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[DinnerAdventure]

I caught a lot of goblins recently, and I want to make a prison/pit to put them all in. The thing is, I have no idea how they work. I made a 8x8 building, and assigned it as a pit, and chose the goblins. They try to pick them up, and then they fail, with the red text saying "drop off point inappropiate" or something.

So basically, how can I make a working prison?

[eugene]

Is your designated pit over a hole in the floor where you can throw down your prisoners into your prison room below? That did work for me last time I tried.

[DinnerAdventure]

Hmm, new question then. How to I make holes on the floor?

[SpiralDimentia]

d-h

Designate, Channel. Digs a hole downwards. leaves a ramp though.

[DinnerAdventure]

I did that, and tried to put some goblin cages of mine, but a swordman and a spearman goblin broke out of the cage when they were about to throw them into the pit! What's wrong?

[SpiralDimentia]

Well, if someone was going to throw you in a pit, would you let them?

[Umune]

Well, if someone was going to throw you in a pit, would you let them?

Depends what's in the pit, or how far the fall is. If there's free candy, seems legit.

Back to the topic at hand:
You can build their cages, connect them to lever(s), and pull said lever(s).
B - J to build a cage (x gives more choices)
This has some advantages as you don't have to hurt them with falling into magma, keeping them pristine fresh for whatever uses you see fit.
Considering transferring inmates between cages has been no problems for my captured gobbos (except for the thieves), I am not quite sure. Summary execution tends to give me no problems, and by this I mean take them out of the cages to transfer and kill them en route.

[elpizo]

Well, if someone was going to throw you in a pit, would you let them?

Depends what's in the pit, or how far the fall is. If there's free candy, seems legit.

Back to the topic at hand:
You can build their cages, connect them to lever(s), and pull said lever(s).
B - J to build a cage (x gives more choices)
This has some advantages as you don't have to hurt them with falling into magma, keeping them pristine fresh for whatever uses you see fit.
Considering transferring inmates between cages has been no problems for my captured gobbos (except for the thieves), I am not quite sure. Summary execution tends to give me no problems, and by this I mean take them out of the cages to transfer and kill them en route.

lever system is not really conveniant, if you have 20 goblins it demands 40 mechanism and lots of time, i'd rather just destroy all the cages in a cave in

[eugene]

I did that, and tried to put some goblin cages of mine, but a swordman and a spearman goblin broke out of the cage when they were about to throw them into the pit! What's wrong?

I believe there is only a certain chance that prisoners break free. It may be that it is minimized by putting the goblin cage next to the pit. Maybe you could introduce some prison security procedures, airlock style entrances and crossbowdwarfs on towers for style, cage traps for efficiency.

It's reportedly even possible to strip the prisoners of weapons and armor before taking them out of the cages, see the dwarf fortress wiki article for cages.

[wuphonsreach]

I did that, and tried to put some goblin cages of mine, but a swordman and a spearman goblin broke out of the cage when they were about to throw them into the pit! What's wrong?

I believe there is only a certain chance that prisoners break free. It may be that it is minimized by putting the goblin cage next to the pit. Maybe you could introduce some prison security procedures, airlock style entrances and crossbowdwarfs on towers for style, cage traps for efficiency.

If the cage is directly next to (north / south / east / west neighbor tile) the 1x1 pit opening, then you should never see issues with regular "captured prisoner" enemies escaping.  Even thieves will rarely (20% chance?) break free if you setup your upper pit room correctly.

The issues of escape come into play if:
- It's a hostile animal (dwarf doing pitting can get scared)
- It's a thief (they break free all the time)
- The dwarf gets distracted and lets go during the transfer
- The pit is not a direct N/S/E/W neighbor to the cage location

Things I do to minimize escapes:
- One way in, lined with at least 2 rows of cage traps
- At least 5 military dwarves get stationed up top using "s" (squad) "m" (move)
- The pit is a minimum of 10Z and preferably a 12Z drop

Between the cage traps, smart layout and the squad or three of dwarves, nothing ever escapes the pit room of death.  Or at least, not twice.

[zooeyglass]

Adding to what wuphonsreach already said: a distraction to pitting can be caused if a dwarf sees an already pitted hostile creature. They'll let go of the goblin/animal they are trying to pit in fear of the already-pitted hostile. In another thread it was proposed that placing a hatch cover over the pit would block line-of-sight so that dwarves would not spam job cancellations because they wouldn't see the hostiles already in the pit.

Similarly, if you have a squad stationed in the lower pit room, they get combat training with whatever you drop into the pit, while also killing off the hostiles so that further dwarves doing pitting aren't distracted by what's already in the pit.

PS Gah it gets troublesome talking about pits. Will edit for sense as fits.