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[Kaos]

Minecart Airlock
it basically involves 2 track stops (no tracks required) with 3 tiles in between, the tile in the middle is a pit, and both stops are set to ride on a set amount of days or when the cart is full of certain items.

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S+.+Sthe pit separates one section of the fort from another, so a dwarf rides the cart from the first stop and it jumps over the pit onto the floor tile on the other side of the pit and then stops on the track stop, then it can be rode back.


5 tiles is the minimum setup for the cart to jump over the pit, with 3 tiles the cart falls on the pit.
one of the stops has to have at least 1 day more of dealy to avoid the same dwarf to ride-in and out again.


if one of the stops is set to push and the other is set to ride you get a one-way entry system:
dwarf 1 rides in, dwarf pushes cart back out, dwarf 2 rides in, and so on...


I was trying this as a way to have automatic air-locked outposts for gathering resources outside the fort while keeping the fort closed to invaders and keeping dwarves from randomly wandering outside...


For instance, my plant gatherer can be gathering plants and my woodcutter can be falling trees outside the fort, they bring the plants and wood to a small stockpile outside, then they load the items on the minecart and ride over the pit into the fortress to eat/drink/sleep...


At least that was the original idea.. in practice they fall sleep in the middle of the countryside since they can't path to the beds inside the fort, drink water from the brook since they can't path to the booze and eat the raw plants or vermin since they can't path to the meals, of course they are not smart enough to ride inside, enjoy all the fort has to offer and then ride outside to keep on working.


I was thinking on setting up small quarters outside with a bed, table and chair, meeting zone, and quantum stockpiles with commodities delivered by minecart... but it kind of breaks the simplicity and they idea of not having stuff that invaders can path to....

[Gigaz]

I still like the setup and I plan to use it. With this it is possible to isolate one dwarf who's only job is it to load a minecart at a far away place. Otherwise, 5 haulers might immediately run to the minecart filling station and make the whole minecart useless.

[Di]

I remember people saying that dwarves wouldn't ride a cart if the path is disconnected which is the case here. I wonder what happens if you place a pair of empty route points for which they'd fwoosh through.

[Kaos]

I remember people saying that dwarves wouldn't ride a cart if the path is disconnected which is the case here. I wonder what happens if you place a pair of empty route points for which they'd fwoosh through.

They do ride it, I have a working fort that says otherwise, the setup is extremely simple, don't even need to have tracks, just the 2 track stops, and the route.


They ride over the pit just fine, they push the cart over the pit just fine, what they can't do is guide the cart, they move to the next tile and when they get to the cliff they cancel the job.

[Tevish Szat]

using "Push" this seems like a tempting way to make a tantrum resistant fortress.  You could use burrows, but where's the fun in that?  Instead, have various sections of fortress quarantined by two methods: an airlock with forbidden doors at both ends and a "point" in the middle, and a minecart airlock.  Goods can pass through the fortress as needed by pushing minecarts, but dwarves can only pass through at the whims of the overseer: conscripted in squads, stationed in the tunnel, and allowed out the other side.  A tantrum spiral would be limited to one "mini fort" since dwarves would not socialize with members of other mini forts.

The real challenge would be sorting your hauler and soldier classes by profession: they need to be in a fortress segment with the right workshop should they mood.  Easy if you're just using it for an "Inner" and "Outer" fort, more difficult if you're segmenting your inner fortress into many.