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[Elf_Basher]

Lately my fortress has been in trouble. I've made the mistake of producing vast wealth before my army is up to snuff and I've had to save scum a few times due to frequent bronze colossus invasions. In order to put an end to these, I'm trying to build traps for the big buggers using floors built on top of supports. The general idea is that being building destroyers, they'll notice the supports on the periphery of my fortress entrance and try to destroy them before entering the fortress proper, leading to a big splat from the resulting cave in.

However, for the life of me I cannot figure out how to build the darn floors on the second level! I've tried constructing up stairs directly adjacent to the supports, I've tried building a wall directly between the up stairs and the supports, all to no avail. The location is always marked as "No access" or "No access to uneconomical building material."

I have a feeling I'm missing something really simple. As I'm situated on a plane without many hills, bridging natural terrain to the supports isn't an option. Could anyone give me some tips on how to allow my dwarves to access the top of a support to construct floors?   

Two other semi-related questions: Will a cave in caused by a trap like this destroy the statues dropped by colossi on death? And does anyone have any other tips on dealing with nuisances like this that maybe I haven't thought of?

[Sphalerite]

You can only build a floor if your dwarves have somewhere to stand adjacent to the floor you want to build.  What you need to do first is either build an up-stair next to the support, then a down-stair on top of the up-stair, then build the floor, then deconstruct the down-stair, or build a wall next to the support, then a ramp next to the wall, then build the floor, then deconstruct the wall and the ramp.

[Fredd]

Building destroyers ignore supports. They are smarter than dwarves

[BigD145]

You could just floor over most of your map and have one support tied to a lever.

[Elf_Basher]

Wow... They do ignore supports. Looks like the time I've spent away from the game has made my defense design skill very rusty. I've managed to get around that by linking to levers and chaining a few dogs under the floors though.

I've also been blessed by an artifact bituminous coal statue of my civ's founder too, thinking about setting that alight and baiting a narrow spot near my entrance with it, controlling access with a bridge. Might help rid me of those pesky elven caravans as well. 

Thanks for the tips, all. I'm still relatively new at designing traps so further ideas are very much appreciated.

[Frogwarrior]

You could place a door (D) in such a location that the only way to it is to step on a pressure plate (^):

Code: [Select]

OOOOO
OOOOO
OOD ^I
OOOOO
OOOOOand then have the pressure plate drop a floor held up by a support (the I)

[Werefox]

Code: [Select]

     x
     x
     x
/xx#I^xxx
     x
     x
     x
x = wall
/= ramp up to top of the wall
I = support holding a section of wall or floor at z+1
#= z0 fortification, z+1 constructed grate
^= pressure plate linked to support, set to whomever you want it dropped on
 

Invaders and others path toward the Cross wall, and try to path around the walls. they trigger the plate, dropping the construction on themselves. the fortification keeps the openings as small as possible, and it shouldnt support the floor above. the grate at z+1 allows easy rebuilding on the support when it comes time to rearm the trap, and shouldnt support the mine load. you should be able to interlink this for as complicated as a mine field as you want, replace the grate with  retracting bridges. this was a quick and dirty idea i had, and im not sure if fortifications hold things at z+1 or not.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

If you want simple, bronze colossuses and most other megabeasts don't have trapavoid-- a single cage trap will snag them as easily as it will a goblin.

If you're concerned about titans (who do have trapavoid), the wiki page on trap design contains a few designs at the bottom for snagging trapavoid building destroyers.

[FrisianDude]

Build support, build an up stair in the vicinity, once the up-stair is built, place a down stair right above it. Now make the floor towards the support until it covers the support. Have someone else link the support to a lever. Remove the up-stair (make sure no-one stands on top of the floor).

You now have a minor 'cave-in' weapon which can be used to smash goblins walking underneath. One pull of the lever = one support going down.

[Frogwarrior]

Or you could have the support hold up two floor tiles, one of which is directly above the support and the other of which is hanging over a pressure plate which is set to destroy the support. So a goblin walks on the plate and gets his head smashed in, and his buddies get thrown all over the place.

[Eater of Vermin]

Hmmm.... can statues support floors?

'Cos building destroyers definitely target statues.

(This calls for !!SCIENCE!!)

[Loud Whispers]

Hmmm.... can statues support floors?

No.

Only things built with (b) (c), natural ground and supports do

[rtg593]

... Since trap avoid is circumvented by unconscious, what about a pit with cage traps, a support off to the side, a floor level with the surface connected diagonally, a door surrounded by pressure plates connected to the support... Building destroyer heads towards door, hits pressure plates, floor caves in, dust knocks em out, lands on cage trap and is caught...

Would that work? lol

Either a stroke of genius... Or just a stroke:p Guess we'll see.

[Frogwarrior]

Hmmm.... can statues support floors?

'Cos building destroyers definitely target statues.

(This calls for !!SCIENCE!!)

I had the same question, so I tested it. Doesn't work.

[simonthedwarf]

Has anyone tried a bridge/pitfall with cages at the bottom vs trapavoid?