Bay 12 Games Forum

A "killing room" full of green glass windows placed in a checkerboard pattern, where creatures to walk on the diagonals, allows melee fighters to see and close the distance to an invading siege squad of archers without getting shot.

There are flanking bonuses in the combat system. You can see "from behind" or "from the side" in the combat logs. This applies to archers as well. If you deploy a distraction (high defense) squad first, a killer (high-damage) squad can approach the gobbos from the side or rear to do more damage. OR in an underground "killing room", put snipers above and behind the goblins while a melee squad gets their attention from in front.

If your industry can produce lots of surplus ammunition, you can assign crossbows to "reserves" dwarves that are NOT trained as military and are always "inactive". "Reserve" squad dwarves will act like regular civilians, except that they will open fire rather than running away. You do not assign them to barracks or archery ranges. You can put them behind safe fortifications during a siege. Who needs accuracy when you have bolt spam?

A few questions:

Can the caste system be used to make a small percentage (say 1%) of the dwarven population belong to a special type of dwarf?

If so, I was thinking of creating a rare dwarf that could migrate to your fort, who possesses a syndrome that affects all dwarves (or perhaps anyone but the "carrier" dwarf type). This would give players the fun of isolating or killing an infectious dwarf, given that we don't have "real" diseases yet in the game.

Would the "carrier" dwarves have to leave behind gas vapors in the air, or is there a way for them to leave traces on things that they touch?

I tested this in the arena, and it is only rarely lethal, so giving it to the police could be fun. Of the dwarves that I tested, all died of punches or kicks to the head that crushed the skull into the brain.

FYI it appears that featherwood (from the good tree) training axes or "cotton candy" maces are decent police/fortress guard weapons. Occasionally one of the guards will get a combat opportunity and decide to go Mike Tyson or Chuck Norris on someone.

Quote from: Urist Da Vinci on January 20, 2011, 09:47:41 pm

More results:

I was able to float a chain (restraint), however the puppy attached to it didn't want to walk around.

Or ever again, for that matter.

I tried removing the wall under the restraint and puppy, and it fell 1z onto the floor below without injury. It was then able to walk around on that floor, provided that it stayed within the 3x3 area under the restraint floating above it's head (it was still listed as being chained and assigned). It only never moved anywhere when it was on the same z-level as the restraint.

It's easier to make a perpetual pressure plate trigger with a "tightly closed" door that goblins can open (but the puppy can't!), and a fortification or window to allow the goblins to see/shoot the puppy.

You could theoretically create a floating fortresses out of drawbridges, since they can be used as both walls and floors.

Yes, good idea.

Constructed ramps float as well

Quote

A section of the cavern has collapsed! It's a construction, and checks for support.

Quote from: NSQuote on January 22, 2011, 11:57:25 pm

ramps ... work when next to adjacent walls (according to the wiki). Drawbridges create walls, so...

Only real walls can be used by ramps. Creatures won't willingly walk onto floodgates, trees, or "bridge walls", but if they fall on them by accident, they can step off onto an adjacent floor.

I think it's Dwarf magic. It also fits with my theory about Dwarf magic being in their constructive abilities. For example, one pillar of soap can support a steel fortress, water reactors defy the laws of energy exchange, bridges can destroy matter completely, levers can operate things remotely with just mechanisms, a workshop made from just a single glass block can create rock furniture, metal weapons, or silk clothing.

Dwarves use quantum entanglement to link a pair of remote mechanisms. That is why, when the linking job is interrupted after the first mechanism is placed, but before the second mechanism is placed, the next dwarf to take the job has to run to the first mechanism to touch it again. At least, that is the behaviour I noticed back in 40d. In 31.xx, the mechanic won't take a lunch/drink/sleep break until both jobs are done.

There appears to be pus and blood pooling at my gate, but I dunno from where?

It gets washed off your dwarves when they walk outside into the rain.

What about...floating HATCHES!!!

I'm not near my game at the moment, but hatches can already be built over open space, so I suspect they actually bother to check for edge support. Maybe the same for grates.

I just realized that floating floodgates/"bridge walls" could be used in making a better "cave-in cannon" (devices that mix water and magma to form obsidian in midair). Some cave-in cannon designs suffer because the obsidian attaches to the weapon and plugs up the muzzle. Floating bridges or floodgates could support fluids without being able to support obsidian walls, so they couldn't jam.