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[EDog]

Hey everyone,

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The other day, I decided to try killing the clowns with a candy retracting spike linked to a lever that a dwarf was pulling repeatedly. I built an artifact door in the room I released the clowns into, along with some goblin prisoners as bait, and set up the spike two tiles away from the door, using a candy mechanism to prevent melting. I released the clowns and everything seemed fine at first, they ripped the goblins to pieces, and then most of them stood around right on top of the spike trap, trying to break the door--but none of them took any damage. The dwarf was pulling the lever, which was linked to the trap correctly (I tested it beforehand, the spikes retracted), but there were no combat reports, no pools of clown blood, and no signs that they were being attacked at all. The wiki lists retracting spike traps as a viable way to fight the clowns, but now they seem to just fail. Has anyone tested them recently?

P.S. They eventually melted the door, followed by the rest of the fort.

[Luriant]

Low quality mechanism make low skill attacks, easy to dodge.

Non-Magma safe mechanism can be melted by magma clowns. Fire-safe is 11000 Uº, but the real fire can have 200ºU more, melting some "fire-safe" materials (http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Fire)
Dragon fire melt everything at some radius, except constructions, and shields equipped. (can be clowns generated with Dragon Fire material?
Sorry, i didin't read the candy mechanism.

I don't have any other clue, but i love Upright Spikes and door, a change in the behavior is a change in my defense strategy.

[PatrikLundell]

I use menacing spikes made out of glass powered by a mine cart repeater quite a lot, latest in 0.44.05. While I haven't engaged clowns, they still worked fine against FBs (although fire based FBs destroyed the trap, although they died as well). It can be noted that I make my traps with 10 spikes for maximum efficiency.

Given a candy mechanism the clowns couldn't have melted the trap. Since they appear to have melted an artifact door, I assume they were fire based, in which case they should be rather flimsy (when hit...).

Dodging is my best guess here. I've certainly used glass spikes against clowns in the past, with great success (some clowns were tough and managed to get further than expected, though). Glass melting is a new issue that needs to be dealt with, however.

[Saiko Kila]

This is also my method of choice, but I was unable to test it in current fort yet (I just discovered magma and other resources). But if this was case of dodges/misses, there should be a report, I think. Also, the spikes should be visible and said whether they are up or down. Check if they are raising - maybe there is a new mechanics which prevents them from raising when there's something big on them? Additionally there were changes to behaviour of projectiles (to fix bugs), which I haven't analysed yet (creatures on bridges, dodging ones, thrown etc. are handled as projectiles temporarily, which may or may not be relevant).

[EDog]

I thought that dodging produced combat reports? I also didn't observe any of them moving tiles while I watched--many of the adjacent spaces stayed empty the whole time. I was hoping to get someone else to confirm that it doesn't work so I could it it in the wiki--there's always a chance I've made some dumb mistake like pulling the wrong lever... I'll see if I can see them raising and retracting using q, I didn't think of that before. I'd be surprised if they were prevented from raising, but it's possible.

[PatrikLundell]

The trap not actually being operated would definitely match the behavior seen, either because the wrong lever was pulled or because the trap wasn't actually hooked up.

[Bumber]

Given a candy mechanism the clowns couldn't have melted the trap.

Is that true? Is candy still safe from the new dragonfire mechanics?

[EDog]

Okay, I tried it again and the trap definitely worked, I could see the spike appearing and retracting in the same tile as a big group of clowns. Maybe I'll try a minecart grinder instead? I made lots of lead minecarts for the purpose...

Oh, and Bumber, the wiki says repeat exposure to dragon fire will eventually melt candy! I'm amazed. What next, trolls breaking down constructed walls?

[PatrikLundell]

Given a candy mechanism the clowns couldn't have melted the trap.

Is that true? Is candy still safe from the new dragonfire mechanics?

The candy melting point seems to be 25000 and fire based creatures have a temperature of 14000, while the wiki says dragon fire has a temperature of 50000, so candy mechanisms should indeed be destroyed eventually if breathed upon. I see no reason for fire breathers to breathe any fire in the described situation, though, as there's no target available for attack. However, it's curious the door was melted.

[Bumber]

I see no reason for fire breathers to breathe any fire in the described situation, though, as there's no target available for attack. However, it's curious the door was melted.

Fire clowns explode on death.

[PatrikLundell]

I see no reason for fire breathers to breathe any fire in the described situation, though, as there's no target available for attack. However, it's curious the door was melted.

Fire clowns explode on death.

If a fire clown exploding on death caused the door to melt, a fire clown ought to have died, presumably due to the spike(s), in which case it actually did work, although possibly not as well as desired?

[Saiko Kila]

I had doors and bridges melted by clown just being near them, not attacking (it was in older versions). I just assume it's their temperature which causes it. High temperature objects can melt surrounding area and evaporate pools of water too - though normally the ones I think about are not available in fortress mode - specifically angelic weapons. I'm not sure if clowns can carry similar equipment, would be fun.

[EDog]

None of them died or suffered injuries, I'm pretty certain they just melted the door with their body heat.