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[Leonidas]

I'm digging a deep pit with which to greet unwelcome visitors, and I can't figure out how to do it without 1) risking cave-ins, 2) risking getting a miner stuck down the pit without being able to get back, or 3) spending an incredible amount of time babysitting the pit's construction.  What strategies have you guys found that work well?

[Lightning4]

Cave-ins no longer apply unless a section is completely disconnected from the surrounding walls.

Best idea I can come up with, to avoid stuck miners, is to make an entrance at the bottom. Might be a good idea anyway if you want to collect all the gunk that'll collect down there.
Then simply mine up and channel, then up again, channel.
Or channel, down, channel, down, etc.

And it depends on the size, but pretty much anything involving channels requires some amount of babysitting, to keep the miners from trapping themselves, leaving a section in the middle which will collapse and crush your other miner to death, or removing the floor underneath each other.

[ November 07, 2007: Message edited by: Lightning4 ]

[Rondol]

That method involves a lot of tedium and babysitting. Mine involves less, and is much more satisfying to watch  

My solution to this would be to, as stated, start at the bottom and work your way up. However instead of channeling, I would first mine out every floor. Mining takes FAR less babysitting This would allow you to designate the entire pit's worth of mining from the start, and attend other matters while your dwarves do their thing. Once finished do a controlled cave-in: On each floor, designate for the entire perimiter to be excavated save one bit on the side. Again you can attend other matters while your dwarves do this. Then, on the top floor only, designate for the last bit of ground to be cut away.

Make sure however that this last bit of ground is on the LEFT side of the pit, and that your dwarf has somewhere to stand to the left of that (as well as a way to get back to other duties from that point). Dwarves like to do their work from the left side, so if you order it done from the right your dwarf will likely be involved in the cave-in himself. Once that last bit of ground is cut away, the top floor will collapse onto the second, causing a cascade of cave-ins all the way to the bottom in a spectacular blast of dust and flying debris. Make sure nobody's on the bottom (or any of the intervening floors) when this happens or tragedy will result.

I'm not certain exactly how the cave-in mechanics work, however, and the "support" squares on the other floors may be left. If you want to avoid this you can make the top floor one square larger on each side, to ensure something lands on that extra square bit to remove it. Or, you can just go in afterwards and designate them all for channeling.

[Istrian]

The fastest method is still to dig out the bottom of your pit, then dig your way up digging only the sides of the pit. Then the middle part will be disconnected from support and will collapse creating an instantaneous pit.