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[Abyss]

I just had an idea for a rather... inane... fortress idea, one that surely won't be winning any Efficient Fortress of the Year awards.

It all centers on flying dwarves. No, not dwarves modified to be able to fly, I'm talking about dwarves launched via bridge. I'm thinking of having my fortress in an area almost entirely channelled out, with big pillars standing up, one for each dwarf, with a dwarf house and dwarf dining room and dwarf everything. Food and drink stockpiles, workshops for the dwarf assigned to the pillar to use, the whole deal. A small population, with no economy, would be ideal.

The top of the pillars would have the bridges and the very well defined landing zones. If you want a dwarf to go from one pillar to another, tell him to pull the lever, then draft him and stand him on that bridge, inform him to place his head between his legs and kiss his butt goodbye, 'cause he's going flying. Then undraft him when he's on the other pillar. Repeat.

Am I truly insane for this idea, or only just kinda insane?

[Elerion]

I'll take truly for $100, Alex

[Helmaroc]

I'm pretty sure the dwarf would either explode or become a mangled heap when he lands. Yay for the dwarf cannon.

[Old School Gamer]

Best idea yet.  No shit.  Only question is will they be able to drag themselves into bed to heal upon reaching the new pillar.  Each one would have to be a brewer/farmer as well as their chosen profession, in order to stay fed/drunk.

Put in a lever which floods the entire ground Z-level with water to kill any goblins that come along, maybe put a wall around the entirety of the map with floodgates, some kind of a holding tank system with screw pumps, so that when the gobbos arrive, the map is inundated.

The only problem could be dragons coming along and turning the dwarves into crispy critters one by one;  Make them all ballista masters so they can down any flying beasties.  These will have to be rather large pillars for each dwarf.

Side thought:  has anyone ever tried using a river and screwpumps to fill the map with as much water as possible?  Like more than 2-3 Z-levels higher than the ground level in walls?  It might be fun to do this, and have your dwarves underground totally submerged by the water but in an airtight fortress.  Have a central shaft 1 tile in size which is open air above the fortress, and route the water so that it comes into the fortress from below and watch as water pressure sends the dwarves flying into the sky.

Brainstorming... the bane of our little digital dwarven friends.. but I think they get as much enjoyment out of it as we do,  firing their crossbow bolts at random with a couple of empty eye sockets and what not.  It's all fun and games until the fortress ends, and then you start another one.

I need some sleep.

[Keiseth]

I love this idea, but I had trouble with bridge-flingification. I tried this in the first 3D version I think, and I couldn't predict which direction the bridge would send them. May of been a bug, however, I'm going to try it again now!

[Slappy Moose]

quote:Originally posted by Elerion:
<STRONG>I'll take truly for $100, Alex</STRONG>

Ding ding ding! You are correct, sir.

[Donkringel]

I've actually had the same idea for some time now, but I thought of it as a rapid response for the dwarven military to get to hot-spots across the map.

I'm not sure if this will work, but let me give you my impressions.

I have a pit of death for goblins in my current fort that I have filled with water. Needless to say, it is several levels deep, enough for some gob pasting. At any rate, when the pit is filled with water (running water to push their weapons, armor and clothes into a safe collection area) the goblins are only stunned, and no injuries whatsoever.

What you may wish to do is figure out your landing area. With that in place, fill up the landing area with water, and a screw pump attached to it. When you pull the lever for the bridge flinging, it will also activate the screw pump, draining the water so the dwarf doesn't end up drowning. Voila!

Safe landing. I think.

Try it on a kitten first.

[Deon]

Donkringel, I've just wanted to post the same idea =). Lever attached to the bridge and to the floodgate which empties the reservoir the dwarf is landing in.

[TimeOut]

...and if your drainage timing is wrong he will have a rather unpleasant landing.  

[Donkringel]

Technically I suppose you could put ramps on the side. The goblins always woke up before they finished drowning, and it was usually the high pressure corridor lined with weapon traps that did them in.

But more technology = More blood!

[Greiger]

Why am I imagining Mt. Nevermind in Dragonlance?

But I agree, test it on a kitten first.  Yer bound to have to calibrate it to not overshoot or undershoot the reservoir too.  Kittens are good for that.

[Scorpios]

So basically it will be a city-state system with flinging?
Each dwarf will have to be able to live the life of a hermit. Own food, own water, ect.
High stats (At least in toughness) will be necessary. I see any major injuries being a death sentence (At least when landing on otherwise unoccupied pillars) due to no one to care for them.

For added fun, build another dwarf civilization on ground level. Miss the pillar and suddenly your flying dwarf will now be a part of thhe ground-dwellers.

With housing, farms, workshop space and bridges, these will be some massive pillars.

[Boksi]

This gave me another, related idea. Noble pillars. You'd just furnish them and seal them off with an Igor, then throw food, booze and any additional nobles at them. Have an Igor to dump stuff off again, and you've got a mini-city where your nobles can't do any harm, except to the Igor of course.

[Donkringel]

I had a thought. Is weight accounted for flinging? If it is, kittens won't work. Dwarves are heavier, if simply due to clothes if nothing else.

"Urist, are you sure this thing is calibrated correctly?"
"Aye Ulf! I had to splatter 20 kittens, but the last 8 have landed perfectly!"
"But ain't kittens heav- WHOOSH!"
*Thud*
"..."
"..."
"Time T'get a drink"

[Stij]

Wait, don't bridges fling dwarves in random directions? That's the way it was when I tried it...