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[Spiderking50]

So i'm starting a new fortress after having ungodly amounts of goblin and kobold attacks in my last one, which ultimately led to its downfall. This time i'm build a long hallway with pits on either side and plan on putting weapon traps on the whole thing so they dodge into the pit, however i have a few questions:

1) How deep should my pits be?

2) Does it really matter what goes in my traps because the fall is what should do the killing?

3) I've embarked on a volcano, if i fill my pit with lava, will it burn the corpses and clothes away, but leave metal objects?

[Girlinhat]

Magma will leave behind magma-safe items.  Wiki "magma safe" for more knowledge (is power).  I don't use dodge traps, but the general consensus is "training spears or copper warhammers".  Training spears are cheap and easy, don't do much damage, and are more likely to incur dodging.  Hammers are likely to do damage, but unlikely to jam because they're blunts (they still can, just unlikely).  Although if you're going for upright spikes then training spears win out, weapon traps then hammers are preferred.

You can also just toss in a few disks, they hit 3x times so they get good damage and 3x the dodge rate.

Keep in mind that upright spikes don't jam, though they need a lever somewhere.

[LordHavoc]

1) I believe 10z levels pretty much kills most things that don't fly.
2) Still put the best stuff in the traps since you need the mobs to die if they decide not to dodge
3) Metal should remain...another alternative is to make your pits wall-to-wall traps. That should leave lots of 'bits' left over for looting/using.

[slapdash]

1) I make mine 10z and that kills MOST of the Gobs that go down it.

2) I think it just has to be a trap so that they dodge it so I don't think it matters what's in the trap.

3) Yep, it will leave all the magma-safe metal items. Just make sure you have a way to drain the pit so you can harvest that Goblinite. Also, if it has magma in it, you don't need but 1z for it's depth.

[Girlinhat]

Keep in mind also, that any upright spears left in the upright position at the bottom of a pit will impale things that fall on it.

Yes, you can make an Indiana Jones spiked pit!

[Flying Dice]

Leave all spears locked in the upright position...




But yeah, 15-20 z levels for good splatter, silver spiked balls along the walkway up top, and butcher's workshops in an alcove at the bottom if you like to play with ethics tags.

[imperium3]

1) They don't need to be very deep if you put steel spikes at the bottom....

2) I consider killing them on the ledge to be a bonus so I utilise steel serrated discs... Or you can use some form of spike/spear linked to a lever if you want it to work on FBs/Kobolds etc. Even if you use weak traps to get them to dodge, put some steel ones at the end to kill anything that makes it past the others.

3)Yes, except magma-safe metals. It also does a great job of killing things you drop in, and incinerates the corpses to prevent them being resurrected by a passing necromancer.

[slothen]

Once you get the goblins in the pit, its really up to you what to do with them.  You can do a short fall to keep healthy goblins and kill them later, you can do a medium sized fall to incapacitate some of them but keep them alive, or you can do a deep fall to make them explode.  If they survive the fall, you can do what you want at your leisure.  Keep them trapped in that room for drowning/magma, or have a bridge open up allowing them to path to their escape, and give them more traps along the way.  Upright spikes in the pit you can leave up for extra damage on fall, or leave down and only use as a failsafe - although covering a whole pit with upright spikes and linking them is a big job.  One of my current favorite ideas is an all-of-the-above approach, with options for drowning them, finishing them off with melee troops, or pincushioning them with marksdwarves (the benefit here being live targets with armor, that can't run out of range or return fire, and giving kills and experience to your markdwarves).

problems are... if a squad leader dodges, the rest of his squad may try to path to him instead of moving towards your fortress and the other dodge-traps.  If your traps are too lethal, some goblins might run away and escape, when we'd much prefer to capture them in our pit.  You can send your military to the pit to kill him.  If they kill him and the goblins keep attacking, more will dodge into the pit and land on your waiting squad, which might get overwhelmed.  On the other hand, the landing goblins will all be stunned and have a few limbs broken, allowing for quick headshots.

[Girlinhat]

A good kitten-behind-a-window should encourage goblin pathing to come at you.

Code: [Select]

##########
++++     #
+OO+
+CO+WWWWW+
+OO+
++++     #
##########Something like this, with a kitten behind windows, but still pathable, will encourage any goblins to attack the kitten even if their squad leader is killed.  Of course it would need to be chained to prevent the kitten running away.

[Spiderking50]

Yikes i just checked the magma safe materials list and copper isn't one of them. I typically run my military on goblinite and find using their own weapons against them particularly satisfying. So maybe magma isn't the way to go...

[Girlinhat]

Goblins also bring iron, though...

[Maxmurder]

1) I do six zs deep so they dont die immediatly. Crippled gobbos make for good training for my milita.

2) I use serrated disks because iirc they attack 3 times when a trap is triggered. which means 3 chances to dodge.

3)magma will burn away non-magma safe mats, leaving the quality goblinite. Just make sure you have a way to safely drain it.

[Spiderking50]

No copper and no silver?  I'd rather just drown the cowards and deal with the corpses...

[MehMuffin]

No copper and no silver?  I'd rather just drown the cowards and deal with the corpses...

What's wrong with a few dozen corpses in the entrance hall?

[acetech09]

No copper and no silver?  I'd rather just drown the cowards and deal with the corpses...

Code: [Select]

Z-1
###########
#GGGGGGGGG#
I^^^^^^^^^
#GGGGGGGGG#
###########
Z-0
###########
#####X#####
#+++++++++###
D+++++++++X <-
#+++++++++###
###########

G = Retractable bridge
I = Raisable bridge, raises east
X = Floodgate
D = Door
# = Grate
<- = To pressurized cistern
Let dodgeme fill up with gobbos. Pull lever linked to bridges. The raisable bridge seals off your trap temporarily, the retractables remove a roof. Pull second lever linked to right floodgate. Drown enemies. Pull second lever again. Pull third lever to drain water and strain goblinite. Reset dodgeme for another batch.