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Author Topic: Deadly Puzzlebox Fortress idea  (Read 1239 times)

Cobbler89

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Deadly Puzzlebox Fortress idea
« on: March 31, 2015, 06:26:57 pm »

So, we've all heard of the doomsday lever that will collapse the single support holding up the entire fortress, innocuously hidden amid the normal but unlabeled levers needed for standard fortress operation. What I'm wondering is whether anyone has ever put together something even more subtle and intricate... Say, half the levers in the fortress are linked to one of many supports on multiple z-levels so that the fortress collapses if and only if you pull *too many* of the wrong levers or the right combination of wrong levers or something like that. Or, better yet...

Let's say that one player constructs the fortress for others to attempt to solve, completing it by sealing the dwarves into the part that's sitting atop a single support -- all the dwarves but one. One dwarf is below in a maze full of doors/bridges/obstacles controlled by remote mechanical contraptions. On the other end of the maze is, besides the exit, the one lever that unseals the precarious section and lets the rest of the dwarves back down to earth. The doors/bridges/obstacles are controlled by levers in the precarious section -- the only thing in the precarious section, so your dwarves had better hurry if they don't want to starve. But there's a catch: Every lever in the precarious section is linked not only to the doors/bridges/obstacles in the maze (or to some intermediate contraption for achieving the right mode of control over them), but also to a repeatable mechanical contraption for reliably ticking down some kind of countdown. Each time you pull a lever, the countdown gets one step closer to its end -- and at its end, then it triggers whatever mechanical gizmo deconstructs the single support holding the dwarves up, killing them and leaving the final dwarf stranded in the maze till he starves. So you've got to figure out how to get a clear path through the maze in so many lever-pulls or else your fortress collapses.

Anyone with a better grasp of dwarven mechanics and puzzlemaking than I out there? 'Cause I'd really like to see something like this (and, of course, try to beat the puzzle).
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Insert_Gnome_Here

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Re: Deadly Puzzlebox Fortress idea
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2015, 08:45:42 am »

Iirc, there was a recent thread for similar contraptions, although more as a locked vault.
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Sanctume

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Re: Deadly Puzzlebox Fortress idea
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2015, 09:52:30 am »

Well, let me think on this on the fly.

Let's say we start with 3 levers: A, B, and C. 

Instead of an instant fortress collapse, let's say that I need to toggle the levers in the correct order in order to say drop that raised bridge 3 tiles away so I can cross it to the next room.

Let's say the solution is A -> B -> C levers in that order.

If I click pull the levers in the wrong order, a wall that is actually a bridge drops and shoots pressurized water onto to me and I am pushed back and into a 5-z pit with upright spikes?

fearlesslittletoaster

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Re: Deadly Puzzlebox Fortress idea
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2015, 06:28:19 pm »

What about just cutting the Gordian knot? Kill all the dwarves in the vault by pulling the lever and wait for migrants!
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Cobbler89

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Re: Deadly Puzzlebox Fortress idea
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2015, 06:42:29 pm »

Presumably you could just as easily mine through or deconstruct the vault, either way yielding materials that could be used to build stairs back down...

Sanctume's idea would be fantastic for adventure mode.
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Quote from: Mr S
You've struck embedded links. Praise the data miners!
Quote from: Strong Bad
The magma is seeping under the door.

Quote from: offspring
Quote from: Cobbler89
I have an idea. Let's play a game where you win by being as quiet as possible.
I get it, it's one of those games where losing is fun!
I spend most of your dimension's time outside of your dimension. I can't guarantee followup or followthrough on any comments, ideas, or plans.