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[vjek]

I'm trying to build the following:

• A three wide corridor filled with upright spikes, leading from the outside of the fort to the inside of the fort.
• The upright spikes are all tied to, and driven by, a wave repeater.  They are off by default/normally.
• When an invading goblin reaches the end of the hallway (the point closest to the fort interior), they step on a pressure plate.
• This pressure plate activates a repeating oscillation of all the upright spikes.  They now move up and down until manually disabled.
• The goblins must now pass through all the oscillating upright spikes either to move farther into the fort, or attempt to escape.

I can build the hallway. No problem.  Upright spikes, easy.
I can tie all the upright spikes to the wave repeater.  Works great in isolation.

I can't figure out how to get the pressure plate at the end of the hallway to "enable" the wave repeater to start moving the spikes up and down.  I need a solution that allows me to dynamically (as in, on demand) transfer power from the wave repeater to all the upright spikes, which can be disabled.

I have used techniques in the past such as a RS|FG|PP|FG|ME where RS=riversource, FG=floodgate, PP=pressure plate and ME=map edge, so you can use a trigger of the first FG to cause the pressure plate to trigger something for as long as you wish, then use a lever on the second floodgate to turn it off.  Ideally, it would be that kind of a design.

You can't tie a gear to upright spikes with mechanisms.  My initial thoughts were around that, however, tying the wave repeater to a gear causes it to be enabled and disabled repeatedly.  So provided that gear was powered from a water wheel, enabling and disabling it could cause whatever else hooked up to the gear to oscillate on/off.  The problem is... I can't figure out how to tie that powered output to all the upright spikes.

Any ideas?  Anyone else built anything similar in the past?

Caveats:
I have no access to animals.  Can't use them in the design.
I have no access to captured invaders.  Can't use them in the design.
Whatever design makes this work does not have to worry about building destroyers (there are none in this map).

I completely understand I could tie all the spikes to a single lever and have a dwarf repeatedly move the lever.  I don't want that.   I want a mechanical-based automated solution/design.

Thanks in advance for any constructive suggestions.

[Kofthefens]

In  RS|FG|PP|FG|ME , why can't you just link the pressure plate to the spikes?

[Sabreur]

Haven't tried it myself, but here's an idea:

1. Leave your repeater tunnel empty of water.
2. Keep the water in a reservoir above the tunnel with a retracting bridge floor.
3. The goblin-activated pressure plate dumps the water into the repeater tunnel all at once.
4. To reset, pump the water back into the storage tunnel.

[Sabreur]

In  RS|FG|PP|FG|ME , why can't you just link the pressure plate to the spikes?

Because that would trigger at-most once per goblin, probably less if they travel together.  Depending on timing, some goblins wouldn't be spiked or would only get spiked once. A repeater setup will turn them all into pink mist.

[rhesusmacabre]

You could make a repeater using a minecart:

            ☼
   ╔════════╤#    (#=wall, roller ╤ built on straight EW track but pointing south)
   ╚═══════^╝#

The track would need to be long enough for the plate to reset each time, but it should work and it can be turned on/off at will.

[Mr S]

Try having the pressure plate activate a latch circuit.  Once the latch is made, it opens another FG before the FG involved in the wave repeater, to apply potential to said wave repeater.  Reset the latch and repeater input FG via the usual methods.

RS FG FG PP FG ME

[vjek]

You could make a repeater using a minecart:

            ☼
   ╔════════╤#    (#=wall, roller ╤ built on straight EW track but pointing south)
   ╚═══════^╝#

The track would need to be long enough for the plate to reset each time, but it should work and it can be turned on/off at will.

Ah ha!  That has potential.  I'll investigate making a minecart repeater. Thanks, rhesusmacabre.

Haven't tried it myself, but here's an idea:

1. Leave your repeater tunnel empty of water.
2. Keep the water in a reservoir above the tunnel with a retracting bridge floor.
3. The goblin-activated pressure plate dumps the water into the repeater tunnel all at once.
4. To reset, pump the water back into the storage tunnel.

A good suggestion!  Logically sound.
My only concern with that type of system would be water loss due to evaporation/pumping.  Pumping doesn't always suck tiles dry, often (and randomly) they're left at 1/7, and then would be subject to evaporation.  As the amount in the wave repeater has to be exact, it would eventually fail over time.
A system that would leave the wave repeater sealed wouldn't suffer from this issue.

Try having the pressure plate activate a latch circuit.  Once the latch is made, it opens another FG before the FG involved in the wave repeater, to apply potential to said wave repeater.  Reset the latch and repeater input FG via the usual methods.

RS FG FG PP FG ME

Unfortunately, the wave repeater water needs to be precise and sealed for consistent results (and can't be activated more than once via a FG, as far as I can tell).  Otherwise, though, a good idea.

