The doctor has spent a lot of time thinking about ways to secure the fort. His lore research has run dry, and Fate and the new legendary minerhave taken over most of his digging duties. This has left old Taupe II with a lot of time on his hands. One morning, he gathers many citizen of the fort to present them with his new project.
-People, I have come up with the most awesome way to defend the fort against invaders. It's deadly, cruel, it won't kill entire sieges, but it will definitely get rid of a dozen or so invaders per assault. AND deliver the goblinite directly to the forge. This is the kind of project that would require several overseers to work, since part of the job must be done during winter. As such, this will not go through unless a majority agree to it!
The doctor signals his minion Maxcat, who enters the dinning hall and let a few pieces of canvas circulate among the viewers.
-This, my dear friends, is our entrance tunnel. The bridge has been ommited, so have the sealed tower entrances. But you can see the general layout of the tunnel leading into the trade Depot.
-The first part of this project involves slight modification to this tunnel. The section near the depot will be elevated by two sets of ramps, like so, close to each other. Then, it goes down one ramp shortly after, and this second set of ramp goes about halfway to the entrance. Building the ramps will be easy, removing the ceiling in the tunnel may require some care. We have just enough space to get those two levels up without breaching the surface.
-This magnificient plan is made possible thanks to Doomforests' special layout: a river flows above the fort's entrance, and drops into a waterfall to the east.
-The second part of this project requires winter. Once the river freezes over, we can dig a channel in the river, and install a set of floodgates. We'll need a similar hole with a floodgate on the bank of the river as well. Those two sets of floodgate will be connected to a lever, that will alternate the two. By flipping the river, we'll stop the river's normal flow and direct it to the side.
-Once the river is redirected, the water will go to the side, accelerate after going down a ramp, then continue toward the entrance of the fortress. If the ramps are positionned correctly, water will flow toward the entrance, but not the depot. Any potential invaders will be flushed toward the exit.
A bridge at the very entrance retracts, revealing a 3x3 hole that engulfs the river's flow and any goblin travelling with it. The goblins crash into a flooding room, about 6 levels below, and the goblins who don't explode on impact will slowly drown, leaving their belongings intact.
-Once everyone is rightfully dead, we'll need to evacuate all this water. A first floodgate will, on command, reveal a grate connecting to the caverns by a shaft. Water is discarded, sweet goblin loot is kept in the room by the grate. A second floodgate connects to the fortress using a staircase up, allowing haulers to travel only a few leels to retrieve the loot. It goes without saying that once the flooding chamber has been successfully filled and can drown our new visitors, the river should be redirected to it's original course. Less water to empty that way. If we are quick with it, we can probably close the bridge, stop the flow for a moment, and drown more goblins down the shaft by switching the device back on.
-Now, of course, the main weakness of this device is that it doesn't work during winter, because the river freezes. However, we CAN stockpile water in a chamber near the entrance (maybe closer to the base tunnel than this graphic shows, to avoid premature refreeze). All we have to do is pump a layer of magma under the reservoir's floor to keep this water warm during the cold season. Once the chamber fills up, we'll litterally encase our foes in ice, which is pretty badass. Unless of course we add a layer of magma under the drowning chambers, of course. We could also add a small magma arm, and make a third floodgate in the chamber, conecting to a pit, so haulers can incinerate goblin bodies after picking up their loot. Just forbid the bodies, unforbid the gear, and order the dumping of bodies once they are stripped bare.
Obviously making this device operational all year long is tricky, and will require extensive machinery. that's why i mention it last. Still, I think the first part is rather simplistic to set up, altho a bit time consuming when it comes to digging the flood chamber itself, because the shafts and the room itself are in stone. The surface tunnels, however, will be a piece of cake because they are made of dirt. Once the basic setup is complete, we'll have an hilarious way to obtain dead goblins.
The main issue i see with this device is that a forgotten beast from the upper cavern could path through the water disposal system if it can fly, but in this case we can just activate the device nonstop and crush the creature under a torrent of water until all its bones break and it drowns at the bottom of the underground lake.
So, who's in?
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Topic: The Hastening of Doomforests (Read 434088 times)