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[Tradanbattlan]

"News from the boss. I am on the lever today."
"Ooooh! The lever! I have had some good times on that thing."
...
"OHHH MY GODS THIS IS AMAZING I AM LIKE THE WOODEN SPIKES OF THE NORTH STAR"

[Untelligent]

No bears survived, or no clowns?

The clowns set all the bears on fire, then my champion set the hammer on all the clowns.

[Count Dorku]

Two dwarfy traps.

1) Atomsmasher Square. Four atomsmashers, arranged to retract against walls. These are linked to pressure plates at both exits (which should remain accessible) and one in the centre. When triggered, these first slam the goblins against the walls, then drop onto the next idiot to pass through.

2) The Mill of Armok. It grinds slow, but small. Just a long corridor of weapon traps, with a few stone traps to make up for not having an infinite supply of metal.

[IronValley]

My most effective system to date:


                                                   MMMMMMM%MMMMMMMM
                                                   MMMMMMM%MMMMMMMM
-----------------------------------------#######
                                                   #######
F                                                 #######
                                                   #######
-----------------------------------------#######



F-Fortress
#-bridge
%-pump!
M-magma

Either I raise the bridge, and prepare with hammerweilding champions shoulder to shoulder in the corridor. Then open the bridge and laugh....

Or, I set the champions on casual mode a bit further in, and turn on the pumps.... (pumps are on both side and are actually behind fortifications/walls etc... with power coming in from above. All peices of machine is safe from damage and powered by windmills at the roo of my keep.

[ManaUser]

Here's my take on the freeze trap:

Code: [Select]

    Top          Middle        Bottom
█████WW█████  ████████████  █████MM█████
█++======++█  ███╬╬╬╬╬╬███  █++++++++++█
█+░░░░░░░░+█  +XƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒX+  █+≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡+█
█+░░░░░░░░+█  +XƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒX+  █+≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡+█
█++======++█  ███╬╬╬╬╬╬███  █++++++++++█
████████████  ███≡≡≡≡≡≡███  ████████████
████████████  ███░░░░░░███  █++++++++++█
████████████  ████████████  █████DD█████

+ Floor
█ Wall
░ Hole
╬ Fortification
= Retracting bridge, over hole
≡ Raising bridge, AKA Atom Smasher
ƒ Freeze zone
W Water Source
M Magma Source
D Drain
X Floodgate (optional)

It can only by two tiles wide, but could be as long as you want (using more bridges for lengths above 10) . The freeze zone of course will need to have all the ceilings above it channeled out. The holes on the top level will turn into ice walls when water fills the chamber.

All bridges are linked to a single lever. When pulled, the top bridges retract and water pours into fortifications in the middle level, and form there into the freeze zone. The magma below it has been atom-smashed, so the water freezes. The bridge on the middle level raises to prevent water from going down the drain.

When the lever is reversed the top bridges reappear to stop more water pouring in, and the bridge below lowers, allowing magma to flow in and melt the ice above. The bridge in the middle lowers to let the melt-water drain out.

The floodgates, if you use them should be connected to a separate lever. Their only purpose is to prevent a mess from the water, and they only need to be raised during thawing.

For what it's worth, I invented this independently, before I had ever heard of the degrinchinator.

[PhilbertFlange]

There's two major trap types I employ. The first I saw on a previous thread (which I can't find). I like to call it the "Orc Processing Station." It consists of three levels.

Level Z has a long winding 1-wide hall of magma proof bridges with the floors channeled out underneath. The hall ends with stairs down (to allow baddied to path to the next level). This is the killing floor (though the next level can also be used for killing).
Level Z-1 is a nice open room under the bridges with an identical pattern channeled out of it (matching the path of the bridges). Over these are magma proof floor grates. This is the collection floor, but can also kill baddies. The end of this room exist close to my smelters.
Level Z-2 is just a large room the size of the two above it. This is where the magma collects. It can then be pumped up to the killing floor for the next use.

When baddies come in, you close off the way to the smelters, causing them to stop in confusion. You then lock a bridge behind them and release magma onto the killing floor. Once everyone's dead, you retract the bridges, dropping the magma and their magma-proof stuff into the collection floor. The stuff gets caught on the floor grates while the magma drains through. You then send out your metalsmiths to melt down all the steel and iron stuff.


The next trap I like to use I simply call the "Pit." It's simply a 10x10 pit that's at least 10 (but preferably 12 or 13) z levels deep. Over the top 1-3 levels are 10x10 bridges all connected to the same lever. At the bottom of the pit is a nice wide path to a storage area.

