Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Martin]

I wonder if a magma moat would work in Architects setup to separate the imp and the enemies while keeping them (as far as the imp is concerned) completely accessible. Firing on caravans is an annoyance, but you could set up the fortress to deal with that easily enough.

[The Architect]

I wonder if a magma moat would work in Architects setup to separate the imp and the enemies while keeping them (as far as the imp is concerned) completely accessible. Firing on caravans is an annoyance, but you could set up the fortress to deal with that easily enough.

Sounds brilliant, but you never know whether it will work til someone tries it.

[Elvang]

So do all tame animals eventually go from Tamed to Friendly status in relation to offmap visitors?

Results of plate+hatch test here.

EDIT: Don't have to worry about melee with it, imp fires fairly often. Can't get the fireball to ignite stuff at all. Trying to get wood to ignite

[The Architect]

So do all tame animals eventually go from Tamed to Friendly status in relation to offmap visitors?

No. I could be a jerk and just tell you to reread what I wrote, but I didn't write much because I was lazy. So I guess the proper thing is to explain myself: It's a well-known bug (or feature) that natives of the map don't stay Tame, and neither do their descendants.

[Pie]

So do all tame animals eventually go from Tamed to Friendly status in relation to offmap visitors?

Results of plate+hatch test here.

EDIT: Don't have to worry about melee with it, imp fires fairly often. Can't get the fireball to ignite stuff at all. Trying to get wood to ignite

So it works! Awesome! They aren't very well protected however... I wonder if you could get them to 'accidentally' fire through fortifications, that you would place in between the hatches. Then it is just a (not at all) simple matter of keeping attackers away, while still having a path. Perhaps the magma moat idea? So the imp can path, but no-one else?

[NecroRebel]

Results of plate+hatch test here.

ha HA! Victory is mine! 

...Though it is of course not the design I suggested, the principle behind it is similar.

The next question, since you've now disproved the "fire imps won't fire fire over channels" theory, is to see if they can actually fire through fortifications for superior protection for the imp.

[Martin]

Try using a larger space and have flammable things where missed fireballs land, but without a barrier for them to stop against.

[jokermatt999]

The hatch method could be improved by placing pressure plates outside as well. That should protect the imp from melee, just in case.

Can imps breed? That way, the defense is even more practical.

[The Architect]

A huge ring of linked pressure plates would be bordering* on insanity, if not outright jumping in.

Imps don't breed. I think you might be able to fool around with their tags if you feel the need to breed them now, but in the next release we will see creatures spawning from locations like pits/pipes/pools. No more fixed numbers after map generation.

*Edit: typo correction

[Martin]

True, you only need two hatches/pressure plates and those will form a patrol path for the imp. I'd then put 2 more pressure plates on the outside. That's only 8 mechanisms and pretty reasonable.

[Elvang]

The next question, since you've now disproved the "fire imps won't fire fire over channels" theory, is to see if they can actually fire through fortifications for superior protection for the imp.

Tried replacing the channels with fortifications, still refuses to fire through them.

The hatch method could be improved by placing pressure plates outside as well. That should protect the imp from melee, just in case.

You can continue the wall that blocks access to the imp for a while so that you don't have to worry about melee attackers as much, the imp fires a bit slower though.


EDIT: If you make the path to the imp's targets too long, the imp will eventually get stuck pathing to them and refuse to fire, opting to trigger all the pressure plates continually.

[LoneJedi7]

thank you so much for this thread, i have 3 caged fire imps and now i know how i can use them without wasting a ton of time and materials. nice work

[Flaede]

agreed. Quite a bit of fine work put in here to test the exact what, when, and whys of captured fire imp behaviour.

[Neyvn]

Just a quick Idea. To allow easy pathing for the imp but non for the melee...

Build a wall around the hatches allowing for a single gap, place a ramp that will allow imp onto wall if escaped from pillbox. From the wall build a single floor tile away from it, overhanging the ground below. Build a ramp as if that floor tile was a wall below...

From another thread it can be read that a pathing down a ramp that is not actually attached to a wall but accessible will not allow pathing up said ramp. ie. a one way ramp...

Code: [Select]

Above
__
|_\
Below

[Fuumin]

elvang, i love you, have my dorfbabies!
this is some awesome stuff, i guess we'll be needing a lot more of this sort of analysis come update day! definitely employing this on an obscene scale asap