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What about this.

Dig out a large cube in a chamber and have it supported by a two supports from below. On the floor put pressure plates triggered by water and link them to the support then remove any way down to the floor. Then surround all of that with an outer chamber filled with water so you can't enter from the side. Ideally have the floor of the chamber (and the cube) be constructions and have a layer of magma below it all.

In the cube carve out two chambers and an empty space (with no bottom) between them. The whole thing would look like an upside down U. At the top part connect the two chambers to an automated pump (power can come in from above). Fill one chamber with your artifacts and water and leave the other empty. Once the pump starts going it'll empty out the chamber slowly giving you your time lock as you can enter once the water is drained.. If you attempt to breach the chamber early you'll spill water on the ground below setting off the plates and collapsing the chamber. If the chamber is above magma with constructions the entire thing will fall into it and the artifacts will be lost.

Example:

# wall/floor
~ water
. open space
% pump
m magma

Code: [Select]


#~#....%%...#~#
#~#.#~~##.#.#~#
#~#.#~#.#.#.#~#
#~#.#~#.#.#.#~#
#~#.#~#.#.#.#~#
#~#.###.###.#~#
#~#..I...I..#~#
###############
#mmmmmmmmmmmmm#
###############

The whole thing is not tamper proof but any forcible entrances would take a significant investment of time. Also it's reusable each year. Simply include (or temporarily add) a reverse pump to put the water back into the other chamber and reset the system.

Of course the whole thing would probably take several years to construct but oh well.

[Shoku]

If hiding and forbidding items in an unsuspecting cistern isn't your cup of tea building a winding path with the items at the end (forbidden but visible) and then installing pressure plates every so far that activate a magma pump elsewhere that will pressurize some magma to incinerate the dwarf that set it off and any others for awhile would deter him just long enough to figure out that he needs to dismantle the pressure plates. For this reason about halfway down the hall you can place more pressure plates right behind the visible ones but these will be hidden. Lever in front of a gap to let down a bridge to proceed further actually just turns on all the pumps again.
*to keep him from dismantling the pumps use a magma safe material or glass to make your pumps and then just have them submerged in more molten rock from their pump source.

On the other side of the mystery bridge is a several floors chamber surrounded by more magma (for a twist you could make it so that this is the input for the pumps and he may realize that to get into it he's supposed to set them off many times.

If you don't mind editing tools you can have a little 1 floor diversion down with locked hatches resting above both stairs out of it before the treasure room and after dumping several cats into it or whatever you'd use dwarf manager to make them into SoF (or if you have some rare animal you know there are only x of in the fort you could stick it down there and then just edit the raws so that it had the same burning properties.

By the time he gets through that gauntlet he'll pretty much have earned the items but likely have caused a tantrum spiral.

-
Best idea I've got fitting what you've asked for rather than what we've guessed you want go a little like:

If you want to place the treasure room over a pit you can stop him from constructing floors or whatever over to it by surrounding the space with bridges and then retracting them. As far as I know that stops all designations on the tiles the bridge normally takes up whether it's "there" or not. Then it would be pretty simple to place some water logic puzzle that won't make any sense the way it's laid out in the game and require an order of lever presses he's simply not going to figure out.
And better than that you can mislead him into thinking he needs to trigger the final one to open it up so he'll flood it some other way while the way you really open it up is by taking water off of some pump unit that has innocently been full the whole time.

If you set up a repeater to toggle a few of them that could also wildly complicate things for him.

[CrimsonEon]

I've created filiusenox's Idea of Simply creating a Tunnel with a bridge connecting the gap, which retracts when the pressure plates lining the tunnel, hiding a lever somewhere to allow dwarves past when It's my turn.

As far as keeping the contents safe, I have the Vault suspended by one column, and the area between the vault and the rest of the world filled with magma. Though this won't stop me from trying to create Impenetrable vaults and Then seeing if they can be broken into >_>, I think a few of the other Ideas stated here make great Examples 

What about this.

Dig out a large cube in a chamber and have it supported by a two supports from below. On the floor put pressure plates triggered by water and link them to the support then remove any way down to the floor. Then surround all of that with an outer chamber filled with water so you can't enter from the side. Ideally have the floor of the chamber (and the cube) be constructions and have a layer of magma below it all.

In the cube carve out two chambers and an empty space (with no bottom) between them. The whole thing would look like an upside down U. At the top part connect the two chambers to an automated pump (power can come in from above). Fill one chamber with your artifacts and water and leave the other empty. Once the pump starts going it'll empty out the chamber slowly giving you your time lock as you can enter once the water is drained.. If you attempt to breach the chamber early you'll spill water on the ground below setting off the plates and collapsing the chamber. If the chamber is above magma with constructions the entire thing will fall into it and the artifacts will be lost.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Example:

# wall/floor
~ water
. open space
% pump
m magma

Code: [Select]


#~#....%%...#~#
#~#.#~~##.#.#~#
#~#.#~#.#.#.#~#
#~#.#~#.#.#.#~#
#~#.#~#.#.#.#~#
#~#.###.###.#~#
#~#..I...I..#~#
###############
#mmmmmmmmmmmmm#
###############


The whole thing is not tamper proof but any forcible entrances would take a significant investment of time. Also it's reusable each year. Simply include (or temporarily add) a reverse pump to put the water back into the other chamber and reset the system.

