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Just 1 or 2

12 (21.8%)

3 to 4

9 (16.4%)

5 to 6

1 (1.8%)

7 to 9

0 (0%)

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

33 (60%)

Total Members Voted: 55

[Riversand]

I usually have glass production, and Glass-metal, something i modded in. I use green-glassmetal for sawblades at 5 per trap.it gives good stopping power on whatever comes their way, be they orc, Kutari, Dwarf, Human, Shaluri, goblin, or Gnoll... yeah i have alot of races in my game, a good number are playable civs for fortress.

[ungulateman]

If I have a layer of obsidian? 5-6 rock swords in each weapon trap. If not? Use stone-fall traps.

[orbcontrolled]

I just discovered weapon traps a couple weeks ago, and now I'm completely addicted to them. Goodbye stone-fall traps!

It's a shame you can't start out a trap with one or two weapons and then add more later.

My gut instinct says the most efficient and redundant (i.e. safe) way to do things is to separate the weapons into as many traps as you have space for, or until the corpse-hauling distance becomes unacceptable. Then over the life of the fortress, every once in a while upgrade them a few at a time as you acquire more spare weapons.

I voted 10 though, because I'm not particularly worried about efficiency or redundancy... _{says the person who has put so many independent safety interlocks in his plumbing that he can't even remember them all.}

honestly i don't bother with weapon traps when i can make cage traps.

Cage traps are indeed overpowered, and they generate the least hauling of any trap I can think of if you set things up right, but I got tired of stripping/pitting the prisoners manually. Weapon traps may be more work overall, but it's work that I don't have to do.

[Hyndis]

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,

I usually do this as well. All off-duty dwarves, all in their own squad, they just spar and hang out at the barracks. If any goblins come by the dwarves will go berserk and slaughter them all, all done automatically without any intervention.

Traps are used for less traveled areas that still need protection, but only on occasion. It would be like the access to the magma pit that is full of fire imps. Dwarves do not often go there, and you don't need to station your military there, but you need to have some sort of defense.

Its also a backup just in case anything sneaks by the military. But the traps are rarely used.

When I do use traps in front of my military the traps are spread out. Its not a wall of traps, just scattered traps.

[Akura]

5 Sawblades, 5 Spiked Balls. I call it the Fukemupper(pronounced foo, to avoid any er... mispronounciation errors). Any less seems... a bit pathetic.

So far, no goblin has made through stepping on one. Pieces of a couple of them did, though.

Too bad you can't rig a ballista or ten into one...

[BodyGripper]

I have quite a few weapon traps, but the only time one's ever been activated was when my dog passed out on it.   
(I almost forgot about that, until I saw an engraving of it in a noble's room)

[LordBucket]

10

The majority of people are voting 10.

Have traps becomes weaker or something? I stopped using them ages ago, but back when I did on those rare occassions that I actually put weapons in traps instead of stone, I used only one. Typically the stray copper dagges and things dropped by kobolds.

At that, a 3x5 strip of traps in the entry hall could stop just about anything that could show up at a fort for its first three or four years. Even rampaging herds of elephants.

What's the point of putting so many weapons in a trap? Just for the novelty of creating extra hauling tasks from all the severed limbs?

[BodyGripper]

OH, I just realized I misread the poll.  I thought it was asking how many weapon TRAPS we use, not how many weapons per trap.  If there's a way to change my vote, I'll change it from 10 to 2 or 3.

[Sir Reginald Bathwater]

It depends. If i have a legendary bowyer from a mood, then 10 masterwork bone x-bows, loaded with goblin bone bolts for that extra tinge of irony.

[Malsqueek]

I generally go for less automated, with some periodic stonefall traps. Chained dogs, and cat-splosion-distractomatic 9000's are wonderful things as well.

I have a main hallway with six cave-in traps that have a 9-z deep pit on either side of the walkway for some extra-broken goblins, and easier cleanup post-seige (and post-rotting).

I do wish there was a way to hook ballistas up to pressure plates, though. That could easily turn into much Fun.

[Ubiq]

The first row of any trap field I build is always cage traps for Weaponlords and Megabeasts, but the rows after that are mostly weapon traps with ten weapons each.

If nothing else, it's a fairly easy way to clean up useless weapons that I don't feel like trading and it's also a good way to train glassmakers. I also tend to purchase any and all weapons with interesting descriptions that the caravans bring around, especially those with historical references in the decorations.

I like to think that the goblin learned something before he gets cut in half. "Hey, did you know Lorbam Carriedships took over the Siege of Treaties in 22-GAAACK".

[Particleman]

I used to use weapon traps a lot, but I switched to cage traps after I realized it's more fun to dump naked prisoners into pits and torment them with wild animals and stuff. I still have a few, but I only use one or two wooden weapons each (via the custom smelter reaction below- they also come in handy as training weapons.) So it's enough to bruise and weaken enemies before they get anywhere, but not enough to kill them.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[REACTION:WOOD_WEAPONS]
[NAME:ten wooden weapons]
[SMELTER]
[PRODUCT:100:10:WEAPON:SWORD_SHORT:WOOD:OAK]

(I know I messed it up, it's supposed to make short swords, but it gives you random weapons. I don't know why. But it doesn't really matter because this works better anyway.)

[Arrkhal]

(I know I messed it up, it's supposed to make short swords, but it gives you random weapons. I don't know why. But it doesn't really matter because this works better anyway.)

It's messed up because it should be:

Code: [Select]

[PRODUCT:100:10:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_SHORT:WOOD:OAK]

[Shades]

The majority of people are voting 10.

I voted 10, but I don't actually use traps at all. If I did and unless there was a special reason (like a long hall of knives or something) I don't see why you'd use less than the full 10 hence my vote.

[Particleman]

The majority of people are voting 10.

I voted 10, but I don't actually use traps at all. If I did and unless there was a special reason (like a long hall of knives or something) I don't see why you'd use less than the full 10 hence my vote.

Sometimes it's fun to watch injuries accumulate over  instead of just instantly blenderizing goblins the second they take a single wrong step.