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[DuckBoy2]

There have been several recent posts related to !!science!! and I would like to explore it further. 

The following axioms are things I have picked up across the forum, I intend to use them in the construction of the ultimate !!sock!! trap.  Please tell me if any of these are incorrect. 
 

1.  An artifact on fire tends to stay on fire, forever.
2.  Cloth and most types of wood ignite when touched by magma, breathed on by dragons, held by !!dwarves!!
3.  Fire spreads to adjacent squares, even without involvement of !!dwarves!!, but does not travel in the z dimension. 
4.  Kobolds like !!socks!!.  Dwarves like !!kobolds!!.  !!Dwarves!! Like !!socks!!.
5.  Bridges can move !!socks!! In the z dimension.  Hatches can drop !!socks!! Down z levels.  !!Dwarves!! Can wear !!socks!!. 

I thus propose the following:

By axiom 1 and 2, a wood or cloth artifact could be ignited and left anywhere in the fortress. 
 
By dwarven love of Socks, 1-3 tile wide lines of socks could be easily stockpiled throughout the fortress. 

A standard locking room design, as used in magma and drowning traps, could be refitted with socks.  As per 5 !!socks!! could be thrown into the room by simple lever pulls or acts of !!dwarven!! bravery. 

The final question then becomes, how do you get the !!sock!! onto a bridge or hatch to begin with, the simplest answer comes from the spread of fire axiom, dropping a sock on a bridge can be done as per simple dumping, and should that sock be connected through a trail of socks to an !!artifact!! that sock will inevitably become a !!sock!!  (a more complex proof based on the kobolds love of !!socks!! is left as an exercise to the reader)

Homework:  Determine the minimum number of socks necessary to guarantee all goblins in a 5x5 chamber become goblinite. 

Show through the use of fortifications that no mechanisms are necessary at any stage, even the lighting of the original artifact and the trapped room.  (You n
may assume an infinite number of socks).

Does a kobold who successfully steals a !!sock!! bring a squad of archers with !!arrows!! ?

  Show your !!work!!

[LealNightrunner]

If I'm not misinterpreting, the basic idea is that you use an !!artifact!! as an infinite source of fire, since they don't follow the same rules as every other material?

[gilesguy]

If I'm not misinterpreting, the basic idea is that you use an !!artifact!! as an infinite source of fire, since they don't follow the same rules as every other material?

I think that is what he is saying, then letting kobolds steal the artifact, burning sock, which will cause them to become !!kobolds!! and kill them, leaving the !!sock!! to be picked up again by another, unlucky kobold. It is like a dwarven automatic thief catcher. The only problem I see with this idea is that, no matter how far away from the edge of the map the sock is, it will always, slowly move towards the edge of the map, and so will need to be moved every once in a while. I suppose you could have it such that anyone wanting the !!sock!! will have to go across a bridge one zlevel above the artifact, and pull the lever once the sock is nearly off the end of the bridge.

It's these utterly crazy, practical ideas that make me love this forum.

[nordak]

I want the !!sock!! !

[Psieye]

The bonfire mod would make this a lot easier with fire on demand, but yes it's viable. He's proposing (in teh form of a textbook question) we design a trap where instead of burning goblins with magma in a standard magma trap, we instead put socks down there and ignite them with another burning sock or few - dropped by hatches and preferably ignited first by bonfire mod but more convoluted ways exist.

[Dariush]

But won't all the outside burn out once a thief with a sock gets out of fort? And for returning the sock you could cover it with water, carry back by dorfs and ignite again by 1/7 magma.

[Ramiel.]

I believe you people have misinterpreted what's going on here.
He's talking about weaponizing !!socks!!, possibly in more than one way.

Primary design seems to be having a chamber for your victims, then throwing (via bridge or hatch) a pile of !!socks!! into the chamber, which burn your guests to death.  To make the socks into !!socks!!, you start with regular socks on the hatch/bridge, then create a line of socks via stockpiles from the pile to an ever-burning artifact.  The socks catch fire, and the fire travels down the line of socks to the payload.  Voila; fiery death by !!sock!!, one of the most pitiful ways to go.
After all, that's what Dwarf Fortress is all about; finding new ways to burn your enemies alive in the most humiliating way possible.

