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[Malsqueek]

So, I'm putting up a big 55-tile wide, round mold for casting a tower of obsidian 28 Z-levels tall (goes all the way underground as well). I just recently learned of the FILO order of operations which was saving me time on walls, as well as building shorter scaffolds to speed up the straight portions of the circle.

Upon pulling my first row of scaffolds down, I learned that the FILO operations don't work so well with things when you take them down, and a weaponsmith paid the price for my ignorance (!!?). He might get better in a few years. I became more careful...

Early the following season I was another Z-Level up on the mold and was carefully pulling down floor grates one at a time and all of a sudden Urist McKittenButcher has suffocated to death. What?!@ He wasn't sparring, he wasn't outdoors. How did he suffocate? Did he finally choke on those dromedary cheese milkshakes he loved so much?

I was mystified, searched for several minutes but couldn't find the body anywhere, and went on with my day.

Several grates later Urist the Planter has died due to a sudden stop. What?! Had someone decided to take their own life by jumping from the top of the tower? Again, no body... Just one fewer mouth to feed. I was wondering if my site was built upon an old Olmann burial ground.

Mere moments later, I drop another grate and realize that not only were the grates falling from their suspended spot, but they were killing the dwarves who were walking into the center of the mold (currently purposed as a drink area, statue garden, and training area) as they passed underneath the grates.

Now, I regret my carelessness didn't take the life of a noble instead, but I learned some valuable information, and subsequently put some grates up lower down to catch the falling objects before they eradicate anyone else useful.

Now to dream up some inordinately, pointlessly, ridiculous contrivance for dropping grates onto the heads of invaders on command so that I can start exporting Urist McMallahan's Homemade Goblin Fries, extruded right here at home!

[Phil_Z]

that's pretty crazy, especially considering if you drop an elephant on a dwarf, nothing happens.

[Overspeculated]

So falling items hurt creatures, but falling creatures don't. Valuable.

[Aspgren]

brb. science.

... nope. I could not replicate it.  I threw four logs and a floodgate on the head of a dwarf. Twice.

He didn't flinch.

[Imp]

Any chance the dead dwarves were not walking below the work, but doing it themselves?  I've had plenty of dwarves willing to channel the floor out from below their own feet if their pattern of digging meant that was the only square left for them to stand on - amusing because they'll politely wait for any other dwarf to move before they finish the dig, but happily drop themselves.

I've not tested constructions or built grates to see if the same rule applies, but I suspect your butcher stood on the grate and pulled it from under his own feet, to soon after die from a throat or similar injury, and your planter did the same, just landed harder or had been higher up perhaps?

[Sphalerite]

I've seen similar happen.  The problem is that grates don't count as support for other grates, or for floors or other constructions.  Dwarves don't recognize this when building, and will happily stand on a grate and build a floor or another grate in an adjacent spot that isn't actually supported by anything.  When constructed the unsupported grate or floor will immediately collapse, often pulling the dwarf who constructed it along with them.  I've never seen falling grates or creatures harm they fall on, but haven't tested this much.

I've learned the hard way when constructing a structure of mixed grates and floors to build all the floors first, then the grates, and to do the reverse when deconstructing them.

[Quietust]

Actually, the game won't even allow you to build a floor grate that isn't properly supported, and building an unsupported floor tile will cause an immediate cave-in (which will get your attention whether you want it or not).

However, while a dwarf deconstructing a floor tile will wait until nobody is standing on it, the same does not happen when deconstructing a floor grate, so it's possible that one dwarf just removed a floor grate from beneath another dwarf, causing him to fall to his death (the actual message is "died after colliding with an obstacle", not anything about a "sudden stop").

[Overspeculated]

Actually, the game won't even allow you to build a floor grate that isn't properly supported

What about building one next to a bridge? You can do that with constructions.

[Sphalerite]

I'm fairly certain that DF will let you designate a grate to be built next to another grate (and no floors or walls), resulting in an immediate collapse when the grate is constructed.  I'll have to go check to be sure.  On the other hand I suspect a collapsing grate gets you the cave-in message, which you would have noticed.

[Aspgren]

Actually, the game won't even allow you to build a floor grate that isn't properly supported

What about building one next to a bridge? You can do that with constructions.

I tried that once. I wanted to build two bridges with grates between them. Sure I could designate the grates to be built, and I designated all of them at once... So there were many dwarves on the bridge when they failed to build the grate and all fell down the sides.

Good dwarves died for that knowledge. Take it to heart.

[Overspeculated]

Actually, the game won't even allow you to build a floor grate that isn't properly supported

What about building one next to a bridge? You can do that with constructions.

I tried that once. I wanted to build two bridges with grates between them. Sure I could designate the grates to be built, and I designated all of them at once... So there were many dwarves on the bridge when they failed to build the grate and all fell down the sides.

Good dwarves died for that knowledge. Take it to heart.

So it reacts as a cave-in? Not simply furniture deconstructing and falling?

[Malsqueek]

I'm actually fairly certain that they were not standing atop the grates, as by the time I realized what was going on, I was watching the grate removal pretty closely, and didn't see anyone fall. Additionally, they were only killing dwarves on the northern end of my build site, which is where the primary pathway was.

I'll keep a close eye on, as I've got about another 10 floors to go, and the accidents may yet replicate themselves.

[Malsqueek]

OFFICIAL SCIENCE DOCUMENTATION!

So, after much fidgeting, I discovered the following.

1: When a dwarf deconstructs a grate, they leave it siting in the square they were standing in.

2: I was designating new grates to be removed before the following dwarf picked up the grate they had pulled (usually they would get about 5 steps away and go "oh! i forgot something".

3: Those grates left upon newly removed ones will fall, despite being over top of the one that was safely removed.

4: Fallen grates do no harm to; Kittens, Tamed Rhesus Monkeys, Goblin Wrestlers, or Dwarven Peasants.

Prognosis: Dwarves were realizing that they had forgotten to bring their grates with them back to the stockpiles in just enough time to have the grates pulled from underneath them by snickering brethren.

[Archmage Ansrit]

Now to dream up some inordinately, pointlessly, ridiculous contrivance for dropping grates onto the heads of invaders on command so that I can start exporting Urist McMallahan's Homemade Goblin Fries, extruded right here at home!

I'll add it to my collection of signatures, win.