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[Bikgn]

I might be really late on these issues, but I haven't been able to find any references to them on the wiki, so I decided that it might be a good idea to ask the forums what's going on in these scenarios:

1. I built a Trade Depot above land, then about a year later, I found out that I needed to move it so that I could channel a 10x10 hole in my fort for "underground" strawberry farming. However, even though I set the Trade Depot to be demolished, none of my dwarves will dismantle it, even though there are currently 7~13 idlers in my fort. So far, the Trade Depot is not being used; there are no traders, and the broker is doing other things. There are items in it, although this has never been a problem to my dwarves in the past; they had no problem breaking down a trade depot and leaving the items all over the ground. Why won't my dwarves dismantle the Trade Depot?

2. I had a huge supply of wood that I brought via embark that I wanted to dump into a quantum stockpile (d-b-d). However, my dwarves would not take the wood. When I assigned a specific wood stockpile (p-w), all my dwarves rushed to take the job. They walked to the wood stockpile, put the wood down, realized that it was set to be dumped, picked it back up again and did a complete 180 and ran to my quantum stockpile. I've also observed this behavior happening with wood cut above ground, as well as with bags and other items (all above ground). Why do my dwarves act this way?

3. I was experimenting with a new trap design in which a thin bridge of cheap spike traps would cause invaders to dodge into the pit below it, where I would control the flow of water using floodgates. By doing so, I believed that I could drown and destroy any non-megabeast invasion before it ever got close to my fort. However, when one or two goblins in an ambush did so, the rest of the pack simply waited outside the traps, as if they knew that stepping on them would be certain death. For some reason, they were not attracted by the poor mule I attached to a restraint on the other side of the bridge after seeing their friends die. Even when I unforbid my front door, they were still uninterested in invading my fort. What did interest them was the arrival of a dwarven caravan, which (to my chagrin) they promptly destroyed once it got close enough to my fort. Why did the enemies stop when they saw their friends die? Is this intended behavior? How can I fix this trap design so that they will run blindly into their doom?

4. Just a random question: can floor hatches drop goblins/megabeasts/forgotten beasts into the z-level below them? I might plan to use this for a variation on the above trap design.

Thank you in advance.

[NecroRebel]

I might be really late on these issues, but I haven't been able to find any references to them on the wiki, so I decided that it might be a good idea to ask the forums what's going on in these scenarios:

1. I built a Trade Depot above land, then about a year later, I found out that I needed to move it so that I could channel a 10x10 hole in my fort for "underground" strawberry farming. However, even though I set the Trade Depot to be demolished, none of my dwarves will dismantle it, even though there are currently 7~13 idlers in my fort. So far, the Trade Depot is not being used; there are no traders, and the broker is doing other things. There are items in it, although this has never been a problem to my dwarves in the past; they had no problem breaking down a trade depot and leaving the items all over the ground. Why won't my dwarves dismantle the Trade Depot?

There's 2 likely issues. First is that maybe your idlers don't have the proper labor. Given that you probably made the depot out of stone, you need a dwarf with Masonry active to dismantle it. If all of your masons are busy, nobody will dismantle the Depot. The second likely issue is access. If your dwarves can't get to the depot because you have a door blocking the way or a burrow active, nobody will go to dismantle it.

2. I had a huge supply of wood that I brought via embark that I wanted to dump into a quantum stockpile (d-b-d). However, my dwarves would not take the wood. When I assigned a specific wood stockpile (p-w), all my dwarves rushed to take the job. They walked to the wood stockpile, put the wood down, realized that it was set to be dumped, picked it back up again and did a complete 180 and ran to my quantum stockpile. I've also observed this behavior happening with wood cut above ground, as well as with bags and other items (all above ground). Why do my dwarves act this way?

It's because you have your (o)rders related to (r)efuse set to ignore refuse (o)utside. Dump-designated items are considered trash, but your dwarves are ignoring aboveground trash, hence they're ignoring your dump-designated wood until it is below ground.

3. I was experimenting with a new trap design in which a thin bridge of cheap spike traps would cause invaders to dodge into the pit below it, where I would control the flow of water using floodgates. By doing so, I believed that I could drown and destroy any non-megabeast invasion before it ever got close to my fort. However, when one or two goblins in an ambush did so, the rest of the pack simply waited outside the traps, as if they knew that stepping on them would be certain death. For some reason, they were not attracted by the poor mule I attached to a restraint on the other side of the bridge after seeing their friends die. Even when I unforbid my front door, they were still uninterested in invading my fort. What did interest them was the arrival of a dwarven caravan, which (to my chagrin) they promptly destroyed once it got close enough to my fort. Why did the enemies stop when they saw their friends die? Is this intended behavior? How can I fix this trap design so that they will run blindly into their doom?

