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[EvilFuzzy9]

So, here I am playing 40d, attempting my first kiloproject (basically just a really big fort that, when/if completed, should stretch from the highest to the lowest z-levels and just look really cool/weird), the Autumn Dwarf caravan have departed, and a short distance out the gate, one of the merchant wagons reveals a stealth'd goblin thief... which is promptly run over and killed.

[A picture of the aftermath:]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A large part of me fervently hopes that either the army or caravan arcs may, in some way, allow this to be conceivably weaponized.

... SO, does anyone else have any wagon science !!SCIENCE!! they'd like to share? Or maybe remarks on the feasibility/awesomeness on the idea that there might be even the faintest possibility of someday in the distant future being able to wage wagon-based blitzkrieg on our enemies?

[forsaken1111]

It's very likely the goblin was killed by one of the animals or the guards. Still, that would be amusing. Build a contraption to continually re-route the incoming trade wagons as a moving defensive force. Should be fairly simple assuming wagons trip pressure plates.

[ISGC]

I miss wagons

[NW_Kohaku]

Unfortunately, it's likely that forsaken1111 is right about it probably being the horse and not the wagon that trampled the goblin underfoot.  Wagons, after all, are perfectly capable of sharing tiles with other objects; In spite of their 3x3 tile status implying they logically fully occupy at least the center tile, wagons will stack on top of one another in infinite amounts (without occupying more than one tile z-axis-wise) while they are at your trade depot.  They don't damage anything they run over in any other circumstance.

In fact, considering that they are less than 1/20th the size of a dragon, I wonder why Toady wouldn't just bring wagons back as a single-tile creature if he has so much trouble with them.

[EvilFuzzy9]

It wasn't guards -- I saw it happen, and the guards weren't anywhere near the goblin when it was revealed, and it was revealed on the tile directly in front of the left (from the wagon's perspective) muskox, which went right over it without even slowing down. After the wagon had passed, there lay the goblin dead where it had been uncovered. And even if the goblin were (hypthetically) at size three and negative 10 damblock, I highly doubt a muskox would be able to kill it so quickly. If anything, I think it might have something to do with some sort of quirk of wagon pathfinding.

[forsaken1111]

It wasn't guards -- I saw it happen, and the guards weren't anywhere near the goblin when it was revealed, and it was revealed on the tile directly in front of the left (from the wagon's perspective) muskox, which went right over it without even slowing down. After the wagon had passed, there lay the goblin dead where it had been uncovered. And even if the goblin were (hypthetically) at size three and negative 10 damblock, I highly doubt a muskox would be able to kill it so quickly. If anything, I think it might have something to do with some sort of quirk of wagon pathfinding.

While I would love for you to be correct here, as far as I know wagons don't even have an attack or any way to damage creatures. If this were .31.xx you could check the combat reports. Check the muskoxen and guards to see if they have any goblin kills.

Wagons simply do not collide with creatures in 40d.

[arzzult]

Also any animal with hooves is surprisingly dangerous. As they tend to kick things in the head and bash their brains in.

[forsaken1111]

Animals were even more dangerous in 40d with the simpler combat model.

[EvilFuzzy9]

Hrm...  You guys raise some good points.  If only there were a way to perform repeatable, controlled tests on this sort of thing... But with no science to support the wagon hypothesis, you guys are probably right.

But, still, a dwarf can dream. *Sighs wistfully* ... a dwarf can dream....

[NW_Kohaku]

A muskox is a very dangerous animal in real life.  Certainly far more powerful than any war dog.  They weigh about a third to nearly half of a ton.

It's possible the muskox simply performed a one-hit-kill, stuck a horn or hoof straight through the skull or chest of the goblin, hardly even slowing down.

[Qwernt]

HHmmm... I was pretty sure steam roller wagons were a known feature.

If the traders are still hanging around, just the kill list for each animal. To confirm who got the kill.