This run through I found a nice looking inlet with a river on one side and my house on some raised ground, and fences and ditches covering the rest. The gate is not wide enough to go across the water part, so I dug down as far as I could and placed half walls across the entrance so that they're entirely underwater. I can still drive my karve over the top of them to get to the protected river area, but enemies can't walk or swim past those walls.

So far during a raid, I've watched a brute stand there in the water hitting the submerged half walls and trying to get in. He did make it in eventually, but it took him awhile to do it. I could have easily shot him during that time, but I wanted to see if he could do it and how long it took. After the raid, I added a couple more layers of wall. So, it works, but it's admittedly a weak point in the defense. When the trolls come, I'll have to lead them away from that spot. Later on, I'll try upgrading it with stone.

Not perfect, but I wanted to try something different this time.

Originally posted by Zep Tepi:

This run through I found a nice looking inlet with a river on one side and my house on some raised ground, and fences and ditches covering the rest. The gate is not wide enough to go across the water part, so I dug down as far as I could and placed half walls across the entrance so that they're entirely underwater. I can still drive my karve over the top of them to get to the protected river area, but enemies can't walk or swim past those walls.

So far during a raid, I've watched a brute stand there in the water hitting the submerged half walls and trying to get in. He did make it in eventually, but it took him awhile to do it. I could have easily shot him during that time, but I wanted to see if he could do it and how long it took. After the raid, I added a couple more layers of wall. So, it works, but it's admittedly a weak point in the defense. When the trolls come, I'll have to lead them away from that spot. Later on, I'll try upgrading it with stone.

Not perfect, but I wanted to try something different this time.

I have to agree that having some sort of lip to your dock entrance helps a lot. You can't see within the water very well on the screenshot I showed but that whole garage area also has stone floors on the bottom of it and I stood at the edge of those floors and dug a little down with the pick at the entrance. Since I've done that, it's very rare for anything to manage to get inside the boat garage but I will often find things stuck swimming up against the edge of the flooring but unable to actually enter the garage area.

This is not a random spawn attack. This is a coordinated brute, shaman half a dozen greys and a couple greylings. They come from both sides of my base. And yes, it's eventually in shallow which is why they're able to walk up and bash it. But, they are SWIMMING well out into deep water to get around my walls. The boat is well within a workbench radius. Yes, I can likely enclose the harbor but here's the question. At my stage in the game of having done exactly TWO crypts, should I have to? I went out to tame a couple of wolves and every single night, this horde swarmed into a meadows zone to bash my wolf base as well. I never had issues like this this early in the game prior to 'hearth and home'. And after this experience, I'm assuming that's exactly where this game wants me to stay, at home.

A tip : dont use a raft , just wait to use a karver

The game does not differentiate against how new your character is for most things. All that really changes as you progress in terms of how the game treats you are the raids on your home, and some difficulty (starred enemy) changes as you go outward from spawn. What has changed is that enemy have had an AI tweak so the multiple enemy work together better. Before, the large groups of dwarves were just each doing its own thing, now they band up and sort of coordinate. The world is just more dangerous now, regardless of your 'level' or time played on the new character.

I am with you. I have not found a good way to prevent the occasional boat breaker from getting through without an enclosed and gated building. If you do that, they break the building or workbench or something else. I have moved to an earthenworks dock (raised terrain, sloped shore, shallow deconstruction area) with a workbench they can't reach (due to raised terrain) and I just create and destroy boats on demand. So far, nothing else really works 100% for me. I don't like breaking the boat every time, but the game mostly demands it.

You are getting invasions. They will go after what ever they can. Boats included. They want to get to you and will attack anything they can. Your rafts have been either near their spawn point or there is a path inside the base that takes them into the water. As they will look to attack you and will will look for a path as close to you as possible.

This happens can happen every 46 minutes iirc and (a day is 18) so every 2.5 days. There is a RNG roll on the back end with a 40% chance of a Invasion happening. You have to be in your base for this to happen you need to be near three base structures, Bed Campfire Forge for example. (walls don't count)

So what is happening is the Boat is the only thing they can get to and it is near the only way (I assume) into your moat.

Unless you close that off as has been suggested with a gate then it will occur every time they attack. The trolls, draugr, skeletons etc... will all do the same thing.

Personally I build one of three ways. either a fully enclosed base with my boat a little ways away but not where I have seen spawns happening. That way they are looking to attack the base and there is no pathing for them.

I build a gated harbour inside my walls

Or I build a Harbour where the boat is in deep enough water the mobs can't get get a footing to attack. (which is what I've done several times previous effectively.)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2407366362

Hilarious. Cant stop laghing on this one :D Hahahaha

Wish that happened to me too.

I had a similar issue but with necks annoyingly enough. It wasn't even an event. When I first settled there I noticed there were 2 areas somewhat close where necks spawned in pairs so I made an admittedly crappy dock away from those spawns and yet, every time I turned around 6-8 of them had congregated from who knows where and decided "screw this boat in particular". This cost me at least 6 rafts until I was able to make a krave. By then I had also made a ward so I instead found myself constantly running directly to my boat whenever the ward got pinged and sure enough, it was almost always the neck horde trying to murder my boat again. The krave + ward meant I stopped losing the boat to them, but I constantly had to go defend it as well despite having workshops on both sides of the dock area.

Now that I have reached the iron age, I went a tad overboard addressing this issue but it has FINALLY stopped. All it took was a large stone boat garage with an abundance of fire pits (most of which I hid, except the hearth and the two flanking the entrance that I use as lighthouses to guide into the dock during bad weather):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2619638908

Originally posted by Lupar:

Also add workbenches around your harbor, because those block mob spawning in the radius of the workbench.

Thank you. I have already noticed this. It's how I am going to one on one Bone mass.
Plus I was gonna mention just building a boat house, but without the workbench it'd be a smashed up greydwarf party house lol

Park your ship raft further from shore (within your swim distance).
The issue will be gone for good

Easy peasy. You build a c-shaped tier they can't get onto. Make it long enough your raft fits completely inside. Then, add gates to the open water side. Pro tip... add stairs to the shore side of the boat hold so you can easily get in/out of the water.

Also add workbenches around your harbor, because those block mob spawning in the radius of the workbench.

fires will do the same but dont have to be lit, so you can hide them with decoration

Store your boat in shallow water, it may get destroyed, but you can reclaim the resources.

or build it on a tiny island, with no spawns, and a portal to get there

as the above player write.
I build a wood wall around my harbour and a bit out into the water. and there is also a workbench there where the radius cover the ship. So far this method work really good.
My ship is parked in an area with deep water.. It wont protect against attacks but i think it help a bit with amount of creatues want to go there since normaly most animals do not walk further out into the water than shallow water, many wont go out into the deep water exept if they hunt something.