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[Chandrak]

What's a good way to catch and kill those silly kobold thieves? I've yet to have one actually manage to steal anything, since they always get caught by my apparently All-Seeing-Eye Woodcutters, but MAN can they run. Since traps don't work, is there a suggested method to use for catching/killing them?

What I'd love is something like retractable walls or something, triggered by level in the barracks or something, but I'm open to suggestions, since I dont think you can make moving walls. A bridge won't help in this case, either - I'm built into the side of a massive cliff face.

[BigJake]

Make a long drawbridge replacing one of the walls along the corridor that covers the entire hallway when down.  Put a couple pressure plates or just use a lever.  The longer it is, the easier it will be to hit them with it.

But that's how I deal with 'em, I'm sure there's an easier way.

[Darkmere]

Depending on how much you hate Urist McPyle the worthless recruit, you could train up about a dozen war dogs elephants, assign them to a drafted migrant, then assign migrant to guard 1 tile burrow over a 10-steel-spear upright spike trap. Unarmored. Making sure none of the war animals are standing on that tile, pull the lever, dump body in magma sea. The war animals can't be reassigned, so they'll stand there guarding that spot forever. I lost a recruit to a siege once, but his entourage of guard elephants and (eventually) their offspring never left the entryway. Killing 1 migrant so you can repeatedly watch 5 war elephants curb stomp unarmored kobolds? Priceless.

[Chandrak]

Depending on how much you hate Urist McPyle the worthless recruit, you could train up about a dozen war dogs elephants, assign them to a drafted migrant, then assign migrant to guard 1 tile burrow over a 10-steel-spear upright spike trap. Unarmored. Making sure none of the war animals are standing on that tile, pull the lever, dump body in magma sea. The war animals can't be reassigned, so they'll stand there guarding that spot forever. I lost a recruit to a siege once, but his entourage of guard elephants and (eventually) their offspring never left the entryway. Killing 1 migrant so you can repeatedly watch 5 war elephants curb stomp unarmored kobolds? Priceless.

...Thats a hilarious idea. The real question is can War Grizzlies catch the buggers? I've got a breeding population of them going.

Make a long drawbridge replacing one of the walls along the corridor that covers the entire hallway when down.

I might look into this - I don't really know how drawbridges work, but given my fortress's location, sounds like something i might be able to have fun with. Do drawbridge squares act as walls or something?

[BigJake]

When you build the wall, you can choose for it to retract or raise in either of the four directions.  If it raises, the base edge will act as a wall.  If it's retractable it just disappears (which would work for a spike pit, which would also solve the problem.)  Anything under a bridge when it comes down gets atomized.

[Chandrak]

Anything under a bridge when it comes down gets atomized.

I have this vision of building drawbridges inside dwarves' rooms to smash them and their belongings all at once. Dunno if you could build on the tiles when its raised though. Still, it would be amusing.

However, I've already got plans for filling rooms with magma.

[BigJake]

Unfortunately, you can't build in a bridge's "shadow".

[Kurouma]

But you can dig downwards stairways there, only accessible when the bridge is raised. You can have a setup where a raised drawbridge reroutes traffic down through a killzone. Very handy in a siege, or even for megabeasts.

[BigJake]

But you can dig downwards stairways there, only accessible when the bridge is raised. You can have a setup where a raised drawbridge reroutes traffic down through a killzone. Very handy in a siege, or even for megabeasts.

Also great for keeping out building destroyers since nothing can destroy a bridge/hatch/whatever from the bottom.

[Valdus]

Depending on how much you hate Urist McPyle the worthless recruit, you could train up about a dozen war dogs elephants, assign them to a drafted migrant, then assign migrant to guard 1 tile burrow over a 10-steel-spear upright spike trap. Unarmored. Making sure none of the war animals are standing on that tile, pull the lever, dump body in magma sea. The war animals can't be reassigned, so they'll stand there guarding that spot forever. I lost a recruit to a siege once, but his entourage of guard elephants and (eventually) their offspring never left the entryway. Killing 1 migrant so you can repeatedly watch 5 war elephants curb stomp unarmored kobolds? Priceless.

I did the same thing, only tying unassigned elephants up with ropes.  I'd get a pause and a notification about a thief being detected, then my combat report would have a lovely message about skulls being kicked in and brains being torn.  I've used war dogs previously but a kobold or a goblin snatcher that gets bitten tends to kill the dog.  Elephants don't have that issue.

[jei]

What's a good way to catch and kill those silly kobold thieves? I've yet to have one actually manage to steal anything, since they always get caught by my apparently All-Seeing-Eye Woodcutters, but MAN can they run. Since traps don't work, is there a suggested method to use for catching/killing them?

What I'd love is something like retractable walls or something, triggered by level in the barracks or something, but I'm open to suggestions, since I dont think you can make moving walls. A bridge won't help in this case, either - I'm built into the side of a massive cliff face.

Build a tower & put a dog on a leash there. With traps to protect the dog.
Worked wonders for me. & put more watchdogs elsewhere.