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DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Clown Rush vs. Squirt Gun (cart autocannon demonstration)
« on: June 24, 2013, 01:14:26 pm »few questions about this. How exactly does the water drain from the firing range? How pressurized does the water have to be (and how to build up water pressure, but that's not exactly on this topic and something for my own research), and how feasible is this trap. I mean, for real. Why should someone do this versus just the old dodge-me trap+ballistas.The level above the firing range has pumps pulling up through floor grates. Water is pulled up off the range continually by the pumps, then flows out and down to an aquifer.
You need enough water pressure to keep up with the firing rate and keep the trench full. A four barrel cannon running at maximum speed will (possibly depending on the flow pattern) outpace a single pump pulling up from an aquifer. (This one, using modded "magmatankers," runs slower than optimal.) The easiest way to keep the trench pressurized is to have a large amount of water one level below, continually refilled by an aquifer, then pulled up into the trench with 2-4 pumps.
Minecart/water traps are a lot of work to build, but far more effective than siege engine traps, work against flying enemies that don't fall in pits, never jam and require no dwarves to operate or ammunition to be constructed. Even with normal minecarts, you can laugh off sieges without risking a single dwarf. Even most megabeasts don't have much of a chance. It's pretty game-breaking in that sense, though worth building for the fun of making a giant preposterous defense monstrosity. If you download the savegame, unpause, and watch the carnage, the point comes across.
I built one using a single dwarf in a Hermit game. It took him about 20 years by himself to finish the project, but he also had to do everything else in the fortress, too.
The biggest feasibility issues I run into for these traps are space and complexity. My example here is 20-30 tiles long for the cannon barrels and another 40-50 for the firing range, plus whatever bridges/cage traps/etc you want to have. Also, you only have to misplace one ramp or drop one minecart at the wrong place during construction and suddenly instead of a cannon, you have a meat grinder that can murder half your fortress while you try to fix it. Once built correctly, you can lock it away and never have to touch it again, but especially if you have to fix a mistake after putting some carts in the system, it's dangerous.
I'm working on a magma version.Bwahahaha! Can't wait to see it.
How long does it take water to freeze if it has been launched this way?I don't know how fast water freezes. While flying, it's not "water," but it's actually a generic projectile "glob" that happens to be made of water. When the glob hits something, it turns back into 2/7 water (7/7 for the silly modded globs) at the point of impact. At that point, it's water again and freezing physics probably start being applied at that point for any transition to ice.
Does it just freeze the second it leaves a subterranean tile, after it hits something and coats the ground, or does ice form in mid-air?
