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[pasanax]

Hello, I am sorry if this topic was discussed before, I am still new to this forum.

But, i would like to say something that came into my mind. I always imagined the idea of being able to go outside the boundaries of your fort, but i understand that is quite hard to accomplish. But, what if we could send dwarves on expeditions or missions outside our boundaries in a kind of ,,off-screen'' mode. Lets say, you can send 20 fully armed dwarves on a mission to kill some monster, or to destroy the goblin fort, they than leave your boundaries and after a few months or a year you get news of what happened on the mission. So maybe you can read a log of what they were doing, where they were going, what they encountered and maybe if they return home they bring some nice loot or whatever their mission was.

I often have some 30 veteran dwarves just sitting around, patroling base, training... and even when the siege comes, my traps do all the dirty work for defense. I would just like to see a system where we can do more with our squads, maybe even send them to attack another fort, or join an invading army, or just do some exploring. We couldn't see all the action, but atleast we could read about what happened!

What are your toughts about this? Cheers

[VislarRn]

First, welcome to the forums!

Second, I'd recommend you to make yourself familiar with development goals of DF because everything you talked about are already planned features. Next update (probably coming next month) is first time in the DF development history when we get introduced feature of sending dwarves outside the boundaries of your fortress.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Yep, come the next release (lets say...end of July...maybe) you'll be able to make squads to go out and:
 1) Search for and retrieve artifacts (whether or not they belong to your civ...)
 2) Rescue kidnapped children
 3) Generally raid a site (presumably ranging from 'steal some stuff' to 'getting into fights' depending on how well armed you are).

There won't be any specific 'go kill this monster'. 'go invade this site' yet, but it's a start (actually invading will requires armies which we don't have yet). There'll be a map of the outside world to help you choose places to go and get reports from returning squads too.

The release in general sees artifacts being made by other people (either made or designated). Entities and families laying claims to artifacts (causing or stopping wars). Adventurer groups retrieving artifacts for entities (both npcs and yourself, of course). Display cases for artifacts. Spies infiltrating sites to discover the location of artifacts (including the ability to play as a spy by introducing yourself as someone you're not). A new bunch of jobs like peddler and prophet to get npcs wandering around a bit more (to help spies move around more easily I suppose). Invaders demanding artifacts from you before attacking. Kobolds with real sites, poisonous pets and traps (so it's more fun to go retrieve artifacts and other stuff they've stolen).

Think that's about it. Weapon traps won't crash either.

[pasanax]

Oh wow, what a time to play dwarf fortress i am so glad that this release will be so soon!

I wasn't aware of the dev page, i am a relative newcomer to DF, started playing a year ago ago maybe. I've checked the dev page, and man... this game just keeps amazing me more and more

[bluephoenix]

Oh wow, what a time to play dwarf fortress i am so glad that this release will be so soon!

I wasn't aware of the dev page, i am a relative newcomer to DF, started playing a year ago ago maybe. I've checked the dev page, and man... this game just keeps amazing me more and more

It is indeed a great game and will get even better.
You mentioned you have traps, I just wanted to warn you that in the current game version 0.43.xx there is a bug with traps, if a trap component gets destroyed from "wear" it will crash the game. Just beware.

[Tristan Alkai]

There are a few objectives I would like to see from sending mostly workers into the wilderness, with military along for the ride as guards.  This is not the same thing as the military expeditions I have been reading about in the development log. 

A lot of these ideas will probably end up waiting for the final implementation of wagons, although the current version seems adequate, with the exception of being able to build them myself.  In the meantime, pack animals can also carry goods. 

Example objectives:
0. Hunting expedition: Send some marksdwarves and a butcher to handle any edible animals that they shoot.  Marksdwarves are also very good for defense, regardless of the nominal purpose of the expedition, so hunting along the way would be a useful feature and side project, but probably won't be the main purpose of most expeditions.  It would also be handy for dealing with those annoying dwarves that want exotic meats. 
1. Logging camp: I have used up a lot of the trees in my zone (or made the mistake of embarking on a site with a limited number), so I send woodcutters off the map to fetch some.  This one was common in RL, especially when the logs could be sent home ahead of the loggers by floating them down a river. 
2. Sand collection: I want more sand than the caravans are bringing, so I load up a wagon with food, booze, and empty bags, and send them to the desert where I know some will be available.  There might also be a version for clay, but the interface displays areas that have it, so probably not necessary. 
3. Scientific expedition: A Naturalist (scholar) wants to go somewhere to study the flora and fauna, and would like some guards.  Maybe an herbalist to collect interesting plants and a mechanic to cage some of the beasts.  The animal trainer may go along as well, or may stay at home and deal with what the expedition brings back. 

Once ice becomes more useful, it would also be a valid target for these expeditions.  Other ideas will probably come as the game develops. 

All of these ideas also have a trading version, carrying trade goods to a permanent site in a relevant area.  This version requires at least one trader, probably separate from the main broker, and the difficulty of training the Appraiser skill meals this part is very much luck-based.