It was a toss-up between
Ńing an old thread or making an unnecessary new one. In the end, option two won.
So, have we ever devised an effective and tested giant sponge capturing method? Previous threads are full of disagreement and not much experimental science. I need to know the best method. Here's why I ask.
Four giant sponges. With luck, the river doesn't freeze in my location, because
four giant sponges. They are in different parts of the river: one is against a shoreline (but it only goes two tiles before turning and the sponge is not in the corner), one is one tile diagonally away from a shoreline corner, and the other two are in the open river. So, we have a few questions.
1. How do catch?Submerged cage traps could work, but how do you move an immobile creature without getting murdered? Some people suggested gravity. Do cage traps prevent airdrowning? I sure hope so. A method that works from below is preferred, as anything requiring a shoreline only gives me a 25% net sponge gain.
2. How do use?Can we safely chain a giant sponge? Can they break chains despite being immobile? Can we even train them (NO_THOUGHT)?! My best use for them would be to keep them in an "aquarium" that can be easily refilled. When goblins arrive, a lever (better yet: auto pressure plate, except then kobolds are home free) opens floodgates leading to the main hallway, flooding it (as other floodgates or bridges have sealed it off - are bridges watertight when raised?) and leaving the giant sponges to clean up the rest (amphibious mounts, assuming they're hostile to wild animals or that sponges are trainable).
In fact, using them raises many further questions. For instance, how do we get the goblins to fight them? Well, let's say the aquarium has 1x1 pastures for the sponges in it. Below it is a floodgate for easy sponge caging and subsequent aquarium draining (for maintenance, etc.). This way, we can periodically cage and remove the sponges for animal training, so that invaders don't ignore them and instead try fighting them (and fail).
Of course, the cage-pit-trap-thing should be bigger than 1x1, so that a sponge dodging away won't be unrecoverable. Here's my basic diagram:
Entrance hallway, (S) stands for Sealing Mechanism
╔═══╦(S)╦═══╗
║≈≈≈X+++X≈≈≈║
║≈S≈X+++X≈S≈║
║≈≈≈X+++X≈≈≈║
║≈S≈X+++X≈S≈║
║≈≈≈X+++X≈≈≈║
╚═══╩(S)╩═══╝
The sealing mechanism and floodgates are hooked up to the same lever, flooding the area with slightly shallower (but not lethally shallow and still drownable for land creatures). The larger the aquarium is compared to the entrance hallway, the better. Of course, after all the water drains out again (grates after the sealing mechanism hooked up to the caverns maybe, or even better leading to an underground mud greenspace), the overall level will be diminished, requiring more filling up. A reservoir one level up could prevent these issues and maintain 7/7 water throughout.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Because I've got four giant sponges to catch and you could too!