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[Shenanigans]

Ok, thanks guys for the replys. I'm going to try this out with a goblin "crewed" (or possibly apes) vehicle soon. but this time the drop zone will be a bottemless pit. we shall see how this goes, and whether its "safe" for dwarven crewmen.

[Aspgren]

Hate to steal the thunder, but I performed a couple of tests just now. I'll give them a spoiler tag.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Test 1. A dwarf stands in a room suspended above a bottomless pit. With him are some loose stone, a chair, a table and a coffin.
When released the dwarf is immediately crushed and all the constructed furniture and the walls disappear into the chasm immediately. The dwarf was crushed by the ceiling but his equipment and the loose stone can be seen falling down in the dustcloud. The fact that they were under the roof matters little.

Test 2. A cat is put in a constructed cage, standing on a tile of rock one z level above a platform. The rock tile is allowed to fall and survives the impact, the cage was deconstructed and hurled a good distance - but the cat survived without a scratch.

Test 3. A room is suspended 2 z levels above a platform. There is a constructed cage in it, some furniture and a dwarf. The dwarf is standing under a hole in the ceiling. There is also some loose stone.
Upon drop the entire structure immediately falls. It lands partially on the edge of the chasm. The furniture is deconstructed and hurled around. The roof falls in and crushes everything beneath it, it does NOT stay in position. The cat dies as the cage is crushed. The dwarf survives since he wasn't hit by the roof and suffers only minor injuries.

Oddly enough a cabinet survives the fall. There was roof above it so it should have been crushed, it is found in the location it was constructed and had not been hurled under the hole in the ceiling. Unless the cabinet was hurled immediately as the construction fell and then bounced back in faster-than-light speed I do not know how it survived.

There were some loose items in the room as well. They survived the fall and survived being crushed by the ceiling.

Tests indicate that you cannot drop a room and expect it to maintain construction. It falls to pieces and the only things standing are the walls... however since loose items don't seem affected by the cavein one could PERHAPS make a stockpile of caged dwarves and drop them - and have them survive. How to get them out of the cages is something I cannot answer, though.

Edit:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Test 4. A floor tile was dropped on an unconstructed cat cage. It was crushed and the cat died immediately.

 I didn't think it mattered earlier, but the items that survived being crushed were all either STONE or BELONGINGS to a dwarf who was crushed. In Test 3 the miner who released the room went and did so from inside and was crushed. I didn't think it mattered but apparently it did. His corpse survived...

 Could it be that the dwarf is hit by the ceiling and dies - and drops his corpse and items? This would mean that the items are dropped after the roof hits. but it could also mean that the roof tile is destroyed upon collision and the dwarf acts as a meat shield.

 Could meat shields protect an object lying at their feet by taking a rock to the head? I don't know. and my remaining dwarves have just been killed. Tests are abandoned.

[andrea]

You MUST drop a floor tile on a stack of dwarves, and see if the first dwarf is a good enough meat shield to save other.

[Aspgren]

You MUST drop a floor tile on a stack of dwarves, and see if the first dwarf is a good enough meat shield to save other.

That's an easy enough test to perform.

So I did it and ... nope. Killed them both.

Edit: Though I also tried with a grate. There were complications with tantruming dwarves, a beating and the grate didn't fall as an actual cave-in it just -fell- so it's hard to say how it really went. but no one got injured by the grate ... so maybe it's possible to make a room that falls, with grates for floor and roof ... and has 2 stories. The lower story would be filled with cats. Anything that softens the fall for the dwarves.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Not all explorers use a bathysphere or diving bell.  Why not a special suit?  Deck out your explorer in all steel gear (layered for maximum protection from the elements) with a glass helmet*, station him on a bridge, play farewell on the microcline trumpet, then retract the bridge.  Add booze barrels and roasts for sustenance, weapons to fend off the underground ape-men, and a pet for companionship/dinosaur food.

* mod it in if that's not possible!

I know the ending.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

he doesn't come back.

[Tallefred]

Hate to steal the thunder, but I performed a couple of tests just now. I'll give them a spoiler tag.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Test 1. A dwarf stands in a room suspended above a bottomless pit. With him are some loose stone, a chair, a table and a coffin.
When released the dwarf is immediately crushed and all the constructed furniture and the walls disappear into the chasm immediately. The dwarf was crushed by the ceiling but his equipment and the loose stone can be seen falling down in the dustcloud. The fact that they were under the roof matters little.

Test 2. A cat is put in a constructed cage, standing on a tile of rock one z level above a platform. The rock tile is allowed to fall and survives the impact, the cage was deconstructed and hurled a good distance - but the cat survived without a scratch.

Test 3. A room is suspended 2 z levels above a platform. There is a constructed cage in it, some furniture and a dwarf. The dwarf is standing under a hole in the ceiling. There is also some loose stone.
Upon drop the entire structure immediately falls. It lands partially on the edge of the chasm. The furniture is deconstructed and hurled around. The roof falls in and crushes everything beneath it, it does NOT stay in position. The cat dies as the cage is crushed. The dwarf survives since he wasn't hit by the roof and suffers only minor injuries.

Oddly enough a cabinet survives the fall. There was roof above it so it should have been crushed, it is found in the location it was constructed and had not been hurled under the hole in the ceiling. Unless the cabinet was hurled immediately as the construction fell and then bounced back in faster-than-light speed I do not know how it survived.

There were some loose items in the room as well. They survived the fall and survived being crushed by the ceiling.

Tests indicate that you cannot drop a room and expect it to maintain construction. It falls to pieces and the only things standing are the walls... however since loose items don't seem affected by the cavein one could PERHAPS make a stockpile of caged dwarves and drop them - and have them survive. How to get them out of the cages is something I cannot answer, though.

