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[PatrikLundell]

My next attempt is to have a drop for the merc (to get in/out) and another regular pressure plate/hatch for an undead (part) that drops it so it can move back up the stairs to the start. I have to make a new undead, however, since I didn't install releases for the ones I chained. Now, if the buggers would remove the stuff on the closing drawbridge to my enemy butcherer, I can kill another goblin to try to get a raisable part (I've given up trying to use goblins to scare the necro: using a militia dorf works, so I'll stick with that).

I'd rather avoid a path rerouter because that would require me to rip up some of the paved roads I've sloooowly built topside, as I'd need a pump house there in that case.

[mirrizin]

Unassigned bedrooms? That always worked for me, though using it preemptively would take some vigilance.

[Lozzymandias]

Shut a weak reanimated limb (from a non-door-opening-animal) in each tavern rooms. I can't remember are vampires hostile to the undead, I know the undead aren't hostile to vampires? When visitors end up in their rooms if the visitor is not hostile to the limb if will survive. Inspect rooms, you have your vampire.

[PatrikLundell]

Shut a weak reanimated limb (from a non-door-opening-animal) in each tavern rooms. I can't remember are vampires hostile to the undead, I know the undead aren't hostile to vampires? When visitors end up in their rooms if the visitor is not hostile to the limb if will survive. Inspect rooms, you have your vampire.

I assume you haven't actually read the contents of the thread, or you'd know the advice is flawed for a number of reasons:
- Only residents claim rooms (although I've had vampires who have applied for residence in the past).
- Civilians will flee as soon as they see an undead.
- Mercs and vampires will ignore chained undead.
- Undead and vampires ignore each other.
- Mercs will probably attack free undead, and free undead should attack anything except vampires and other undead (and necros). That means that as soon as a civilian opens a door with a "weak" undead it will be let out. At the least it will put a scare on the fortress, and it might end up killing things.
- A basic premise was that the non vampire visitors should be left unharmed. Thus, looking for the survivor isn't cutting it. If I wanted to do that I could probably "just" wash all of them down into a drowning tank as they enter the fortress.

[Fleeting Frames]

Heh. That made me check whether visitors can actually drown (yes they can).

Unassigned bedrooms? That always worked for me, though using it preemptively would take some vigilance.

Leaving aside that this wouldn't work on migrants it leaves me to wonder:

How often do vampires feed on dwarves? (wiki doesn't mention this) Because if it is, say, once per month, then with dwarves needing to sleep 8 stack a year this would make for poor method to catch one even if migrant wave timers are randomized (and I'd guess they're starting at 0 instead).

[Lozzymandias]

Shut a weak reanimated limb (from a non-door-opening-animal) in each tavern rooms. I can't remember are vampires hostile to the undead, I know the undead aren't hostile to vampires? When visitors end up in their rooms if the visitor is not hostile to the limb if will survive. Inspect rooms, you have your vampire.

I assume you haven't actually read the contents of the thread, or you'd know the advice is flawed for a number of reasons:
- Only residents claim rooms (although I've had vampires who have applied for residence in the past).
- Civilians will flee as soon as they see an undead.
- Mercs and vampires will ignore chained undead.
- Undead and vampires ignore each other.
- Mercs will probably attack free undead, and free undead should attack anything except vampires and other undead (and necros). That means that as soon as a civilian opens a door with a "weak" undead it will be let out. At the least it will put a scare on the fortress, and it might end up killing things.
- A basic premise was that the non vampire visitors should be left unharmed. Thus, looking for the survivor isn't cutting it. If I wanted to do that I could probably "just" wash all of them down into a drowning tank as they enter the fortress.

A slow undead limb will not move to the door fast enough to get out if you know what you're about. Further more you can just put your Inn rooms in a single complex (I usually do) served by a single corridor, trapped to high hell. No alarm or hard need occur if you exercise good sense.

However it seems tiredness got the best of me because I had completely failed to factor in the "running away screaming" option would end up looking like the vampire option.

[PatrikLundell]

A slow undead limb will stop by the door the first time someone opens it and get through the second time...

Anyway, I've finally managed to fail yet another test. I had an undead (a whole goblin, to ensure it was heavy enough to trigger pressure plates) confined in a corridor with pressure plates in both ends that opens up hatches when pressed. Thus, it wanders back and forth endlessly [well, the setup is a bit more stupid that that, but that's what it would have been had it been set up correctly from the start]. A glass window runs along the corridor, and there's a path to the undead (through an unlocked door) over those hatches, ensuring there's always at least one path available. Unfortunately, civvies still run back and forth screaming, while mercs just ignore it...