Your trap immediately dropped the enemy squad leader off into the pit and killed it. The rest of the squad decided to hang around their leader's last position. Thus they stayed.

There's few good ways to solve flaws like this. You could use upright spear/spike traps instead of weapon traps on the first half of your walkway, link them all to a pressure plate in the middle of the walkway, and then when the enemy leader got halfway across (with the rest of his squad on the walkway) he'd trigger the spikes, sending most of his cronies dodging off the edge, while he himself would get pushed off by the weapon traps.

4. Just a random question: can floor hatches drop goblins/megabeasts/forgotten beasts into the z-level below them? I might plan to use this for a new trap design...

Thank you in advance.

Goblins, yes. Megabeasts and forgotten beasts are more troublesome, as they might decide to blow up your hatch instead of stepping on it. Retracting bridges are more effective against goblins as well, since they let you cover more area with a single set of mechanisms, but are completely ineffective against megabeasts and forgotten beasts.

[Lamphare]

1. check if there is clear path to your depot or not. or if the accroding labours are on for the idlers ie. carpenter, mason, metalsmith. if none of them has the appropiate labour on, you'd have to wait some one capable or just turn it on at some dwarfs. or if your depot material is forbbidon.

2. you need to get a 1x1 wood stockpile on, say, z-level 0, and straight above a hole, with adjacent tile zoned as gabbage dump. then turn off many or all of the wood stockpile expect the 1x1 one. d-b-d, then your dwarfs should be able to bring them to the quantum stockpile. i dont recall if i've done with wood, but definitely with food booze n' excess rocks.

3. to my knowledge, ambush and siege parties have leaders. all party members would follow the leader, dead or alive, unless something like morale breaks then they scatter. i would say, build a ballista facing the narrow corridor and shoot'em up! also upright spike linked to lever which is set to repeat may also do the trick. or just use massive cage trap, they would wonder around their leader and eventually fall into the cage trap, at least the non [TRAPAVOID] ones.

4. donno, but i guess draw bridges and floor grates work better.

[Girlinhat]

1) Make sure the depot isn't forbidden.  If you d-b-d'd it, or you mass-forbade via Z-stock, and this included the stone the depot was made of, then the depot will be forbidden and no one will touch it.  Hit t to check the building's contents, including what it's made of, and make sure it's not {forbidden}.

2) Already answered above.

3) Use upright spears instead, linked to a lever.  When the time is night, and the goblins are well across the bridge, set the lever to be pulled repeatedly, and the spikes will pop up and down.  Alternatively...

4) Most of the interesting creatures are building destroyers, meaning they will simply smash apart the hatches instead of walking over them.  Added to this, megabeasts and such are immune to bridge fun, and while on a bridge, or under it, the bridge will refuse to react.  You can, however, counteract this with bait.  Building destroyers will actively seek to destroy structures, unless there's something tasty and live in their view.  A chained puppy will provide plenty of incentive for a megabeast to run over the hatches in its attempt to kill said puppy.  Then, hatch release and drop them.  This will also work for goblins, since each goblin squad has a leader that's usually a different weapon class.  When the leader is undone, the followers stand there, unless they can see a living target.  Use this to drop animals into view and cause them to rush, ignoring their leader and going after fresh meat.

[Bikgn]

1. You guys got the answer right on the nose. I didn't know that things made out of rock require Masonry to dismantle until I read the description just now: Needs Masonry. Needless to say, I feel pretty stupid right about now.

2. Ah, so that was it. I haven't used orders much at all, and the problem annoyed me to no end.

3. Oh, I had no clue that ambushes came with a leader. Interesting. This offers new possibilities of dwarven cruelty (have leader step on pressure plate that drops his buddies into an arena, leader is caught by cage trap next to pressure plate, move leader down to a large glass viewing window on the side of the arena, and force him to watch in horror as elephants pound his soldiers into paste) that I will have to explore.

4. Hmm. I'm not sure about bridges, I've heard that they completely destroy things that they crush. While that's pretty awesome, I would like my enemies (and their equipment) intact, even though I don't really need them. I guess it just feels good looking at the spoils of war.

Thanks all for the help! I really appreciate it 

[Girlinhat]

4) There's two kinds of bridges, retracting (aka disappearing) and drawbridges (aka atom smasher).  The drawbridge, if there's anything on it, will fling things about in random directions when it raises, which can be VERY entertaining!  When it lowers onto something, it's atom smashed.  Retracting bridges, on the other hand, simply vanish.  You can build one on a single tile, that spans a 10x10 area, and when activated, the bridge disappears, letting anything drop down.  Sadly, megabeasts will cause bridges to stop up, and while a beast is on or under a bridge, it will not respond to any levers or plates.