Okay right, so I'm fairly new to DF but have managed to get a semi-sizeable base up and running with some fortifications and a (I hope) half-decent military. Anyways, we're nearly at the third year and haven't been attacked, raided or besieged and I'm starting to wonder why nothing has come along when I've read that everything is out to kill you! Is there a way to force people to attack you just for the hell of it?
Edit: I just got besieged by goblins, guess they had a bit of a treck and I slaughtered an elven caravan, so lets see what the consequences of that are…
Best Answer
There is a few reasons why you've not had anyone attack...
Normally attacks occur after your fortress has exceeded a certain value, and if you haven't yet passed this then you won't get many/any attackers. You can try engraving to raise the value of the fort, to cause some attackers to come.
Also, it's possible that the attackers are far far away, this means they'll take longer to get to you, sometimes a number of years can pass without incident, only to suddenly get attacked when you were starting to think there was nothing out there, and you'd recycled those walls to build more bedrooms...
And finally it's possible there isn't anything out there. Sometimes other civilizations will be wiped out, or simply never spawn due to the spawning mechanics (which in turn effects the world generation.)
To see if you've maybe been involved in wars/attacks/other things and not realised (maybe a dog scared off a sneaky goblin you didn't notice?) hit C and it'll show ANY civ's you've interacted with, be that by wars, or trade (and it'll show the dwarven civ you've come from).
If you're looking for a fight, dig deeper brave dwarf...