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[blarg552]

Hello! I am new to Dwarf Fortress, and have just started my first fort. I have gotten the first few rooms dug out (the bedrooms, trading post, dining hall, farm, etc.), but I already had a fun idea for a project. Though I'm not sure if it'll work, and if so, how.
In my reading I've done so far, I've gotten the impression that dwarves with an injured spouse will often feel compelled to stay near said spouse. If you were to cage the injured spouse, or trap them in some way, and put them at one side of a large cavern, then replace that cavern with some sort of revolving door device, would it be possible to make a battery fueled by dwarven sadness as they try to get to their spouse by walking to them, but can't due to the constantly rotating device they're moving on? The device would supply power, and I'm not sure if this is possible because while I've seen perpetual motion devices mentioned on the forums, I don't think this would use the same principle. Thoughts?

[Girlinhat]

While it wouldn't provide mechanical energy for thins like screw pumps and millstones, it would be a valid idea for a timer, utilizing pressure plates as triggers for an infrequent-duration timer device, perhaps suited to something like danger room spikes or partial flooding chambers.  However, ultimately you're faced with 2 issues.  1: Will the dwarf always attempt to reach their spouse, or will they spend 90% of their time loitering in the dining hall?  2: This takes 2 dwarves out of commission to work.  Not that dwarves are a limited resource, but if it's a useful dwarf it can be an issue.  3: I'm additionally not sure that they actually try to go to their spouse.  I've observed no romantic feelings or inklings of one dwarf towards their spore partner.

You've got the right idea.  All the wrong motivation and all the right depravity, but your execution is amateur.  Keep at it, Science of the Damned will come easier to you when you understand game mechanics in more detail.

[Sphalerite]

In my reading I've done so far, I've gotten the impression that dwarves with an injured spouse will often feel compelled to stay near said spouse.

I have seen no evidence that this is the case.  Where did you read this?

[blarg552]

2 people I've talked to said it could happen. Maybe they were wrong though. *shrugs*

[KodKod]

Such enthusiasm for science in a brand new player, how admirable.

Such a shame that it won't work.

[blarg552]

There was one other idea I had. A cannon to launch military dwarves from (hopefully not killing them). Seeing the knockdown mechanics -do- exist, a dwarf launched from a cannon/catapult at a group of goblins would give them a valuable edge in the start of the fight.

[slowpokez]

There was one other idea I had. A cannon to launch military dwarves from (hopefully not killing them). Seeing the knockdown mechanics -do- exist, a dwarf launched from a cannon/catapult at a group of goblins would give them a valuable edge in the start of the fight.

You can't use a catapult for this but in theory I guess a watercannon might work However I do not believe that it would give them "a valuable edge" in the fight unless they land directly on top of a goblin...
Also I have to agree with KodKod, your scientific enthusiasm is quite admirable

[Callista]

Well, what about dropping the militia onto the goblins from the floor above, via retracting bridge?

[Girlinhat]

There is no weaponizable way to project a dwarf towards an enemy.  At this moment, every method of deployment results in the same combat ability as if they'd walked there.  The only possible trick would be to use a cave-in system that delivers them, but then you'd be doing just as well having the dwarf walk there and causing a cave-in just before they fight.

Also water cannons and bridges are not valid ways of causing flight nor of slamming a creature into a wall.

[AWdeV]

Well, what about dropping the militia onto the goblins from the floor above, via retracting bridge?

Only works if they land on top of the goblins. If your dwarves DON'T hit the goblins, the dwarves will end up stunned and possibly even wounded/dead from the fall instead of the gobboes.

Now, dropping goblins down chasms, that works.

[slowpokez]

There is no weaponizable way to project a dwarf towards an enemy.  At this moment, every method of deployment results in the same combat ability as if they'd walked there.  The only possible trick would be to use a cave-in system that delivers them, but then you'd be doing just as well having the dwarf walk there and causing a cave-in just before they fight.

Also water cannons and bridges are not valid ways of causing flight nor of slamming a creature into a wall.

How come a watercannon is not a valid form of travel? I can't say I've ever tried it but neither can I see why it would not work?

[Callista]

Well, what about dropping the militia onto the goblins from the floor above, via retracting bridge?

Only works if they land on top of the goblins. If your dwarves DON'T hit the goblins, the dwarves will end up stunned and possibly even wounded/dead from the fall instead of the gobboes.

Now, dropping goblins down chasms, that works.

The advantage of it--if you could manage to do it without stunning the dwarves--is that it would stop them from taking forever to mobilize and meander over there. You could just barrack them above the entryway.

Water softens landings, right? What if you put maybe 3/7 water or so in your entryway?

[AWdeV]

@Slowpokez; Because I'm pretty sure that even if you manage to pressurise water to such an extent that it would theoretically hurl things away, most of it would flow in every other direction rather than the one you want to. If you have a dwarf there, odds are he/she'll just get flushed away in a random direction instead of being tossed at the rampaging Uruk-Hai Goblins.

And possible random directions include a) chasms. b) small ditches that will fill up and drown your dwarf or c) chasms that will fill up and ensure you'll need a lot of pumping and patience to reach the dwarf's splattered corpse.


Callista, you could still just barack them above the entryway but with a staircase downwards.
Although I don't know about water-softening, might be worth a try. Definitely worth some science.

[slowpokez]

Well, what about dropping the militia onto the goblins from the floor above, via retracting bridge?

Only works if they land on top of the goblins. If your dwarves DON'T hit the goblins, the dwarves will end up stunned and possibly even wounded/dead from the fall instead of the gobboes.

Now, dropping goblins down chasms, that works.j

The advantage of it--if you could manage to do it without stunning the dwarves--is that it would stop them from taking forever to mobilize and meander over there. You could just barrack them above the entryway.

Water softens landings, right? What if you put maybe 3/7 water or so in your entryway?

I belive the bridge method would work if designed properly even though it would not serve any practical purpose.
In my experience water is not very effective at softening falls.

[Girlinhat]

Water will soften a landing over multiple levels if those levels are all flooded - your dwarves will land at the bottom of a well shaft, basically.  Useful for vampires, who won't care, otherwise a normal dwarf will be stunned and drown.

You can theoretically push dwarves out of the barracks and into a warzone by funneling water through a narrow hallway, but that gets tricky and - as before - doesn't really do any good since they can walk anyways.