Bay 12 Games Forum

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/‘salmon-cannon’-allows-safe-migration-around-hydroelectric-dams

Hallo folks!

One thing that seems very dorfy and in keeping with the design of many of my forts is hidden doors and secret passages. I doubt I'm alone in this. In game terms, the idea is that a hidden door functions exactly like a door, but with a 'workshop profile' that allows the door to be used only by certain dwarves or professions. For invaders, the door cannot be destroyed or pathed through unless a member of the invader's caste has previously 'seen' the door being used by a dwarf - at this point, the hidden door is known and becomes vulnerable to building-destroyers and can be pathed through like an open door. This could be very useful for windy secret tunnels for emergency escapes in seiges, for sending armies through to ambush an invading army from behind by popping out of a small shrub, 'fortress of solitude' type throne rooms for nobles, etc.

Some ways of designating such a feature...
1) Allow a 'hidden door' to be built using a door and two mechanisms on top of a previously built smooth or constructed wall
2) Allow a 'hidden door' to be built in empty space provided the empty space is surrounded by rough floor (for example a 1x1 channel outside) using a floor hatch, two mechanisms, and a rock block.
3) As 2, but inside, surrounded by smooth floor, using a statue
4) Allow a secret door to be built on top of a previously constructed throne which now becomes impassable to all except the owner
5) As 2 but using a table

You could generalise this to allow a hidden door to be built onto any piece of constructed furniture or wall but these are the most obvious 5 that spring to mind.

Cheers,

Daniel

There has been alot of talk before of minecarts, carts and wheelbarrows of various kinds, and trains. However to my incredible suprise no one has used that magic word that fills my heart with joy: F U N I C U L A R



Whats the hells that? A funicular is one of the oldest types of train around - at least some of the oldest were built by monks so they wouldnt have to walk to monasteries that were on massive mountaintops the-better-to-be-closer-to-god. Nowadays when we're not driving around in satan-spawn-automobiles we power funiculars with diesel and gasoline and post-1600 they powered them with steam, but these guys? They used water or sewage. Now thats dwarvenly!

A funicular is a type of car or cart attached to rails that goes up and down a steep mountainside or mine shaft. Its attached to a rope which is attached to a pulley at the top and the other end of the rope is attached to another cart. Now the carts are roughly equal, all you need is a heavier load at the top and you have a working system. Often this was provided by a mountain spring, sometimes a horse or other animal, or even sewage.

The suggestion:
-A cart is an inventory-item that allows a dwarf to carry more inventory items than otherwise. For instance, 5. Its pushed by a dwarf and makes them move slower.
-A funicular can be built on top of a slope. Its made from two carts, two chains or ropes, a mechanism and two levers. The pathfinder treats it as a path with an, e.g., +25 pathfinding bias. A dwarf who takes this path (the slope) moves to the same square as the cart and a tick or two later is at the other end of the slope, having swapped places with the other cart. The dwarf goes on their way.
-It should be possible to make rails at a forge. Rails can be 'built' next to a funicular and join to adjacent rails like walls. They require mechanisms (to thread the rope through) and cause funiculars to change direction - as long as they continue to travel down.
-Cablecars using the same principle, but using rope and built in the air, would also be quite cool and in keeping with the time period. But unlike funiculars, theyre not very dwavenly.
-It should also be possible to make horizontal - not vertical - funiculars, though these require mechanisms at both ends and the mechanisms must be powered. Hey presto - we have a functional, non-steam-based, non-steampunk, way-pre-1400 train system!
-Finally, I had a random idea about using them for automated transport of items. It would be quite cool if you could also build an 'item drop' out of a mechanism. When placed on top of a hole in the path a funicular takes, these cause a trap door in the cart to open, depositing the contents of cart onto the z-level below. Funiculars could be designated in the same way as piles as an alternative to being used to convey dwarves. Thus, when Dwarfy McStonehauler realises a funicular station is just a few tiles away from the stone he's hauling he'll drop the stone into the cart and send it on its merry way. It'll climb back up the mountain and when it passes over the stone depot the stone will be automaticly dropped into the waiting stone pile below.

So whaddya think? Its a much simpler way of adding vehicles than many other suggestions, its easy to implement, and its wayyy pre-1400 tech.

Daniel