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[MrsStick]

So...I just managed to catch a dragon in one of my 8 cage traps. I'm rather impressed too. Now that my map is no longer on !!fire!!, I'm trying to figure out what to do/how to do it with this lovely little catch.

First question - he's in a chestnut cage (leftover from getting my jaguar from the elves)...will he light it on fire and escape in my fortress?

Second - I'm thinking of setting up a bunker for him to sit near my entrance and fire-breathe all over any sieges. Sounds quite lovely, really. Can anyone make suggestions for how to make it practical without setting traders on fire? I'm thinking fortifications around him, floor over top (since I'm not sure if he can escape through the top), and maybe a bridge to block his view until enemies are inbound? I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate him in my current entryway. I have a paved road (with lots of twists and turns to try to catch siegers) going into my entrance/depot and a moat around that with a 3x3 bridge. To one side is nothing, to the other is my 3-level pasture that I'm still trying to put the roof on, so I can have my archers above it. Maybe put him on the opposite side of the archers, to create a sort of "rock and a hard place" entrance? Pick the dragon and you burn to death, pick the archers and you're a pincushion from above? Do I need to restrain the dragon in the bunker? Like have a rope built into his enclosure?

Third - Can a dragon be tamed? If so, does that mean it can go in my fortress without lighting everything on !!fire!!? Would it distinguish then between my dwarves and enemies and traders? Or would it be pointless?

I've never managed to get anything this cool before, so I'm super excited.

[WillowLuman]

You can train it, but breeding is probably out of the question, so it will require continual training to keep in docile. And it's ever killed anyone from your civ, then even that's not safe. What gender is it?

However, if it cannot be tamed, it will still shoot fire at anything that gets near it if you put it on a chain. You could make a dragon pillbox, putting it in a room behind fortifications and a drawbridge "shutter."

[MrsStick]

It's a male. It did kill two of the liaisons that were on my map, but none of my dwarves (just a bunch of my random chained lookout animals).

I'm thinking the pillbox is a good idea...now to execute...

[Melting Sky]

Using bridges within range of its fire won't work. The dragon fire will vaporize the bridges in mere moments. I created a rather spectacular mess this way. My advice to is to put it in a pill box surrounded by fortifications and chained with candy or whatever you have that resists heat best.

It won't be able to break free of the cage you have it in but be careful with this creature. Try to keep it both chained and trained that way if it vaporizes the chain your dwarves won't be in immediate danger.

[WillowLuman]

Bridges will work as long as you use magma-safe materials to construct them. Both the blocks AND the mechanisms used to link the bridges must be dragon-fireproof!

[MrsStick]

I don't have any candy to work with right now.

When it breathes fire, I assume that I will need my walls and fortifications built out of fire-resistant stone. I don't have any chains/ropes out of candy...I assume you can't make one out of stone...so how exactly would I chain him? Watching him rampage on my map, it seemed like he didn't burn up any of the random rope reed fiber ropes holding my lookout animals...are you sure it would burn up the restraint holding him? Or is his fire why I now have Xlarch logsX in and around where he was?

If you've done a dragon pillbox, would you recommend I put it fairly close to my entrance? Should I put it farther away? I know not to have it point to my entrance, but I'm not sure on how far/close is good. Will the siegers be able to shoot him through the fortifications?

I'm trying to decide where I want to build this...he will very possibly be useful to me, but I need to optimize his location. Close into my fort sounds nicer, because he can take care of any dudes that get too close, but I don't want to burn myself up. I'm thinking just on the other side of the stream and my moat. He can't breathe fire up, right (from his Z level to one three above him)? And will he need to be fed/watered?

[Melting Sky]

Dragon fire isn't like magma. It's on a whole other level. There is no material in the game that can survive sustained dragon fire. Even candy will melt eventually but in practice it is resistant enough to the dragon fire that you can get away with using it if you are careful. Everything else will be incinerated. Magma safe is not dragon safe.

