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[Warlord255]

"Ambush! Curse them!"

A wall collapses and all eyes turn to see an Antman caught in the torchlight of the dining hall, like a deer before a wolf. A long moment passes before someone grabs the nearest crossbow and fires a bolt into its torso with a sickening crack. Its screech resounds back through the tunnel and is answered by the vengeful cries of its brethren.

The guard is called and plate clanks hurriedly, charging forth to stop the invading tide. A violent battle ensues, leaving ichor and abdomen contents splattered across the tables as the guard pushes them back into the foul hole from which they ceaselessly stream, until they hear a sinister chitter.

A Giant Cave Spider, lured by the sound of battle and the scent of blood, leaps from the darkness and starts mauling your men; webbing catches their beards and covers their eyes, leaving them to scream blindly as they are torn asunder. The captain of the guard calls back down the tunnel and the frightened onlookers rush to the nearest stone stockpile, already dreading their appointed task. More men fall, their weapons stuck in the beast's horrible hide, unable to free themselves from the nightmarish entanglement, until only one remains; the captain, standing stalwart. He turns his head to see his teary-eyed companions before the final brick and the spider's fangs slide into place, sealing off the light forever.

Days later, an engraver stands up solemnly from his work and walks away, leaving a testament to the sacrifice of his fellows in the place where they laid down their lives. It is decorated with finely-crafted antman shell.


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And that is why digging enemies should be implemented as part of the spiced-up Underground Diversity bit.

See also: Tunneling monsters. MOOOOLES.

[Pilsu]

No thanks, not only will their tunnels be ugly, they'll also puncture any waterworks and randomly drown forts

[Warlord255]

I was mostly illustrating just how awesome it could be (seeing as how there's 16 pages of the Underground Diversity thread already and narrating it there would be redundant)

Maybe I'm just suicidal, but my motto is: More trouble is better!

[Tack]

nah, i prefer the target prac gnomes...

[Yami]

It wouldn't be too hard to keep the tunnelers from digging into magma or river tiles. I mean, I can't do it, why would they?  (just make sure they never build channels.)

Honestly though, I'd think some tunneling during sieges would be apt.  Tunneling monsters, not so much.  Besides, think of all the precious rock they'd mine out..  T_T

[Tack]

If you could attack other civilisations in fortress mode, and undermine them, that'd bring a whole new aspect to the game.

[Yanlin]

But they shouldn't be able to mine in to your fort.

[Great Cthulhu]

Maybe just allow some creatures to tunnel through non-damp, non-warm sand? If used in moderation, I think that wouldn't be too disruptive. It could also spice up underground farming a bit. "Urist McFarmer cancels planting: Interrupted by Antman," and all that.

In my opinion, it makes more sense than creatures tunneling through solid rock without any tools. It also leaves a viable defensive tactic: lining your sandy walls with stone.

[Sabin Stargem]

Maybe natural rock walls can be dug through by enemies, while constructed walls could prevent this?  This would allow sentient humanoids to make their sneak attacks through digging and deconstructing, and wildlife can only harass undeveloped portions of the fortress.

[Tormy]

Digging enemies was suggested many times before. [Especially diggers in sieges...]
I always liked this idea to be honest.

[Silverionmox]

There's no point in building an underground fortress if a random goblin can still get in any time he likes. Worse, you could see him coming if you had an aboveground fortress; the dwarves would be better off building something on pillars in that case.

Digging through soil/sand is quite acceptable, though. Plenty of creatures do it (no magical rock vaporizing required), it keeps deep mining typically dwarfish (even though the more industrially advanced groups could still be able to mine through soft rock like marl, with significant effort), and still provides a significant challenge, because it's your food supply they'll be attacking then - and the area required probably will be larger in the future, making it harder to defend.

The rocky underground, meanwhile, will have its own particular hazards.

[Aqizzar]

No thanks, not only will their tunnels be ugly, they'll also puncture any waterworks and randomly drown forts

But they shouldn't be able to mine in to your fort.

There's no point in building an underground fortress if a random goblin can still get in any time he likes. Worse, you could see him coming if you had an aboveground fortress; the dwarves would be better off building something on pillars in that case.

These are all perfect reasons why other creatures should be able to dig.

[illiterate]

i personally like the idea of digging enemies.  More shallow enemies that will burrow in sand, perhaps rare "deep-earth" terrors that have the ability to breach your walls.  However they should be as blind as you are to them. 

While we're at it, why not assign hardness to stone?  Shouldn't a soft copper pick blunt itself when we go through marble or granite? 

In D&D I've always thought that dwarves use picks, hammers, axes as weapons because they're work tools which are in their hands when an umber hulk busts through a wall.

[Soadreqm]

Yes, suggested many times, in many places. I've always liked this idea. Although it wouldn't exactly be a sneak attack, stone conducts sound quite well, IIRC. You'd hear them coming from several dozen tiles away.

[Align]

Mountain-tunneling megabeasts sounds good, but I do agree that it shouldn't be available to every creature and their grandmothers.