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[Salazarsam]

So I am planning on constructing a moat around a castle I'm working on. For extra fun I was thinking of capturing some sort of creatures, (tame or not it won't matter) and placing them into the moat, definitely a kind that can do serious damage. I was thinking on cave crocodiles but I can't figure out how to trap them and they might breed out of control. Will they breed untamed and without a nest box?

My MAIN wonder is, what in your experience functions best as a killing creature in a water filled moat? (probably 5/7 filled, unless that's a bad idea? Although I'm starting to find everything is a bad idea in this game)

I plan to throw unwanted goblins, trolls and whatnot into it, but mainly just keep it as a barrier and hope some fall in on there own.
 Thankyou in advance.

[Mortis]

Carp, or giant sperm whales if you could catch one- they're the largest creature in the game by far.

[wierd]

Zombie carp.

Or, dare I say.... zombie giant sponge.

[CapnUrist]

Redirect any titans or FBs that appear into the moat, and make provisions to ensure that they cannot harm civilians while allowing enemies to fall in. Reason being that captured goblins won't provide any benefit against an incoming siege, but titans and FBs will kill anything within reach. Beware of dust and syndromes. I'd suggest a covered bridge that can be converted into either an open bridge or thin air.

[Argonnek]

The thing about moats is that, if they're full of water, they can be escaped fairly easily. I don't think that will be a problem with lower water levels, but it's still something to watch out for. As for deadly animals, I suggest muskoxen or horses. They're hard to keep alive if they're unmodded, but they are unbelievably deadly because of their size.

[edgefigaro]

I've always been partial to cave crocs. I've always wanted to have a hippo moat, but that hasn't happened yet.

[Dust]

keep the moat dry and capture a dragon to wander down there.

[itg]

You could fill it with "mercenaries." That is, captured dwarven/human caravan guards. Whatever you fill you moat with, make sure you have some way to deal with archers standing at the edge of the moat. If you make it deep enough, an archer at the edge probably won't have LOS to the bottom, but I'm not sure how deep that would be.

[Aviator CJ]

Whatever you fill you moat with, make sure you have some way to deal with archers standing at the edge of the moat. If you make it deep enough, an archer at the edge probably won't have LOS to the bottom, but I'm not sure how deep that would be.

I think that for that, the moat would have to be something like 20 z-levels deep. At that size, there's enough gravity in there to do the job without adding creatures.

[bllius]

kittens

[Loud Whispers]

Menacing spikes, stacked many.

[TruePikachu]

I generally make my moats 3 wide (three tiles from one bank to the other), dry, 1-2 tiles deep, and only exitable by a tunnel which makes you head away from the fortress entrance.

* Water in the moats makes it easier for dwarves to accidentially drown upon seeing a badger
* The distance makes entering the moat either a larger setback for anything trying to get in the fort, or can be useful in some situations with things leaving (I once had a swordsdwarf squad battle gobbos atop a bridge. One dwarf dodged into the moat. The other 9 died in the battle on the bridge. As I had closed the inner bridge during the battle (I tend to have an emergency cutoff inside), the remaining gobbos hung  around on the bridge, which I wanted to close. Then came the remaining soldier behind the gobbos, luring them off the bridge. IIRC, I used a different surface tunnel I dug in order to lure the gobbos around in a circle, and managed to save the remaining soldier.)

[InfinityOrNone]

Water, with a lever to add magma as needed. Or, better yet, magma, with a lever to add water as needed.

[Spacespinner]

Honestly I agree with "nothing" being the best thing in a moat. Water just allows them to swim across and creatures just get shot to death. Water/Magma ALSO have the side effect of your dwarves dodging into it. if you must have something in it though, my vote is on serrated glass disc traps.

[MattStriker]

The moat in my desert fort contains three Giant Desert Scorpions. That sort of happened during construction (which is why the moat also contains the remains of three miners) rather than as part of a plan, so I ended up with a 3z deep dry moat instead of 1 level water and two empty. I was originally planning to release my captured cave crocs in there, just because.