Fort captured by unstoppable enemy..

[Skywalker]

Looks like the fort is going to be lost to a SIEGE
- apparently if the enemy is too close the bridge retrieval also fails, probably the dwarves are in agony?
- Fleeing to a burrow also fails anymore , because I don't know when the dwarves by command button burrows go there, but probably they are also in agony here and it takes longer before they can flee to a burrow?
- goes all pretty fast that an announcement of a SIEGE comes and actually have no more time to pick up the bridge or flee towards the burrow, so should there be more time to spot the enemy( probably this is not possible?)

[Terminal]

Bridges always retract or rise as long as their linked lever is pulled - if the bridge is not rising or retracting but the lever has been pulled, then there is a creature on the bridge with mass over its operational limit. Very large creatures such as dragons, trolls, cave ogres, etcetera are massive enough that bridges cannot retract or rise while those creatures are on them.

If the issue is that dwarves are not pulling the lever linked to the bridge, try clicking the exclamation icon by the pull lever assignment. That will make pulling the lever THE highest priority task in the entire fortress.

Also double check to make sure the lever IS in fact linked the the drawbridge just to be sure.

If dwarves are in the middle of a job or task when their assigned burrow activates, they will drop everything they are doing to head to that burrow. They'll still leave that burrow, and may not go to that burrow, if they have no current job - socializing dwarves will occasionally go outside their burrows.

Dwarves will generally flee in terror from hostile enemy combatants, and if they are placed in a burrow they will head directly for it whilst fleeing in terror. The only thing that will stop them from running there is if they cannot pathfind to it, or if the enemy is shooting them full of arrows and crossbow bolts.

Generally, you get a siege alert the split instant the first enemy arrives on the edge of the map. This should give you ample time to react. Not being able to safely get all your dwarves inside the fort is always a risk - you have to know when to seal the fort to deter siegers, even if it means abandoning a few dwarves outside.

As a last resort you can simply try bolting/locking a few doors leading into your fort. This can keep most siegers out as long as none of them are building destroyers - but most enemies that can stop a drawbridge from being raised can also knock down locked doors.

[pezenwever]

I'm going to add something to that.
You can place all your dwarfs (except children) in a military squad. This way you can issue the move command.
Best put your miners, hunters and lumberjacks in a squad with no armor or weapon assigned.
All my civilians have their inactive squad, grouped on their occupation. The civies can drop their pick or axe when you click the move command and have to grab them later. A small price to pay for not being murdered outside.
A big room in the fort with fortification walls near your entrance can also be handy if you are breached.

[MeaninglessGamerTag]

You need to make the siege take longer to get inside your fortress.

Have your entrance be a tunnel underground that has a a bit of length to it. The drawbridge is on the fortress side of the tunnel, the other side of the tunnel opens into the surface.

It also helps to put dozens of traps in there, your dwarves won't set them off but invaders will be decimated by them.

With clever use of multiple drawbridges and tunnel designs, you can make it so that during peaceful times your dwarves can take a slightly more direct route to the surface, but long enough to stop sudden ingress by enemies. After pulling a lever though your entrance is now "rerouted" to a much longer, trap filled corridor.

Most issues like this can be fixed by having your dwarves alter the landscape to be more in their favour.

You can even go to extremes of having an area that suddenly drowns entire invading sieges in magma if you want to engineer a WEAPON for it. Or drowning chambers, or pits that unleash undead elephants on them, or drawbridges on the surface that release captured forgotten beasts on the enemy army... There really isn't much of a limit.

[Skywalker]

Thanks all for the good tips !
Now applying them.........
<You need to make the siege take longer to get inside your fortress.>
That is a good point

[Skywalker]

I also read something about an "atom smasher" that can be constructed in the fortress to capture ( and destroy? ) a necromancer and his horde.
The atom smasher would then be a long bridge in the shape of a rectangle that could be lowered onto the invaders and crush them.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by John Skywalker:

I also read something about an "atom smasher" that can be constructed in the fortress to capture ( and destroy? ) a necromancer and his horde.
The atom smasher would then be a long bridge in the shape of a rectangle that could be lowered onto the invaders and crush them.

Yes.

Though, its limitations are still going to be large enemies, like dragons or elephants and the like. Check the "Drawbridge" entry in the wiki and, perhaps a wiki search for "Dwarven Atom Smasher."