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[Icebird]

I finished! At last!
After 10 years of construction, several miscalculations, redesign, mistakes, it's finally completed!

And what is it exactly?
Well its a re-usable, fast cycling, lava trap, that leave behind only the metallic weapons and armor ready to be melted. Its large enough to allow caravans to come, long enough to trap ennemies easily, its the perfect fortress entrance!

Here come the links to the map and a video in use:
Map: http://mkv25.net/dfma/poi-21036-thetrap
Video: http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-1931-theultimatelavatrap

Here are some numbers:
160 green glass pumps
161 service doors
36 gear assembly
63 water wheels (26 needed only, I went a little overkill on the powerplant)
104 iron grates
19 iron bridges
10 years of construction
8 deaths from accidental cave-in, lava, ambush and other mishaps.


If you have questions about it, I will gladly answer them.
Hope you enjoy it 

[Fishbreath]

I haven't even looked at it yet, but I love the list o' costs.

[Urist Imiknorris]

I had one that utilized the Moses Effect. That's the only one I can think of that was better than this.

[tompliss]

What happens if you don't close the gates before firing ?

[Urist Imiknorris]

What happens if you don't close the gates before firing ?

Fun.

[The Architect]

That, Sir, was a thing of beauty. Congratulations!

Hopefully I haven't bungled your gender and ruined the congratulatory comment. It was truly a work of art to watch. THIS is what I see as "dwarven".

[darthbob88]

Quite wonderfully dwarven and remarkably efficient. I wonder how much bauxite you used in construction? The only point that I disapprove of is your heavy use of iron, in the grates and the bridges; I would rather use glass throughout, and save iron for armor and weapons.

[The Architect]

Is glass actually magma-proof? I thought the reason people used it in pumps was that they were ignorant of the fact that a pump can be made of any material and will never melt until magma actually overflows onto it and technically enters its tile.

[darthbob88]

Is glass actually magma-proof? I thought the reason people used it in pumps was that they were ignorant of the fact that a pump can be made of any material and will never melt until magma actually overflows onto it and technically enters its tile.

AFAIK, it is for this sort of thing. Glass pumps are magma proof, glass floodgates work just fine with magma, and presumably grates and bridges would also be magma proof. If I'm wrong about this, I withdraw my previous statement. Wiki. Experiments.

[QuakeIV]

JESUS CHRIST THAT VIDEO WAS AWESOME!

[The Architect]

Is glass actually magma-proof? I thought the reason people used it in pumps was that they were ignorant of the fact that a pump can be made of any material and will never melt until magma actually overflows onto it and technically enters its tile.

AFAIK, it is for this sort of thing. Glass pumps are magma proof, glass floodgates work just fine with magma, and presumably grates and bridges would also be magma proof. If I'm wrong about this, I withdraw my previous statement. Wiki. Experiments.

According to the Wiki it looks like a bug. FYI, you can build your pumps out of wood if you want. It absolutely does not matter unless lava overflows onto the actual tiles of the pump.

It would certainly be quick and easy to use glass for grates, but I've personally not had a problem acquiring iron through goblinite and orcinite when it isn't available in overabundance on the map.

[wagawaga]

So, this makes magma from a cistern fill up from under the grates due to pump-generated pressure? Great. It's particularily awesome for its size.

[Arrkhal]

AFAIK, it is for this sort of thing. Glass pumps are magma proof, glass floodgates work just fine with magma, and presumably grates and bridges would also be magma proof. If I'm wrong about this, I withdraw my previous statement.

Pretty sure the magmaproofing of doors, floodgates, and associated mechanisms is as follows:

A door or floodgate can be 100% non magma safe (including mechanism), as long as it's always closed when magma is present, and only opened when the magma is gone.

If magma flows through an open floodgate or door, anything not magma safe is destroyed, including the mechanism and the floodgate itself.

So as long as you're regulating your flow with non-submerged pumps, and your floodgates and doors mark "no magma ever goes past here" zones, nothing needs to be magma-safe.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

There's a certain "realism" in using iron throughout for magma pumps, even if it isn't wholly necessary. I think the main reason people use green glass for pumps is efficiency - of construction -- you can set your glassworks to make the pump components in parallel while your forges work on things like arms and armor.

The only flaw I see is that you're going to lose a few goblins killing them one group at a time like that. I'd throw up an outer "curtain" wall around your fortress, large enough to hold the entire seiging force. Then you can pull up the bridge/gate in that one once they're all in and none of the iron will get away. 

[Icebird]

About the iron bridges and grates, yes, I could have made them in green glass. However, I like the "iron gate" style, and am also tempted to replace the rock walls by iron ones 

I have a large supply of iron, with all the weapons and armor from the goblin raids. I had 500+ when I started the construction of my trap, so it was not an issue.

I used one bauxite per bridge, plus one for the floodgate that allow to add more lava in the trap. So 20 bauxite total, that I got by trading a few pieces each year.