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[zuglar]

Hi all,

I have an idea I'm testing out, but a distinct shortage of building destroyer test subjects at the moment:


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Essentially, we have an entrance stairwell on the left (e.g. exit from the pit under my dodgeme catwalk), a long (25+) corridor running along the middle (truncated here for brevity), and a split airlock on the right: the top corridor has a drawbridge and the bottom one has a retractable bridge above it. Both are linked to the same repeater, so at any given instant only one exit is open. A good repeater can switch them exactly every 100 ticks.

If I understand correctly, even the fastest creatures in the game can't travel 25 tiles in the time it takes a bridge to close, so the gobbos and their trolls will always see a path but never actually reach an exit. Line the corridor with traps, put some fortifications, and you're golden.

The pedestrian version has to be an exit rather than an entrance so it doesn't trap dwarves, pets, caravans, etc. None of those has any business being at the bottom of a dodgeme pit, so they should be safe. Also, demoralized enemies stop trying to enter your fort, but they will always try to escape.

A second version is reversed: the split airlock is an entrance (only accessible to fliers) which just happens to [appear to] be the shortest way into my fort. This time, no friendly creature has any means to get there, so menacing spikes on a repeater are a very nice choice for dealing with trap avoiders.

These grinders also have the advantage of always welcoming new visitors: no matter how many are inside, there's always room for one more.

One question tho: I'm getting mixed signals on whether building destroyers can take out retractable bridges. Does anyone have experience with this?

[Mura]

From my understanding, bridges block line-of-sight to themselves, so they cannot be targeted by building destroyers.

[itg]

Dragonfire will melt most bridges, but no other creatures can destroy them.

[Urist_McDrowner]

Dragonfire will melt most bridges, but no other creatures can destroy them.

Dolomite FTW

[Iosyn]

Front on nothing bar dragonfire can destroy a bridge-- but I think someone said BDs can get them from the sides once they're raised.

o____o
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o===oT

Say a troll manages to get to the side of it, like that.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Dragonfire will melt most bridges, but no other creatures can destroy them.

Dolomite FTW

Dragonfire can destroy STEEL bridges, supposedly even COTTON CANDY. Dolomite does nothing.

[zuglar]

Dragonfire will melt most bridges, but no other creatures can destroy them.

Dolomite FTW

Dragonfire can destroy STEEL bridges, supposedly even COTTON CANDY. Dolomite does nothing.

Dolomite is one of the only materials with a melting point higher than dragonfire, which sits at about 15000 urists, IIRC. I don't think anything in the game can get through it. Nethercap might also work?

[Loud Whispers]

Dolomite is one of the only materials with a melting point higher than dragonfire, which sits at about 15000 urists, IIRC.

It sits at 40,000 Urists hot.

[zuglar]

Front on nothing bar dragonfire can destroy a bridge-- but I think someone said BDs can get them from the sides once they're raised.

o____o
 |     |
 | __ |

o===oT

Say a troll manages to get to the side of it, like that.

Right. But I'm worried about the retractable bridge... any word there?

[Quietust]

From my understanding, bridges block line-of-sight to themselves, so they cannot be targeted by building destroyers.

Actually, building destroyers outright ignore bridges when looking for stuff to smash up.

Front on nothing bar dragonfire can destroy a bridge-- but I think someone said BDs can get them from the sides once they're raised.

o____o
 |     |
 | __ |

o===oT

Say a troll manages to get to the side of it, like that.

The only way a creature can destroy a bridge is if the creature is exceptionally large and the bridge attempts to atom-smash it. As mentioned above, building destroyers never attempt to destroy bridges, since those bridges could be, well, bridging a gap they might be otherwise unable to traverse. Of course, they will destroy floor bars/grates/hatches, but that's a reported bug.

Dolomite is one of the only materials with a melting point higher than dragonfire, which sits at about 15000 urists, IIRC.

It sits at 40,000 Urists hot.

Dragonfire is 50,000 degrees, not 40,000 (if anything, it's 40,032°F). Prolonged dragonfire will melt adamantine.

[zuglar]

Dolomite is one of the only materials with a melting point higher than dragonfire, which sits at about 15000 urists, IIRC.

It sits at 40,000 Urists hot.

Eh? Where'd you get that from? The wiki says it's only 14,000... and dolomite is 16,200. Adamantine is actually safe, too.

Edit: The dragon raws posted on the wiki don't say anything except "dragonfire" (no temp). In any case, nethercap can't change temp, so it seems safe even from 50,000...

[Loud Whispers]

On the bright side at least Dolomite is at least *more* dragonfire resistant than other materials. Not that it matters much...

[Quietust]

The wiki says it's only 14,000... and dolomite is 16,200. Adamantine is actually safe, too.

Edit: The dragon raws posted on the wiki don't say anything except "dragonfire" (no temp). In any case, nethercap can't change temp, so it seems safe even from 50,000...

The wiki was incorrect, and I've just updated it. The actual temperature was determined in this thread, and it was confirmed there that it will also melt adamantine after prolonged exposure.

Any material with a FIXED_TEMP is 100% immune to dragonfire.

[zuglar]

The wiki says it's only 14,000... and dolomite is 16,200. Adamantine is actually safe, too.

Edit: The dragon raws posted on the wiki don't say anything except "dragonfire" (no temp). In any case, nethercap can't change temp, so it seems safe even from 50,000...

The wiki was incorrect, and I've just updated it. The actual temperature was determined in this thread, and it was confirmed there that it will also melt adamantine after prolonged exposure.

I guess that explains why dragon ichor boils at 52,000 degrees...

Any material with a FIXED_TEMP is 100% immune to dragonfire.

So nethercap and.... nethercap? Or is there something else with that strange property?

[Lich180]

Good Armok... dragonfire is a little over 4 times as hot as the surface of the sun? Yeah, totally didn't know that. Funny how it can be blocked by a XXWooden ShieldXX...