The top few levels have stairs on alternate sides, forcing baddies to cross over the bridge(s). After the first few levels, there's simply a set of stairs going to the bottom on one wall of the pit, allowing them to path to the bottom. The more levels you have with bridges (that have fatal drop heights) to more squads you can fit into one drop. As soon as the bad guys are on the bridge, simply release the lever and proceed with sponging their remains off the lowest level floor.

While I like the cleanliness of the Orc Processig Station, I do like having extra bones and such from the Pit.

[Martin]

My most effective trap is portable to anywhere the enemy wishes to attack. I call it 'Morul'.

To paraphrase Patton: "Fixed defenses are monuments to dwarven stupidity."

[Dendou]

"the dragon's throat"

I am currently working on a megaproject of making a dragonfort (the entrance is a dragon's mouth)

The throat is a 3x100x3 path with the middle layer being the travel layer and able to be thinned to a 1x100 path by use of several bridges and a lever.  There is a battery of ballistae at both ends.  And I simulate paristalsis by having alternating pressure plates and retracting bridges so that each pressure plate links to the bridge directly behind it and the one two in front of it (thus controlling the flow of enemies).  Oh, and the head can spit magma

[Arrkhal]

My dwarfiest trap so far, I call the dwarven nuke.  It's basically just a suspended magma tank with a single floor tile on a support above that.  Collapse the support and you simultaneously get a cave-in and a magma flood!

I also use the tamer "land mines" occasionally, but I always suspend the floor tile from above, directly over the pressure plate, rather than right next to it.  It's dwarfier that way.

Some of my traps have also used land mines to cave in floors, denying access instantly rather than after a 100 frame delay, and without any chance of being jammed open.

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

A magma gate, essentially falling magma on the front of my steel doors, constantly falling and being sucked up.

[Earth Striker Lurin]

I'm making this tonight, Armok and the physics controlling magma willing..:

I dub it "pause for reflection"

a 20x100 great maw.   3 layers high.

Layer 1:  Magma
Layer 2: a 3x100 bridge made of wood (bauxite supports on layer 1)
Layer 3:  an Observation bridge and a magma spigot.

On command: 
1. Flood gates on either side of layer 2 close.  This traps the enemy upon the wooden bridge.
2. Magma spews forth from the magma spigot on Layer 3.  This hits the wooden bridge on Layer 2.
3. Pause for reflection on why exactly you decided to march into the Fortress of Dwarves while the only thing keeping you alive is slowly burned away...

[Grendus]

I built a drowning pit next to a brook one time. Managed to build a deathtrap in a season, which was good because I got an orc siege the next season. Basically, I dug out a pit next to the brook with a two tile wide access chamber, then put drawbridges across it the whole way. As orcs walked across, I pulled the lever like crazy and pitted them. This also had the benefit of not scaring them off, since they weren't dead, merely trapped. I then pulled a second lever and opened floodgates, filling the whole room to the brim with water.

It took me two seasons before I had the spare labor to hand pump out the chambers. Later I set up multiple glass pumps powered from the river. And, true to Pattin, I trained three squads of legendary soldiers, decked out in orcinite steel armor. Turned out to be a good decision, since the goblin ambushes came nonstop after I drowned all 7 of the orc local leaders.

[KenboCalrissian]

My favorite traps make elves squirm - not because I use it on them, but because they wish they had thought of it first.  It involves a cage full of vicious animals crammed inside an enclosed shelter with a hatch or floodgate, and a lever to open both.

Wolves and Giant Eagles!

Just wolves this time!

That trap was like Narnia.

I guess I'll call it the Narnia Door

[Urist Imiknorris]

My trade depot room is surrounded by a ring of DEATH. Basically gobbos come in, exit the depot into the outer room, and I seal them in. I then open the bauxite floor hatches. But it isn't magma. Oh no. That would be too easy. Instead, the hatches cover one-way ramps leading from my barracks. I lock my entire military in beforehand.

[Skorpion]

I use my military for defense, with chained bears and two lines of cage traps as backup.

That said, I do have one trap. It's brutally simple. It's a cage with all my wardogs and bears that aren't chained up in it, linked to a lever.
It's extremely deadly.

I call it the 'Release The Hounds!' lever, because I can shout 'RELEASE THE HOUNDS!' whenever I pull it.
I recently pulled it to scare off a goblin siege. Chunks and blood and bodies everywhere.

I do so like grizzly bears.