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[Noobazzah]

So, I have this long up/down staircase that runs through a large number of z-levels. There are floor hatches along the way. Now here's what I fear might happen: Urist McMiner accidentally digs somewhere he's not supposed to (highly likely), releasing some nasty buggers into my fort and they run to my staircase. My military is mobilized and start climbing down the stairs. Then Urist McSockhauler gets takes a peek at the monsters creeping upwards through a floor hatch. He panics and drops his sock on the hatch. Then a miltiadwarf runs after his comrades, being late because he was partying. The hatch is opened. The sock drops down 20 z:s, killing all my legendary soldiers along the way. Has something like this ever happened? I know that dropping even lightweight stuff on creatures causes heavy injury or death, and that stuff falls down a hatch when it's opened. But do stairs prevent crap from falling?

[Mushroo]

My solution to this problem is never to dig exploratory tunnels from my main staircase. I always do my exploratory digging in a separate mineshaft that is outside the entrance of my fort. Therefore if my miners release any creatures they must come through my fortress defenses.

[Noobazzah]

Yeah, I try to do that too. But if the caverns are closer to the surface than expected, for instance, you can end up getting this sort of problmes. So, the danger is real?

[Mushroo]

I've never had a soldier killed by a falling sock that I can remember.

[Noobazzah]

I've seen gobbos getting their skulls cracked by their own socks.

[pisskop]

There wasa guy who dropped socks and rocks on clowns form something like 100Z levels above... said it worked ok.  I think you are being paranoid with that hypothetical, but the setup is physically unsound.  When all your sleeping dorfs die horribly.

[LordSlowpoke]

It is a risk indeed, and my solution was to replace the military with socks flying at terminal velocity using a drawbridge to throw 'em in.

Have Fun~

[Mushroo]

Also if you are concerned about the multi-level z drop then why not make a spiral staircase?

[PainRack]

Woah...... Some of the gravity mechanics is quite zonky. It made correcting outdoor constructions even more difficult than before. But I would had thought helmets would had protected against this.....

[thiosk]

He wasn't really killed by the sock, per se, but he got freaked out when the stinky, damp thing landed on his neck, and then he started swinging his weapons...

I like the idea of exploratory digging OUTSIDE the fort.  That would save all the forbidden hatch-covered stairwells into the stupid caverns I've got now.

[pisskop]

He wasn't really killed by the sock, per se, but he got freaked out when the stinky, damp thing landed on his neck, and then he started swinging his weapons...

I like the idea of exploratory digging OUTSIDE the fort.  That would save all the forbidden hatch-covered stairwells into the stupid caverns I've got now.

Also, when a flying BD comes on by...  Death is sure to follow.  or any who can reach it

edit: have you ever seen what happen to a dwarf who dodges on a stairwell?  They pick up the gibs at the landing

[wuphonsreach]

When digging up/down stairs and you pierce the caverns, go up 1 level and construct "up" stairs over all the up/down stairs.  That blocks off access from below.  If you breached from the side during a sideways tunnel, wall over the opening.

With long vertical stairs, I try to have hatches every 5 Z levels (or 3 Z levels if I have lots of hatches).

[Hans Lemurson]

Important piece of information: Objects do not fall down through stairs.

If there is an item on the hatch when it opens, it will simply stay there, resting on the "down stairs"  portion of the tile.  The hatch might be jammed open until the object is cleared though.

Down-stairs tiles can be used as filters that allow fluids through, but not items or creatures.  A dwarf on a path made of down-stairs tiles can walk through a waterfall with no difficulty.

[Hyndis]

For security reasons it would be best to have separation between the main fortress part, and then the paths out of the fortress. The exits would include both above ground and also the caverns. Potential threats can come from both places.

For added security, try routing both above ground and below ground through your barracks.

Build the entrance to your fortress in a "T" shape. In the middle have your barracks with soldiers on active/training. One leg of the "T" will be to the surface. The other will be to the deep mines, caverns, magma ocean, and deeper. And the other leg will be to the fortress proper.

This way your on duty soldiers will guard against threats from both above and below at the same time.

You of course do want some sort of below ground gatehouse in order to deal with FB's. The wrong kind of FB's can cause horrendous biological warfare. You don't want that key intersection covered with facemelting liquids or filled with flesh dissolving gas.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Stuff shouldn't fall down stairs when the hatch it's on is opened. It hasn't to me, at least.