[blue sam3]

You could make a repeater using a minecart:

            ☼
   ╔════════╤#    (#=wall, roller ╤ built on straight EW track but pointing south)
   ╚═══════^╝#

The track would need to be long enough for the plate to reset each time, but it should work and it can be turned on/off at will.

Ah ha!  That has potential.  I'll investigate making a minecart repeater. Thanks, rhesusmacabre.

Haven't tried it myself, but here's an idea:

1. Leave your repeater tunnel empty of water.
2. Keep the water in a reservoir above the tunnel with a retracting bridge floor.
3. The goblin-activated pressure plate dumps the water into the repeater tunnel all at once.
4. To reset, pump the water back into the storage tunnel.

A good suggestion!  Logically sound.
My only concern with that type of system would be water loss due to evaporation/pumping.  Pumping doesn't always suck tiles dry, often (and randomly) they're left at 1/7, and then would be subject to evaporation.  As the amount in the wave repeater has to be exact, it would eventually fail over time.
A system that would leave the wave repeater sealed wouldn't suffer from this issue.

Try having the pressure plate activate a latch circuit.  Once the latch is made, it opens another FG before the FG involved in the wave repeater, to apply potential to said wave repeater.  Reset the latch and repeater input FG via the usual methods.

RS FG FG PP FG ME

Unfortunately, the wave repeater water needs to be precise and sealed for consistent results (and can't be activated more than once via a FG, as far as I can tell).  Otherwise, though, a good idea.

Repeater design (evaporation proof):

Code: [Select]

--------------
|WATER SOURCE|
--------------
WFW
WXW
WBW
WPW
WXW
---------------
|SWIMMING POOL|
---------------

W = wall
F = Fortification
X = floodgate
B = Bridge (raising)
P = pressure plate

The top floodgate is linked to your pressure plate that the goblins set off, everything else is linked to the pressure plate, which is set to 7/7.

The water source should be something that wont run out, like a river. The swimming pool will be maintained at 3-4/7 depth. If you wish for faster repetitions, you can either stick several in parallel, or chuck a few pressure plates set to 4/7 into the swimming pool. When you want to stop it, have some automatic or manual system to shut off the top floodgate, and if you use the second method of getting faster repetitions, open some kind of drain for the swimming pool.

[terko]

Use windmills (if your map has wind), a water reservoir and a few pumps that are powered with the windmill. Use that pressure plate to link the windmills to the pumps which now pump water from the reservoir into your pressure plate hallway up to the end to another pump that moves the water back into the reservoir.

Should work. Something I may test out. Only issue I see: the pressure plate the invaders walk over may be triggered again and again, so maybe make sure it's one time activation only, by a design like: 2 bridges around and it's the shortest way to use, which then retract and all other invaders got to use the longer way to move along. Hmmm ... I like that idea, time to play around.

[vjek]

Ok, got this working.  There was a bit of trial and error, but it works quite well now.

I created a water wheel with a gear & axle to provide power to the roller on the repeater track/loop.

I made a loop of track 13 tiles per side.
I placed a single roller on one side of the repeater track loop, speed setting LOW.
I powered the single roller with a gear next to it from the water wheel & axle.
Opposite the roller tile, on the other side of the loop, I built a pressure plate set to trigger on the track.
Then, on the same tile as the roller, I created a new route, and a new stop.
I removed all conditions for the route.
I assigned a vehicle (mine cart) to the route.

Then I built the upright spear trap.
I tied the pressure plate on the track loop to the upright spear trap.

I then built  a RS|FG|PP|FG|ME as I mentioned above, and tied the water-triggered pressure plate from that to the gear powering the roller.
I then built a lever, tied it to the same gear powering the roller, and disengaged the gear with that lever.

Next, built the entrance-hallway pressure plate (creature triggered), tied to the floodgate next to the riversource, which the goblins will step on.
I also built a second pressure plate (citizen triggered) with a dummy lever, as a reset, tied to the second floodgate (the one next to the map-edge)

The sequence then goes:
Goblin steps on pressure plate at the end of the hallway, which opens floodgate1.  This floods the pressure plate, which engages the power to the gear powering the roller.  This engages the repeater, which oscillates the upright spikes forever, until a citizen is told to flip the dummy lever.  Any number of goblins can walk over the plate, it doesn't matter, the spikes will continue oscillating without interruption, driven by the track loop repeater.
When all the goblins are dead, I send a citizen to flip the dummy lever, he walks over the citizen-sensitive pressure plate, which temporarily opens the second floodgate, unflooding the water-triggered pressure plate, ceasing the oscillations.
The hallway is now ready for more goblins, and will again engage automatically.

This was all done in 34.10.

[Hanslanda]

You are a badass and you deserve +1 internet.