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[ed boy]

I've recently decided to get back into DF, and as part of my latest fortress design I want to try and have a highly mobile dwarven militia. In the event of invasion, I want to be able to deploy my dwarves into my entrance passageway from my barracks with high speed and precision. However, simply making easy access routes from the barracks to the passage means that the routes can be traversed in the other direction, leaving my fortress vulnerable. I therefore want to find an effective one-way method of transporting my dwarves. So far, I have been able to think of three:

-Minecarts. Have minecart routes set up so the dwarves will take a minecart, accelerate to high speeds, and launch into the air, so the flying minecart clears the impassable gap between the fortress and the passage, get off, and fight the invaders.
Pros: Dwarves arrive safely. Minecart network can also be used later for weaponizing purposes.
Cons: Infrastructure can take a long time to set up. Capacity is limited by capacity of minecart network and number of aviailable carts. I have no experience with minecarts, so other problems may arise. Needs some reset time to haul minecarts back. The time taken for the minecart journeys may be significant, and it can make accurate deployment difficult. The tracks can be used as an entrance point for flying enemies.
Questions: Will the trajectory of a flying minecart change with the weight of a dwarf? Will this be significant enough that the dwarf's equipment will be a major factor? Are minecarting dwarves vulnerable to ranged attacks?

-Bridge dropping. Have the barracks situated directly above the passageway, with the floor a retractable bridge. In the event of an attack, pull the lever to retract the bridge to drop the dwarves down.
Pros: Easy to set up, Easy to reuse.
Cons: Dwarves can be stunned from the drop, while enemies will not, leaving them very vulnerable. Injuries to dwarves from fall and falling items are a danger. It can be restrictive to fortress design. Danger of civilians being caught in the drop.
Questions: How long a fall can a dwarf reliably endure without injuries? Will this be affected by equipment? How does equipment affect the danger from items being dropped? How long does a dwarf remain stunned for following a drop?

-Dwarfpedos. Use obsidian generators to generate 3x3 blocks of natural stone. Hollow them out, link them to the fortress by a single support, and place the lever to that support in the middle. Get military dwarves to pull the lever, dropping them down to the entrance passage.
Pros: The cave-in generates dust, which stuns nearby enemies, so they won't attack the vulnerable dwarf. The walls can also provide the dropped dwarf with cover from ranged enemies
Cons: Enormous setup and reset time. Same falling distance problems as before. Problems with capacity of each dwarfpedo.
Questions: As before.

Are there any issues that I might have missed, or answers to the quesitons? Any further suggestions or room for improvement?

[DarkArtemisFowl]

I would suggest making a sort-of airlock between your fortress and the outside, and use this as a means out. This could also be where your barracks or trade depot is stationed. Just pile your militia in there, seal the door inside, and open the door or bridge outside.

[ed boy]

I would suggest making a sort-of airlock between your fortress and the outside, and use this as a means out. This could also be where your barracks or trade depot is stationed. Just pile your militia in there, seal the door inside, and open the door or bridge outside.

An airlock would work in terms of defense, but it lacks in speed - I have to wait for the dorfs to get inside, get someone to operate the lock, wait for it to activate, etc. It's also very simple - I wouldn't be averse to having an elaborate system as a megaproject of sorts. The airlock system can also be vulnerable to building destroyers.

[DarkArtemisFowl]

I would suggest making a sort-of airlock between your fortress and the outside, and use this as a means out. This could also be where your barracks or trade depot is stationed. Just pile your militia in there, seal the door inside, and open the door or bridge outside.

An airlock would work in terms of defense, but it lacks in speed - I have to wait for the dorfs to get inside, get someone to operate the lock, wait for it to activate, etc. It's also very simple - I wouldn't be averse to having an elaborate system as a megaproject of sorts. The airlock system can also be vulnerable to building destroyers.

Hmm. Then try something like an aqueduct  some z levels above the ground, which the dwarves would go into and which would subsequently be flooded. Assuming you've trained them for swimming, they'll simply fall into a pool below where they can climb out.

Or, you could create a "dust gun." Simply have something like a Forgotten Beast that shoots dust on one end of a hall, and use an aqueduct like before. Only this time, the force of the dust will propel them out and hurtling towards the invaders. Alternatively, you could send livestock, prisoners, war animals etc. along the barrel of this gun.

[ed boy]

Hmm. Then try something like an aqueduct  some z levels above the ground, which the dwarves would go into and which would subsequently be flooded. Assuming you've trained them for swimming, they'll simply fall into a pool below where they can climb out.

Does that mean that this would be possible?

Code: (side view) [Select]

#=rock
W=water
_=floor

# _
#W#
#W#
#W#
#W#
#W#
#W#
#W#_   Z level 0
##W#


Code: (Z level 0) [Select]

###
#W#_
###
[code=Z level -1]
###
##W#
###
In this situation, the dwarves would fall into the shaft, avoid taking damage at the bottom from the water slowing them down, recover from the drop at the bottom of the shaft, swim diagonally down to Z level -1 (with the diagonal avoiding water pressure) then swim diagonally up to the path.

Would this work?

[DarkArtemisFowl]

I believe that would indeed work. I'm not sure if dwarves can swim diagonally  between Z-levels, but otherwise that would work. Again, you might wanna have at least Adequate swimming training on those dwarves, lest they risk drowning because of dwarven stupidity.

