I give up on visitors

[moleman122]

This is the third save file in a row where visitors have brought down my fort.

I've been playing since DF2012, and I've had issues with visitors in the past, but these last few games it feels increasingly not worth it to allow visitors. I like having visitors. Performances, socialization, etc. is all great generating happy thoughts, and it makes my fortress feel alive, but the cost is becoming too great.

The first time it was a bizarre type of conflict, not quite a loyalty cascade but similar, that resulted from prosecuting and arresting a visitor who was responsible for schemeing the theft of an artifact in my fort. As soon as the sentence was passed down all of the visitors of his faction started attacking my dwarves.

The last two times have been a different thing twice in a row. A visitor arrives. He is secretly infected by a werebeast bite, but not the original. He turns in my tavern on the full moon and massacres the fort until cut down by my militia, resulting in eventual tantrum spirals from them being effectively the last survivors.

Has anyone else experienced these problems? In particular the werebeasts transforming in visitable locations, the first one can be solved by isolating artifacts (which i've already done ever since that game).

[Flan]

Yeah they are very double edged. I guess that's why in all the fantasy stories the dwarfs had usually already come to your conclusion. I guess your idea of walling off the parts visitors go to in a place that doesn't matter so much is the only way until they add a werebeast/vampire hunter job who can sniff them out.

[Baronfuming]

I agree. Until more the justice system is fleshed out more with quality of life and automation it's not worth the micromanagement.

It's also annoying how there is no way to prevent them from just walking into your main fort. It would be one thing if you could build a tavern outside of the fort and keep outsiders there, but there's currently no way to keep it secure from visitors.

It is unfortunate, because sometimes you get cool and helpful visitors, like an elf risen butcher monster slayer that runs out and solos a dozen goblins during a siege, or a performer who is very skilled and knowledgeable applying for residency.

[HueSatLight]

I had a visitor show up at on the full moon, like 40 tiles away from a werecat showing up at the same time. They killed it easily, but got scratched. I spent the next month trying to get them to go somewhere isolated, so I could make a were-clock. It never worked, they only went to the general temple (I made one for their god, but they ignored it) and the tavern, and I had my whole military on standby there for the next full moon. restricted visitor access after that.
Dealing with potentially dangerous visitors is doable, but it takes focus away from other stuff you're working on. Next fortress I'll set it up better for visitors, just like I said last fortress.

[amade]

A tip for getting your visitors to move elsewhere: erase the zone they're in (but not completely, leave only the walls). This will force the visitor to go elsewhere.

If the zone is not too crowded and all other people in it are your citizens, you can paint the zone in a lockable room before erasing all other parts to force the visitor to the room. Coax the rest of your citizens to leave the zone before locking in the visitor to be dealt with later. This method can only be done on the same z-level because of how zones work.

[DrunkenDwarf]

I currently do not allow visitors via my tavern but still allow visitors via temples and guildhalls, in the hope I still get skilled visitors - without the fun!

[Dagmar]

The thing that solves this most readily is a strong military force of say, 30-40 steel clad maniacs. Early on, let's say when you're in the range of 25-30 dwarves, pick five of your toughest dwarves and put them in a fight team, then make a barracks roughly 10x7 in size (five armor racks and five weapon racks are optional, but it saves some headaches later) for them and set this as where they train (the axe icon). You could add a uniform and assign them weapons at this point, but mainly you want them in the barracks half the year practicing whatever forms of combat strikes their fancy because over time this adds up. By the time you reach 200 dwarves you should have at least two full squads armed with the best armor you can get them and a mix of weapons, and they should be training on alternating months (just so you only lose 5% of your potential workforce, instead of 10% of your workforce some of the time).

You should also assign a Captain of the Guard before you pass 100 dwarves, who should (eventually, but not right this second) be backed up by at least five guys who have been training in leather and rassling every other month. These guys will be your internal police force and wrestling is much less likely to involve fatal interactions with grand master brewers who have had a bad day and need to be chained up in a small room packed with masterwork everything-they-could-need for a relaxing spa month (prison rehabilitation actually works in Dwarf Fortress if you stock it well enough).

You should also schedule a work order to keep three stone pedestals in stock at all times. These you will use to put artifacts on display instead of just having them lurking about in a stockpile tempting thieves and increasing your insurance premiums without contributing usefully in any way. Artifacts are best put on display in popular temples which are marked as for "citizens and long-term residents only" which makes them incredibly hard to steal without a bunch of witnesses. Taverns and libraries benefit from allowing strangers in, but temples, not so much. Guild halls are a solid maybe, because you'll generally have your own experts around unless you've been munchkinizing (you did remember to set certain skills to 'selected dwarves only' in the Labor menu, right?). Since three artifacts in a broom closet (on pedestals) can pretty much satisfy the requirements for Grand Temple Complex all by themselves, artifacts are incredibly handy for when Urists come petitioning you for improved temples and guild halls. Until then, they can live out their lives deep in the middle of your fortress in a dedicated museum which also does not allow anyone but citizens and long-term residents. Then if someone was merely planning on stealing an artifact, you can just give them a mild scolding and send them on their way, but they won't be setting foot into a temple that disallows outsiders to snatch it without being caught and summarily assigned an unmarked spot in the corpse pile outside. ...and did I mention you need to put your artifacts on display?

The only reliable way to deal with the occasional were-visitor is to go ahead and add a drawbridge to the outside of your tavern (which should be on the outer perimeter of your fortress, not smack in the middle). If a were-beast freakout occurs, you throw that switch immediatelyp to just lock everyone in until either everyone inside is dead, or you've flagged anyone who was so much as scratched for immediate exile from the fortress, but you definitely do not re-open it until the full moon has passed and all combat has ceased, or everyone inside is dead.

If I sound cavalier about adding more choice lots to Dead Dwarf Storage, I'll remind you that dead dwarves don't spread lycanthropy, and there's always another migrant wave just around the corner. Also keep in mind that a "mysterious disappearance" is generally far less traumatic than a popular dwarf (or pack of feral minstrels) being seen smothered, chopped, and diced where half your fortress can watch it. If you have to just wall up a doorway and leave a tavern/temple/guildhall sealed up until everyone inside starves to death, well... that's also an option.