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[rat_pack40]

I just had a mechanic go fey on me, claim a mechanic's workshop, and produce a single mechanism out of 12 stones and a piece of cow leather. He went from dabbling mechanic to legendary, so now i can get my water reservoir/irrigation/artificial river/power plant working much faster.

"Troubleecho the Lined Morass", a jet mechanisms
This is a jet mechanisms. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encrusted with lignite and encircled with bands of jet. This object menaces with spikes of shale. On the item is an image of a blazing sun in lignite. On the item is an image of minotaurs in cow leather

This is by far the most useful mood I've gotten. EVER.
Plus, he didn't make a single shoe with no match, or something equally backwards. Also a plus.

[Particleman]

Make a welll or lever with it in some high-traffic area and watch the happy thoughts pile up. I'd put it in front of the doors to the dormitory or the food stockpile, myself.

[Zaik]

Funny story, just got a mechanism and legendary mechanic the same way.

It made a pretty lever in the Well/Dining hall combo room to turn on and off my Automatic Drowning/Burning Machine in case something crazy happens.

[melomel]

*envies*

I'm training mine up the hard way in the excavation zones.  :[

Legendary mechanics = made of win.

[Vercingetorix]

Yeah, legendary mechanics are great because they can crank out some pretty valuable mechanisms with only stones as input.  From there it's no problem boosting room value.

[Khift]

I usually end up with one lever attacked to 60 squares of Upright Spikes -- and nothing but masterwork mechanisms used in the linking. If you're keeping track, that's a 24,000 dwarfbux worth of mechanisms (72,000 in my current fort due to obsidian)!

[Solifuge]

You do realize that mechanism quality is directly tied to the max speed at which a Siege Engine operates, yes?

You could have a Balista or Catapult that fired at the rate of a Minigun. Goodbye Hidden Fun Stuff.

EDIT: Durp, siege engine mechanisms are different. But it could make for a very fast weapon trap.

[rat_pack40]

I've just used 2 of my 3 moods for the most epic of wells.

It's got the artifact mechanism, a regular rope, a regular stone block, and an artifact iron bucket. The mechanism is worth almost 4k db, while the bucket is worth 30k. I'm going to have some very happy party-goers.

My 3rd mood produced an iron chest with a picture of itself in horse-skull, worth a total of 29k db.

So, I've got 2 legendary metal smiths, and a legendary mechanic so far. I think I'm doing very well for myself, considering the power station/indoor river/waterfall works wonderfully, especially given that it's pressurized when I pull the activation lever. The water comes close to hitting the other side of my canyon, but it's only a 6 square canyon, and a 5z drop from the waterfall I made, but the natural one is 7 or 8z levels.

[Still Standing]

I had my legendary Planter have an Armoursmithing mood.  Great.  I guess you can always train up more planters!

[JAFANZ]

Grower & Herbalist aren't "Moodable", Urist McStrange only has moods relating to his highest "Moodable" skill

Damfino what happens if he's a novice at all of them though.

[Still Standing]

He must have been a novice smith when he arrived as a Migrant then, I guess.

[Abaddon]

Don't quote me on this, but I believe better mechanisms dictate how often weapon traps jam. 

Artifact mechanism + Artifact/MP weapons = Rape

[VoidPointer]

Damfino what happens if he's a novice at all of them though.

Random Craftsdwarf's Workshop skill gets picked. I keep having it happen to children; it's REALLY ANNOYING.

Don't quote me on this, but I believe better mechanisms dictate how often weapon traps jam. 

Artifact mechanism + Artifact/MP weapons = Rape

This was definitely true in 40d, and my experience in 2010 suggests it holds true still. I submit that this is the One True Application for artifact mechanisms. Preferably with masterwork steel trap components (I use serrated discs, but spikes may be better depending on your situation). Hello and goodbye, sieges!

[Simmura McCrea]

I read somewhere (might not have existed) that the quality of the mechanism in a weapons trap affects the weapons skill, as it were, of the trap. Hence, artifact mechanism + masterwork (or artifact) weapons = instagib.

[VoidPointer]

I read somewhere (might not have existed) that the quality of the mechanism in a weapons trap affects the weapons skill, as it were, of the trap. Hence, artifact mechanism + masterwork (or artifact) weapons = instagib.

I seem to recall something like this as well. The 40d section of the wiki probably has more info...

Unlike other traps, weapon traps benefit from being constructed with high quality mechanisms. Weapon traps are more accurate the better their mechanism. Since weapon traps can be constructed with multiple weapons, and each weapon's attack is calculated separately, traps with multiple weapons benefit more from high-quality mechanisms than do traps with only one weapon. If you manage to get an artifact mechanism, stuff it with as many weapons as possible!
Source: http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/40d:Trap#ixzz0xFCCxvFv

I imagine this probably still holds true. Notably, I can't find anything on the reliability of traps re: jamming aside from speculation, so this may need to be taken with a -rock salt Mug-.