[Urist McRas]

Make an airlock near your main entrance. Put your barracks inside it so military would be permanently stationed there. Always have some of them idle and put bridge operating lever inside it, so you can almost immediately pull it.

Also, I've got an idea for your bridge dropping design. Inverse it: build a retracting bridge as a floor of passageway and build barracks under it. When you pull the lever the enemies will fall down to your dwarfs. You achieve the same goal, but it is your enemies who get stunned and injured, not dwarfs.

[ed boy]

Make an airlock near your main entrance. Put your barracks inside it so military would be permanently stationed there. Always have some of them idle and put bridge operating lever inside it, so you can almost immediately pull it.

Also, I've got an idea for your bridge dropping design. Inverse it: build a retracting bridge as a floor of passageway and build barracks under it. When you pull the lever the enemies will fall down to your dwarfs. You achieve the same goal, but it is your enemies who get stunned and injured, not dwarfs.

I thought that retracting bridges only worked if the creatures on top of it weren't too large? Wouldn't a megabeast or similar simply cause the bridge to fail to retract in this case?

[Urist McRas]

Yep, that's downside.

[WhimsyWink]

what about a 'toilet flush' to wash them off bridge to dwarfs below?  Drains built into floor of barracks

[ed boy]

what about a 'toilet flush' to wash them off bridge to dwarfs below?  Drains built into floor of barracks

I have no idea how reliable such a flushing method would be, or how much distance enemies are pushed during flushing, or if this changes with what the enemy is. Does anybody else?

Also, after reading the wiki article some more, it appears that minecarts won't be launched unless they have a clear route from their destination  from their start. It also appears that dwarfs riding minecarts suffer regular falling damage, so minecart-related design will have to take it in mind.

Is there any way to specify a specific dwarf (or group of dwarves) to ride a minecart? The wiki article seems to imply that the only thing toggling minecart riding is a specific labour, which makes it awkward to have both the military and civilians use minecarts.

I've also noticed that skipping can occur, which makes me think that there might be a possibility of constructing a channel of magma next to the passage, and sending a dorf-loaded minecart skipping along the top to create a cloud of magma mist before unloading at the far end. The wiki gives details of the speed lost be skipping, but it does not say how often these skips occur. Does anybody know?

Edit: If I have a marksdorf ride a minecart that goes nearby enemies, is it possible for the dorf to do a drive-by?

[vanatteveldt]

What about flooding the entranceway, dropping the dwarfs with a bridge, and then draining the entranceway again? One lever plus a fluid pressure plate in the entranceway should be able to do it if the timing is right.

[itg]

The most effective (albeit exploity) option would be to make the entrance to the fort a hatch that can only be approached from below. A forbidden hatch is immune to building destroyers below it due to pathing issues. It's pretty much as good as an artifact door.

That said, you should totally go with dwarfpedos.

[jcochran]

Just use a hatch activated by an any weight non-citizen pressure plate like this

Outside uncontrolled area     ^¢      Inside "safe" area.

Dwarves can walk over that area without slowing down at all. While anything else that's not trap avoid and non-flying will find the hatch to be an impassable barrier. And if a single tile passage is too small, just make several in parallel like this

Code: [Select]

#######
+++^¢++
   ##++
+++^¢++
   ##++
+++^¢++
   ##++
+++^¢++
#######

The other approaches you mentioned have issues.

Minecarts - You can only get non-military dwarves to ride them. So in order to use, you'll have to have the military inactive. Get them to accept the ride task (a trick in itself to get that to happen with a large enough population to allow them to arrive at nearly the same time), and finally, convert them to active while they're riding towards their destination. Not gonna happen given the way dwarves operate.

Bridge drop - This method actually looks doable. But you already know the issues with that approach. But if you can drop the dwarves from 2 Z levels, you might "soften up" the targets by having two layers of bridges. The lower layer is filled with trash to dump on the invaders and the upper level drops the barracks dwelling dwarves.

Dwarfpedos - Not gonna work as described. An active military dwarf won't accept ANY task. So you can't get 'em to pull the lever to drop the dwarfpedo... But you might be able to get a civilian to pull the lever instead.

[Tsuchigumo550]

Maybe marry the Minecart AND Dwarfpedo ideas?

Linear minecart railguns are fired at the nearest Z-level to the fort doors, or possibly a killzone where enemies naturally congregate.

Build the front of your fort a few Z levels high, like a human castle, but shorter. Position a Marksdwarf barracks, however, also station a single Paratrooper squadron. Dropping the paratroopers activates the minecarts, so that everyone's dealing with dust when high-speed minecarts come flying out. Bonuses for aligning them for minimal dwarf-on-dwarf collisions.

Also, you could some way of detecting when the carts launch, so that whenever they go flying out to combat, something else happens. Maybe some trapped FBs or giant Cave Spiders are released/allowed to see the light of day to spew syndromes/webs, ESPECIALLY if you link these to cages lining the enemy escape route. Should they attempt to flee, webs and other such evils will plauge them on their escape. Cons include friendly fire, but is it not worth it to have the sheer tactical advantage of murdengineering?

The railguns contain dwarves, forgot to mention.