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[obsidian razor]

So... yeah, exactly as it says on the tin.

Steel is in short supply (for now, when that goblinite comes it will be like Christmas! I have ample supplies of marble for when that happens so I need some alternative material for my traps. I have a crapload of sand and magma, so might as well put it to good use rather than those windows my dorfs seem to like that much.

However I'm a bit confused of how many discs should I put on each trap. I know the more there are, the easier for them to get stuck, but also, the easier for them to kill (30 attacks are better than 3 I suppose), but I don't know if just by using glass will one for each trap suffice...

Ideas?

[Girlinhat]

Glass has a variable weapon power, but usually extremely weak.  I've heard, without proof but with good reasoning, that when you load the game, it finds that glass has no weapon values like shear, impact yield, etc, so it randomly assigns the value.  This comes from leftover bits of memory, and can be completely random, but is usually a negative number that rounds up to zero, giving poor weapon results in all cases.  This also means that you should be able to close and restart DF (not just save and resume) to re-roll the glass stats, but who knows really.

Either way you slice it, glass doesn't slice much at all.  The rule for maximum effect is "1 per trap" but glass isn't good.  If you follow that advice you might end up with hundreds of tiles long and still get live goblins.  So, my advice would be to pack them in tight and make a grinder of it, to cause the goblins to keep re-pathing through the same traps again and again.  Marksdwarves with bone bolts can be stationed behind a pit+fortification to shoot down goblins who survive the grinder for too long.

[obsidian razor]

The marksdwarves where part of the plan

I'm asking cause I read that glass had been fixed as a trap material in one of the recent patches, but I'm not entirely sure so I wanted to confirm...

[KtosoX]

I tried the glass meat grinder tactic once, better turn it to a dodge it trap. As Girlinhat pointed out, glass has almost no dmg, but you can mass produce it. Falling 2 or 3 levels on glass spikes will give better results IMO

[obsidian razor]

Will magma also help in the dogde trap?

Also, what trap components are good when made out of glass? I remember reading that spiked balls and spikes were actually quite nice.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Glass has a variable weapon power, but usually extremely weak.  I've heard, without proof but with good reasoning, that when you load the game, it finds that glass has no weapon values like shear, impact yield, etc, so it randomly assigns the value.  This comes from leftover bits of memory, and can be completely random, but is usually a negative number that rounds up to zero, giving poor weapon results in all cases.  This also means that you should be able to close and restart DF (not just save and resume) to re-roll the glass stats, but who knows really.

That bug was fixed.

[KtosoX]

Damn you Urist!
Now I have to build a fort only to see how much glass traps fail after they got fixed...

[obsidian razor]

I was thinking of a long corridor, with channelled sides with magma to keep it nice and warm and several lines of serrated discs, menacing spikes and falling spiked balls

Speaking of which, do they also get jammed easily? How many should I placer per trap?

[Nameless Archon]

Glass has a variable weapon power, but usually extremely weak.  I've heard, without proof but with good reasoning, that when you load the game, it finds that glass has no weapon values like shear, impact yield, etc, so it randomly assigns the value.  This comes from leftover bits of memory, and can be completely random, but is usually a negative number that rounds up to zero, giving poor weapon results in all cases.  This also means that you should be able to close and restart DF (not just save and resume) to re-roll the glass stats, but who knows really.

This bug is supposed to be fixed. Glass should now have a low, but fixed, value.

The basic gist is that glass is about as good as wood, but with slicing goodness. It shouldn't be used for its awesome lethality, but for its ease of production, low resource cost and high value. It can (and will) kill unarmored or lightly armored troops (by hitting unarmored areas) but will not perform well against armor of any real strength. Fro thinning a siege out, it's probably not bad. For dealing with small ambushes, it's probably not too shabby. For brick-wall, nothing-gets-through, hold-the-line, here-we-stand-here-they-die sorts of situations, you don't want glass.

Either way you slice it, glass doesn't slice much at all.  The rule for maximum effect is "1 per trap" but glass isn't good.  If you follow that advice you might end up with hundreds of tiles long and still get live goblins.

With the bug fixed, you won't get hundreds, but it's not as effective as metals, so you will need more.

So, my advice would be to pack them in tight and make a grinder of it, to cause the goblins to keep re-pathing through the same traps again and again.  Marksdwarves with bone bolts can be stationed behind a pit+fortification to shoot down goblins who survive the grinder for too long.

This part, however, I'd keep. I'd also ask about the deployment. Glass traps work well enough for dodge-em traps, due to infinite materials and relatively low lethality. (Do not use glass for danger room traps, however, or there will be blood.)

Please note, all of this is purely anecdotal. Your mileage may vary, consult your doctor before beginning an aspirin regimen, may contain nuts or nut products. This product is not intended to treat or diagnose any condition. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

[ohgoditburns]

The basic gist is that glass is about as good as wood, but with slicing goodness. It shouldn't be used for its awesome lethality, but for its ease of production, low resource cost and high value. It can (and will) kill unarmored or lightly armored troops (by hitting unarmored areas) but will not perform well against armor of any real strength.

How does it do against siege mounts?

[kaenneth]

Please note, all of this is purely anecdotal. Your mileage may vary, consult your doctor before beginning an aspirin regimen, may contain nuts or nut products. This product is not intended to treat or diagnose any condition. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

<derail> What if it lasts more than 4 hours? </derail>

[ohgoditburns]

I'm surprised it doesn't do more damage. The EDGE for glass according to magmawiki is 15000. Steel is 10000, and obsidian is 20000.

[Nameless Archon]

What if it lasts more than 4 hours?

Consult your Chief Medical Doctor, then wait for a diagnosis, which will probably arrive somewhere after the next few cycles of food, booze, and sleep. Maybe.

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

I was thinking of a long corridor, with channelled sides with magma to keep it nice and warm and several lines of serrated discs, menacing spikes and falling spiked balls

Speaking of which, do they also get jammed easily? How many should I placer per trap?

In that case, why not just use upright spikes of glass with a few spikes per trap (More spikes = more dodging) Hook all the spikes up to a lever on repeat and watch the gobos fling themselves into the magma.  Upright spikes never jam and who cares if glass spikes kinda suck, the magma will be what kills the gobos, not the spikes themselves.

[blue emu]

Glass seems to work OK in v31.25 as long as the opponents are not heavily armored: