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[Zebra2]

Just a suggestion I guess. It's not like the lever does anything important. It's just connected to some floodgates. It's not like there's 15 goblins outside or anything.

Why the hell won't anyone PULL THE LEVER? They've done it before no problem. Now that there are three simultaneous ambushes no one wants to? What the hell is this? Is there a pull lever bug I haven't heard of? Is there a remedy?

[Stargrasper]

Yeah, it's a bug.  It's called Dwarven Stupidity.  Kind of a Fun one to work around.

Seriously though, check where the lever is.
     Can dwarves path to it?  Maybe you locked a door somewhere.
     Does pathing to it put them ANYWHERE NEAR invaders?  Maybe they're running away whenever anyone tries to pull it.
     What's the alert level?  Maybe the dwarves are restricted by burrow alerts that stop them from going to the lever.
     Who's busy doing what?  Maybe nobody is idle enough to do it.  Lever pulling isn't exactly the highest priority job.
Just try to think of anything and everything that might be stopping them.

Also, it most likely isn't three ambushes...it's one with three squads that you had to find one by one.

That and this might be better asked in Gameplay Questions (don't make a new thread, just future reference if you don't want to move this one).

[Zebra2]

Ok, this is embarrassing. The lever was forbidden.

No bugs here. Nothing to see. Move along...

[CppThis]

 

This is not directly related, but if you've got an especially important one and you have to pull the lever even more than you have to burn the rope, put it near your meeting hall.  Much shorter response time provided you usually have some idle dorfs sitting around.

Just don't forget what that lever is linked to...

[Stargrasper]

Ok, this is embarrassing. The lever was forbidden.

No bugs here. Nothing to see. Move along...

Welcome to the club.  Most of us have been vexed by dwarven refusal to act only to realize something was forbidden.  Often we were the ones to forbid it and completely forgot why.  Glad you figured it out and hope my checklist somehow was what made you check there.

This is not directly related, but if you've got an especially important one and you have to pull the lever even more than you have to burn the rope, put it near your meeting hall.  Much shorter response time provided you usually have some idle dorfs sitting around.

Just don't forget what that lever is linked to...

This why we have notes.  Never forget what a lever was attached to again!

[Dachande]

Notes aren't dwarfy.


If you don't remember whether the lever will collapse half the fortress, flood it with magma, flood it with water, flood it with water THEN magma, or kill the invaders, you pull it and hope you take the god damned goblins down with you

[Kza]

Mildly related, get a switch-puller.

[Golcondio]

Notes aren't dwarfy.


If you don't remember whether the lever will collapse half the fortress, flood it with magma, flood it with water, flood it with water THEN magma, or kill the invaders, you pull it and hope you take the god damned goblins down with you

Sigged. (or at least I plan to: I cannot seem to be able to modify my profile...)

[Doppel]

Notes aren't dwarfy.


If you don't remember whether the lever will collapse half the fortress, flood it with magma, flood it with water, flood it with water THEN magma, or kill the invaders, you pull it and hope you take the god damned goblins down with you

Exactly, and why else have all those colored rocks anyways if you must.

Also, what with the new burrow thingy, its much easier to have a lever control room with some idle dwarves now.

[Tyrius]

Mildly related, get a switch-puller.

This. also, he must be named Kronk.

PULL THE LEVEL KRONK!

[ancistrus]

Colors are ok, but my system is that the lever and the stuff that is operated by it use the same mechanisms(selected during linking).
You have only a few colors but, considering how many rocks there are, and that mechanisms have qualities, my system works fine for me.

[BladeBerserker]

Will Kronk make *Spinach Puffs*? 

and my on-topic comment, trap-levers (For "THE PERFORATOR" etc.) are red. Always red. And arranged in a manner that further indicates what the lever is linked too. (So, if one is for the drowning chamber, and the other for the perforator to the south, the southern red lever will be for  the perforator.)

Non trap but critical levers such as the gate controls are yellow. (or brown, whichever comes first)

Random levers that're linked up to nothing in particular are generally grey.


I used to colour code the lever to the object it's linked to, but a gypsum bridge? A 12x6 gypsum bridge? No thanks.
At least that's how I do it my forts.

[Hyndis]

I build a control room that is a miniature layout of my entire fortress. The lever is in the same relative position as the object it activates.

Several dwarves are then entombed into the control room and provided both with a well and a small farm plot so they can survive in there forever, with absolutely no way for anything to reach them to harm them. They then pull levers on demand in perfect safety for the rest of eternity.

[BladeBerserker]

Miniature copy of your fortress inside your fortress?

I must try this!

[Stargrasper]

I build a control room that is a miniature layout of my entire fortress. The lever is in the same relative position as the object it activates.

Several dwarves are then entombed into the control room and provided both with a well and a small farm plot so they can survive in there forever, with absolutely no way for anything to reach them to harm them. They then pull levers on demand in perfect safety for the rest of eternity.

The two major questions:

• How do you handle expansion?  Doesn't that involved opening the vault to build more levers?
• What do you do when one of the lever-folk dies?  Dwarves don't last forever.