Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[FlootsyGaz]

Hey guys. Been playing Dwarf Fortress on and off, but never seriously. But in the last week or so I've been pretty much all the time, consulting the wiki, and tutorials. The only thing I can't seem to figure out is how to connect levers to things. I've built the mechanisms and levers, but every time I do try to link I run into a stone wall.

[crazysheep]

Build a lever, and then open up the activities screen from the lever by (q)uerying the lever. You should get an option to link the lever to stuff.

[FlootsyGaz]

When I do try to do that it states I don't "have enough mechanisms." Do I just have to create a lot more?

[crazysheep]

You need at least 2 mechanisms - 1 for linking to the lever, and 1 for linking to the building.

[Sutremaine]

You need one mechanism to make a lever or pressure plate.
Then you need one mechanism to put in the lever, and another to put in the thing you're linking.

So a basic drawbridge would take three mechanisms. If at some point you wanted to run another drawbridge off the same lever you'd need two more mechanisms, because you already have the mechanism for the lever in place.

You probably don't need a lot more at the moment, but anything beyond manually-controlled drawbridges tends to eat mechanisms at an alarming rate. Plus, higher-quality mechanisms are probably better for traps.

[FlootsyGaz]

Alright. I've figured it out. Thank you all!

[MenacesWithSpikes]

Plus, higher-quality mechanisms are probably better for traps.

Anecdotally, I definitely find this to be the case.  I'm not sure what would be considered formal and proper !!SCIENCE!! on the issue.

[Quietust]

Plus, higher-quality mechanisms are probably better for traps.

I can personally confirm that they are better for traps - not only weapon traps, but even stone-fall traps too!

[Sutremaine]

Anecdotally, I definitely find this to be the case.  I'm not sure what would be considered formal and proper !!SCIENCE!! on the issue.

Testing in 40d (I think that's the last time it was done) was done by putting things on drawbridges and seeing how far they flew when flipped. I've assumed that it hadn't changed since then, but I wasn't 100% sure. I don't use weapon traps very much.