As a fellow math major, I much enjoyed OP's post.

[nordak]

Sounds like !!Engineering!! 101 homework...

[Yoink]

Now I can't help but picture my old maths teacher getting home from work, cackling insanely as he walks to his computer and starts writing up mad plans to kill goblins with socks...

[Dariush]

Ah, I thought that OP's intention was for thiefs to carry the !!sock!! away and burn to death.
Well, in this case I would suggest making a huge sock stockpile near the entrance with a pressure plate midway through that opens hatch above that dumps a little magma. BURN BABY BURN.

[AngleWyrm]

The only problem I see with this idea is that, no matter how far away from the edge of the map the sock is, it will always, slowly move towards the edge of the map, and so will need to be moved every once in a while.

You're forgetting that we can assume an infinite number of socks.

I would arrange a three-story trap: The first level contains a sock room with a trap door that drops to the second level. The second level contains an adjacent !!artifact!! that ignites the sock, which now sits temporarily on a second trap door. And the final level is the main entrance hall, where a single !!sock!! is deposited as bait.

Any trespassers surviving the usual trap array then snatch the !!sock!! and become !!trespassers!!.

[deoxy]

Any trespassers surviving the usual trap array then snatch the !!sock!! and become !!trespassers!!.

Does anyone know if being set on fire exposes hidden creatures?  Being hit with traps doesn't (or at least didn't in 40d), so I was just wondering...

[Flaede]

Any trespassers surviving the usual trap array then snatch the !!sock!! and become !!trespassers!!.

Does anyone know if being set on fire exposes hidden creatures?  Being hit with traps doesn't (or at least didn't in 40d), so I was just wondering...

Nope. Sure doesn't. At least back in 40d.
I had just such an incident happen once in my old fort... though the sock was almost at the map edge before the kobold died, and a different !!glove!! actually made it off the map. I am fairly sure the thief came back later and died badly.

[warwizard]

ok here is my idea for a !!sock!! trap

Make a wooden floodgate and build it into position and connect it with fire safe mechanisms to lever 1.
Make two single tile raising drawbridges to either side of the floodgate, connected to lever two and three.
 (additional  drawbridges and levers are possiable for more !!shots!!)
at some distance above each the draw bridges you have a hatch connected to a lever, and the hatches are dump zones.

use whatever method you want to produce the !!floodgate!!, then pull lever 1, hiding the floodgate and it's fire.
load the drawbridges by dumping whatever objects you want to use as !!missiles!! booze barrels, socks, wooden items, whatever.
then pulling the hatch levers to drop the materials onto the drawbridges. The items are all forbidden as a function of being dumped for safety, we do not want !!dwarves!! carrying !!socks!! back into the fort. The hatch system of reloading is also a safety measure
in case the hidden fire sets things on fire early. Note booze barrels dannot be dumped, the barrell will be delivered empty,an alternate method is needed for booze barrels.
  operation: open the hatches to load the draw bridges, close the hatches, and start dumping the next set of ammo.
Raise the floodgate to set the items on !!fire!!, raise a bridge to fling burning items all over the place, including up to 3 z levels high for the flying invaders. optional: leave the drawbridges up to block a 3 wide corridor while the invaders mill about getting burned.

  Timing on this is about a 100 step delay once the levers are pulled, so you may need other methods of holding the invaders in the firetrap corridor.

  I had a wooden artefact floodgate that caught on fire, it took me 5 !!mechanics!! to reconnect it with a firesafe mechanism, but once I had done so, raising the floodgate would start a shrubbery fire and I'd watch as the goblin invasions die in flames.

[Flaede]

  I had a wooden artefact floodgate that caught on fire, it took me 5 !!mechanics!! to reconnect it with a firesafe mechanism, but once I had done so, raising the floodgate would start a shrubbery fire and I'd watch as the goblin invasions die in flames.

That is glorious! I want one! Brush fires FTW!