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[druid91]

Ok I figured it had to be done eventually, so I started a thread.

The goals of this project are

• To figure out what individual types of ghost can do.
• To determine general ghostly behavior.
• And finally to use the first two to discover a means of using ghost to destroy invaders.

Current ghostly knowledge. This is not set in stone, if something turns out to be wrong it will be replaced.

• Ghost are unharmed by atom smashing. And appear to be able to walk through walls.
• ghosts come in multiple varieties. Each of which can cause different events.
• Ghosts tend to stay near where they appear. certain exceptions aside./ possibility of them haunting places they spent a large amount of time in life at.
• Ghosts can be put to rest by engraving slabs. Or putting the remains in a tomb.

So who else wants to experiment with this? I am currently getting a fort up and running but as soon as possible ghostly research will begin.

[NewSheoth]

Ok I figured it had to be done eventually, so I started a thread.

The goals of this project are

• To figure out what individual types of ghost can do.
• To determine general ghostly behavior.
• And finally to use the first two to discover a means of using ghost to destroy invaders.

Current ghostly knowledge. This is not set in stone, if something turns out to be wrong it will be replaced.

• Ghost are unharmed by atom smashing. And appear to be able to walk through walls.
• ghosts come in multiple varieties. Each of which can cause different events.
• Ghosts tend to stay near where they appear. certain exceptions aside.
• Ghosts can be put to rest by engraving slabs. Or putting the remains in a tomb.

So who else wants to experiment with this? I am currently getting a fort up and running but as soon as possible ghostly research will begin.

Mighty good, gentleman, mighty good! Let the research commence!

I propose a time-consuming but possibly efficient method - build a depot outside, near where sieges like to come from, or midway to your fortress, and wall elf traders in! They will eventually go mad and die! Use the berserkers to your advantage, turning the depot site into a ghost watchpost!

[druid91]

Ok I figured it had to be done eventually, so I started a thread.

The goals of this project are

• To figure out what individual types of ghost can do.
• To determine general ghostly behavior.
• And finally to use the first two to discover a means of using ghost to destroy invaders.

Current ghostly knowledge. This is not set in stone, if something turns out to be wrong it will be replaced.

• Ghost are unharmed by atom smashing. And appear to be able to walk through walls.
• ghosts come in multiple varieties. Each of which can cause different events.
• Ghosts tend to stay near where they appear. certain exceptions aside.
• Ghosts can be put to rest by engraving slabs. Or putting the remains in a tomb.

So who else wants to experiment with this? I am currently getting a fort up and running but as soon as possible ghostly research will begin.

Mighty good, gentleman, mighty good! Let the research commence!

I propose a time-consuming but possibly efficient method - build a depot outside, near where sieges like to come from, or midway to your fortress, and wall elf traders in! They will eventually go mad and die! Use the berserkers to your advantage, turning the depot site into a ghost watchpost!

Assuming you mean a trap depot, not the depot used for trading with less irritating civilizations that sounds pretty good. Though then you have the problem of whether or not non citizens can get slabs.

[NewSheoth]

Ok I figured it had to be done eventually, so I started a thread.

The goals of this project are

• To figure out what individual types of ghost can do.
• To determine general ghostly behavior.
• And finally to use the first two to discover a means of using ghost to destroy invaders.

Current ghostly knowledge. This is not set in stone, if something turns out to be wrong it will be replaced.

• Ghost are unharmed by atom smashing. And appear to be able to walk through walls.
• ghosts come in multiple varieties. Each of which can cause different events.
• Ghosts tend to stay near where they appear. certain exceptions aside.
• Ghosts can be put to rest by engraving slabs. Or putting the remains in a tomb.

So who else wants to experiment with this? I am currently getting a fort up and running but as soon as possible ghostly research will begin.

Mighty good, gentleman, mighty good! Let the research commence!

I propose a time-consuming but possibly efficient method - build a depot outside, near where sieges like to come from, or midway to your fortress, and wall elf traders in! They will eventually go mad and die! Use the berserkers to your advantage, turning the depot site into a ghost watchpost!

Assuming you mean a trap depot, not the depot used for trading with less irritating civilizations that sounds pretty good. Though then you have the problem of whether or not non citizens can get slabs.

Yes, I do mean a trap depot.
As long as non-citizens can ghostify, they will not NEED slabs. After all, we need them to patrol the area and go berserk on the sieges, not sleep calmly somewhere.

[Heliman]

*Muses*
I suppose we should also see if disturbing burials causes ghosts too, because that can lead to planned cave ins causing ghosts to reform at the site of disturbed burial, which can hastily be rebuilt after. Hell, We'll also have to see if stuff like running water can remove a dwarf from his slab, making the whole idea easier!