[NonconsensualSurgery]

How often do vampires feed on dwarves? (wiki doesn't mention this) Because if it is, say, once per month, then with dwarves needing to sleep 8 stack a year this would make for poor method to catch one even if migrant wave timers are randomized (and I'd guess they're starting at 0 instead).

They go into hunting mode about once a month, but once they do they'll drain multiple sleeping dwarves in a huge spree.

Maybe instead of trying to scare away non-vampires with undead, measure if undead are attracted to the visitor?

Zombie in alcove sees non-vampire visitor, steps forward onto pressure plate, raises hatch cover(s) blocking zombie from visitor and visitor from destination.

Zombie in alcove sees vampire visitor, does not step forward, vampire passes to destination. Vampire gets caught in one-way room.

[Demicus]

How often do vampires feed on dwarves? (wiki doesn't mention this) Because if it is, say, once per month, then with dwarves needing to sleep 8 stack a year this would make for poor method to catch one even if migrant wave timers are randomized (and I'd guess they're starting at 0 instead).

They go into hunting mode about once a month, but once they do they'll drain multiple sleeping dwarves in a huge spree.

Maybe instead of trying to scare away non-vampires with undead, measure if undead are attracted to the visitor?

Zombie in alcove sees non-vampire visitor, steps forward onto pressure plate, raises hatch cover(s) blocking zombie from visitor and visitor from destination.

Zombie in alcove sees vampire visitor, does not step forward, vampire passes to destination. Vampire gets caught in one-way room.

Seems like a good idea, but I would be concerned with reseting the detector after every visitor

[NonconsensualSurgery]

Seems like a good idea, but I would be concerned with reseting the detector after every visitor

Pressure plate opens a door behind them with bait so they step back automatically? Wait for them to dither randomly away?

Do zombies climb much?

[PatrikLundell]

The basic problem with that suggestion is that undead will try to path into the fortress regardless of whether there are anyone visible to attack. Visitors will stop pathing when their paths are blocked and start to wander randomly, so you can't lock the visitor in with the undead either, unless you somehow engineer the visitor to lock itself in and unlock a path for the undead, with the hope that either would seek the other to activate a release. However, both an idle undead and a "trapped" vampire are likely to wander randomly to eventually hit the release anyway.

Undead probably do not climb more than their source species while wandering, but creatures climb to get to enemies (as many an X-dorf user have found out).

[Bumber]

...so you can't lock the visitor in with the undead either, unless you somehow engineer the visitor to lock itself in and unlock a path for the undead, with the hope that either would seek the other to activate a release. However, both an idle undead and a "trapped" vampire are likely to wander randomly to eventually hit the release anyway.

Since pressure plates ignore visitors, you'd probably need an aggressive living creature to trigger the lock-in.

[Fleeting Frames]

That...sucks about mercs. Not attacking a live undead? C'mon >_>

You could accomplish the part of "lock itself in and unlock a path for the undead" by having visitor/wandering stupid grazer cause itself to drop into a room, for instance. But idle undead meandering...Hm.
a) If you have the drop done by grates and redirect undead away with hatch/door, you could ensure that the visitors arrives in such a room when undead is not on the pressure plate.
b) Take your undead goblin pendelum - and link the pendelum's plates to floodgate/door or hatch/grate dual pass. Only when the goblin is constantly moving is there an open window....Which would keep the goblin constantly moving if the window is to fort, so might have to have this open window instead act as AND gate to drop the performer/grazer/merc down to fort. (Derail-logic cyclotron would be easiest, perhaps.)

@Bumber: or minecart/fluid logic with doors. Living creature might scare the visitor, so less controllable.

@NonconsensualSurgery: Hm, that suggests that a vamp very rarely has a chance to feed on the people in same migrant wave as them on their first spree. Also that what mirrizin suggested wouldn't work for even migrant vamps.

[PatrikLundell]

Another failure: I replaced the undead with a goblin in my (somewhat improved) oscillator, and the two civilian visitor passing the window (and yes, they saw each other: the window wall is something like 8 tiles long, and I saw them pass each other) didn't care one bit (haven't had any mercs).

Edit: Of course it failed. Goblin invaders don't attack civilian visitors, so why should they do so inside the fortress? I have to wait for a merc...

Edit 2: And mercs just pass by as well...

[Fleeting Frames]

Heh. The growing number of increasingly inexplicable failures reminds me of minecarts.

It's a shame you can't use minecarts to detect visitor vampires, they're detected by undead, or by drowning.....

Hm. On the second note, will a visitor who fell into cage trap continue drowning in it? Because otherwise, you could probably use this to detect vampires - the unloading of cages could possibly be automated via minecart taking from animal stockpile and derailing into a wall, through doing it in such a way that the visitors don't get injured might be something of a challenge - maybe by landing onto chained cat or something who can't dodge to prevent fall damage?