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[kotekzot]

I remember somebody once made a conveyor belt for items.

It was a series of bridges that were on a repeater, so every time they raised they launched the cargo a short distance. Apparently it was quite laggy from all the airborne items all of a sudden.

I'd think the slowdown was caused by the connectivity map being regenerated every 200 steps, not things flying. Then again I'm not exactly an expert on DF's intricacies. Sounds rather neat though.

[immibis]

I remember somebody once made a conveyor belt for items.

It was a series of bridges that were on a repeater, so every time they raised they launched the cargo a short distance. Apparently it was quite laggy from all the airborne items all of a sudden.

I thought bridges flung items randomly, not in the direction the bridge raised. In that case the items would be equally likely to go backwards, or hit some dwarf throwing other items in.

[Garrie]

I thought bridges flung items randomly, not in the direction the bridge raised. In that case the items would be equally likely to go backwards, or hit some dwarf throwing other items in.

The thing is, if you keep pushing the items in one end and taking them off the other end - the net effect of random ebb and flow will still be stuff going the way you want it to go.

1/2 the time it goes to the right. If it goes to the left, it gets pushed back in. If it goes (fare enough) to the right you remove it from the system. Net result: stuff goes to the right.

[Dorf3000]

An automatic rock crusher.  Made in the mechanics shop, wielded like an axe or pick, and has an option to designate rocks to be crushed from the 'd' menu.  The dwarf with the rock crushing labor goes down and turns those damn things to dust, no hauling, no clutter, no slowdown.

If you wanted it to be cheesy you could have it train Strength as well, assuming it was some kind of hand-cranked thing, but I think then you'd quickly end up with legions of super-dwarves.

[Aspgren]

Siege equipment.

Seriously. It's ridiculous when your operators go up there and they only fire once if you're lucky. I mean god. That goblin was 15 squares away and he was behind a fortification "OMG NOOOOOOOO" cowardly bum. after I spent so many rocks training him too ...

[kotekzot]

This calls for a repeating ballista. Or just a long, single tile tunnel to funnel the invaders through, so that one arrow is enough to take them all out.

[darkrider2]

I'd like to make something that automatically cages elves and simultaneously releases all their caged creatures.

[Sphalerite]

I thought bridges flung items randomly, not in the direction the bridge raised. In that case the items would be equally likely to go backwards, or hit some dwarf throwing other items in.

The thing is, if you keep pushing the items in one end and taking them off the other end - the net effect of random ebb and flow will still be stuff going the way you want it to go.

1/2 the time it goes to the right. If it goes to the left, it gets pushed back in. If it goes (fare enough) to the right you remove it from the system. Net result: stuff goes to the right.

I have a conveyor belt mechanism in Pagedslipped made from repeating bridges.  It's actually arranged as a series of sawtooth wells, each of which is a flat space 3 tiles long, followed by 4 rising steps, then a 4 tile fall to the next well.  All spaces are covered in retracting bridges, driven by a repeater.  The side view cutaway looks something like this:

Code: [Select]

......_......_......_......_......_......_......_......_
....._X....._X....._X....._X....._X....._X....._X....._X 
...._XX...._XX...._XX...._XX...._XX...._XX...._XX...._XX
..._XXX..._XXX..._XXX..._XXX..._XXX..._XXX..._XXX..._XXX
___XXXX___XXXX___XXXX___XXXX___XXXX___XXXX___XXXX___XXXX

Objects that fall into the mechanism spend a lot of time bouncing around randomly in the wells, but will occasionally make their way up the ramp and then fall into the next well.  Because of the way the mechanism is shaped objects cannot move backwards to the previous well, so over time the effect is to move everything in one direction through the conveyor.  It is however very slow, took a long time to make, and causes a massive FPS drain from all the flying objects.  It's really more of a nifty exercise in pointless automation than something actually useful.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

An incredibly complex machine is needed to create left shoes, and only left shoes.

[gtmattz]

Might be drifting a bit out-of-period, but wouldn't it be nice to have a conveyor system for all the bloody rough stone (not that it has to be only for stone, but I can tolerate the rest)?

Mine carts!  Being able to set up a system of mine carts to expedite removal of muck/ore would be superdwarvenly awesome.

[EliDupree]

Conveyors, huh...

As far as I can tell, everything dropped by goblin raiders can be moved by water, if the water is flowing fast enough. (I know this because my current drowning chamber keeps dumping all their stuff into the channels, dammit.) So you could build a water-based conveyor to move their bodies and crap into your fortress. The biggest catch (aside from the inconvenience of building the thing) is the bug that makes items become invisible to the player when they're moved by water.

Still, it could be useful. I have confirmed that you can still mass-mark the items for dumping (and then reclaim them) even when they're invisible.

I'm imagining a design like this:

Code: [Select]

÷÷#O╣
══O┼║
÷÷#O╣
══O┼║
÷÷#O╣
══O┼║
÷÷#O╣
══O┼║
There would be a reservoir at the left for the pumps to draw from. The grates would be connected below to diagonal drains (items can't fall through grates, right?) to another space that would probably be pumped back into the reservoir, so that the system doesn't waste tons of water.

It would be hooked up to a complex repeater. It would toggle between two states:
state 1: the first and third pumps operating and the first and third doors open (so items on the first and third grates would move south to the second and fourth)
state 2: the second and fourth pumps operating and the second and fourth doors open (so items on the second and fourth grates would move down to the third and (off the view))

The repeater would have to be slow enough to avoid any risk of the items jamming the doors.

[Tally]

I imagined some kind of water-conveyer system to be used for ferrying siege ammunition back to its user. Siege operator fires the ballista, ballista bolt hits a wall then falls down a channel, where a pump then releases water that would carry the ammo to the end of a hallway. Assuming the ammo wouldn't fall through a grate, I could then drain the water through a grate. To access the ammo, the dwarf then just needs to walk down a flight of stairs, then one or two steps, and there it is.

[RantingRodent]

Being able to hook power up to Ballistae and Catapults would be cool, with the downside that the lack of a skilled operator would make the apparatus extremely inaccurate to compensate for the relative safety of use.

[BigD145]

Being able to hook power up to Ballistae and Catapults would be cool, with the downside that the lack of a skilled operator would make the apparatus extremely inaccurate to compensate for the relative safety of use.

Remote control Ballistae? Lack of closed circuit video? I like it.

"Where do you think you're pointing that thing?"

"I don't know!!"

[Jake]

Being able to hook power up to Ballistae and Catapults would be cool...

How about the ability to hook pressure plates up to them?