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[Crashmaster]

It was news to me. First;

Casting magma-proof mechanical devices that are already connected in obsidian does not hinder their operation. The rest of the nethercap axle, the obsidian gear assembly and the entire green glass screwpump in the example are encased in cast obsidian and still operating. The cast-in gear assembly is still switchable. Usefulness debatable. Possibly secure pumping form dangerous sources but I didn't check if it offered protection from building destroyers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Same works for bridges.

I tried to make a raising drawbridge that would operate as a portal through cast obsidian (cuz that's what looks like happens when it's animated) but dwarves couldn't path over the bridge/wall tiles. Next I wanted to make improved pillbox shutters with a raising drawbridge and cast, smoothed and fortifications-ified wall sharing the same tile.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

While it compactly and remotely controlled ranged engagement of the enemy it was worse then fortifications at keeping the invaders (and also the goose) actually out.
So not totally successful as originally planned but it seems that this gives us the ability to make tiles that are switchable between impassable and passable to only invaders and pets. Whether you use cast walls or fortifications determines whether your dwarves can see through it when it is open but has no effect on the passage of invaders or pets it seems. Squads cannot be ordered over the fortifications/ bridge and no jobs will be taken past it.

Shutters still would work on a raised level but the way to abuse this would be messing with pathfinding. I can seriously see using these in various ways in my next entrance. You could allow invaders in without the possibility of any dwarf pathing outside for any reason. You could build a winding path around 10x10 atom-smasher bridges built into solid 10x10 cast walls and run them on repeat without fear of loosing a dwarf (screw the pets) while invaders path right down the center through the bridges. I can see how it might make dealing with migrants arriving in difficult biomes easier as well.

Though of course this is only tested on 31.25, and I didn't bother with doors, hatches or invincible operational obsidian-cast nethercap windmills and such. Don't know what effect on traders or liaisons - probably bad. Further !!SCIENCE!! I leave to the board as I've got a lot on the go already.

[Thatdude]

That so so awesome. Have you tested what happens when you mine out the obsidian/whatever again? I doubt it'd be much interesting but still something to know.

[Girlinhat]

Let me try and get this straight?

Build steel mechanisms, gear assemblies, and nether-cap axles.
Submerge them in magma.
Add water to cast them in obsidian.
They are now inside solid stone, but still function perfectly?

Just off hand, the biggest aid I can think of from this is being able to hide your machinery.  You can literally bury it in the walls and have fully functional systems that are invisible.

Now, just need to see if building destroyers can reach them or not...

[Crashmaster]

They are now inside solid stone, but still function perfectly?...

...Now, just need to see if building destroyers can reach them or not...

Yup that's it. Everything works fine but you can't attach mechanisms or additional mechanical components to cast-in items. I didn't have any trolls handy so I'm curious about building destroyers too. Regarding axles; is there a specific point on a long axle that has to be accessible to detroy it? i.e. a 10-long axle with only one tile sticking out of the obsidian - could it be destroyed from the one accessible tile. Also I didn't check if a partially cast-in axle could still have additional mechanical components attached at the free end.

...Have you tested what happens when you mine out the obsidian/whatever again?...

Yeah, I mined out the first fortifications to re-cast them as a solid wall for testing. I think that it did not matter that the drawbridge was up or down when the same space was mined but I'm not sure due to the uncertain state of 1-tile long drawbridges. Apart from being able to mine out the obsidian to access the bridge again it didn't seem to make any difference.

[MrSparky]

This is probably already common knowledge, but it's related so...

A lowering drawbridge will compress obsidian. The obsidian will spring back up when the bridge is raised. I haven't done much testing with this but it could have interesting uses.

[Gentlefish]

Ultra-moat.

[Girlinhat]

This is probably already common knowledge, but it's related so...

A lowering drawbridge will compress obsidian. The obsidian will spring back up when the bridge is raised. I haven't done much testing with this but it could have interesting uses.

Wait what?

[MrSparky]

This is probably already common knowledge, but it's related so...

A lowering drawbridge will compress obsidian. The obsidian will spring back up when the bridge is raised. I haven't done much testing with this but it could have interesting uses.

Wait what?

Orthoclase Bridge, raises to West.

