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[§k]

I have a minimalist minecart swimming pool where dwarf rides the cart into a 4-tiled lane with =< 6/7 water each tile.

It used to work well, and even trained a mason to master swimmer. However, as more and more dwarves have babies, problem emerges. Report about dwarven baby(not dwarven child) being hit by minecart constantly appears. Fortunately, most of them only get bruise.

What should I do to make the swimming pool run safely again?

[Aristion]

Ignore the problem. You are training the future soldiers of your fort; bruises are nothing to them.

[§k]

That's because they are lucky! Outcome of minecart accident is very unpredictable.

[utunnels]

I think maybe that is because dwarven babies are considered individual dwarves occupying the same tile as their parents, the parants are not actually carry them so they can be hit by mine cart.

[§k]

You're right.

After observation, it turns out that one would put his baby on ground when he get on the cart. Sometimes the baby is placed right on the rail.

[Thisfox]

"You must be this tall to ride"
.... No, wait, that wouldn't help, they're DWARFS. Hmm.

A creche might be the safest option. Or not letting your dwarves ride when they have recently spawned.

[Max™]

Oh, I see what the problem is, you need to make sure the parents put the babies down farther along the track so the cart hits hard enough for them to skip across the water several times, understandable mistake.

[§k]

The swimming pool won't operate until the youngest baby become child.

Since the child-cap is 10, there's a baby wave approximately every 12 years, while no baby is born in the interval. People will be enjoying the swimming pool again in less than a year!

[§k]

Oh, I see what the problem is, you need to make sure the parents put the babies down farther along the track so the cart hits hard enough for them to skip across the water several times, understandable mistake.

It isn't a bad idea, actually. This is a way to launch dwarven baby to a given place, which is more or less useful.

If they're launched across a channelled-out empty space and stopped by a vertical wall, they are safe from "skidding along the floor"(the chief threat to flying dwarf), and as far as I know, "slamming into obstacle" deals no damage at all. If they are lucky enough to survive a feather wood minecart hit, they should be totally intact after the process.

I think someone must have already made such device, if it's feasible at all.

[Max™]

I love starting to work out through schematics in my head and realize I'm trying to design a method to skip kids into a wall using minecart impacts for propulsion, while having the kids survive the process.

I mean, if all you want is a dead baby in a hole, there are lots of ways to accomplish that... a living baby is a different matter entirely.

[Naryar]

Put all the parents into a burrow that does not include your minecart swimming pool ?

[pisskop]

Babies are apparently considered to be riding the parents as mounts.  Which explains how they could get hurt.
  Babies are much smaller than adults, and with the relative buffing of gravity-related damage I can see a baby getting hurt.

[mardouille]

Can someone post the schematic of this minecart ?

It seems like a good project for someone like me who doesn't understand how to design minecarts.

[§k]

Can someone post the schematic of this minecart ?

I learnt that from the wiki:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.34:Swimmer#Minecart_training

Edit: now I know why the "minimalist" pool in my fort is dangerous. One should follow the wiki version.

[Skullsploder]

This is actually an excellent thing. Just make the swimming cart route a U shape rather than an O shape, so it has a start stop and an end stop, put them at least 2 tiles apart, and make it so that the dwarves "guide" the cart from the end back to the start - or even ride it back through the pool! But the point is, If you have a featherwood minecart bashing babies every once in a while, without killing them, it conditions them early - this is an excellent addition to dwarven childcare! I am implementing this in my fort, like right now.