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Author Topic: Bridge fling should work better  (Read 507 times)

BurnedToast

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Bridge fling should work better
« on: April 05, 2008, 02:26:00 am »

I've been testing bridge fling, and right now it seems pretty unimpressive. dwarves stationed on the bridge in various places (near the front, near the back, near the middle) are dropped straight through the bridge, and occasionally off to the side 1 or 2 squares. In over a dozen tests (from various sized bridges) not once did it actually fling them farther then the end square of the bridge. Besides not making much sense (how do they phase through the bridge?) it's not much fun, either.

I think fling should be improved to work much better. A long bridge with a creature at the end should be shot very far and with enough force to splatter when they hit. Even if that's not possible (and really, I guess it does not make sense for drawbridges to raise that fast) they should at the very least end up on the other end of it instead of phasing through the solid bridge.

and before anyone starts up, I tested various quality mechanisms including masterwork - as far as I can tell mechanism quality has no effect on flinging at all. Even with masterwork mechanisms in the bridge AND the lever (and the lever made out of a masterwork mechanism too, with all linking done by a legendary mechanic for good measure) fling was still pathetically ineffective.

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mickel

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Re: Bridge fling should work better
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2008, 05:46:00 am »

It all depends on how fast the bridge opens, too, doesn't it? For some reason I can't imagine a bridge made entirely out of rock, and with mechanisms made entirely out of rock operating very quickly. At least not if you want it to remain operational afterwards.
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Kagus

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Re: Bridge fling should work better
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2008, 05:51:00 am »

We need our dwarfapults back...

Lazer Bomb

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Re: Bridge fling should work better
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2008, 06:12:00 pm »

Are you sure that the bridge is set to a direction, and not just to withdraw?
A drawbridge raises up like you would expect. a "withdraw"ing bridge slides into the floor. Or, they might be bugged...
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BurnedToast

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Re: Bridge fling should work better
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2008, 10:47:00 pm »

I'm totally sure I had it set to raise in a direction, not withdraw. I did test withdrawing bridges too, just out of curiosity and they had the same effect as a raising one (i.e. basically no effect other then stunning).
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Yourself

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Re: Bridge fling should work better
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2008, 10:48:00 pm »

During sieges I would set a pull lever command on repeat attached to a draw bridge which would crush and fling the goblins and trolls.  I was also pretty underwhelmed with the flinging.  It seemed like they didn't fly more than 4 or 5 tiles in somewhat random directions.  Usually they'd get flung a tile or two and get crushed by the bridge when it came back down.  That part I was quite satisfied with, but the flinging just didn't feel very fun.
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Keiseth

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Re: Bridge fling should work better
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2008, 01:32:00 am »

The random direction aspect is all that bothered me. In the first 3D version I made the entrance to my fortress accessible only by flingification. Two dwarves sat on the bridge and the lever was pulled, but it had appeared as though they flew the wrong direction and went down the hill.

I didn't have much faith in them actually reaching the entrance, anyway. Sometimes you just need to cause meaningless pain to your people.

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