Uh, yeah, I live next to a den of kobolds, how would I get my 8 champions to run in there and paint the walls with their thieving blood, without them actually attacking first? And don't say lava, I actually want the numerous pieces of junk inside the den.

I'd just steal from them until they attacked you.

But they might attack my vulnerable thieves... Arg, screw it, stealing junk it is. If it all backfires, I have lava at the ready.

EDIT: Scratch that, the lava backfired, and is now filling my storage room. The one at the top of my fortress. It has already eaten ALL of my metal and fuel.

heheh, fail.
You should have collapsed stuff onto them and set up archery ranges in their corridors etc.

Sharrap.
I was just premptively digging a channel for lava to flow through, and it, uh, passed through my storeroom. Which I didn't realize until the smoke started billowing forth. No matter, the kobolds still die.

Good good.

I currently have ~17 champions running about sparring their asses off, and an ambush arrived.
As normal, I stationed them at the gate and waited for the morons to arrive. My guys literally tore a limb or 3 off every goblin. The mess was enormous and the hauling of bodies took 3 minutes or so with 3 guys doing it. I got a crapton of clothes (quite a lot of yummy *600-*700 giant cave spider related goods) and such for trading out of it, and an unusually high amount of maces. I feel a little overprotected now.

I have 8 champions, who I am only now getting outfitted with semi-proper armor. Only 1 has a real weapon, and another one is confined to a bed with a broken arm. Every single one is a champion in wrestling. I don't even have any marksdwarves or anything yet.
I consider this a bit overkill.

Heheh, I just did the old draft a whole (big) wave into the army trick. I have 52 guys all up

I have ~50 guys as well, and I just recruited the leftovers from spring migrations in groups of 4.

Yeah, I usually have a fully functioning fort with my first dudes. I might add one or two more, but any new arrivals immediately go into training.

I seem to do the opposite.
Most new arrivals get all labors activated, and I only have a small, well armed army.

I rely on traps and convoluted mechanisms of death and have maybe one axedwarf for emergencies, sometimes not even that. It is so much more satisfying to me to see entire armies drowned right in front of my doors where I can later take all of their treasures for myself.

Typically a single stone craftsdwarf can keep a fort of 60+ people fed (just by trading all his crap for food). No need for farms, breweries, butcher shops, animals milling around...

Makes it easy to build epic fortresses on tops of mountains with no nearby wood/dirt/water.

Maybe that should be my next challenge; survive without trading (or slaughtering the traders). hmm.

Wow, everyone has their own playstyles that work for them.
It's good that the game allows that.
Weasel is nice to everyone, 90% of the players slaughter every elf...

I leave them alone, trade if they can stand me, but ♥♥♥♥ them if they need help getting through a goblin siege, they're on their own. Take their anti-forestation crap elsewhere to someone who cares.