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[Maul_Junior]

So I've broken through the first cavern, and found a passage down to Deep Caverns......problem is I'm not sure how to defend my main base from the cavern dwellers. At the moment I've got my best dwarves in a squad, all defending the cavern breakthrough point, and I have a wall built except for one point--I plan to put a door here.

What's the best temporary defensive measure I can put in place before I put channels, fortifications, marksdwarves, ballistae, etc in place to defend the main entrance to my fort (from the upper caverns)? Will a door do, or will I have to make a drawbridge?

[skyte100]

Tons of cage traps. A door is the opposite of what you want to do. Some of them are building destroyers and will bee line to the door to break it.

[krenshala]

A locked door will work long enough to wall it off so the dwarves can't get to it.

[skyte100]

Its my understanding that he wants to leave it open at one point so he can go down there when he wants to block it off when not needed. If that is the case I would suggest a bridge. Like I said a door might get smashed.

[Maul_Junior]

I have a locked door down there for now, but I'll get started on a drawbridge, and check on the door every few minutes, with my hands poised over the keys to activate my militia.

cheers, mates.

[Spacespinner]

Honestly, a regular door with a 1 block wide passage and 5-10 cage traps is enough to get anything short of a FB. A bridge wouldn't be bad as an emergency system further in in case a fb spawns though.

[Oaktree]

I generally just wall it off until I'm ready to purposefully go deal with the caverns.  At which point I construct a complex for handling FBs (trap cells with lever-operated spikes) and bridges to allow that area to be an air-lock.  Then I connect it to the caverns and use that an an entrance to go in there if I need to.  Also by then I tend to have a better equipped and trained militia.

Then again, I don't get a lot from the caverns.  A place to trap some animals and collect wood, pretty much like the surface, but with generally rougher terrain in terms of establishing choke points and control.  And FBs tend to turn up a bit more often than titans.

[TruePikachu]

Exactly what I was going to say, a wall.

Pros:
* Anyone can construct it (if made from blocks)
* Immune to building destroyers
* Cheap

Cons:
* Can't be taken down "ASAP"

[Spacespinner]

Well, yeah a wall works. I was just operating under the assumption they wanted it to be possible to access it without rebuilding the wall each time but if you don't want to actually enter then I suppose that works.

[thegoatgod_pan]

You are going to want a raising drawbridge instead of a door, many cage traps and last but definitely not least a cavein trap.

Build one of those 2 z levels above where you want it to drop. One z level above the drop, dig out an empty space and wall it off from the fort. One level above the empty space place a support on a tile, then remove the blocks holding that tile. The support should be the only thing holding that tile up. Wire the support to a lever, then isolate this area from the rest of the fort too (here Im recommend using a bridge rather than a wall, for easier resetting)  Two levels below, in the actual cavern, place an armor stand.

When something terrible, say metal and with deadly dust, comes (and it likely will) it should beeline for the armor stand and proceed to smash it. Quickly pull the lever and sent the block flying through thr empty space floor/cavern ceiling killing it dead with a cave-in.

[PDF urist master]

can deadly dust or vapors go through raised drwabridges? i had a similiar idea but instead of cave in i just trapped it in a small room.

[Spacespinner]

Draw bridges are solid walls while raised. They aren't technically buildings at that point.

[Spacespinner]

Since this is the DF forums I feel we may as well add magma as a defense.


Viewed from the front (if you were standing facing it).
Legend:
7   Magma
P   Pump
B   Bridge (retracted when defense active)
W   Wall

[7777777]P
WWBWWP[77777]
[7777777]


There is a reservoir of magma above the entrance to the caverns which starts off empty and has a single tile channeled out above the bridge's channel. The entrance itself is a bridge over a channel which retracts towards the fort/forms a wall on the fort-side. The reservoir to the side is also empty. The reservoir underneath will be filled with magma and ideally all the magma will be in this reservoir before lowering the bridge entering the cavern.
Once the pumps are started (either by dwarves or powered by something) the magma will be pumped up to the top layer and be constantly falling creating a literal wall of magma with no floor beneath it. Been a while since I've pumped magma but one reservoir's worth may or may not be enough for this purpose, just adjust as needed. If you have the bridge retreat instead of forming a wall then you might want a door on the other side to stop anyone falling in from the fort or being shot at.

Just something I came up with quickly but it should be effective. When you want to get through just stop the pumps, let the magma collect on the bottom then lower the bridge to get across. Hope I got the general idea across.

[VerdantSF]

Hatches are the best temporary solution, imho.  They can't be destroyed from below and they can be instantly locked and unlocked without the use of levers.

[scionkirk]

I found an awesome temp defense by accident.  I got a few dozen cages filled with goblins, and im relatively new to the game, so im not quite sure what to do about that, so I chained them all up in a cleared out room on the cavern level.  Then, I opened up a hole to get all that sweet spider silk, with every intention to build traps, drawbridged or whatever, but I got distracted because a dwarf threw a tantrum over not finding a new shoe or something.  So, a half hour later I geta Message about a forgotten beast appearing in the caverns, and I forgot I opened that hole.  Then I start getting job cancellations because of a forgotten beast.  Uh oh.  I go down to the cavern level, and sure enough, theres the capital N in my fortress, but hes chewing through the goblins.  He killed about 5 of them before I took him out with my archers, but thoze goblins sure did a number on them.  And luckily I hadnt figured out how to strip equipment from caged goblins yet.