My 190-dorf fort is now getting serious lag issues, part of which is obviously due to its sheer size but I suspect it might also have something to do with the 70-odd cats running around as well. Now I can kill new kittens but there are always a few that become pets before I can reach them and then they're untouchable. So I've come up with a few designs to deal with them automatically. Some constructive criticism would be nice as I suspect not all of them will work... And also some of you might find them useful yourselves.
The designs are all largely based on the cats' apparent tendency to wander around the entire fort, ignoring traffic restrictions etc, meaning that they will go places that none of the dwarves will.
Design 1 : Cat accumulator and manual mincer.
This has the advantage of being usable in a moderately-trafficked area. Cats should accumulate in the lower chamber over time, whereas dwarves that fall in by accident should be able to leave at will. When the mincing lever is pulled, the bridge area is blocked off (to prevent dwarves getting caught in the mayhem) and the cage opens, unleashing the megabeast of your choice on the cats (Dragons would be particularly entertaining). When all the cats are dead the megabeast will break down one of the doors and walk straight into a cage trap, ready to be "reloaded".
The disadvantage of this method is that the method of disengaging the trap is clumsy (but I can't think of a better way of doing it without complex hydraulics) and if you're not careful a dwarf might end up in it too.
Trap design:
z2:
------------------------
-
d p gggggggggggggggg
d gggggggggggggggg
-----------------------
z1:
------------------
- D T
- C --
-----------------
Key:
- wall
d door (shuts when lever is pulled)
p pressure plate, triggered by low-weight creatures, not citizens
g retracting bridge (linked to plate)
C megabeast cage (opens when lever is pulled)
D pet-inaccessible door
T cage trap
Design 2: Curiosity kills the cat
This design is a lot simpler than the first, however it relies on your dwarves following traffic designations properly and going where they are supposed to. So you might have to expect casualties. Also since it runs a repeating spike trap it may cause some lag while active (though not as much as all those cats!)
The trap works by luring the gullible cats into a restricted zone full of repeating spike traps. The dwarves won't go up there as they have a shortcut in the form of a pet-inaccessible door. And it is restricted traffic. This won't stop cats though...
- ---------------
- -
---D------------- -
- --------- -
- ^^^^^ -
- --------------
Key:
- wall
D pet-inaccessible door
^ spike trap linked to a repeater
The whole side corridor should be restricted traffic.
It can't be emphasised enough that this version is a LOT more dangerous to your dwarves than the first one. Keep an eye out to make sure that there aren't any stray items that they might want to fetch, like rocks, ores or cat corpses. Also, NEVER forbid that door. For the more paranoid overseer it might be a good idea to add a pressure-plate based safety mechanism that turns off the spikes if a dwarf goes down there, but unless you're careful then children still won't trigger it.
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