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[PatrikLundell]

If statues cannot be climbed at all, they should be a better alternative than stone blocks to line e.g. retracting bridges in areas where natural stone isn't available, provided you can ensure you won't have any building destroyers there.

[Bumber]

I'm pretty sure, as buildings, they can't be climbed. They can be jumped through, but I'm not sure if they can be jumped onto (leading to hopping along statues.) Windows might be a slightly better choice if that's possible (and I'm not mistaken about windows blocking projectiles.)

[Loci]

It's not clear exactly what you're hoping to achieve, but creatures can dodge into statue tiles, and retracting bridges will toss creatures, rotting bodyparts, etc. into those tiles as well. If you need something less-climable than stone blocks (and I'm not sure if I ever have) then open-space or obsidian casting are probably your best bets. Realistically, you can almost always redesign your fortress to effectively negate climbing (e.g. adding a ceiling over the block walls around the retracting bridge).

[Fleeting Frames]

I've yet to have enemies jump through a statue in fort mode, though I've yet to provoke them so - I would expect they'd be as impassable as fortifications, but I suppose they are buildings, not constructions. However, that's a moot point when you're flipping the retracting bridge and they're thrown through the statues/fortifications - perhaps use grates instead of bridges?

Another statue alternative to consider is floodgates, for they block sight as well.

That said, if buildings are unclimbable, raising bridge walls would make cheaper defence in materials than overhangs....







....And this cyclops sure ain't climbing out in a whole season through two levels of bridges after having the chain released by lever, even if they'd previously climbed out (into a cage trap) when it was just walls. [43.05]

[PatrikLundell]

What I'm trying to achieve is to have a corridor with a retracting bridge and a drop below, and ensure the creature doesn't hang onto the walls and climb sideways (rather than upwards) to avoid being dropped into the space below. There's a roof above, and it's in the dirt layer above the aquifer. I'm trying to design a mostly automatic vampire detector, and one possible component is a path where a critter (e.g. a visitor) paths over a bridge towards a target, gets dropped, and then, hopefully, takes the path below to the tavern rather than back to where it was dropped, while I'd hoped the vampire would ignore the target and continue towards a vampire containment/elimination component.

Open space would shift the problem one level further down, as I'd then have to ensure the critter doesn't climb back up. I agree windows are probably a better alternative, however.

Obsidian casting is possible as the goblins have donated magma safe metal, but dwarf power is limited. I certainly wouldn't want to spend a few years casting obsidian (taking goblin attack delays into consideration) only to find the design itself is flawed.

Hm, raised drawbridges is another good alternative.

[King Kitteh]

I don't think it's possible to climb fortifications, even if constructed. Try those instead?

[Fleeting Frames]

I've certainly seen a dwarf climb a fortification in 42.06 (plus there's still the toss issue).

[King Kitteh]

I've certainly seen a dwarf climb a fortification in 42.06 (plus there's still the toss issue).

Was it more than one z level tall? I think you can climb anything that's one z level.

Maybe it was more like, you can't climb from regular wall onto a fortification. In which case, it might not be so useful.

[Fleeting Frames]

One z-level yeah. Was experimenting with using pushing water to move creatures and ordered dwarf to defend burrow inside.

I dunno about climbing anything that's 1z, tho. Standard overhangs are 1z over the ground.

[PatrikLundell]

Using raising bridges as walls as suggested seems to work well. I've yet to see the undead goblin oscillator actor get past the first pressure plate (before reconstruction the live goblin frequently got past the first, and eventually got out, since I've only got to plate/hatch combinations in each end). However, the live goblin seemed to be faster than the undead one.