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[Drakis]

im looking to build a bridge that continually retracts and then closes again, so anything that paths across it falls through it and down onto the grates that i will use to wash them out with magma, leaving only the iron and steel items left.


ive tried to set it up with pressure plates, but ethier i cant get them to work right, or its not possible.

i dont want to have to go the route of a lever that is continually pulled for such an activity, but if theres no other way, i guess i can do that


can i get some help?

[Grumman]

ive tried to set it up with pressure plates, but ethier i cant get them to work right, or its not possible.

It is possible. Just build the pressure plates at the outside end of the bridge, set to trigger when any enemy steps on them. The delay before the bridge retracts will be enough to let the invaders walk onto the bridge before it happens.

[Smew]

I use a design of AncientEnemy's(At least, I think he's the one who thought it up).

Aha, finally found the topic.
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=33563.0

This works wonders for bridges, but you need water for it.

[Drakis]

testing...   testing...   OOOOO!  that works perfectly!     the next siege of orcs will be the testers of it!    now to finish my green glass grates and fill it with magma...

[Dorf3000]

I use a design of AncientEnemy's(At least, I think he's the one who thought it up).

Aha, finally found the topic.
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=33563.0

This works wonders for bridges, but you need water for it.

Would it also work with magma and bauxite/nickel silver everything?  I have a map with magma pipe but no flowing water (I guess I moved the embark square one tile, I could have sworn there was a brook too )

[Lummox JR]

Two problems with the retracting bridge o' death:

1) It won't work on megabeasts, since retractable bridges will not operate while a megabeast is on them (per the wiki).

2) It won't work on standard orcs, since they have TRAPAVOID and, to my knowledge, will not trigger pressure plates.

One way I can think for a pressure plate to work would be if corpses can't trigger pressure plates. (I don't know one way or the other.) If they can, you might be able to wrangle a creature onto the spot where your pressure plate is, and as long as the creature is on that spot and alive the trap will be in the "off" position. When the creature moves or is killed, the trap will flip to the "on" position. This way an invading army of orcs that slaughters a bait kitten on the way in will end up triggering the trap. However there are a lot of ifs in this concept, and you also have to account for situations where the creature dies of old age. Resetting the trap is also not a simple matter.

Another option is to build a hallway with a low covering of water like 2/7, seal it off with doors, and make that the most direct entrance to your fort. Anyone who opens the doors would spill water into the area outside the hallway, which you can detect with a pressure plate. However this is somewhat bad news for traders and guild reps who may path through there as well, to say nothing of your own dwarves.

[Smew]

I use a design of AncientEnemy's(At least, I think he's the one who thought it up).

Aha, finally found the topic.
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=33563.0

This works wonders for bridges, but you need water for it.

Would it also work with magma and bauxite/nickel silver everything?  I have a map with magma pipe but no flowing water (I guess I moved the embark square one tile, I could have sworn there was a brook too )

I am willing to bet that pressure plates(like water wheels) are hardcoded to only work with water when they are activated as such.

[Grumman]

I am willing to bet that pressure plates(like water wheels) are hardcoded to only work with water when they are activated as such.

Well you'd lose that bet, as when building pressure plates you are explicitly given the choice of what will trigger it, including water, magma and creatures.

[Smew]

I am willing to bet that pressure plates(like water wheels) are hardcoded to only work with water when they are activated as such.

Well you'd lose that bet, as when building pressure plates you are explicitly given the choice of what will trigger it, including water, magma and creatures.

Really? damn, the only time I've used pressure plates are the one time I used this repeater. haha

[XSI]

As alternative to pressure plates before the bridge, set at least 4(More if you want to be certain) pressure plates in high traffic areas which will trigger when a dwarf, a pet, or anything else touches it. Hook all the plates to the bridge, and you have a constantly repeating bridge from all the signals coming from the pressure plates, if I'm correct, the signals from the plates won't be able to cancel eachother out.

Try to make sure the dwarves don't path over the bridge itself though, or they will end up in your trap.

I also approve of this trap idea, and would like to know how it turns out

[Drakis]

Two problems with the retracting bridge o' death:

1) It won't work on megabeasts, since retractable bridges will not operate while a megabeast is on them (per the wiki).

2) It won't work on standard orcs, since they have TRAPAVOID and, to my knowledge, will not trigger pressure plates.

my setup is working great now, just tested on some orcs.    the bridge continually opens and closes, letting them path through it, run out on it, and then fall when it opens, down into a pit of magma!


setup takes 4 levels:

brigde level: (.=floor)
WWWWWWWWWWW
.+++++++++.
.+++++++++.
WWWWWWWWWWW

first level below bridge (#=open space)
WWWWWWWWWWW
W#########W
W#########W
WWWWWPWWWWW
WWWWWPWWWWW
WWWWW#WWWWW

grates to catch the iron/steel (X=floodgates)
WWWWWWWWWWW
WgggggggggX
WgggggggggX
WWWWWPWWWWW
WWWWWPWWWWW
WWWWW#WWWWW

magma under grates
WWWWWWWWWWW
WmmmmmmmmmW
WmmmmmmmmmW
WWWWWWWWWWW


the Ps on the top level is the drainage pump to clear out the magma from the grate level so you can collect the iron, floodgates are opened after draining to allow access. 

the Ps in the grate level the intake pumps to pump fresh magma in overtop of the grates, making it full of magma including the grates, meaning anything that falls on the grates bursts into flames, leaving only the good leftovers.   

everything is made of green glass where possible, grates, pumps, floodgates, ext.

i also use this on the elves when the try and sell me crap.

[Lummox JR]

I seem to be getting conflicting information then. Will pressure plates trigger on TRAPAVOID creatures, or won't they?

The wiki isn't clear on this, and some other threads I found suggest that any creature with TRAPAVOID in the raws will avoid any triggering kind of trap component, even pressure plates. Since the regular orc mod has this tag included, that suggests that either the info I got was wrong and pressure plates can be triggered by any non-friendly creature of the right size regardless of this setting, or your orcs are not the regular kind.

[Drakis]

im not using the traps on the orcs, i have a pressure plate repeater set to automatically retract the bridge over and over again, meaning they get the pathing, then it disappears, then it appears again, then it disappears again...  they run to take the path, the bridge retracts, they fall.