One unknown (and maybe untested?) feature is that you can actually rename your citizens. From the character portrait screen, click on the name, and start typing. The cursor is missing in all our text fields, alas.
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Really now. Maybe I can make the real Captain Boo.
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1 footman SEEMS to be enough to effectively defend your hamlet at the moment, (sometimes they need help, but usually no, I hope you guys add more enemies sin the future, right now it is very easy (which i guess is better then ridiculously impossibly hard, but i like challenge, and I am pretty agressive.
Im definetly renaming my footman. T something heroic, Alexis Bladeslasher perhaps? thats intimidating right?
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So Iâve just made a new world (old one was riddled with bugs/errors mostly construction related) and I think Iâve beaten the game already. 
Got me a nice little valley that I deforested. Havenât been invaded by a single goblin, and since buildings donât count towards the happiness meter (comfy beds and a campfire is all my citizens need) I feel like Iâm all set. What now?
XD personal game progression problems aside. It feels kinda odd that the safest place to set up camp would be at the bottom of a valley. Usually high ground is where you want to go for defendable locations.
So I was thinking, wouldnât it be scary if goblins could either A) make ladders or B) drop/jump down from ledges to invade the vulnerable valley cities?
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I think itâs time for Urist McSwordsman to relive his glory days!
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I especially like the idea of them jumping of ledges that is a very goblin like thing to do.
Brutus McHamfist, surely 
?
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Archers, trappers setting traps for goblins, footmen walking in pairs or more!
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Had similar experiences with this as well. Often times one villager would leave the town area to harvest wood or something, and when a goblin approaches, go into a loop of cowering and dashing madly out in the forest, which of course results in imminent death⌠They could escape, they have the speed to, but they always end up cowering and the goblins catch up, plus they still run very aimlessly and very often further into the wilderness. Even with defense mode, a villager would mostly just cower and take damage without much attempt at retaliation. This is likely one of the most frustrating aspects of the system as-is. Being as currently in Alpha 5 harvesting canât be cancelled, I lost half the town of 8 in this manner.
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In regards to the settlers freaking out in the woods and cowering to deathâŚwhat if people could be instructed to immediately run to a pre-determined âsafe pointâ by the player, if possible for them? Case in point, a lone settler is collecting wood in the forest, and goblins come up. Well now, he knows to run, freaking out TOWARDS the safe house in town. If the enemy(-ies) manage to land a hit, it could distract him, maybe cause him to panic in a different direction as if he lost his bearings. Maybe thereâs a higher chance of getting lost in smaller/solo groups of people (a team of lumberjacks could work together to discern the way back).
Some possible ways to limit this might be a maximum range for safe zonesâ calling/recognition distance (might have issues in the future, function could be useful for caravans and outposts), or having to somehow educate settlers/learn the ability via a researcher/tactician class. This action could also be disabled, just to keep more gameplay options open.
I wasnât sure if this idea justified its own suggestion thread (not too much debatable depth, really), so I ended up keeping it here.
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The town flag might be a good starting point for this, especially for hearthlings out in the wilds. Later on being able to designate a zone as a safe zone in case of attack would be preferable though 
.
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It might also be useful to have different degrees for this behavior/mechanic; if a goblin just happens to be wandering by but isnât attacking, I wouldnât want the settler nearby to go full-on panic and run all the way for the town center/fortress. maybe something like (strongest to weakest reaction to threats):
Immediately return: At first sign of danger, this unit will run to the closest (or specified) safe zone, ignoring items to be picked up or ordered commands to maintain the highest speed.
Return, but attempt job: If the unit has been ordered to collect an item or bring something back to town, they will attempt to still complete the task while trying to escape. If too risky (i.e. getting attacked), they will drop the task to flee faster.
Watch for danger, but maintain job: The worker will put more focus on completing the task than outright safety. If there are threats nearby, they will begin retreating towards a safe zoneâif the threats have moved away and left the job site, the worker will return to its task. (This could be the standard behavior.)
Prioritize JobâThis should only be chosen for the most critical of tasks, like setting up defenses or putting out fires (in the future). Even if getting attacked, the unit will try to keep completing the job. There could be a boost to courage (less running away), but encountering threats or ignoring hunger/sleep severely lowers their morale.
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Rallying to the town flag would be absolutely useful, and safe zones in the future as well. Though in general returning to the town flag is applicable for other situations as well. Even on the latest build occasionally units will be able to reach far-away collection points and items, but be unable to find its way back (perhaps no target?). Though in a sense I could see how people might get lost in the woods, of course. Perhaps their mind stat affects their ability to find their way back? Or maybe when roads are implemented in the future, would they know how to identify and follow them? This is in the case you have say, a remote camp where you are harvesting a fresh supply of trees or something.
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I definitely think roads should play a crucial element to thisâto bring in a possible combat situation, having roads could also mean that foes could potentially follow them and track the way back to your base or outposts. It could be a very interesting debate between either having the convenience of roads for travel, transportation, and trade or trying to keep your location more secretive, like an elven kingdom in the endless woods, dwarven mines, or hidden villages in the mountains.
Maybe long-distance wagons and vehicles can only move efficiently on established roads (with maybe a smaller âfrontierâ-class wagon that is made more for wild terrain), for one possible reason to still build roads despite the threat of more enemies.
