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Topics - Gag Halfrunt

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DF Gameplay Questions / How to set up "instant-acting" overseer trigger?
« on: October 23, 2020, 10:14:09 am »
Is there any reliable way to set up a machinery that overseer command can trigger "instantly"?

I'd like my WidgetWobblerTM to reliably start Wobbling its Widget promptly when *I* say, with delay time much shorter and more nearly constant than waiting for some dwarf or critter to get around to pulling a lever or tripping a switch.  For example, a big drawbridge could atom-smash (yawn) or launch (yay!) a bunch of (non-huge) enemies... if it can be triggered quickly while they're ON (or under) the bridge.

Mechanisms and switches can do wonderful things... if you're willing to wait for somebody to wander over and get things started.  Overseer whim can forbid or unlock a door or hatch instantly... but that doesn't have any useful effect until somebody wants to go through or around.

I realize response time could be much reduced most of the time by confining a dwarf near a lever.  Sometimes, though, that dwarf will take a nap or lunch break and response will be no better than usual; we'll have to wait for him to finish his nap or lunch, or for somebody to stroll over from East Anglia.  A pressure switch separated by a door from a farm animal isn't much better; they seem content to stand around waiting for the movement mood to strike.

Best I can come up with so far is to uncage a goblin at the end of a narrow hall behind a door, pressure switch, and cage trap:

wwwww
wgdpc
wwwww


Goblin prisoners seem pretty eager to run for the exit promptly when the door is unforbidden.  Seems a bit kludgy to rely on sentient behavioral quirks, and requires catching a suitable enemy.

Got any better ideas?

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DF Gameplay Questions / How to keep fish from clogging water fluid logic doors?
« on: November 07, 2017, 01:27:21 pm »
Is there any way to keep vermin fish (e.g. salmon) and their remains out of a water system supplied from a brook or river?

Playing 0.43.05 again after some hiatus, trying to implement some logic to automate a minecart system to load and lift deep magma up to shallow workshops.  Because that's the problem I want to solve.  Never mind whether it's a problem worth solving.

My minecart system uses a loading pit of 2 tiles above a larger drain sink and a single-tile sensor well.  One tile of the pit, with a grate and route stop to receive a dropped minecart, lies over the raised drawbridge that serves as drain valve and magma destructor.  The other tile, unfloored with hanging pressure switch to detect high fill level, lies above the sensor well, behind the drawbridge, with pressure switch to detect low level in the drain (implying no magma remains in the loading pit above).  The loading pit is isolated between a floodgate controlling magma supply and a door to allow egress (when dry) by pushing the minecart toward the next route stop, from which it can be guided back up to deliver its magma load. Track switches signal when the minecart rolls to drop into the pit and when it comes out of the loading trench.

After some FUN learning nuances of fluid logic SR latches (Water:Door:Switch:Door as described in wiki) I devised a robust 3-latch system to fill the pit when the minecart leaves (close egress door and raise drain drawbridge, open magma floodgate magma high), drain when the minecart has arrived and filled (lower drain drawbridge), and let a dwarf in to push the minecart out when drained (open egress door when magma level low).

Turns out "robust" may be a good adjective for the logic, it doesn't fit the physical implementation.  It worked a couple times... until some salmon remains settled at one of the latch doors to keep it from closing.  My water supply comes from a brook, plumbed downward to flow up through grates to keep big critters out... but not fishable vermin.  I built facility to drain for maintenance, but this vulnerability does spoil the desired "fire and forget" operation.

I can't see how a water fluid logic system can be made reliable against such vermin and their remains.  Don't some vermin (e.g. turtles) spawn spontaneously in any pool of water?

Drawbridges in place of doors for the latches would operate against such obstruction, but they're too slow to operate by the brief pulse from a minecart crossing a pressure switch (The magma level switch signals are longer; I suppose I could redesign for longer signals from arrival/departure switches under route stops).

The salmon remains that crippled my system might be an artifact of my supply system.  That may be preventable (how?), but live vermin can still get in the way.  Can a live salmon delay a door's operation too long for a momentary pressure switch signal to close?

DLS





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