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[Weev]

So, I've been thinking, so many times I wish I had a doorway that could be used by hunters and trappers and the "Outdoorsy" type of dwarf, only to be foiled by the simple open/shut level of my floodgate.
Could there be a way to set levers as "Public" where it, and the connected stone slab that it rolls away, be accessible by the dwarven AI to open and close as they seem fit?
Having a back door that hunters use if able to go outside, could be useful.

Yes, I know a simple door would work, but that doesn't seem to keep those goblins out, now does it?
And yes, I know it wouldn't "reset" until I tell it to, but that's what pressure plates are for.

[Psyringe]

You can build a door and forbid its use when goblins are around. Goblins are polite invaders and will heed a "No entry" sign on a door.

Trolls however can't read and would simply smash the door. However, they'd smash a floodgate or any other removable building just as well.

Hence, I don't see what the advantage of the "public lever" over a regular door would be?

[Weev]

Drawbridge?

[Ampersand]

Ahh... More broadly, it may be more appropriate to, instead of having public levers, have something akin to a gatekeeper dwarf that can lower draw bridges for dwarves heading into the fortress as they arrive at the other side of a body of water, and pull it back up once they're in.

[Eater of Vermin]

A gatekeeper makes more sense to me,  checking out newcomers through a fortification and then pulling a lever for those who pass inspection.

But it'd be a right PITA when he decided to go for munchies and a quick lie down...

[Aquillion]

I doubt that pathfinding could be easily adapted to this.  Either there's an opening or there isn't -- it would probably be a rather large amount of work to add "conditional" paths where you have to go pull the lever or whatever before you can go through.

[RedWarrior0]

You could set a "Gate zone" that dwarves path to if there isn't any open path into the fortress but they have a task that requires them to go there.
Perhaps you could designate 2 or 3 fortress guard members as "Gatekeeper" somehow, then designate levers they use. Maybe choose "used by gatekeepers" for each lever, or maybe make a "Gatehouse" room from them, hopefully viewing the "Gate" mentioned above. The gatekeepers would usually stay by their levers or in a gatehouse, preferring to eat there if there is a chair and a table, preferring to drink there if there is booze there, and opting to sleep there instead of the barracks if a bed is available. If they can see a friendly by a drawbridge/gate/whatever, they pull the lever to open up. You could hopefully set certain civs as "permitted" or "forbidden" in areas of invasive forces, caravans, and diplomats. For example: the gatekeeper would open up for the elven caravans (if only because of the potential for tamed Giant Eagles), but would not open up for that tree-hugging diplomat or the siege they send after you kill him.
To add more purposes to this, when re-irrigation is needed, levers could be set to "use for irrigation," and when the field is dry, a farmer would pull levers connected to those fields. Hopefully we eventually get a means to release 2/7 water at a time, such as partially open floodgates.

[Deimos56]

I just want to see what happens when the gatekeeper's AI bugs out and starts crushing or launching things with the bridge.

[Idiom]

I just want to see what happens when the gatekeeper's AI bugs out and starts crushing or launching things with the bridge.

Seconded because I want to see too.

[DanielLC]

The game currently gives numbers to groups of mutually accessible tiles. It would be possible for the game to also remember sets of potentially accessible groups, where pulling of a lever would allow access. This way, if a dwarf can't pathfind somewhere because he's in the wrong area, the game could check if that area is potentially accessible, and, if so, see if any levers allowing access are accessible. If so, the dwarf pulls the lever.

The problem here is that the dwarf would leave the door wide open. Because it is now on the other side of the door, he can't pull the lever again without leaving. If they add logical operators to the levers, which would allow you to attach two levers to one door, he could close it again, but if you're using a drawbride, or even a retracting bridge, this is a potentially fatal action, and should only be done with care.

If we also add alarms, you could get crazy things where the dwarf pulls a lever to extend the bridge, crosses the bridge, pulls another lever which rings a bell that warns the dwarves to leave the bridge, and then retracts it.