge, pulling again should lower it

[Dcethe]

Originally posted by Ikit Claw:

What's a good way I can defend my fort if I get attacked? Should I build stairs down one level and then a long hallway with traps? Or should I just throw a hatch on my stairs? I heard drawbridges are good but I'm not sure how I can build one.

Option 1. make 2 entrances to your base with a hatch guarding both. 1 will be your main entrance, 1 will lead to trap hallway and into your base. forbid to lock the hatch, keep trap locked until raid / siege then swap and watch as they funnel in.

Option 2. dig stairs down then make a hallway. build a lifting bridge, boom you are sealed and they can't break it. safe for now.

option 3. Make a lava moat and walls, have pressure plate infront of decoy bridges so only 1-2 make it across and the rest fall ( make sure bridge is retractable. hard to setup but fun watching goblins burn in lava

[McFuzz]

If you're okay with a 1 or 2 wide door being the main entrance to your fortress, make it that the only way to get into the fort is through the barracks.

Anything that slips in gets smashed to pieces by 8 hammerdwarves

[Testikles]

Extra tip: When you have some open areas still (e.g. pastures, open courtyards) double check if all the ramps around have been removed to avoid enemies coming from the back.

[Vivisectus]

You could do the double gate trick too. One gate seals off the main entrance, but another one opens. It leads to some REALLY long windy tunnel that eventually leads into your fort, sealed off by another gate you can close at the last moment. Then have a large water reservoir above the trap tunnel, which you can use to dump water into them. Drown all the baddies, then re-set. Good source for Goblinite :)

[Ikit Claw]

Originally posted by Dcethe:

Originally posted by Ikit Claw:

What's a good way I can defend my fort if I get attacked? Should I build stairs down one level and then a long hallway with traps? Or should I just throw a hatch on my stairs? I heard drawbridges are good but I'm not sure how I can build one.

Option 1. make 2 entrances to your base with a hatch guarding both. 1 will be your main entrance, 1 will lead to trap hallway and into your base. forbid to lock the hatch, keep trap locked until raid / siege then swap and watch as they funnel in.

Option 2. dig stairs down then make a hallway. build a lifting bridge, boom you are sealed and they can't break it. safe for now.

option 3. Make a lava moat and walls, have pressure plate infront of decoy bridges so only 1-2 make it across and the rest fall ( make sure bridge is retractable. hard to setup but fun watching goblins burn in lava

For option 2 how big should the bridge be? My hallways are 3 titles wide but what about height?

[Ikit Claw]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

If you're okay with a 1 or 2 wide door being the main entrance to your fortress, make it that the only way to get into the fort is through the barracks.

Anything that slips in gets smashed to pieces by 8 hammerdwarves

I'll make sure I do this, thanks

[Ikit Claw]

Originally posted by Rindenberg:

Quick bridges and levers tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYw2go17SqI&ab_channel=Blind

Thanks for the video.

[Duuvian]

A quick obstacle to make is a channel dug outside around your fort. If you put gaps in the channel you can put cage traps on it and catch stuff with the chokepoint. I usually do it near the edge of the map, but inside the no construction perimeter to build the traps. Be sure to remove the ramps in the channel; I leave some near the chokepoints on the outer perimeter of the channel; you may need to make the channel wider at this point to prevent the ramp from servicing the inner part of the channel and bypassing your chokepoint. It's so things stuck in the channel can climb out, like your mining dwarves. EDIT: I haven't seen a wagon yet in the Steam version so I'm probably doing it wrong, but if those still exist you'd need a 3 wide gap in the channel. You can extend the 3 wide passage by putting cage traps in an extended line with 3 tiles of space for the wagon between. The wagon would go through the 3 tiles while normal creatures would take a shortcut over the cage traps. If you turn the cage trap line to the right or left, keeping the three wide gap it would be difficult for a normal creature not to path over one of the traps.

[Dcethe]

Originally posted by Ikit Claw:

Originally posted by Dcethe:

Option 1. make 2 entrances to your base with a hatch guarding both. 1 will be your main entrance, 1 will lead to trap hallway and into your base. forbid to lock the hatch, keep trap locked until raid / siege then swap and watch as they funnel in.

Option 2. dig stairs down then make a hallway. build a lifting bridge, boom you are sealed and they can't break it. safe for now.

option 3. Make a lava moat and walls, have pressure plate infront of decoy bridges so only 1-2 make it across and the rest fall ( make sure bridge is retractable. hard to setup but fun watching goblins burn in lava

For option 2 how big should the bridge be? My hallways are 3 titles wide but what about height?

Height doesn't matter, It will all draw on the same block. just make sure not to have an open space above the bridge so they cant climb over

[Ikit Claw]

Originally posted by Dcethe:

Originally posted by Ikit Claw:

For option 2 how big should the bridge be? My hallways are 3 titles wide but what about height?

Height doesn't matter, It will all draw on the same block. just make sure not to have an open space above the bridge so they cant climb over

Sweet, thanks

[polle]

Its not a bad idea to have 2 draw bridges one to seal the fort and one to trap them inside.
Also when your hallway is 2 tiles high you can have a room with fortifications or wall grates filled with crossbowmen. When the attacker is trapped between the bridges you can open the grates and unleash fire on them. I like grates here because you can link them to levers and block line of sight, if your enemy is ranged you can close them at will. You also need backup plans for extremely powerful creatures you dont wanna deal with at all