Edit:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Test 4. A floor tile was dropped on an unconstructed cat cage. It was crushed and the cat died immediately.

 I didn't think it mattered earlier, but the items that survived being crushed were all either STONE or BELONGINGS to a dwarf who was crushed. In Test 3 the miner who released the room went and did so from inside and was crushed. I didn't think it mattered but apparently it did. His corpse survived...

 Could it be that the dwarf is hit by the ceiling and dies - and drops his corpse and items? This would mean that the items are dropped after the roof hits. but it could also mean that the roof tile is destroyed upon collision and the dwarf acts as a meat shield.

 Could meat shields protect an object lying at their feet by taking a rock to the head? I don't know. and my remaining dwarves have just been killed. Tests are abandoned.

Have you tested dropping a mother carrying her baby? According to this the baby should survive. Just make sure there's no way for the kid to kill themselves afterward and 12 years later you have your explorer.

[slink]

What about a cast obsidian bathysphere dropped into a chasm?  Cast it as three levels thick, then channel out from all around except for a one-tile path to the second level, in which a tunnel and room are dug.  Fill with Dwarves, a bed, a table, a chair, and supplies.  Launch by severing the path from the vessel.  Natural rock doesn't come apart, does it?

[Deadmeat1471]

I must try this. 

[Dorf3000]

Natural rock doesn't come apart, does it?

Unfortunately it does, no matter how thick it is.  If you cave in 100 z levels in a 20x20 area with a tiny extra hollow in the center, all the rock above it will detach and fall 1z level lower.

[Shades]

Okay so I might have this totally wrong but:

Spoiler: sideview before (click to show/hide)

x__xx  x
x__xx  x
xxxxx Dx
xxxxxxxx

With X being a natural wall _ a natural floor and D a dwarf with a pick.
The green floor is where you put all the items the dwarf will need, food/drink/etc.
If I've got it right the natural floor will reform into a wall but not crush the items, only encase them.

Assume we've done something clever to allow the dwarf to survive.

Spoiler: sideview after (click to show/hide)

xxxxx  x
xxxxx  x
xxxxx Dx
xxxxxxxx

If I have it correct then the dwarf's world looks like this, now those blue walls need to be mined out (stairs to go upwards) as fast as possible and then sealed quickly with a wall/door/floogate whatever is quickest.

Hopefully this is possible before the magma spills over the side and kills the dwarf. The reason to mine upwards is because it will take a while to fill the 'bucket' the dwarf was in (make it bigger than the two squares shown). Actually with magma you probably don't need to seal it due to lack of pressure, water you would mind you.

Anyway if I haven't screwed this up it should work and we have a dwarf and supplies safe at the bottom

[Aspgren]

Okay so I might have this totally wrong but:

Spoiler: sideview before (click to show/hide)

x__xx  x
x__xx  x
xxxxx Dx
xxxxxxxx

With X being a natural wall _ a natural floor and D a dwarf with a pick.
The green floor is where you put all the items the dwarf will need, food/drink/etc.
If I've got it right the natural floor will reform into a wall but not crush the items, only encase them.

Assume we've done something clever to allow the dwarf to survive.

Spoiler: sideview after (click to show/hide)

xxxxx  x
xxxxx  x
xxxxx Dx
xxxxxxxx

If I have it correct then the dwarf's world looks like this, now those blue walls need to be mined out (stairs to go upwards) as fast as possible and then sealed quickly with a wall/door/floogate whatever is quickest.

Hopefully this is possible before the magma spills over the side and kills the dwarf. The reason to mine upwards is because it will take a while to fill the 'bucket' the dwarf was in (make it bigger than the two squares shown). Actually with magma you probably don't need to seal it due to lack of pressure, water you would mind you.

Anyway if I haven't screwed this up it should work and we have a dwarf and supplies safe at the bottom

Sorry but this won't work. The natural floor will come loose and crush the items .. think of them not as lego blocks but as loose rock and boulders.

[Shades]

Sorry but this won't work. The natural floor will come loose and crush the items .. think of them not as lego blocks but as loose rock and boulders.

The wiki claims

Any item caught under falling natural walls is destroyed completely. Natural floors and constructed walls and floors have a small chance of destroying items.

Is that wrong?

[Aspgren]

Sorry but this won't work. The natural floor will come loose and crush the items .. think of them not as lego blocks but as loose rock and boulders.

The wiki claims

Any item caught under falling natural walls is destroyed completely. Natural floors and constructed walls and floors have a small chance of destroying items.

Is that wrong?

What I mean is you won't get a roof. The roof will fall in and it will crush items, apparently not all of them - but some. The issue remains, the room won't be sealed off, it will be without roof and the magma can pour in untroubled ... and you can't get the items in there in the first place without breaching the room, can you?

[Shades]

What I mean is you won't get a roof. The roof will fall in and it will crush items, apparently not all of them - but some. The issue remains, the room won't be sealed off, it will be without roof and the magma can pour in untroubled ... and you can't get the items in there in the first place without breaching the room, can you?

Ahh I see, so although we could use a solid wall section to save our (hopefully surviving from the fall) miner from the magma that will rush it we still can't get any items to him?

Assuming Ice is treated like rock when it falls then we could freeze items into Ice walls before hand and possibly save the items during the fall. Not sure if that works, probably depends if the items stay in the block our count as being below it and so getting crushed.

[Raphite1]

Have you tested dropping a mother carrying her baby? According to this the baby should survive. Just make sure there's no way for the kid to kill themselves afterward and 12 years later you have your explorer.

     This is by far my favorite idea.