What would you do other than have them hunted year-round like what they're doing already?It's a wonder this village hasn't already fallen long ago. Every year, goblins come in mass, and every year they never do anything to hinder their movement, other than throw people at them.![]()
They could've built a wall around the village from which they could volley arrows from behind. Or a moat. Or barricades. Or at least a row of felled logs (misc garbage even) if they had little time to arrange something at the last moment because they wasted the previous years doing nothing. Something, anything really, is better than the nothing they've done all this time.What would you do other than have them hunted year-round like what they're doing already?
In chapter eight, a god said that specific world's theme is happiness and removing wars among the same species. I have been wondering if that forced pacifism has something to do with the absent defenses of this town. That being said, in this chapter we got heavy cavalry, which was as militaristic as you could get in the old times. Perhaps the author never had such deep thoughts.They could've built a wall around the village from which they could volley arrows from behind. Or a moat. Or barricades. Or at least a row of felled logs (misc garbage even) if they had little time to arrange something at the last moment because they wasted the previous years doing nothing. Something, anything really, is better than the nothing they've done all this time.
I'd bet on the latter.In chapter eight, a god said that specific world's theme is happiness and removing wars among the same species. I have been wondering if that forced pacifism has something to do with the absent defenses of this town. That being said, in this chapter we got heavy cavalry, which was as militaristic as you could get in the old times. Perhaps the author never had such deep thoughts.
Unc thinks he's Gobta fr frGob thinks he's him 😭
Not sure what a "row of felled logs" would accomplish against such superior numbers. Expecting actual fortifications around a village is unreasonable tough. It's not just a matter of building them, but maintaining and manning as well. You're basically asking for whatever fuedal lord to shell out on having every settlement on his lands be invested into like a large city and have a garrison maintained within. It's just not feasible. Historically, fortifications around large towns financed themselves via the taxes gathered from everyone comming in, a village can't hope to generate nearly enough trade to imitate that.They could've built a wall around the village from which they could volley arrows from behind. Or a moat. Or barricades. Or at least a row of felled logs (misc garbage even) if they had little time to arrange something at the last moment because they wasted the previous years doing nothing. Something, anything really, is better than the nothing they've done all this time.
A row of felled logs could accomplish a lot, actually. It would slow down the march of those superior numbers, more so if any of them trip while walking or climbing over those logs, especially while they're under attack. If they have a means to set them ablaze, even better. Not only would it impede the march, but it could also contribute to killing the would-be attackers, provide defense, draw attention, and create good fertilizer for them to use in their fields later.Not sure what a "row of felled logs" would accomplish against such superior numbers. Expecting actual fortifications around a village is unreasonable tough. It's not just a matter of building them, but maintaining and manning as well. You're basically asking for whatever fuedal lord to shell out on having every settlement on his lands be invested into like a large city and have a garrison maintained within. It's just not feasible. Historically, fortifications around large towns financed themselves via the taxes gathered from everyone comming in, a village can't hope to generate nearly enough trade to imitate that.
If the goblins are still always a problem, despite having bounties on them all the time AND being massively culled each year that means they largely outbreed just about anything you could do about them. What's worse, they're scattered and only gather when a leader appears, by that time they're already marching on you. It's like trying to stomp out all the ants in the forest. There are actual RL examples of animals that have been a similar nuisance to control population-wide, like the deer in Japan, who famously increased their reproductive rate when under hunting pressure and actually grew in population when they tried to cull them, with modern methods to boot. I imagine they have a similar situation here, they just multiply faster than you can kill them.
While I agree with most of your thoughts, I'm not as sure the leadership of the village would believe they are truely warranted. As stated previously there are only a few hundred goblins that attack at a specific time of year. And until now the yearly attacks have been adequately handled.A row of felled logs could accomplish a lot, actually. It would slow down the march of those superior numbers, more so if any of them trip while walking or climbing over those logs, especially while they're under attack. If they have a means to set them ablaze, even better. Not only would it impede the march, but it could also contribute to killing the would-be attackers, provide defense, draw attention, and create good fertilizer for them to use in their fields later.
"Expecting actual fortifications around a village" isn't unreasonable (though that depends on what you mean when you say "actual fortifications"). Something must be in place to protect the village, or it can't exist. There are "finance-free" options for fortifications requiring little maintenance that instead cost the villagers' labor. Asking the villagers to protect what's theirs is completely reasonable.
As for your last paragraph, I believe that falls under the line from Kaarme, "Perhaps the author never had such deep thoughts," which I agree is most likely the case.
The problem here is that this is a lot of work and you'd need to know exactly where to set this up well in advance, or it could easily become a double-edged sword. Notice that they only knew a day or so in advance where exactly to meet the advancing goblins and picked a spot far enough from the village so that stragglers don't just break through and immediately attack it. As for defense, no it could at most be an impediment, hopefully to the attackers only.A row of felled logs could accomplish a lot, actually. It would slow down the march of those superior numbers, more so if any of them trip while walking or climbing over those logs, especially while they're under attack. If they have a means to set them ablaze, even better. Not only would it impede the march, but it could also contribute to killing the would-be attackers, provide defense, draw attention, and create good fertilizer for them to use in their fields later.
What kind of "finance-free" options would that be? Even if they use timber, it's going to require more of it than the entire village can supply. Same for labour and someone needs to know what they are doing. You can't just build a simple wall or palisade and call it a day - that's useless for such a scenario. Fortifications WILL be breached when stormed with overwhelming numbers, their job is to allow the defenders to do a lot of damage to the enemy force with relative safety and hopefully keep them at bay. They are going to need places to shoot from with good cover and as previously pointed out, a lot of men to take those positions and swap out with others. So other than building and maintaining this kind of extensive system, you'd be turning most, if not all the village residents into a standing garrison if you don't provide you own - even if you ignore the difficulty of training and supplying them with weapons and provisions, who's going to run the village? It's not a weekend job. If it were, every medieval village would "protect what's theirs" this way, since they all faced the threat of raids from either bandits, mercenary bands or enemy armies."Expecting actual fortifications around a village" isn't unreasonable (though that depends on what you mean when you say "actual fortifications"). Something must be in place to protect the village, or it can't exist. There are "finance-free" options for fortifications requiring little maintenance that instead cost the villagers' labor. Asking the villagers to protect what's theirs is completely reasonable.