I started a second fortress with far more knowledge of what I was doing. I used the macro tool to create uniform bedrooms quickly, and stayed ahead of the population (for once). I figured out how to interact with caravans, and pissed off the elves by trying to trade some leather that were inside a wooden bucket (that they chided me for because hey that bucket was ONCE ALIVE). Sorry.
What I failed to do was set up a military, any sort of training, weapons, armor, or army, so when the goblin siege happened we were woefully unprepared. Not only that, but I had left the gates of my fortress wide open (ie: I had zero traps set) and I forgot that I mined away one of the support walls down on a lower level that lead to a flowing river.
Guess who flowed right in, turning the water red with blood.
Goblins. That’s right. Goblins.
BUT we survived! We rebuilt. We had a new mayor and things were looking up.
Until a wereass (yep, a were donkey..) showed up on the map. They wandered right into my base and turned into their typical self which happened to be a night troll. Looking for mates.
They bit a good portion of the population before they were killed, so once the wereass body was handled and things looked like they were calming down again (hah, things never calm down) shit hit the fan in a big way, and dwarves started dying all over the place.
That’s where I decided to abandon the fortress for now. Next time we’ll build up bigger, badder, better – maybe with some sort of military so we can handle stuff. Maybe we’ll lock the doors, this time, too. Maybe we’ll have doors at all (I just had staircases leading to our lush caverns).
Round three will be glorious.