[Urist Imiknorris]

Magmafy the Site of Many Slabs, call the "Ghostbusters" (prisoners).

[druid91]

Ok I figured it had to be done eventually, so I started a thread.

The goals of this project are

• To figure out what individual types of ghost can do.
• To determine general ghostly behavior.
• And finally to use the first two to discover a means of using ghost to destroy invaders.

Current ghostly knowledge. This is not set in stone, if something turns out to be wrong it will be replaced.

• Ghost are unharmed by atom smashing. And appear to be able to walk through walls.
• ghosts come in multiple varieties. Each of which can cause different events.
• Ghosts tend to stay near where they appear. certain exceptions aside.
• Ghosts can be put to rest by engraving slabs. Or putting the remains in a tomb.

So who else wants to experiment with this? I am currently getting a fort up and running but as soon as possible ghostly research will begin.

Mighty good, gentleman, mighty good! Let the research commence!

I propose a time-consuming but possibly efficient method - build a depot outside, near where sieges like to come from, or midway to your fortress, and wall elf traders in! They will eventually go mad and die! Use the berserkers to your advantage, turning the depot site into a ghost watchpost!

Assuming you mean a trap depot, not the depot used for trading with less irritating civilizations that sounds pretty good. Though then you have the problem of whether or not non citizens can get slabs.

Yes, I do mean a trap depot.
As long as non-citizens can ghostify, they will not NEED slabs. After all, we need them to patrol the area and go berserk on the sieges, not sleep calmly somewhere.

The problem is some of the ghost types are supposed to do things other than kill/otherwise harm living things.
I believe there was a type that made items get misplaced. I'm not sure all the ghost types will be able to be used. So slab the ones who can't be used. We can also experiment with whether or not they come back a second time if the slab is removed or destroyed. And if they come back as the same type of ghost.

though one idea I had was kill things all over the map, in pits that would normally be bridged over so that when enemies pass over they get hit with ghost effects.

[Urist Imiknorris]

I want a pit straight to HFS so I can toss dwarves down it and have them haunt Hell.

[druid91]

I want a pit straight to HFS so I can toss dwarves down it and have them haunt Hell.

that would be amusing snakgor worlddestroyer the steam devil has been frightened to death!

[NinjaE8825]

Okay, so I just let my entire fort of 50 die from dehydration - none of them rose as murderous ghosts, though I did get a pair of violent ghosts who kept beating people up and tearing their hands and feet off (one of them cost me both my funerary dwarves), and a single energetic poltergeist who tipped people off their chairs (at least, that's my assumption - I got a message that he'd toppled a marble throne, but none of the thrones were deconstructed).

Weaponising the latter for fortress defense seems unlikely.

We should try driving them mad first, and killing them in various ways, see if that affects anything - it makes sense that starving to death would produce a calmer ghost than being dropped down a chute.
Also also, I'm pretty sure ghosts haunt places they frequented in life, not necessarily the place they died - my brewer kept popping up around the brewery.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Maybe energetic poltergeists can knock enemies off their mounts?

[NinjaE8825]

Heh, that'd be nice.
Anywho, tried to check out the fort as an adventurer.
Ran into one of the violent ghosts, which absolutely FREAKED and tore me to pieces. If they act like this towards invaders, they'll be very effective defense indeed - combat log read
"NAME batters you!"
Means no dodging, no armor protection, no shield or parry. It messes up your internal organs as fast as your limbs.

[KillerClowns]

A good start would be confirming that the ghosts can be goaded into assaulting invaders.  Doing that most effectively requires a way of binding the spirits to a specific location, perhaps by forcing them to frequent it in life, and seeing that their lives end there.  A design like this (side view) comes to mind:

Code: [Select]

   /-----------
   |#
   |#/---------
   |#|
   |#|
/--|#|---------
***************
---------------
Have useless immigrants use * as a meeting hall, then hurl them down the chute marked with # (via hatches and levers) from time to time to ensure a violent end and to drive the dwarves witnessing this horrific demise mad.  If you can keep the sacrifices isolated from the rest of the fort, you could have them end themselves in a mini-tantrum spiral which could ensure their spirits are restless and angry.  Using the area as a dual purpose meeting hall/execution chamber will ensure they haunt it.  Then you have only to funnel some invaders in, lock 'em in, and see what happens.  Ordinary walls and such won't contain the restless spirits, so you'll have to use sheer physical distance instead.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Wait for 31.18 and use a danger room that you "accidentally" used menacing wooden spikes in instead of training spears.

[druid91]

Why wait for 31.18?