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Hi, yep Iâve several battles with goblins in my game, the amount and frequency was just fine, i did not get to lead a charge against them,I didnât know how.
Things I would do to improve combats or my chances of fending off an attack,
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I would make it that when the battle horn is blown all the villagers retreat back to the village and form a circle around the flag in a defensive position and remain on alert for the attack.
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all villagers should carry a whistle which when blown will bring the footman or town guards, so when a villager is out of the town collecting resources and gets attacked they can call for help, whistles are made by the carpenter and everyone gets one, upgraded whistles have better range.
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al-thou we have no direct control over the villagers and footman/warriors we should be able to set up or lay out patrol routes, or even lay out designated zones where the footman will wander around, also having the ability to designate how many per area.
I quite often find that when my guys are attacked, the enemy always comes as a small group or band and my guys are spread out, even with them on alert for the attack they seam to always be just out of range to see the enemy, even when a fellow villager is being attack by an out numbering force.
thanks for reading.
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Just a little more feedback from my current ongoing project in Alpha 6.
With the implementation of the RPG footmen bonuses, the threat of goblins has become nearly insignificant for me recently. I currently have two footmen in light padded armor (neither of which are fully leveled yet), andâwith occasional help from âRed Alertââthey are more than enough for the attacking forces. I just had an army of 12-16 hit the settlement, and the settlers simply beat the living tar out of them.
Part of this might also be due to the health bonuses the other jobs are obtaining with their own levels. It seems like workers donât tend to panic unless their health drops below a certain percentage, which is getting bolstered with their higher levels. Meanwhile, the goblins seem to only benefit from greater numbers, but by the time they start to reach a more dangerous quantity, my soldiersâ power levels are nearly one-shotting them.
One other consideration I wanted to mention is goblins being confined to certain Y-planes. Until you make a ladder up or down to where a goblin camp is, the numbers seem to just keep increasing. Once a ladder (or stairs) are made, they all suddenly path to the settlement and charge. I think this accounts for at least part of the ongoing occurrences of the dreaded âgoblin hordesâ players seem to run into.
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Wow, no oneâs replied to this thread since my last post back in NovemberâI legitimately didnât expect to be the most recent responder!
Looking at the current situation of combat, I wanted to suggest potentially adding some early advantages (in regards to development) to certain weapons. Without adding too many new mechanics/animations/sound effects, I was thinking this diversification could be realized in the form of abilities (similar to the Settlersâ Job Abilities we currently have).
With certain weapon types, the unitsâ stats could be changed to reflect the weapon characteristics. Hereâs a few possibilities I was thinking of, trying to focus on what we have available (or soon-to-be-available).
Swords (Blade-based Weapons)
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âHack-and-Slashâ: Blade weapons (swords, axes, etc.) do extra damage to âFleshyâ creatures, such as zombies and goblins. Take 'em out!
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(speed diversity): different-sized weapons and designs can have differing speeds and accuracy. Will you go for the fast, accurate basic sword, or use a massive, powerful, but inaccurate two-handed sword?
Polearms
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âLong Armâ: The extra length of the weapon keeps enemies at bay, giving them a courage boost. Good for easily intimidated soldiers to become defenders of the law.
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âStay Back!â: Extra distance from their foe gives the soldier a lower chance to contract diseases and status effects (like zombification, which has been mentioned).
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âAnti-mount/Giant Prodderâ: (pretty much a given, considering the weapon typeâs history; quite useful for that big, goblin-controlled mammoth weâve seen in-stream a few weeks backâŚ)
Hammers, Maces, etc.
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âCrushing Blowsâ: The heavy weight and incredible striking force of these sorts of weapons make them great against âNon-fleshyâ creatures, like Skeletons. Possibly also for exoskeleton creatures, like spiders? (Weâve discussed them as potential additionsâŚ)
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âHeavy!â: The sheer weight of these weapons restrict who can use themâthey need a little bit of Body stat! Granted, this is a restriction, but it could be countered withâŚ
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âMomentumâ :The higher the unitâs Body stat, more damage they do with these weapons (and potentially swing the weapon faster?). Theyâll probably need the Body stat anyway, since the real hard-hitters in this class (especially two-handed weapons) would limit the use of a shield to improve their deflecting/defense).
While the Job Attributes are learned over time with leveling up, these Weapon Attributes could either be available upon equipping or through experience with the weapon type. Iâm hesitant to suggest the latter, since that might introduce too much leveling up for individual units. But mainly, the goal is to give lots of reasons to try and incorporate different weapons into your arsenalâgot Zombies? Break out the spears! Goblins, with Archers? Get Swords with Shields to close the distance!
Let me know what you think! A few of these might be a little extra work at the moment, but I could see a few them getting implemented relatively quickly at this point.
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Just a quick remark. I have this massive underground empire, you can compare it to the mines of Moria. Problem is that goblins and zombies tend to spawn in my underground fortress, which kind of defies the purpose of a fortress.
With zombies, itâs fine. Itâs even plausible, but not with the goblins.
Whatâs more they spawn on my stockpile, which causes half the items in the stockpile to be destroyed. Maybe you could make it so that certain enemies donât spawn underground and check for existing stockpiles.
Other than that, I am having a blast.
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I want to see a screenshot! 
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