Of course the whole thing would probably take several years to construct but oh well.

This is Probably What I'm Going to Try Next. Great Idea Slogo 

[ItchyBeard]

http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/movie-1385-clockmechanismtest2 provides an example of how you can delay mechanical timing mechanisms.

Regarding the 'breaking into the vault' problem, you could just put all of the anvils and picks inside the vault before handing over the fort (and um... prevent traders getting into the fort so they don't bring new ones). You would need to put the timing mechanism inside the vault obviously, otherwise it could just be messed with. It wouldn't make the fort very fun though.

You could also try this:
* Put vault on the bottom of map.
* Access vault via floodgates only.
* Have a convenient way to flood/empty vault surroundings with magma to allow access. This is for setup and access purposes.
* Construct a horribly complicated timing mechanism inside the vault. You would need to include an infinite waterwheel power generator to power it.
* Surround vault on *all* sides (including the roof!) with pressure plates which will activate if the magma ever drops below 7/7 - activation causes destruction of vault contents *unless* the timing mechanism has reached its expiry time. Use an atom smasher to destroy the vault contents.

Note: Pressure plates set to trigger on magma still trigger when encased in obsidian (it considers the magma to go from 7/7 -> 0/7 when obsidian forms).

I think that would make the vault almost impenetrable (at least if someone wanted to get the items). It would require a ton of bauxite though. The only potential problem I can see is if someone starts dropping bits of terrain on the vault (thus de-constructing it).

You might be able to get around that problem by putting the vault on the very top of the map, though that suffers from other problems (like people creating a lake underneath the vault and then deconstructing whatever is supporting the vault).

Making an impenetrable vault sounds like a fun challenge .

[Shoku]

I thought of another way to keep the items away from him. When you encase something in obsidian (for things that burn you flood them then drop magma on it, not the other way around,) it shows back up when you mine out that tile. Ok, well that's spiffy but it's hard to be discrete about obsidian.

Well, what you can be discrete about it ice, provided your map ever freezes. That's probably a long shot but I'll explain anyway. With magma one tile away ice melts and water that's not "outside" won't freeze (aside from on tiles that began as ice.) So you can make a 1 wide channel in the ground and then mine out space to the sides of it for pumps and a hole for water to drop down and such. Then with a 1 wide hall for magma above or below for melting the water.
The trick here is that when you melt ice the items don't fall out so you get your items in, pump in water to freeze, pump in magma to melt the water, drain the water and wait for the rest to evaporate, then let out the magma and your items will be encased in air.

This is retrievable by you because you just need to put new ice (or presumably obsidian,) on that spot and mine it out to get your items back. Without coming on to this board there's no way he'd know about this and taking out a piece or two of the set up ought to totally obscure it's purpose.

[forsaken1111]

I thought of another way to keep the items away from him. When you encase something in obsidian (for things that burn you flood them then drop magma on it, not the other way around,) it shows back up when you mine out that tile. Ok, well that's spiffy but it's hard to be discrete about obsidian.

Well, what you can be discrete about it ice, provided your map ever freezes. That's probably a long shot but I'll explain anyway. With magma one tile away ice melts and water that's not "outside" won't freeze (aside from on tiles that began as ice.) So you can make a 1 wide channel in the ground and then mine out space to the sides of it for pumps and a hole for water to drop down and such. Then with a 1 wide hall for magma above or below for melting the water.
The trick here is that when you melt ice the items don't fall out so you get your items in, pump in water to freeze, pump in magma to melt the water, drain the water and wait for the rest to evaporate, then let out the magma and your items will be encased in air.

This is retrievable by you because you just need to put new ice (or presumably obsidian,) on that spot and mine it out to get your items back. Without coming on to this board there's no way he'd know about this and taking out a piece or two of the set up ought to totally obscure it's purpose.

How does he ensure the ice remains all year? His 'opponent' in this game will be playing for a full year, if I understand it right. Wouldn't the ice simply thaw at some point? Unless the map freezes all year, in which case this works fine.

[ChairmanPoo]

I just had this idea, sort of related, of a fortress whose entrance is regulated by a timer mechanism, which opens it twice a year or so, so the dwarves dont control WHEN they can get out. If anyone is trapped out when the timer goes off, tough luck (and the same if it happens to stay open during a siege, though it doesnt go against the rules to set secondary defenses after that initial entrance). For kicks it could be made so that when it's closed, the world starts getting flooded with magma, so that anyone trapped outside (dwarven, human, elf, or goblin) has a high risk of being immolated. Of course, any who survive is a welcome member of the community.

