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[Foamybeard]

Alright. Usually I put a Doorway in front of my Workshop's entryway, so that any dwarf that fails an artifact and goes Berserk/Stark-Raving-Mad/Melancholy will be trapped in the room until they starve to death. However, I was thinking that perhaps I should put a weapon trap instead, so that if Urist McStabhappy attempts to leave the room, he will be sliced in half by ten serrated steel disks.

However, I don't know if that also affects Dwarves that go all Urist McSuicide and Urist McNutjob, so... I guess I'm asking if I should have both a trap and a door, so that any Berserk Dwarves get properly sliced up, while at the same time I can just starve out the Stark-Raving-Mad and Melancholy Dwarves.

EDIT: On a secondary note, I'm wondering if Kobold Theives are susceptible to a spear trap attached to a repeating lever, or are they immune to those as well?

[Lich180]

Well, as long as you account for random Urist McSleepyhead passing out on the trap tile, you should be good. I don't see why both couldn't hurt, just as an added safeguard.

Or you could just lock them in when they go insane, and then build the trap, but that doesn't seem as Fun as the risk of Urist McLegendaryWeaponsmith falling asleep where he stands and getting sliced -n- diced.

[oasis789]

a repeating upright spike trap in your entrance could lead to some serious fun if your own dwarves decide to path across it when hunting, fishing etc

[Foamybeard]

a repeating upright spike trap in your entrance could lead to some serious fun if your own dwarves decide to path across it when hunting, fishing etc

I'm in an Evil Mountian/Badland biome, so I don't worry much about my Dwarves coming or going for the most part. I have a walled in area for them to fish, and a Pig Farm for their meat, along with a (in my opinion) a cleverly done entrance that is blocked by a flowing river that is locked and drained by floodgates, and only passable via bridge. I'm just thinking that in case the Kobolds come inforce, perhaps I could kill them off via meatgrinder.

[Adamantine Clowns]

Simple answer is that the door or wall is best. Weapon traps are double edged yes, I'd avoid them for the friendly fire reason alone. And you can just forbid the door and let him die. I've only had a few crazies, not enough to make sense blocking all my workshops up, but just make sure you have livestock or fresh kills on hand for those crazy bone requirements.

Your entrance sounds elaborate, yes, but its not the most efficient. As for the walled in area, I do that to when I NEED to have access to materials. But I find the caravans are great for everything, especially since I slaughter all the the dwarven ones.

[MrWillsauce]

Benefits of weapon traps:
A lot more fun.

Downsides:
Much more expensive than just doors, with about the same function.
Possible friendly fire (although some might treat that as a plus)

[Larix]

Pff, planning for failure is defeatism. I do my level best to make the mood succeed, which means about one in a hundred mooders will go mad (almost always someone absolutely wanting to make a shell craft on a map with no shell-bearing creatures catchable). If that rare insane dwarf happens to go berserk, i just deal with it, and war dogs and a quick-response squad of poorly skilled militia, preferably with some marksdwarfs in the mix, have always proved adequate. I fail to see the point in gumming up my workshop architecture for an eventuality that hardly ever happens _and_ is not that hard to deal with even in the unfortunate case it occurs.

As to the question - non-berserk insane dwarfs are still members of your fort, so shouldn't trigger traps. Friendly fire is pretty much a non-issue anyway - a dwarf needs to be unconscious or otherwise incapacitated (stunned?) right on top of the trap square to get attacked. You can fill much-travelled corridors in the middle of your fort with serrated disc traps and no dwarf will come to harm in decades.

[Uggh]

Pff, planning for failure is defeatism.

I cannot agree. Dwarf fortress is all about planning for the most spectacular failure...

[Larix]

Nope. You expect failure, but you do your best to prevent it instead of only trying to lower the cost. For an example, take a natural waterfall. It provides natural defences and the option of applying mist to your dwarfs without the need for machinery, but you're facing the siren call of the shallow water near the lip inviting dwarfs to path through the river, with predictably messy results. Preventing desaster would be walling off the shallow part and adding a solid bridge as a safe means to cross. Planning for failure would be leaving the waterfall as is but instead lining up a bunch of slabs in the masonry workshop before anybody comes to harm.

To me, secreting away workshops and making them lockable is tantamount to making slabs instead of walling off the waterfall. The priority with moods should be making sure that the mood succeeds, since that can keep between 95% and 100% of all moody dwarfs sane. With proper attention to moods, berserkers are an afterthought and not a serious issue - your average failed-mood berserker will be some random kid or skill-less peasant who can't do real harm anyway.

[Sutremaine]

(almost always someone absolutely wanting to make a shell craft on a map with no shell-bearing creatures catchable)

Create some water and fishing zones away from any river or cavern tiles, and you should start finding stuff. A while back I had a shell mood and fished in the surface pools and cavern to no avail, but much later, once I'd dug out a cistern elsewhere and decided to take advantage of the lack of water life in order to passively build Agility on uselessly slow dwarves, I started pulling up turtles.

[i2amroy]

You can fill much-travelled corridors in the middle of your fort with serrated disc traps and no dwarf will come to harm in decades.

This would require you to have enough beds to go around though. Elsewise you are very likely to have a dwarf decide to sleep ont he trap and be sliced to ribbons.

[Pirate Bob]

Wouldn't a cage trap be a much safer choice?  Then at worst you just release Urist McNappy (perhaps after letting him think about how stupid he is for a bit).  Or will cage traps not capture berserk dwarves? 

I do have to also agree with Larix that I've never had a dwarf injured by a weapon trap, and I put them all over the place as decorations...

[lwCoyote]

Cage trap is maybe an interesting idea, cause then you could release it into a safe spot for target practice

[thegoatgod_pan]

I second the cage trap suggestion, there are all sorts of uses for a berserker

[Mr Space Cat]

Although I believe beserk dwarves would eventually starve/dehydrate before you could release them on a siege, and they'd usually be underarmed and cut down in seconds by goblins anyway.

Many other uses for them yeah, but bear in mind they do eventually starve/dehydrate....except vampires and werebeasts. Then there's just more fun.