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[khearn]

I usually make the first few traps spiked wooden balls, since they're easy to build early and not too lethal. Then the traps get more lethal as they go along, eventually ending up with several serrated steel discs. I've had a number of invader who simply refuse to dodge. Mounts seem particularly prone to this. So you want to have some traps that can kill those who don't dodge. By ramping up the power, the guys who will dodge will do so early and not clog up the traps. Those who won't dodge will keep going until they get enough damage that they die or decide to run away. If they want to run, they still have several traps to go back through that are bad enough to finish off the injured invader.

If you put lethal traps too early, invaders will die on them instead of dodging, and will clog of the trap. Then the next guy walks past the clogged trap and gets killed on the second one, clogging it up, and so on until there are no more onclogged traps and the rest of them get a free pass into your fort. Wimpy early traps don't kill anyone, so they don't clog up and keep causing dodging to happen.

With enough invader who won't dodge, eventually all your lethal traps can still fill up. That's went your soldiers earn their pay. Or you can just close an inner drawbridge and hide like an elf.

[Girlinhat]

Also worth noting: water can push anything off of a walkway with very powerful results.

[Vattic]

If you don't mind setting up a repeater then you can lay retracting bridges on the floor and they'll happily throw invaders off the edges. It's not really a dodge trap any more but the outcome is the same.

[ivanthe8th]

A related question for the community:

I know trap-avoid creatures can be caged if they are webbed, would stunned enemies also trigger cage traps?
For that matter, does falling 2-4 z-levels stun an enemy?
I'm thinking that I'd like to fill the bottom of my dodge-me trap with cage traps and set up a marksdwarf range in the hopes of getting a few to dodge off to the side and get themselves trapped.

[Girlinhat]

Falling 1 level triggers a stun, except for STUN_IMMUNE creatures.  If you get a GCS you can set it into an alcove in the hallway, separated by a drawbridge and a fortification, then fill the area with cages.  Anything walks in, the GCS starts spewing web at them, and they're already standing on a trap so they get insta-caught.  Controlled traffic designations and branching cage patterns can ensure your dwarves don't become caught.

Also the retracting bridge idea works, but if a building destroyer (troll) comes along it'll just rip them up one at a time, unless baited.  It also won't work against very large creatures.

[r4NGe]

I just embarked on a volcano. I removed ramps up to the lip of the volcano which is 1z up from the ground on one side, the other side is quite a drop. I built a 1x1 wall on the lip. When I close up, the baddies should have to path around the whole lip. Dodge one way, they drop, the other, they burn. Got an archer tower building right in the center. Not really efficient for goblinite but cheap to setup!

[Vattic]

Also the retracting bridge idea works, but if a building destroyer (troll) comes along it'll just rip them up one at a time, unless baited.  It also won't work against very large creatures.

I hadn't thought of those issues. Luckily I don't use this method.

[Hyndis]

You can combine a dodge trap with a bridge to make a catch 'em all trap.

Code: [Select]

WWWWWWWWWWDWWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWW...WWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWW...WWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWLLLWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWW<WWWWWWWWWW
..........B..........
..........B..........
..........B..........
SSSSSSSSSSBSSSSSSSSSS   ===>  to fortress
.....................
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

W = wall
L = lever, all levers linked to all spikes/bridges
D = door to control room from fortress
. = empty space/pit/floor
< = ramp down to lower level, retracting bridge over ramp, linked to *different* lever, used to seal/open pit
B = retractable bridge over floor linked to lever
S = spike traps over floor linked to lever

So you have a narrow walkway leading into your fortress. Put spike traps linked to levers. Each lever controls all traps, so only a single lever is needed to control everything. This gives you a great deal of redundancy so there is no break in pulling the levers until you tell the dwarves to stop.

The spike traps will cause them to dodge into the pit. The pit is only 1 Z level deep, with a retracting bridge for a floor. More importantly, there is always a continuous and never interrupted path from the pit to the fortress to the invaders. At no point is the path ever broken, aside from the retracting bridge over the top of the ramp, which is what you extend if you want to seal off your captured goblins.

When the leader attacks, he will hit the spike traps, and dodge. He will fall into the pit. Its only 1Z level so he will not be harmed. His soldiers will then try to path to the leader down in the pit, and there is a clear path to him, but a combination of spike traps and retracting bridges will cause everyone to dodge or be flung into the pit. As they try to escape they will make it up the ramp, only to be flung down into the pit again. I use a combination of spike traps on the main walkway, with retracting bridge, because if they're trying to escape from the pit they might be slightly injured and thus unable to dodge. Rather than kill them, the retracting bridge will just fling them around randomly, so they fall back into the pit without being harmed.

Keep this going and the redundant levers being pulled until all goblins are in the pit. Then seal off the bridge over the ramp. Now no one can escape!

From here you can open up the retracting bridges the goblins are all standing on, pulling out the floor from under them. Then they can fall into whatever fate you have build for them. Magma? Water? Firing range? Solid granite after falling 100Z levels? Barracks full of on duty soldiers? Up to you.

[Dynastia]

I suggest using whatever you've got extra of. Lots of wood? Make menacing spikes. Lots of wood and obsidian? Why not upgrade to obby shortswords. Copper & Magma? Copper hammers. Sand & Magma? Green glass serrated discs. Lots of bones cluttering up your abattoir? Bone crossbows.

Near the end though, you should definitely have some fiercely lethal traps (like 10x Steel Discs), and some cage traps after that, just in case.

[slothen]

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.

oh, so they see the kitten through the window, then path through the traps to get it.  awesome.  Windows can be destroyed though, so you should make sure a building destroyer won't path through the windows and kill the kitten.  Couldn't this be implemented with all fortifications and no windows?  I would still use windows though because they're cool.

[Frogwarrior]

2-Z fall into magma. The magma moat is 2-z deep, with floor grates between the two layers. To recover goblinite, open floodgates allowing the bottom layer to drain into a cistern, until the magma recedes enough for safe retrieval. Then pump the magma from the cistern back into the moat.

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

There do have to be some spikes linked to levers (or marksdwarves) in any good doge trap, otherwise Titans and other trap-immune baddies will just walk right through them.

PS. the advantage of windows over fortifications is that elite marksmen can't shoot your bait through them

[Hyndis]

If you want a failsafe for titans make one of the tiles be just a regular floor gate rather than constructed floor, which can be destroyed by the titan as they're walking across your bridge of doom. They will destroy it, which then breaks the path, so they end up standing in the middle of your bridge and are stuck there.

This doesn't work if the titan can fly of course.

[kaenneth]

Are 'candy canes' exceptionally good for upright spear traps? (that is, material counts, unlike cages)

I currently have a 5x5 room in the hallway to the 3rd cavern layer with an artifact chair surrounded by 10xaddy spikes, then a mix of 5xwood/5x steel spikes in the other ring; all currently being linked to a lever. (I got about 18 FB's in the caverns, including one made out of titanium with deadly dust...) still on .25 until this fort crumbles.

[Hyndis]

Probably best to use no quality featherwood training spears for the dodge trap.

Its not the spikes that kill them. Its the pit they fall into. Also makes looting much easier. If they die from the spikes then you have hauling jobs right on the spikes, which can be hazardous and leaves them vulnerable to ambushes. But if they plummet to their doom and die on impact your haulers will be safe.