[Starver]

On a freeze-thaw cycle map, there are ways to harness this cycle to activate stuff.  Making it unbypassable by a determined player would be difficult (though I can think of some ways in which it could be non-trivially accomplished, depending on various assumptions (e.g. being able to isolate the aquifer source, to prevent it being sealed off, and the internal 'tap' reservoir to prevent it being artificially drained).

But of course that's probably a 'luxury' you don't have.

I'd go for the route of making things obscure, I suspect.  Possibly with a decoy 'security' complex (or three) to attract attention and investigations.

[Yolan]

Sorry to state the perfectly obvious, but couldn't you simply ask him not to mess with items you've placed in certain locations? If he is your friend, he would respect your request.

Sorry, this isn't anywhere near dwarfy enough!

To my mind, a lot of the above suggestions are pretty complex. How about this?
A room, 40 levers. 39 of these levers flood the fortress. One lever opens the vault. You know which one.

[Starver]

A room, 40 levers. 39 of these levers flood the fortress. One lever opens the vault. You know which one.

Too vulnerable to reloading the savegame.

But by using a little mechanical/hydrological logic to make a specific sequence of levers produce an effect (maybe only two or three levels, thereof) where an incorrect combination spells disaster and/or sours the 'correct' input, you'd cause problems.

Of course, this (and many of the other 'solutions' could annoy the other person so much that they actively disturb the system so you can't unlock it (e.g. deconstruct your levers/randomly rebuild any externally accessible components), and/or need to go to extreme effort to get past an additional layer of security (added by them) before you can access your system again.

[Porpoisepower]

You may have stumbled apon a practacle use for a dwarf-puter.

Design a system of levers that need to be pulled in a specific manner in order to open the entrance.

For bonus points setup some pressure plates to magma flood the fort if a non standard entrance(tunneled/deconstructed wall) is used.

[Gamermaster]

I have a very,VERY simple idea, build tons of cage traps and every single creature you catch, place their cage in the vault, and tie the switch for the vault entrance to the cages as well,so if he opens the vault he unleashes the monsters upon the dwarfs.

[forsaken1111]

I have a very,VERY simple idea, build tons of cage traps and every single creature you catch, place their cage in the vault, and tie the switch for the vault entrance to the cages as well,so if he opens the vault he unleashes the monsters upon the dwarfs.

So he either burns the 'monsters' (likely a lot of hoary marmots and elephants unless you go to some extreme effort and happen to get lucky) with magma, or just stations a few champions there to kill them all. Unless we're talking about caged megabeasts or demons this isn't all that practical.

Really the best way, assuming your 'friend' refuses to stop messing with your stuff, is M.A.D. Make it so that if he does breach the vault, pressure plates will trigger a flood of epic proportions and end the entire fortress.

For bonus points, you can write out a warning in floor tiles. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

[Grendus]

Use levers to make a binary password. The items are stored in a vault that can only be accessed by having dwarves slowly move along a series of chambers sealed with bridges. If the wrong binary code is input, all the chambers get atom smashed. If you work the logic out right, it will take him a year to work his way through it.

Of course, the downside is he could just deconstruct the whole thing. Atom smashers aren't quite as dangerous when they've been returned to the pile of rocks and mechanisms they're made of. But then, nothing you can build can't be unbuilt if he has access to the fortress and some dwarves. Maybe you should set some ground rules for this little rivalry.

[forsaken1111]

But then, nothing you can build can't be unbuilt if he has access to the fortress and some dwarves. Maybe you should set some ground rules for this little rivalry.

See that's why you need two random-cat fed corridors of destruction. Then he can't get there to deconstruct it and would have to dig in from another angle... but if both random-cat boxes were protected from all sides as well as up/down then its highly likely the dwarves will be maimed and killed before even getting there, much less able to stay long enough to deconstruct things or mine.

You make a 3x3 box with a cat tied to the middle tile and every surrounding tile has a pressure plate. The kitty, being on a leash, will randomly wander all over the 8 surrounding tiles triggering the pressure plates and activating a death-filled corridor of traps, atom-smashers, and nasty. It's hard to deconstruct a constantly-moving atom smasher surrounded by constantly-activating spike traps which can only be reached by crossing a constantly-retracting bridge just past a field of constantly-activating weapon traps.

You could use the idea of a magma-mist machine from another thread on here to randomly drop magma on different tiles as well, just to make it more interesting. Just keep in mind you have to protect the power source.

Walls, magma, and stone are the exact wrong ways to keep a dwarf out of somewhere. It's what they DO. You need spinning bladed death.