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[RomanGuy]

So I had opened a side passage with a chained cat inside for the tigerman (Masterwork mod) seige to attack.  They rush in and the spearmaster charges the cat and slashes it's paw.  The cat flies backward into the fortifications surrounding the passage and the spearmaster follows. 

Now here's the part that scared the crap out of me.  The spearmaster charges the cat again, knocking it out of the fortification, and the spearmaster is now inside the fortification!  He just casually steps out, beheads the cat, and charges into my fortress!  I thought for a second that the game design had suddenly broken down and his whole army would follow him inside to rape and pillage my defenseless fortress!

They didn't and my military took down the spearmaster with five recruit casualties.  Did anyone know this was possible?  Is this a reported bug?  This was probably the most unexpected thing that has ever happened to me in this game, even more than breaking into the circus.

[smirk]

Aye, it's a known thing; this bug here: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=3327  Usually it's 7/7 liquids pushing items and creatures through fortifications and upright bars, but it makes sense that creatures knocked flying would be able to do the same. Some glitch in the code for making tiles partially passable. Pretty sure most of us think of it as a feature rather than a bug these days; being able to occasionally slip through grates makes sense. I'm personally sad it doesn't happen with horizontal grates as well.

At any rate, the lesson here is: your defenses are far too simple. Build something complicated with pressure plates and magma pits!

[nbp]

I've had this happen to me too.  In my last fort, I had an entrance to my fort that consisted of a pathway, doubled back on itself several times, whose floor was made up of retractable drawbridges.  Halfway through this entryway, on a single tile of solid floor, was a pressure plate that caused all the bridges to retract, dropping all of the incoming gobbos into the pit.  One level above the floor of the pit, one wall consisted of fortifications, behind which was a hallway for marksdwarves to shoot from.

In several instances, I had items and/or hostile creatures somehow fly off of the bridges and lodge themselves inside of the fortifications a level or two below.  The square immediately above the fortifications was solid rock, so it shouldn't even have been possible for this stuff to fall in from above.  I can only conclude that it somehow came in at a funny angle and came through the top corner of those squares or something like that.

[Drazinononda]

Pathing does allow for vertically diagonal movement - the most common example is dwarves traveling up and down ramps (moving one z-level and one horizontal space in the same step) but flying creatures can also path through diagonal-only gaps. For example, if you have a  room with a cross section like this:

____ 
    #
____#


(#s are a fortification)
the roof doesn't cover the fortification and a flying (or apparently, free-falling) creature can move through the diagonal from above the fortification to next to it inside the roof.

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

I think of fortifications as arrowslits, big enough to shoot through, but small enough that invaders couldn't possibly fit through. Flying invaders just popping right through them is as believable as them walking through a solid wall. Therefore, I definitely see this as a bug.

[Bloodyharbinger]

I think of fortifications as arrowslits, big enough to shoot through, but small enough that invaders couldn't possibly fit through. Flying invaders just popping right through them is as believable as them walking through a solid wall. Therefore, I definitely see this as a bug.

I mean, you could launch a person through an arrow slit, but it wouldnt be pretty.

[nomad_delta]

I think of fortifications as arrowslits, big enough to shoot through, but small enough that invaders couldn't possibly fit through. Flying invaders just popping right through them is as believable as them walking through a solid wall. Therefore, I definitely see this as a bug.

Agreed... I guess maybe Toady should decide exactly how big the arrow slit in a fortification is, and then add some code to do a check when an object/creature impacts a Fortification tile?  If the creature size is smaller than however big an arrow slit is determined to be, there could be a chance for it to go through... otherwise, I'd think it should just treat fortifications as Walls for impacts in most cases.

--nomad_delta

[RomanGuy]

I was aware that the tops of fortifications were open and allowed vertical movement.  The cat was knocked back into the fortification the first time through the air, so it makes sense that is able to go through the fortification.  However, the tigerman appeared to move horizontally into the fortification using a "charge" at the cat.  They then collided inside the fortification and the cat was knocked out again. 

There was no water around and no way to access the fortification from the top because the z level above is solid rock.  I guess the fortification both entered was diagonally adjacent to them though.

Can any creature flying through the air travel through fortifications?  Or will a flying creature large enough treat it as a wall?  Are fortifications treated as arrowslits?  Or is the only thing keeping creatures from walking through fortifications that they don't realize they can?

[Ubiq]

Were they constructed fortifications or carved out of walls?

Constructed fortifications just take up half a square after all while carved ones retain the upper portion of the original wall.

[Scow2]

I think of fortifications as arrowslits, big enough to shoot through, but small enough that invaders couldn't possibly fit through. Flying invaders just popping right through them is as believable as them walking through a solid wall. Therefore, I definitely see this as a bug.

Agreed... I guess maybe Toady should decide exactly how big the arrow slit in a fortification is, and then add some code to do a check when an object/creature impacts a Fortification tile?  If the creature size is smaller than however big an arrow slit is determined to be, there could be a chance for it to go through... otherwise, I'd think it should just treat fortifications as Walls for impacts in most cases.

--nomad_delta

Disagreed. A fortification is more like a chest-high wall.

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

A fortification is more like a chest-high wall.

And yet, if you surround a cat with these "chest-high walls" it will be completely trapped?

[RomanGuy]

Were they constructed fortifications or carved out of walls?

Constructed fortifications just take up half a square after all while carved ones retain the upper portion of the original wall.

Ah, I was not aware of this, they were constructed fortifications, if that matters.

[GreatWyrmGold]

A fortification is more like a chest-high wall.

And yet, if you surround a cat with these "chest-high walls" it will be completely trapped?

The walls are steep, and nothing climbs yet.
Makes sense, except how would you carve fortifications into walls then?

[Ubiq]

A fortification is more like a chest-high wall.

And yet, if you surround a cat with these "chest-high walls" it will be completely trapped?

Until climbing is put in, yes.

Ah, I was not aware of this, they were constructed fortifications, if that matters.

Then there's a gap above them. Usually it only becomes an issue when water forces them through, but the charge allowed him to enter. I don't know if that would have happened if it had been a carved fortification.

[Urist Da Vinci]

Verified in arena mode. Charging at a creature that is "stuck" in a fortification can result in the stuck creature tumbling backwards out of the fortification, and the attacker being "stuck" in the fortification. Either "stuck" creature can walk out either side of the fortification at their option/choice, so they aren't really stuck. This has nothing to do with the space above the fortification or constructed/carved origin.

Completely flooded fortifications allow creatures to swim through.

Projectiles, including items, creatures, and minecarts can pass through fortifications. A minecart that is still touching the ground won't go through a fortification.