After messing around with a fort that ended up surviving 20 years with little fun, I found a new goal for my next fort. Fit as many entrance defense designs into it as possible. And so to that end, I have created this topic to harvest ideas from my fellow builders. I will continually update this post with the ideas that will make it into the fortress, and once it gets going, a link to it on the
dfma. Remember people, the goal here is
variety.
If it helps any, the planned usage is against immigrants, the occasional stray noble,
elves, wagons,
orcs, and
better goblins (Going with the clothes free Terrifying variety for now, might upgrade). No worries if a certain design won't work on one or more of those (wagons for example complicate bridge based designs) or if you've never actually used said design. Just needs to work in theory
.
The Entrances1This is the oldest defense in the book. A nice long corridor with some recruits at the end. Simple and effective. Thieves and baby snatchers think twice when entering this corridor. Its a long walk back to the exit, especially if one of those dwarves is carrying a crossbow. Toss some armor on those recruits and maybe a hammer or two and vanilla sieges are a cinch.
You'll be doing more Hoping than Holding though against some of the tougher races out there.
This creative defense abuses the pathfinding of creatures and makes extensive use of pressure plates and doors. While your victems are busy looking for an unlocked door you'll be busy dropping all sorts of fun stuff behind them. Crowd favorites include POWs, dragons, dogs, and if you've creatively breached the HFS, a tentacle demon or two.
A pump here and there, maybe a retracting bridge or floodgate, and several z-levels of pressurized water go a long way. While it won't get rid those 3 pages of blood, vomit, and mud, creative designs will conveniently push items towards a location of your choosing. A grate here, a window or two there, and suddenly you've got a waterfall and a place for dwarves to place bets on lung capacity.
Step 1: Lure creature under bridge.
Step 2: Pull lever \R
Step 3:
Step 4: Profit
Cages are wonderful things. They can contain everything from tame cardinals to the mighty dragon. Hundreds of them even. Stick it behind a bridge/door/etc and link it to a lever for great effect. They say the shock kills them first but we all know its the sudden onslaught of a mewling horde.
A ballista is a fearsome weapon. A corridor full of them can make short work of anything, so long as your operators don't get hungry. Or thirsty. Or tired. Or scared.
A few pumps can ferry magma around at amazing speeds. Toss in some grates and a power supply and suddenly you've got a magma fall. Not only does it sound cool, but it will sort your enemies' items for you.
Obsidian farms are cool. Obsidian farms in your entrance are awesome. For bonus points line the entrance with the resulting statues.
"Hey Urist, take a look at that one there."
"... Amazing, the likeness to our king is uncanny."
"I'll say, they ever find him?"
"Nope."
Its not retracting a bridge that draws crowds. Its the ensueing 40 z-level drop that does. Enough said.
Ever see that picture with all the ninjas in it? Couldn't see a single ninja could you? Well, this corridor is like that. Only with spikes. No spike trap is complete without a hint of chaos, so this one has been meticulously linked to a number of pressure plates in high traffic areas.
Because you just never know, you might be the lucky one and make it through.
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Topic: The Entrance Defense Compendium (Read 5836 times)