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[Thelogman]

I'm designing a Pressure Plate/Upright Spike trap, has anyone ever played with this as a form of Fortress Defense? Will Iron be Effective Enough to pierce and kill goblins? Should I make Steel? What's the difference between Steel Spikes and Steel Spears, in terms of Upright Spike effectiveness? How many spikes are necessary for good kills? Is one enough, do I need no less than ten per trap?

[Urist Imiknorris]

Well, I know of several people (myself included) who defeated the HFS with massive spike corridors, so the idea is sound. Of course, goblins have armor, so I think you'll want steel weapons. I cannot answer as to whether spikes or spears would be better. You can compensate for using fewer weapons per trap by making more traps.

[Girlinhat]

Pros: Upright spears never jam.  When an enemy dies atop it, then the body will show up in the building's inventory when the spikes are raised, but this doesn't affect the power at all.  They can also equip menacing spikes.  As is the rule of thumb, trap components are more dangerous than handheld, namely due to their size.  Menacing spikes are a better weapon component, but cannot be used by the military, only used in traps.  You can also equip 10 of them, which means 10 strikes in tandem, which can do a lot of damage real fast.  They also tend to keep the enemy intact, and do not destroy equipment, so you end up with whole goblin corpses, for fewer haul jobs as compared to serrated disks, which will shred goblins like a sponge in a cheese grater.

Cons: It must be manually activated.  I prefer to use a lever located somewhere safe, with the "pull lever" on repeat, and as long as someone is idle, the lever gets pulled frequently and pretty uniformly.  Pressure plates are nice, but if the plates are within the trap corridor, that means that someone will be safe from the spears, because someone's walking over the plates, but also means that you won't need a lever puller.  They can also get expensive, as a good 10 weapons can consume a lot of time and resources.

As for actual use, you want the enemy in the killzone as long as possible, preferably using selective bait animals and unlocking/relocking doors, or simply using two drawbridges to close up both ends of the hallway, locking them in the trap hall.  As long as the enemy is on the spikes, any material will eventually kill, since it's just a matter of time.  Since most goblin ambushers wear leather or cloth, copper would technically be enough to shred them, though steel will rip them apart in a hurry.  Armored foes will require a tougher metal, naturally.  I'm also not sure on this tactic, but it stands to reason that if an armored foe is distracted by, say, archers pelting it with bone bolts, then he'll get backstabbed by the spikes and the armor value decreases because the spikes gain the surprise advantage.  Just be aware that your forces cannot safely walk over or fight in the spike pit while active, because spikes make no judgment on targets.

[thijser]

It's also a good idea to allow them to fall down by making deep trenches next to your entrance that way they can either start over again or die down there.

[Girlinhat]

There's also that, yes.  Spikes are built active by default, so if you can drop an enemy onto them, they take fall damage plus weapon damage.  Another thread mentioned the use of weapon traps to force enemies to dodge off a narrow path.  If the pit under the path is filled with spikes, it's all the more lethal.

[Uristocrat]

Cons: It must be manually activated.  I prefer to use a lever located somewhere safe, with the "pull lever" on repeat, and as long as someone is idle, the lever gets pulled frequently and pretty uniformly.  Pressure plates are nice, but if the plates are within the trap corridor, that means that someone will be safe from the spears, because someone's walking over the plates, but also means that you won't need a lever puller.  They can also get expensive, as a good 10 weapons can consume a lot of time and resources.

The wiki has this nice repeater design for spike traps.  It's a bit slower than running them via a lever on repeat, but it can be automated:

≈≈≈≈≈ - river or brook
═╗≈╔═ - wall to channel out after construction
 ╠╬╣  - fortification (to filter out any creatures inhabiting your river)
 ╠F╣  - shutoff floodgate (linked to exterior lever)
 ║#║  - 1-tile drawbridge (linked to pressure plate)
 ║p┼  - pressure plate (set to 7-7 water), and access door
 ╠F╣  - floodgate (linked to pressure plate)
 ╚═╝

This repeater toggles fairly slowly, about once every 300 steps, making it suitable for operating bridges, floodgates, and upright spikes. As an added bonus, the bottom wall (immediately beyond the floodgate) can be removed and connected to a cistern whose water level will be automatically maintained at a level between 3 and 4 deep.


Also, you can use the setup described on the pressure plate page of the wiki to lock everyone in the killzone and activate the spikes all at once, but it's quite a bit more involved.