Raise bridge
Pump in magma on East side.
wait.
Pump in water over magma.
There is now a thick wall of cast obsidian where the bridge comes down.
Lower Bridge
Dwarves can walk over bridge to mine the cast obsidian on the east side. Cast obsidian wall under bridge is "compressed"
Raise bridge
The cast obsidian wall that was "compressed" is now a wall again.

This is the extent of my testing.

[Crashmaster]

This is contrary to my experiences even though it's made in the same way...

For larger then 1-long bridges; The graphical display of the bridge and obsidian wall shows the wall when the bridge is up but does not show it when the bridge is occupying the same space.

In my short testing (albeit in 31.25) I found that the non-displayed walls sharing the same space as the lowered bridge are impassable to dwarves, just not (previously-caged) invaders and pets.

Are you mining your way across the bridge/ wall tiles or can your dwarves just walk right through the solid cast obsidian over the bridge to the other side right away? This was one of the things I was looking into initially; a completely secure portal through un-breachable solid rock but it didn't work for me.

[MrSparky]

This is contrary to my experiences even though it's made in the same way...

For larger then 1-long bridges; The graphical display of the bridge and obsidian wall shows the wall when the bridge is up but does not show it when the bridge is occupying the same space.

In my short testing (albeit in 31.25) I found that the non-displayed walls sharing the same space as the lowered bridge are impassable to dwarves.

Are you mining your way across the bridge/ wall tiles or can your dwarves just walk right through the solid cast obsidian over the bridge to the other side right away? This was one of the things I was looking into initially; a completey secure portal through unbreachable solid rock but it didn't work for me.

I just left it long enough to see that the miner had walked onto the bridge and the mining designation was flashing. If it makes a difference the bridge in question was 3wide(NS) by 4 long(EW).

EDIT: I'm going to start a new world and do some testing on this right now.

EDIT: Bah! I was wrong, what I saw was the dwarf standing on the unencased end tiles of the bridge and digging what he could reach from there. I still have a bit of testing to do with this, though.

[Gentlefish]

The whole fortification thing is interesting though, creates a fun way to divert enemies through a series of ballistae. Or through effective channeling beneath to funnel them into dwarf-proof deathtraps like minecart grinders or simply a series of cage traps. The possibilities with an invader-only walkway are astounding.

[flabort]

The possibilities with an invader-only walkway are astounding.

Yeah, OK. So  you dig a shorter path to your fortress then your main entrance, put in some of these, and some nasty traps, and enemies WON'T find another way in (AKA your main entrance)?

I'd be interested in combining this with a "trip wire" to lock invaders into a big space dorfs can't reach automatically, to be encased at your leisure. Let's see... you'd need a pressure plate to activate it, a floodgate and a second pressure plate, and... Yeah, I don't know how to do a trip wire. But if I'm right, and a small dry hall off the cistern with a plate activated by water can be rigged up, then a single activation of the floodgate will cause the hall to "permanently" flood (bar pumping out), and permanently lock the invader-doors.

[Gentlefish]

We need to test pressure plates. If we can get those to work under obsidian, then we can lure them into a seemingly-small path, then bam! Send them up the bomb, so to speak. All while being dorf-free and hopefully trader-free too.

Also, maybe we could use this to phase traders into depots as well?

[silverskull39]

How does this trick affect fluids, I wonder? Either way this is a neat trick. I'll be using it in my next fort.

[eternaleye]

Hmm, depending on whether traders/diplomats can path through this it could potentially make just about every trap-based defense system VASTLY simpler.

If you provide one, 3-to-5-wide path for friendlies that's 3x as long as the (numerous?) paths that are set up like this, and diplomats path like dorfs (i.e. see this as impassable), you can just make the entirety of the murderpath a 1-wide 'stupid repeater' dodgeme-grinder that drops them onto cagetraps, which you can sluice the cages into a safe area using water flow. At that point the only thing left are NOSTUN (and possibly FLYING) beasties, so you make the rest of the murderpath (below the dodgeme-grinder, and leaving a path to the Great Indoors) a nice, long, plain hallway that obsidianizes-and-drops more frequently than any creature can traverse it.

It even completely nixes the 'diplomats warn their armies about traps' thing.

If you don't want caged things, you can just make the entire path past the blocker a time-clocked obsidian-based grinder - two paths, long enough to not be traversable before obsidianizing, one of which is always open. Nothing hostile survives, ever.