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[CT]

What is the best way to fill a moat? assuming you arent bordering the ocean and dont have access to a stream...or magma?

[imperium3]

IMO a dry moat is actually more effective than a water one, as it stops swimmers from getting across. But water moats are cooler, and stop stray gobbos from lurking in them.

If you don't have a river, then your next option is to pump the water from an aquifer, if you have one on your map. Or you could drain one or several murky pools into the moat - you will probably need more water than they can provide (Note that murky pools generate water when it rains, so if it rains a lot that could help) Failing that, your only alternative is to find water in the caverns and build a pumpstack all the way to the surface... which can take quite some time if your caverns are deep...

[Samrobot]

Water moats can be quite effective once you get some cave crocodiles swimming around in them.

[Lectorog]

You could designate the moat as a pond. It will likely dry up before it gets filled, though.

[Lagslayer]

Fill the mote with blood instead. Or badgers. The latter even tends to get your more of the former.

[henkalv]

Fill the mote with blood instead. Or badgers. The latter even tends to get your more of the former.

This!

[Lectorog]

Fill the mote with blood instead. Or badgers. The latter even tends to get your more of the former.

This!

Sadly, blood isn't an actual liquid right now. The most you can do is cover the sides and bottom with it.

[The Dog Delusion]

Fill the mote with blood instead. Or badgers. The latter even tends to get your more of the former.

This!

Sadly, blood isn't an actual liquid right now. The most you can do is cover the sides and bottom with it.

Yeah, but once you get the moat filled, you could at least get the water bloody, which would be pretty sweet. I do hope that blood gets made useful soon, however, so that I can finally put my blood stockpiles to use (I make a point of always buying all blood barrels from caravans...if just feels right).


Also, if you're in a biome that freezes in winter, that can help a LOT in filling a moat, if you're patient enough to wait several years to get it done:

1) When water of any depth freezes, it becomes a solid ice wall.
2) When said wall thaws, it will be 7/7, regardless of it's pre-freeze depth.
3) If you have a small pond, and drain it into a section of moat in fall, hopefully the whole bottom of the segment will be filled with 1/7 or 2/7 water when winter hits and BAM, instant fill when it all ments and re-thaws.
4) the following fall, do the same with a larger segment (now that you have more water), and after a few years, you can literally multiply a single square of 7/7 water into a completely filled moat.


Conversely, if you have an indoor water source, you can have dwarves fill the moat during the freeze season - as soon as they dump the bucket into the fill zone, it'll freeze. With careful management of the pond zones and whatnot, you could fill the entire moat with ICE, which will then unfreeze into a glorious 7/7 moat in spring.


Of course, if you're in a biome that freezes, a water moat will be completely useless during the winder months, so I suppose this is just mental masturbation, but still...it's a dwarfy way to do things.

[simonthedwarf]

I am intrigued.

What lava-dwelling animal would make sense to have as pets, swimming in your lava moat?

Any suggestions? The lava crabs?? Arent they pretty weak at combat?

[DrKillPatient]

A forgotten beast? Several forgotten beats?

[Excedion]

Ive found water moats to be pretty useless due to the fact that most goblins can swim (maybe its just my experience) and even if they cant their giant olm and giant toad mounts can.

Lava moats are pretty fun though but I'd take an empty pit with spikes at the bottom over a moat any day

[simonthedwarf]

Ive found water moats to be pretty useless due to the fact that most goblins can swim (maybe its just my experience) and even if they cant their giant olm and giant toad mounts can.

Lava moats are pretty fun though but I'd take an empty pit with spikes at the bottom over a moat any day

Good sir, I am curious.

Do you mean that you decorate the bottom of a pit with upright spears, and then throw miscreants down on them from above using the Pit command?

[elf-fondling human]

I like the blood idea, but I'd personally go with bodies. Nothing says "Do Not Enter" quite like the mangled, shamed corpses of those who came before you.

[Crustypeanut]

I like the blood idea, but I'd personally go with bodies. Nothing says "Do Not Enter" quite like the mangled, shamed corpses of those who came before you.

All my bodies I generate are used in cooking and soapmaking.. so all there is in front of my fortress is the blood of countless beings that, if blood acted like water, would fill a moat right there.  For now, my soldiers slip and slide on the bloodied ground. 

[CaptApollo12]

Ive found water moats to be pretty useless due to the fact that most goblins can swim (maybe its just my experience) and even if they cant their giant olm and giant toad mounts can.

Lava moats are pretty fun though but I'd take an empty pit with spikes at the bottom over a moat any day

Good sir, I am curious.

Do you mean that you decorate the bottom of a pit with upright spears, and then throw miscreants down on them from above using the Pit command?

You have to channel several levels down to allow that to happen properly. Also all you need is a 1 square pit for that - attach a lever to it the finish off any especially lucky unfortunates.

I find that my own dwarves die to spike pits more than my enemies. (More dodge skill I guess) So I tend to use walls more often

When I embark I create walls as close as I can to the edge and channel down any uneven surfaces. Then I allow 1 entrace where I send them into a maze overlooked by my marksdwarf pillbox. At the end of the maze is one of my heavy armor axe squads ready to kill any lucky unfortunates.

The only time I would use a moat is a dry moat with an up ramp towards the enemy side. This has 3 points

1. marksdwarves can hit the gobbies attacking my fortress
2. gobbies will dodge into the moat and be stuck there untill they path out.
3 I don't make that moat a lava moat so as to allow my dwarves to loot.

This thread gives me ideas tho...