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[Oaktree]

Current fortress is in the desert on the bank of a 30-tile wide river.  It must be bridged.  However, I am not going to consider damming it with magma or anything like that.  Not quite elegant enough.

Current favorite plan is a two-arch bridge to cross the river with the road bed being 2-3 Z levels above the water. 

The pylons and central arch base will be magma cast once the scaffolding and some rail is in place.  (Since otherwise the central pylon would require damming the river, or magma casting a cassion otherwise.  The rest of the pylons, archwork, approach ramps, and 5-tile wide road bed will be iron blocks.  We have magnetite deposits, and also figure the neighboring goblin community will be willing to donate materials as well.  Bridge railing will be clear glass (or alternating clear and green glass if it looks nice.)  Will possibly also include a narrow copper grate pedestrian crossing that descends to a fishing platform at the central pylon.

Further decoration will depend on available imported materials and what sort of items the fort's artisans come up with.  Precious metal statues of dwarves laboring, chief noble looking noble, and goblins deceasing will be included I'm sure.

Any further suggestions from the other overseers?  Powered engineering will be considered, but might also be a resource stretch.  It's also not intended to be a death trap.

[Frank_Horrigan]

It's simply not dwarfy is it's not a death trap.

[Oaktree]

It's simply not dwarfy is it's not a death trap.

Well there *will* be a retracting section for those who are not willing to pay the proper toll.

[guitarxe]

And fall into water? pshaw!
At the VERY least there must be killer carp in that water.

[Shoruke]

-If you're pumping magma up there to cast the pylons from anyway, you could have a magma waterfall on both sides of the bridge. Just create a ceiling over it, pump magma up and drop it on top and watch it slide off the sides through the glass windows. Could be taxing on your FPS though...
-Put some caged critters on pedestals near the bridge.
-I once built a small labyrinth the led into my fort, made entirely of Obsidian. It was fun! It also had some Marksdwarf pillboxes 
-Tame a dragon and post it on top of one of the bridges arches. Because AA guns and also because dragons.
-Don't just make the bridge retractable; in addition, link another lever that retracts the bridge and also caves in the riverbed underneath. If you thought suddenly falling into a river was scary, just think about falling into a maelstrom! (Megadorf bonus: the zone under the caved-in riverbed has nasty critters like zombies or elephants or something)

[Larix]

I've never done obsidian casting, so this already sounds pretty dwarfy to me. Of course, part of it should be retractable or raisable, and closing it off with ceilings and walls (walls with windows) sounds good, too. Put some statues on top of the ceiling or in niches, chain some war animals near the entrances and maybe make a 1x1 bridgekeeper hut (with fortifications, so toll shirkers can get shot).

The _biggest_ bridge i've built was inspired by the oceanbridge community fort - built a caravan-passable bridge across a fairly narrow gulf. It's as yet not fancied up, but that was because getting it built took so long with about twenty adults - over four years and ~700 blocks. Of steel - this was a pure building fort with invaders off and i found all the necessary ingredients on the site (limonite, marble and limestone, lignite), so why the hell not?

[I am Leo]

Make the bridge a couple of Z levels thick and house all your dwarves inside it. Have the ground only used for mining and magma pumping.

[Sigulbard]

And fall into water? pshaw!
At the VERY least there must be killer carp in that water.

Recent mutations in carp genetics have made the species less exciting to encounter than before.

[Laserhead]

Consider perhaps linking the main span to the banks via nonsupporting constructions, and holding it up using supports linked to a lever, so you can have a commando dwarf "blow the bridge" in a last ditch move to block an enemy advance.

Or perhaps keep a troll living under the bridge. You could feed it goats.

Maybe wait for a melancholy dwarf to throw himself off, then add on a bunch of unsightly safety railing?

[MDFification]

Wall off the part of the map your fortress is constructed on, leaving the bridge the only entrance to your fort.
Build an above-ground fortresses (archery towers, barracks, appropriate stockpiles and if you're feeling particularly dorfy the ability to dumb boiling magma onto oncomming foes) on the far side.

When invades come, they'll have to take the fort. If they do, there's a mandatory self-destruct function for the bridge.

[joeclark77]

It seems like a bridge with a bend in it would allow you to sweep the bridge with siege engine fire from a secure bunker that invaders can't directly attack.  Like this:

Code: [Select]

......#|#
......#V#
+++
+++++++++
+++++++++
+++++++++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++


[Ruhn]

I say keep the bridge solid without any raise/lower.  Include a lever-activated magma waterfall at the central pylon to do the killing.  Grates on the banks will reclaim the lava as it flows down hill from center of bridge.

[MDFification]

It seems like a bridge with a bend in it would allow you to sweep the bridge with siege engine fire from a secure bunker that invaders can't directly attack.  Like this:

Code: [Select]

......#|#
......#V#
+++
+++++++++
+++++++++
+++++++++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++


That's a good idea. Mandatory Ballistae battery?

[Oaktree]

It seems like a bridge with a bend in it would allow you to sweep the bridge with siege engine fire from a secure bunker that invaders can't directly attack.  Like this:

Code: [Select]

......#|#
......#V#
+++
+++++++++
+++++++++
+++++++++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++
      +++


Interesting idea.  Though I'd use a minecart "cannon" rather than a ballista or catapult since I like the nice shotgun effect as blocks and pointy objects sweep an area.

Given I have to do some magma pouring in the area for the central base I might opt to do some additional casting.  Since the river is shallow I figure I either drop a casting to make a cassion and also penetrate the aquifer immediately below; or make a magma pit in the middle of the river.  So goblins thinking they will just get wet can get melted instead, with sweet cooling water just a tile or so away...