I finally survived an ambush. I put a cute little kitten at the end of a tunnel, filled with cage traps. Two different ambush groups wandered around my fortress for a while, before eventually detecting my cute friend and heading toward it.
I've caught all of them in cage traps, while the rest of my dwarves sit happily behind my fortress walls and draw bridges.
However, I don't know what to do with the goblins now:
- How can I summarily execute the caged goblins? Is there a direct way to do this, or do I have to come up with an indirect way like flooding a room where I put the cages?
- My military played no part in defense. They were just created the same year, and I have no weapons or armor yet. But they're practicing individual combat drills, I guess. Can I remove all the goblins' weapons and armor and let my military (once stocked with some of their own) go at them for practice?
- What's the safest, correct way to remove all of the goblins' gear?
- Can I transfer all the goblins into a single cage? (Safely?)
- Can I eat the goblins?
One interesting thing I noticed is that the goblins seemed to have a captain they were following. It was the captain who darted off after the kitty, and who was first caught in the cages. Once the captain was caught (of each group), the groups tended to mill about in the hallway, unsure of what they do. They eventually stumbled into the rest of the cage traps, but I was really worrying for a second that the single remaining goblin might never make it in.
What's up with the goblin captains? How can I make sure to take out all the goblins?
An unrelated question: Can I make an entire floor out of hatches? I'd like to build a chamber where I can lure all the goblins into a room, chasing the kitty, and then open all the hatches, causing them to fall into a kill room. Would that work? (Maybe the ground should be a bridge which disappears?)
How can I build a spike trap which triggers repeatedly when turned on? Do I need to build some kind of water-logic "clock" and hook it up to the spike trap?