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[ZebioLizard2]

Not sure if this has been suggested, but I haven't seen anything. Now that we have many more Z-levels along the lines of such. Isn't it possible to be able to build more ways of accessing things down deeper, or across caverns without needing to just build floors/stairs. Some suggestions

Rope/Chain: Able to allow dwarfs to climb downwards and upwards, needs to be attached to a base location in order to firmly secure it, able to extend down by adding more of each. Maybe 3-6 per rope? If using rope, has a chance to snap if to much is being brought up down. This idea would be able to be adapted to adventure mode as well, so that one can scale large mountains that have no ramps. Or deep into caverns.

Pulley system: We have a pump system in place already, why not something that would allow for items to be able to be brought across the entire spectrum of the Z-axis? Being able to bring stone up into a fortress from down deep without having to have dwarfs drag the heaviest type of stone would be able to save some time, and give some good experience for pump operators early on.

Elevators: Being able to move up and down locations at a faster pace then being able to walk, whether single elevators, or possible huge 5x5 elevators, using chains and mechanisms to be able to bring down things, whether it be storage elevators that are able to bring goods, or service elevators where dwarves can use to quickly move down the z-axis into depths below, or being able to move across the fortress from a horizontal angle as well. Using a large 5x5 elevator to bring down a food stockpile for hungry dwarfs down hungry in the caves would save them the effort of going up in order to feed. 

Bridge: Not really a change so far, but I wish bridges could be used as ramps a bit, like if you properly build it, it can be a ramp up to a higher location rather then just a vertical/horizontal building. 

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Rope ladder has been proposed, I think by Toady.

Pully system and elevators are too difficult, they screw with pathfinding. Dorfs aren't smart.

Bridge would be complicated, and not add *that* much value.

[ZebioLizard2]

So not even service elevators, the kind where one gets in and they go somewhere else? (Single person types) It's hard having a floating fortress yet having to use stairs for everywhere when you separate the base down the middle.

Could go in later once toady downs some intelligence in the dwarves though.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Well, it's a difficult problem; dwarves won't really *know* where the elevators go or how they work, so their pathfinding won't be able to make sense of them. Making real elevators work is a somewhat complicated task- doing so in DF, doubly so.

[NW_Kohaku]

There's also the problem of stairwells being so gosh-darn efficient.

If, when you mine, you make nothing but stairwells instead of channelling or digging normally, you can create, as Retro put it, "Flying dwarves".  They can move up and down stairwells for the same cost as horizontally moving along smooth floors, and can move horizontally across hanging stairwells, anchored only to other stairwells, potentially hanging over caverns without ever touching the floor, with the same ease as moving across smooth floors.

Rope ladders were effectively thrown out by Toady because he made stairs buildable downwards, which would essentially replicate the use of a rope ladder, with the possible exception of being able to retract said ladder.

Pulleys and elevators are essentially the same thing (most elevators, besides the ones that work by sliding along a slope, work by using a counterweight and a pulley), and they are essentially a part of the Improved Mechanics thread/arc since that got stuffed in the devpages.

As for bridges being able to effectively be sloped, that tends to run into the same problems as most other talk about sloping terrain, in that DF just doesn't track any change in elevation other than a full one-story drop at a time.

[Hyndis]

Toady was actually hoping to introduce rope ladders with 31.01, but ran into problems getting them to work. As a workaround he made it so you can build stairs downwards.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Rope ladders I support as a necessary intermediate step, since it really isn't realistic to just start building a staircase down into a chasm. Elevators... would be cool, but I still don't see how to get them to work. You could maybe designate them as store rooms to transport goods between sealed sections of a fortress, but I can't see them being useful in any way other than "But I wanted an elevator". Maybe if siege/disease gets a lot more serious, they could be used as a high security checkpoint.

Personally, I want boats more than elevators- nothing fancy, just wooden constructions that can be "anchored" on water, rather than earth. Or something. Then I'd build an elevator by carefully flooding and draining a shaft with a boat in it.

[ZebioLizard2]

One of the reasons I desire rope ladders is due to the fact I keep coming across deep deep holes in my world that I wish to explore in adventure mode.

And yes, one of the reasons for elevators was for it to be able to transport things like that in that manner, thus able to bring down food and water to the dwarves with much faster success.

I guess I will have to wait for the AI to be more complex to have things such as pulleys and such though, I just wish for ways to simply the process of having to get the thing I need from the bottem of the Z-axis.

Boats would really be nice though. Generally enabling trade to oft hidden islands and adventure mode Shenanigans. Though that way you'd use that boat is exactly how I would use the elevator as I desired.

[Grendus]

IF elevators were added, I would probably have it as something like a floor that moves up when triggered via a mechanism, rather than something the dwarves path through. Otherwise the dwarves would just get too confuzzled. Something like a way to get materials up from a deep mine, by simply digging an elevator shaft powered by dwarven perpetual motion machines. But then, we have to decide if we want to go 1300's purist, magic, or steampunk as to whether or not this fits.

In short - great idea, but probably unnecessary

[ZebioLizard2]

That would be an acceptable use for the elevator rather, and the issue is, the Egyptians had sort of these things by then, so it wouldn't be really out of place if it's acceptable before 1300. What do you mean by magic though?

[Grendus]

There's an endless debate on magic. Prior to the 19th century even mechanics weren't sophisticated enough to warrant actual human elevators, they were almost always used for moving goods. However, if you had a magical source of energy, it's not as unreasonable. Same thing goes for steampunk as opposed to renaissance technology. In steampunk, anything goes, so you could have a steam powered elevator for human dwarf transport.