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[NonconsensualSurgery]

I almost always make fully automated entryway traps that are only four z-levels deep. The goal is to have them be just deep enough to break a bone or two. This maximizes sadism and utility at the same time.

A pit of wounded goblins is a training tool for the military and if a dwarf blunders into it then it's hardly ever lethal. Ooh! And you get to watch elves fight trolls in the pit sometimes, or drop a bunch of crippled dwarves into the pit on top of live crippled trolls. It's become the centerpiece of my fortress. I've also rigged mine to flood with magma on demand to clean out all the multicolored blood, elf vomit and (troll fur left sock)s. The machine is beautiful in its violence.

If you really want clean kills (why would you?) without digging deep then coat the floor with upright spike traps. Not sure how deep it has to be with spikes, but if you just want things dead then it could be one deep with a suitable trigger linked to all the spikes.

[khearn]

I've had 100% success with 10 z-level pits. I've never had a goblin, troll, or dwarf fall 10 z-levels without exploding into 2 arms, 2 legs, a head and a mutilated corpse.

But if your pit is hitting the top of the cavern, then that's a bonus. Any that fall in those squares get to fall all the way to the bottom of the cavern before exploding. It would make collecting the goblinite a bit harder if you're like me and tend to have lots of forgotten beasts sealed into your caverns, though. Not to mention the awkwardness of the occasional flying FB.

[GreatWyrmGold]

There's a cavern in the way? Great! Make the goblins fall through a pit through all three cavern layers! Wall off a section and put in captured and/or tamed cave monsters to watch the gobbos plunging past! Install a Zoo of Death or two ath the bottom to clean up the survivors! Although it is inconceivable that anyone would survive that fall...

[jaxler]

screw the damn cage traps a ballista+ fortifications+7 lvls of death= so much fun its fun

[Poindexterity]

I think you mean 7 levels not 70. Anyways yes, how far a creature falls does determine how much damage and its chance of taking damage when it hits the ground. At 3 levels most creatures can make it unharmed or only slightly injured, at 5 pretty much everyone is injured, 7 kills a few and heavily injures most, and 10 will kill most creatures and only the toughest and luckiest will survive. By the time you get over 10 just about everything dies.

however, a legendary miner with crap tons of friends will often die from a 2 lvl drop.

[i2amroy]

I think you mean 7 levels not 70. Anyways yes, how far a creature falls does determine how much damage and its chance of taking damage when it hits the ground. At 3 levels most creatures can make it unharmed or only slightly injured, at 5 pretty much everyone is injured, 7 kills a few and heavily injures most, and 10 will kill most creatures and only the toughest and luckiest will survive. By the time you get over 10 just about everything dies.

however, a legendary miner with crap tons of friends will often die from a 2 lvl drop.

Ahhh but that falls under the Dwarven Index of Physics, which states that almost all of the time the thing that could have the worst possible result for you, happens.

[zilpin]

Tall Drop Towers are overrated.

I only use 3 z-levels, with a hatch cover at the top.
Pit is enclosed, door out, stairs up with a hatch cover over them, both locked.
The pit has an upright spike, fully loaded, linked to lever just outside.

Throw in creatures, forget about them, let them stew for months (or years) unable to move.
Then have someone pull the lever on repeat until there's nothing left living.

Safe, simple, efficient, convenient, tried tested & true.