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[Sean Mirrsen]

I've been looking at the weapon traps. You can load crossbows into them. And then load the crossbows with bolts. What's the point of having a crossbow trap if it will only activate if you step on it?

You should be able to make "manual attack trigger" traps, or "operated weapon traps". When you place one, you choose a direction. It is a physical object, like a wall, and also acts as a support, requiring blocks for construction. You also need a mechanism, and up to ten weapons, like a normal trap. Only it is linked to a lever or a plate, like the retractable spikes. Activate the trigger, and the weapon will perform an "attack" in the selected direction - an adjacent square for melee, and the selected direction (with scatter according to component and weapon quality) for ranged weapons.

Spring traps are something else. The game's physics are fun to play with, so why not use them to deal damage? Flingifying bridges are all good, but why not have a springloaded trap that catapults the victim off into the distance?

Also, I'll put this here as a suggestion, even though it can probably be counted as a bug. Why doesn't a broken neck or spine completely paralyze the target?

[Bouchart]

The main advantage of a crossbow trap is that it will never jam and never needs cleaning.

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Align]

If you put 10 crossbows into the weapon trap will they fire independtly, each getting a chance to hit(determined by whose Marksman skill??), or as a single arrow with a x10 modifier?

[zagibu]

Logic would say they fire idependently, since you can mix weapons, so Toady would have had to explicitly write code to "combine" the weapons of the same type, which I think is highly unlikely. Not because he is a lazy man, but because it doesn't make sense to write code for a behaviour that doesn't give any benefits, and is unlogical and unrealistic.

[Sean Mirrsen]

The xbows will all trigger at once, resulting in 10 arrows stuck in the victim. Other than a use for bows (that can also be used in these, for some reason), ranged weapon traps are more or less useless now, except that, as stated, they do not require cleaning.

I even tried to make a "spear-bow" and stick that into a "retractable spike" trap, but, alas, it didn't work. Would've been fun though.  

The main advantage of the autonomous traps over conventional infantry is, of course, the lack of manpower involved. The disadvantage - each weapon can only hold 10 rounds, or one stack, whichever is larger, after which it must be reloaded. Also, being a physical construction, the trap will be subject to destruction by building destroyers.

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Dwarves tend to run away from building destroyers. Also, said dwarves tend to shoot continuously, while a trap would only shoot as often as its trigger is pushed.

[kamikazemoose]

quote:Originally posted by Sean Mirrsen:
<STRONG>Spring traps are something else. The game's physics are fun to play with, so why not use them to deal damage? Flingifying bridges are all good, but why not have a springloaded trap that catapults the victim off into the distance?
</STRONG>

I like the idea about spring traps. Maybe it could be possible to chose the direction they spring stuff. Pointing it toward that wall/cliff/chasm/river full of carp would be awesome!

[Romantic Warrior]

quote:Why doesn't a broken neck or spine completely paralyze the target?

It's possible to break a vertebra(the bone of your spine) without damaging the spinal cord(part the CNS). Most people would still call this a spinal injury, so it's not entirely unrealistic.

[ February 17, 2008: Message edited by: Romantic Warrior ]

[Asehujiko]

You could link up 15 traps on one side of the map and put the lever on the other. That way, you can set it to repeat(> fires the bolts, < reloads the bows) and shred an army without even waking up your marksdwarves. Also, if we ever get wall traps, we can just fortify one end of the hallway and use it to mow down anything that enters(50 crossbows constantly firing will kill anything).

[Sean Mirrsen]

Crossbows need to be manually reloaded. They use up ammo. They can hold one stack of ammo each, or 10 per weapon, if the stacks are small. Btw - good use for all the single-bolts.

And yeah, you can break somebody's neck and leave the spinal cord intact. But would the injured be, realistically, able to move and attack somebody without causing further damage? Currently, the game just makes you unable to hold anything that's not worn, and forces you prone, that's 1/3rd of normal speed. It's still rather unrealistic. If grasps and stances are disabled (not to mention breathing), I suppose full body paralysis is presumed, but the game somehow fails in its implementation.

Also, you could rig a corridor full of retracting spikes, and link them to a lever set on repeat. Same nice effect, and no reloading involved. I just want those Indiana Jones-style "walls that shoot arrows" traps.

[ February 17, 2008: Message edited by: Sean Mirrsen ]

[Romantic Warrior]

quote:Originally posted by Sean Mirrsen:
And yeah, you can break somebody's neck and leave the spinal cord intact. But would the injured be, realistically, able to move and attack somebody without causing further damage?

That depends. I can already see a dwarf carefully holding his head in the proper don't-kill-myself-through-broken-spinal-chord-induced-asphyxia position while stabbing a gobbie.

But, yeah, not too realistic.

[numerobis]

I like the idea of more explicit trap construction (pressure plate or lever + crossbow enclosure).  Also... lever-activated ballista traps?

[Draco18s]

quote:Originally posted by benoit.hudson:
<STRONG>I like the idea of more explicit trap construction (pressure plate or lever + crossbow enclosure).  Also... lever-activated ballista traps?</STRONG>

I'd like to see this too, it's one of the reasons I don't use *bows in traps.

Balistas: reminds me of a kind of medieval anti-seige weapon reffered to as a porcupine.  I've never been able to remember what it was really called, someone's found it for me at least once though.  Basically a balista-like device that fired hundreds of bolts (crossbow bolts) through small holes in a castles gates.  Had to be drawn by two horses.  Each bolt typically had enough inertia to pierce through three or four guys before getting stuck-in.