I think that the ideas of spoilers in a game has no story and no 'you win!' message is kinda dumb. especially since everyone else comes right out and says it. but I personally wouldn't mind if they could destroy constructed walls.
I'd just go on and say "[inert name of deepest spoilers]", but it seems like most people refer to them as clowns, the circus, etc. Or maybe they're just the ones who talk about it the most.
And yes, it probably would be good if they could smash constructed walls. Cotton candy would be much harder to get.
There are reasons to be leary of it: etc
Part of that is the REASON I mentioned i (eg. sieges are easy to wait out), part of it is you not realizing what I said. ONLY CONSTRUCTED WALLS. ONLY REALLY TOUGH ENEMIES LIKE CLOWNS AND DRAGONS AND OTHER MEGABEASTS.
I think one way to have safe and fair digging gobblins is to make it a dedicated labour for them, for one. Notice the siegers have a miner, then you need to quickly figure out how to kill that guy so the rest of the goblins will file into the death trap. And most likely the hardness of the stone would figure into how quickly the goblin miner works. Don't want to risk your beautiful artwork being ruined? Dig deeper. Or turn off invaders, though that's the easy way out
I like this idea. Another way to avoid your art being dug out? Put corridors to the surface that DON'T have masterful artwork of plump helmets on their walls.
You could also have it similar to how the OP suggested, and special enemies only be able to break through constructed walls. That would mean people wouldn't have to worry about their artwork being irrevocably ruined, and it eliminates the overly cheap tactic of walling oneself in. You could still theoretically wall yourself in, but that requires either natural wall cave-in or magma casting.
Or maybe go further and only let them smash walls that are up to X depth, where X is their [WALLSMASHER:X]'s X. Then one could simply buid two- or three-tile thick walls...which seems more realistic.
Another, probably more realistic/better way, would be to give goblins engineers. Then they could build siege engines, like a siege tower to get over a wall, a temporary bridge to cross a gap, a battering ram to break down the drawbridge used as a front gate, etc. Could still have sappers, guys who dig under walls to make them fall down and such, though maybe sappers can only dig through soil. Would provide quite a few options to breaking defenses than dwarven-esque miners. And the enemy engineers would allow craft players to use engineering and fortress design to still win. For one, siege engines would take time and materials, so the goblins would either have to bring their own wood and stuff, or harvest it from around the map. It would definitely change above ground designs, as you would need either a roof to prevent siege towers from going over the wall, or soldiers on the wall to deal with the problem.
I really like this idea, but with the caveat that they only have so much stone/wood/whatever, and it takes a while for your fort to be worth it.
By which point you should be able to set up at least three elaborate goblin (and possibly dwarf) death traps.
It certainly make all those Troll Architects and Siege Engineers more sensible if they could deconstruct walls.
It doesn't explain the Doctors, Administrators, Lawyers et al, but at least it would make those guys more useful.
Yeah...ha ha. Seriously, it would make sense...and a bit of smart planning by players means that if one modded trolls to smash walls (they're not clown/dragon/FB tier), there would be overhanging walls to collapse on the siege.
