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[Quantum Drop]

As part of a fortress defence project based on the magma landmines thread, I've been trying to link some pressure plates to a door about 4 z-levels below. However, the dwarves keep reporting "Could not find path" errors - the assigned mechanic will grab a mechanism, walk a few tiles away, then suspend the task reporting they "Could not find [a] path" even when the stairs down to the door are a couple tiles away. I've already checked the path leading to the door and there's no visible blockages along the way on any z-level; building a set of stairs directly down from the pressure plates to the door needing to be linked up (having already channelled out this shifty) also yields a "Could not find path" error, so I'm not quite sure what's behind the problem.

(Save at: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16047)

Anyone able to help?

[anewaname]

Is the target door locked? That will cause a no-path error.

In your save, where is the door and where is the lever?

[Quantum Drop]

Is the target door locked? That will cause a no-path error.

In your save, where is the door and where is the lever?

All the doors on the map seem to be unlocked and pet-passable, barring the ones listed as being operated by mechanisms (which don't seem to have those settings).

The door is on Z level -3, circled in the pic below; pressure plates are 3 z-levels directly above. I don't think I have a lever connected to any of the doors.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[A_Curious_Cat]

Is the target door locked? That will cause a no-path error.

In your save, where is the door and where is the lever?

All the doors on the map seem to be unlocked and pet-passable, barring the ones listed as being operated by mechanisms (which don't seem to have those settings).

The door is on Z level -3, circled in the pic below; pressure plates are 3 z-levels directly above. I don't think I have a lever connected to any of the doors.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Damn.  That is a shit-ton of levers.  I thought you were using pressure plates!

[anewaname]

So, the door is becoming "locked"... As soon as the first of the four jobs is completed (meaning a dwarf installed both mechanisms for that job) then the status of the door changes and it can only be opened by using the pressure plates or levers it is connected to.

The work-around I just did was to construct a lever in that hall, link it to the door, pull the lever, then add the four jobs to link the plates to the door, then pull the lever and deconstruct it. The four plates were linked successfully but not tested.

Another possible work-around would be to suspend each of the jobs after the first mechanism is installed but before the second mechanism is installed, then unsuspend the jobs after the four mechanisms are inside the door, but this would be painful.

[Schmaven]

Sometimes dwarves need orthogonal access to link bridges to pressure plates / levers, so maybe the same might apply with doors?  I just dig out a work space, then fill that space with walls once the link is done.

[Quantum Drop]

Well, finally got an opportunity to take a crack at it again on a new-ish embark. anewaname's solution (connected several doors to a central lever, pulled it to open them, added install mechanism jobs, pulled it to close the doors, then deconstructed the lever) worked quite well after some initial pathing errors (couldn't construct a lever in the hall, but *could* link them to one on a different level). First poor bastard of a troll to stumble across one of the plates got a good taste of dwarven hospitality and about half the embark caught fire.

Thanks for your help, all of you.