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[Anathe]

I've run into this problem. See, while the Goblins haven't come for my delicious cheese in mass, they've grown bolder. Mind you, this fortress is 5 years old, so that alone is a surprise. I have my defenses set up so that the only three ways into the fortress would be:
1. Main gate. Which is on a cliff with ballista battery, cage traps, and a retractable bridge. The entrance is elevated so the only way to the gate involves going up a ramp and crossing the bridge.
2. Aqueduct. Waiting for the river to freeze, tunneling up into the aqueduct and destroying the pumps, then climbing through and destroying the grates. Impossible for sieges. (I know, I built an aqueduct on river that freezes over yearly.)
3. The back door. The aqueduct runs through 3 levels of my fortress, fills my water reservoir through a controllable floodgate, and then drains off the map. The back door uses floodgates to isolate a portion of this drain, stopping the water drainage and opening a 1-wide passage. Flooding of this can be resumed at any moment. The passage itself is loaded with cages.

Now, I have a few prisoners from "incursions." Should I build a more elaborate drowning chamber to deal with them, or work on a "better" defense system to kill future prisoners, and leave the mutilated bodies for all to see? I was thinking build a designated water storage for the chamber, with a way to pump water into/out of at will?

[SharkForce]

the best way to drown your enemies is in magma

[Veylon]

I've had a fair bit of experience building drowning chambers.

I usually use a design like this:

Code: [Select]

Level 0 (Drowning)

(Tank Here)
/-----\
|     |
|     |
|  <  |
\-----/

Level 1 (Filling)
 %|%  |
/%|%| |
|#|#| |
| \-/ |
|  >  |
\-----/
Right pump fills, left pump empties.
- The grates are essential to keeping the prisoners from swimming up to safety and/or attacking your dwarves.
- The stairwell should have a hatch and be locked for much the same reason. I advise linking to a lever so you can always be sure at a glance whether it's open or locked.
- The tank should hold several times as much water as the drowning chamber to be sure of quick fills. Alternatively, if you have a pressurized or refilling water source, consider having the emptying pump send the water to an evaporation chamber instead. You don't want to drown yourself!
- Put cage and mechanism stockpiles nearby so that the prisoners can be readied for release quickly when you are ready. Additionally, consider making feeder Armor/Weapon/Clothing stockpiles to cut on hauling dwarf-hours if the prisoners will be drowned with stuff you want on them and the tank is far from your main stockpiles.
- What is wrong with me that I have quite a bit of experience building drowning chambers of all things?

If you want a more visible means of execution, you could also build a twenty-or-so Z-level high tower and hurl your enemies to their jagged-spike doom from atop it. It'd leave plenty of giblets for their friends to find.

[thegoatgod_pan]

The best drowning chambers deploy water from above the targets, rather than from the side. This is because water moves much, much faster from above.

However since you have freezing seasons, you should build one which deploys water from the sides, from compartments which have never seen sunlight (underground) and will keep water liquid, this water will instafreeze killing all nicely.

[Rutilant]

I've had a fair bit of experience building drowning chambers.


- What is wrong with me that I have quite a bit of experience building drowning chambers of all things?

You're still questioning these things?  I make migrants all kill their own pets with a spike lever.  I even put in a window so they can watch!  It's the fault of the migrant cats but every animal gets punished.  Keeps my stocks/Animals screen cleaner.

[chaosgear]

The best drowning chambers deploy water from above the targets, rather than from the side. This is because water moves much, much faster from above.

However since you have freezing seasons, you should build one which deploys water from the sides, from compartments which have never seen sunlight (underground) and will keep water liquid, this water will instafreeze killing all nicely.

Waitaminute.
If it's seen sunlight, it will instafreeze in winter? Even if I've build a roof over it?
Well, fudruckers, I had a half-finished above ground gazebo/trade depot/drowning chamber in the works.

[Lich180]

It still works as drowning chamber, but with less drowning and more suffocating inside a block of ice.

and just as effective.

[GiglameshDespair]

The best drowning chambers deploy water from above the targets, rather than from the side. This is because water moves much, much faster from above.

However since you have freezing seasons, you should build one which deploys water from the sides, from compartments which have never seen sunlight (underground) and will keep water liquid, this water will instafreeze killing all nicely.

Waitaminute.
If it's seen sunlight, it will instafreeze in winter? Even if I've build a roof over it?
Well, fudruckers, I had a half-finished above ground gazebo/trade depot/drowning chamber in the works.

AFAIK If a square has ever seen sunlight it will freeze, same time as ever other surface thing. You can keep it liquid with moving magma, but that can be more effort than it's worth.

[i2amroy]

AFAIK If a square has ever seen sunlight it will freeze, same time as ever other surface thing. You can keep it liquid with moving magma, but that can be more effort than it's worth.

Almost true. Yes once a square has seen sunlight it will freeze, but the magma doesn't have to be moving, so you can just create a pool of magma one z-layer below anywhere you are utilizing water to keep it liquid. And the challenge just means that you should be more likely to do, just for the added awesomeness.

[laularukyrumo]

I just forgo drowning chambers and drop my prisoners down a 40 z-level pit. They splatter.

[SRD]

Drop them onto spikes which retract to allow a gush of water to make them flow into the caverns to feed the crundles.

[sackhead]

i just have a zigzag path over a pool.
with a flip of the switch i can open a cage releasing puppies, these combined with marksdwarves makes them dodge into the water below. where i feed them to my various sea creatures 

[laularukyrumo]

Really though, drowning should be reserved for that which cannot reasonably be dropped into a pit of death. Fliers, maybe megabeast-size things can survive falls, etc. Those guys get drowned.

And then of course, you have the Obsidianization chamber for clowns.

[SRD]

I tend to fill up the trade depot full of water, then open hatches all around allowing the elves corpses (and items) to flow out into a sorting pile. (No reason to open the gates)

[TomIrony]

I just forgo drowning chambers and drop my prisoners down a 40 z-level pit. They splatter.

I did this in my fortress one time. My dorfs loved it so much they engraved goblins falling to their deaths on the walls.