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Less than 10 steelanium razor discs?  What are you, an elf?

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Total Members Voted: 55

[Lemunde]

So lately I've been trying to figure out what would be the optimal amount of weapons for a weapon trap.  Normally I try to max out the weapons a trap can take but this has some drawbacks.  Number 1: They take a lot of time and resources to construct, making them impractical for early defenses.  Number 2: As soon as they become jammed, all that extra damage potential goes out the window.

So I'm experimenting with my current fortress.  I have a 2x3 array of weapon traps out front with each trap having only 3 iron discs in them.  Surprisingly, this appears to be enough to thwart a standard goblin ambush and they don't take long to make at all.  For what it would have cost to make a single weapon trap with 10 discs I get 3+ traps that are just as effective at taking out goblins.  Obviously a bigger trap would be nice to have if something bigger ever comes along.

So what do you guys use?  Does anyone ever use a trap with just one weapon?  And if so, how effective is it?

[Sphalerite]

Magma, sand, and legendary glassworker means endless production for free.  I like to build many many traps with 10 masterwork green glass sawblades in each.  It's 'Will it blend?" with goblins when a siege comes by.

[ShadowLuigi147]

I use the giant axes, and all in a 1 tile wide corridor, with about 2 per each. Doesn't kill them in the first go, but if they decide they want more they run down the hallway of mincing.

[Sensei]

Remember, a kobold with no legs that gets past the traps is a kobold that is quite harmless but doesn't run the risk of causing a jam.

[NW_Kohaku]

I pack them all full.  I don't use ALL steel razor discs, though.  I tend to just use two or three discs, two or three giant axes for the real stopping power, and then jam the rest of the slots with whatever random crap I can buy off of human caravans or get left by seiges.  An iron dagger may not be much extra damage, but it's hardly worth melting or selling, either.

I put them on my enterance hallway.  Five tiles wide.  It's more impressive for merchants that way.  The weapons traps are (going to be, once I finish) a 5x5 zone, just behind the initial cage traps.  Behind them are another set of cage traps and stonefall traps, 12 deep.  Then the dwarven atom smasher.

The worst thing about it all?  I'm basically playing vanilla, so almost every attack is an ambush that never even reaches my traps.  (But then, it's only year 5, so the real seiges have yet to start... and I'll be ready for them.)

[Hyndis]

I prefer a mix.

5 crossbows and 5 spears/spikes.

Gives a nice combination of bolts and stabby/poking. Also its great for soaking up single bolts laying around the battlefield.

[Arrkhal]

My weapon traps are all about quantity over quality.  1 crossbow, 2 stacks of bone bolts, and that's it.  If I'm not doing a siege-challenge game, I'll usually have a 30 to 40-tile entrance corridor, 3 wide, with a 3x3 section of cage traps at the front, then a line of cage traps down the middle, with the aforementioned weapon traps against the walls.

[madjoe5]

Honestly, I try to avoid them at all costs. I think they are way too overpowered.

I'd much rather have my fortress common invaded then sit inside and watch machinery do the dirty work.

Although I do use cage traps to catch wild life and the occasional goblin or orc. I often throw them into my arena, which sometimes has a weapon trap in it, usually with some whips.

[Cypress]

I admit, I hardly ever use Proper traps. I rely on channeling traffic into a kill room, then popping the doors, or flood gates, or bridges shut. Then I usually let my raised spike traps (controlled via lever) take them out. And since they're trapped, I can usually get away with two or three spikes in each trap, pulled several times.
But then again, this isn't very helpful, and it's fairly attention hogging, so in a larger fort it wouldn't do.

[garfield751]

honestly i dont bother with weapon traps when i can make cage traps.

[zwei]

10-weapon traps.

Basically, only ever using extra weapon that my dwarves cannot use (daggers, whips, bows ...).

Its my way of getting rid of that stuff.

[spikedball]

First, an optional cage trap to capture weapon lords, then several layers of 3-1 serrated discs to get them some mangled limbs and bleeding, then lots of stonefalls/whip/random stuff traps that finish them off, and a trap on masterwork mechanisms full of giant axe blades to dismember sturdy things.

[Spaghetti]

I randomy place 10 obsidion spear filled traps along "hot spots"

I laugh maniacly when i see bugbears and goblin leaders charge head srong into something that will turn them into a shiskabob.

[Shades]

The only sensible way to use weapon traps is to mod in a tiny damage weapon that called a knife and add a reaction to make them from glass then build a whole corridor of single weapon traps that slowly cut the intruder to death.

I'm sure there was a thread where someone did this but I can't find it

[The Dog Delusion]

In the forts where I use weapon traps, I usually start off with just the bare minimum 1 sawblade. As the fort gets bigger, I usually opt to slowly replace the traps in waves with sets of 10 masterwork sawblades. It really just depends on what I've got available to me at the time...usually if I've got massive quantities of goblinite, I do it just to help thin out my bar stockpile.

But honestly, putting an open-air barracks right at the entrance along with the trade depot is usually more than enough to put an end to any invasions (I don't even need to activate my soldiers - they just spar in the barracks until the enemy arrives), but also, having two dozen sparring dwarves flinging each other around the front yard is a great way to detect any stealthing enemies as they (try to) steal into the fort,