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[maxs]

So I have a sweet pit leading to a magma tube... but whenever i try to pit something, it inevitably escapes and gets killed by my military.

So far I've tried: A goblin hammerman, two thieves, 2 badgers.. every time they escape before I can get them to the pit. What gives!?

Also, I DID strip the goblins of their equipment with d-b-d d-b-c first, if that helps.

[blizzerd]

i know, it sucks doesnt it?

i just put a bridge over the pit and stack on the cages, then open the bridge these days

id say its a bug, or unexpected feature sideeffect (being scared of creatures hauled?)

[maxs]

Just tried that... doesn't let me build cages on top of the bridge...

[Fredd]

Put a stockpile for future creatures to be pitted near the pit. Either that, build a cage near the cage stockpile, assign creatures for pitting in it. Then remove construction, then build a cage near the pits that contain the pittee's.
If they have to drag a hostile too far to get pitted, the hostile has a better chance to make a break for it. Babysnatchers and thieves are notorious for this

[Saiko Kila]

Military will often (usually? always?) kill enemies dragged near them. The same enemies dragged across the whole fort without any military presence do not escape. Solution: build cage somewhere near the pit, remove military from sight.

[Zdrok]

I tried this with HUNDREDS of caged eneemies and they all escaped, I think the problem is that pitting designates ONLY the target, not the cage.  They try to take the creature out of its cage and drag it to the pit, not carry the whole cage.  I think you just have to make the pit a garbage dump and designate them to be dumped.

[Corona688]

Don't mass-dump the cages.  It may mark the contents for dumping, not just the cage itself!  Just flag individual cages with 'd' when you're in the look menu.

And goblin thieves will inevitably escape on the first try, but if you have cage traps nearby, they'll just get recaught and probably be safe after that.

[Forumite]

Reduce the distance between the cage stockpile and the pit.

There's a very effective trick I use, from the wiki. Make a grid of holes in the floor, every 2 squares, so that every space is 1 away from a hole, then put a floor hatch over all the holes, unconnected to triggers. Turn the holes into a pit and the floor into an animal stockpile.

+++++++++
+O++O++O+
+++++++++
+++++++++
+O++O++O+
+++++++++

+= floor
O= hole with hatch cover

When you pit creatures, the dwarves will throw them down the adjacent hole, giving them 0% chance to flee thanks to no distance traveled, and the hatch also prevent the dwarves from seeing the creature and panicking.

[maxs]

Thanks for the help... I've found a solution of sorts, although thieves still manage to escape somehow.

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i designate an animal stockpile in the one tile wide ring around the pit....splattering happens.

[Forumite]

Weird, not even thieves should be able to escape from that, since itīs only 1 square.

[maxs]

actually I just had a thought... do they have to be in an adjacent tile to throw into the pit? Or can they still throw from diagonal tiles?? When the thief escaped his cage was one tile away from the pit, but in a corner so it was a diagonal..

[nomad_delta]

You guys have built Floor Hatches over your pits, right?  'cause if not that might be 90% of your problem.  The vast majority of escapes by non-thieves are due to the dwarf leading him to the pit getting scared by another free hostile he sees.  If you don't have a Hatch over your pit, your dwarf will see the (free) goblin(s) already in the pit, get scared, and cancel his job to run away -- letting the goblin he's carrying go in the process.

I have my goblin cage stockpile quite far away from my arena pit hatch, and I can mass-pit dozens of them at a time without any escapes.

The only exception to this are Thieves, and *especially* Master Thieves.  Those have a special ability to escape en-route even when nothing distracts the dwarf along the way.  I find it's best to do the following with thieves:

1. <B>uild the cage containing the thief in a tile immediately adjacent to the pit (with hatch) that you're going to toss them into.
2. Station a squad of soldiers next to your pit just in case.
3. Build cage traps over the exit to your pitting room, just in case.
4. Set the thieves to be tossed into the pit one at a time.

Seriously though, build hatches over your pits and you shouldn't have so many escapes.

--nomad_delta

[Forumite]

Thatīs true, I had a lot of problems with goblins escaping until I put up floor hatches, because when 8 dorfs throw in prisoners, the ones after can get scared and release their hauled prisoners, even in a perfect 0-square distance situation.

It could be that there is an added problem with your execution tower if they can see goblins not only through the hole, but also while they fall or down on the ground. The floor of my pit, just 4 levels down to a closed room where marksdorfs go to train, frequently get cancelationspam due to haulers trying to get the goblin socks littering that place.

[maxs]

my pit isnt so much a pit as a tower that rains goblins and hapless animals on the statue garden 15 z-levels below, so I don't think a hatch is necessary =)

[Forumite]

I believe the hatch IS necessary. Even the moment that the goblin is 1 below the hole will spook other dorfs, making them loose their charges. Try it and see what happens, I think thatīs the solution.