Bay 12 Games Forum

I tried being a Space Cat once.



It did not work out.

I'm also seriously considering the menagerie defense.  Specifically, trapping and training up animals.  Usually I abhor cage traps, given how bloody effective they are, but, eh.  My current defense is seriously lacking.  Perhaps a few caged gobbos being disarmed and beaten up could help.  Um... how do you disarm a caged gobbo?

Repeatability is simple: build the spears into an Upright Spear trap and link it to a repeating lever.

And yes, it would train shield and weapon skills, as well as dodge. Flying objects -- be they fired, thrown, or launched -- can be either swatted away (weapon skills), blocked (shield or armor, depending) or dodged. The frequency of each of those depends on the skills the victim trainee already possesses, so if you have a Legendary Axedwarf with no shield skill equipped with both an axe and a shield, he's much more likely to "swat aside" flying objects than to block them with his shield, further training his already legendary skill while neglecting the one you'd want to train up.

That said, I don't think current combat mechanics allow more than one dodge/block/parry at a time, so a thousand training spears hitting at once would probably favor Armor User training and/or break every bone and bruise every organ in the target's body.

Danger rooms are done into oblivion.  But I'm seriously liking this thousand-spear minecart shotgun.  I will see if I can manage this tonight.  Though I will not use training spears.  Can they be made out of glass?  Hrm.  A thousand spears may take a long time, but it would make one hell of a trap!  This needs to be done if for no other reason than that it can be done.

I have also had this problem.  I prefer pots and don't use barrels.  In fact, I tend to sell the barrels completely off when I get the chance.  (Yes, I trade with gits, I like exotic animals.)

I use no mods.  As to the zombie whales?  I've no idea.  Can they be domesticated and war trained?  I imagine, given their size and lack of ability to die like a respectable creature, would make them an asset in this sort of situation.  Especially if this setup is used to push enemies off a narrow bridge and down onto some spikes tiki torches for the murderfest party.

And risk obsidianizing your war bears?

Absolutely.  First, an enemy invasion, death arrives at the door.
Second, flaming counterattack with angry immolated war bears.
Third, commemorating the successful defense with the adornment of the main dining hall by obsidian bear statues of remarkable quality.

It's like poetry.  With death and bears.


It'll have to do until I can figure out a way to get my kittens and rooster militia to spar.

Nah, the gap by the fortification wall was so the cart would drop out of possible bow range by whatever might be standing right next to it.  Want the carts to be recoverable yet out of potential fields of fire.

But I'm scrapping the complete idea above.  Excepting the flaming war bears which I WILL do at some point, because at this point it's a serious matter of form.

But no.  Now, I've got a nice setup in my head that I badly want to build.  If I'm correct, it can fire at rapid speed, continuously, and keep going until I turn it off.  A recent post I recall;  Noted that a cart load of water hits with the power of a boulder.  If I set up the landing zone and the firing area so they're part of the same artificial water table, and load the cart by having it go into a divot, and use a water wheel reactor to power rollers, it should do the trick quite nicely.  Just a few gearboxes (those things are the cat's unforsaken roar, as we're wont to say 'round here) attached to levers to enable and disable the power. 

Water machine gun.  I like the premise.  "The Baron has made a demand!  Bathing is now MANDATORY and UNAVOIDABLE.  For the sake of cleanliness and survivability, each Dwarf will be issued a brand new shield made of soap before entering the chamber."
"

Wait, wait.  Wait.  Ok, so the cart has to hit something, not necessarily a wall, to launch the war bear cage.  Then for the bear to be turned free, it must hit another wall.  So if we went with the above setup noted in post three, we could cram one cage with one thousand war bears into a cart.  Cart goes down long ramp track, through the magma divot, flies into the gap and strikes the empty cart.  Then the KiloBear cage would strike the fortifications and shatter, propelling Deca-Centi-Bruinite munition through the fortification and impacting directly upon the enemy.

I will try this.

I may also flood the Fun room with a little water, to quench the bears as they fall, thus preserving their lives, still permitting bad tempers due to modest scorching.  The smoke and steam would also make fleeing difficult for the enemy.  I would assume.