Edit: It looks like my edit was ninja'd and apparently metals can sustain dragon fire. If this is the case then an all metal bridge might work. I can assure you simple magma safe stone bridges will not work as mine were vaporized almost instantly. Walls and fortifications are considered the same as natural stone in that they can not be melted or burned regardless of the material they are made from. In other words walls made even of carved ice can hold magma or stop dragon fire. 

[WillowLuman]

Walls and fortifications are completely invincible. The chain should probably be metal, for safety. Ideally you'd want it near the entrance, since that's where invaders will gather, but not pointing within the fort. The invaders will be able to shoot at it through the fortifications if they stand right next to them, so you should put a trench in front of them (and make sure the bridge-shutters don't cover it!). Stray shots and master archers will still be able to get through, but it considerably reduces the risk.

Make sure to have the shutters open only when under attack, to minimize accidents.

EDIT: Some materials are dragon-safe. Adamantine cannot be melted by anything in the game short of the magical powers of smelters. Steel and many types of stone are resistant enough to withstand dragonfire. Obsidian in particular makes a good choice.

[WillowLuman]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Dragonfire

EDIT: Sorry for double post

[MrsStick]

So based on what I read on the wiki, fortifications aren't dragon safe? I'm rather confused. Buildings are safe, constructions aren't. So then my walls/fortifications idea won't work? Anybody do this successfully?

[Skuggen]

It's the other way around; constructions (walls, fortifications, etc.) are impervious to anything, no matter what material they're made of. Buildings like chains and bridges are not.
So if you wall the dragon in with fortifications it can't get out, even if it melts the restraints holding it.

[MrsStick]

Has anyone done any good !!Science!! on fire funneling/fighting? I'd like to avoid the fire ending up making it into my fort, but am unsure of how. I want the dragon close in, but the prospect of burning my own fortress down isn't really appealing. Just point me to a topic (I can't find one, oddly enough) and I'll read it myself; just can't find the actual topic...

EDIT: He's now semi-wild...we'll see how this goes...

[Skuggen]

You can set it up in a cage where the pillbox goes, and hook the cage up to a lever. That way the dwarves constructing the pillbox are safe, and when it's completed you can just pull the lever to release it.

There should be some threads around on this topic. Just use the search function to find them.
A couple of things to note: You can use a combination of walls and fortifications to control the spread and direction of the fire, and elite marksgoblins will make mincemeat of the dragon if the pillbox is completely open, since they can shoot through the fortifications from beyond the reach of the dragonfire.

[Melting Sky]

If the dragon is chained it will not be aggressive towards your dwarves even if it goes wild again.

I'm not sure if there is a specific how to guide anywhere when it comes to setting up dragon based defenses. Here are some important things to keep in mind.

Dragon fire will not spread vertically. It goes roughly 20 spaces laterally. Even though a dragon can't hit an enemy on higher or lower Z level with its fire this won't stop it from trying. It will blast fire above or below the opponents head depending on where it is located repeatedly.

Mixing dwarves, enemies and your dragon together in the same space is a VERY bad idea. Even a tame, trained dragon will not hesitate to incinerate an entire squad of dwarves if they are standing next to a hostile it wishes to kill. Try to keep your dragon with a good sized safe zone around it that is completely free of flammable materials, this includes your dwarves when enemies are near.

[MrsStick]

I'm off for a few hours; when I come back, I think I will try setting up the pillbox as imagined in this thread: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=108675.15

Changes I will make: I'll make two of the bridges move on one lever, as the "away from my fortress/it's okay to turn on" sides. I'll make the other two emergency ones, only to be used in dire need, when the fort is closed off. I'll probably have to get rid of some of my traps to make this work right and not mangle them with dragon fire, but this is going to get seriously awesome.

Oh, and Ziril the dragon has reverted to his wild state. I'm hoping by the time I finish this he'll be legitimately trained (I have a raven that's been "trained" for several years now with no sign of going back on his training). If not, I think that I'll try to figure out how to get him in chained, not loose in the pillbox in case I want to move it. Or else I can figure out how to destruct it and let him out into a cage trap. A door (locked) for one of the directions that I don't need him to shoot might work. I'm trying to make this a directional weapon, not an all-over one, so that might be helpful, to be able to take him out.