Letterirons - 1089 Early Summer by Maisoul

Map Description:

Blasted goblins.

Massive human caravan arrives.
20 seconds later, caravan having just about gotten to the first outside bridge, massive goblin army appears. The outside of the fortress is awash with blood.

The human merchant baroness, meanwhile, is still chatting peacefully with the dwarves.
Unaware of the carnage.

Worst thing? The goblins decided to flee after destroying the caravans. Not only am I probably going to be at war with humans now, but none of the traps in my corridor got sprung, either.

There are 22 comments for this map series, last post 2007-10-28

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Comments

Submitted by: Markavian` - 2007-10-07 to 1085 Early Spring

Omg that's like soo... awesome and twisty. I'd be tempted to put shortcuts in for the 'human traders, having to watch them snake along that passage could be such a bore.. they might even give up and wander away from your fortress before they get there.

Submitted by: Maisoul - 2007-10-07 to 1085 Early Spring

Hmm. Do empty channels count as smoothed floor?
The alternative is doors, but those can be destroyed, which would considerably shorten the path invaders have to take.

At any rate, I'll find out once the merchants get here. I'm not 100% sure they'll count this depot as accessible, even with a complete road.
[Message edited on 2007/10/07 at 06:40 by Maisoul]

Submitted by: Markavian - 2007-10-07 to 1085 Early Spring

Apparently (according to #bay12games IRC) empty channels block wagon movement, but you're ok if you've bridged over them. That makes sense to me at least.

Submitted by: Savok - 2007-10-07 to 1085 Early Spring

What about raised bridges?

Wiki:
Bridges over anything count as roads.
Channels block wagons.

Submitted by: Maisoul - 2007-10-08 to 1085 Early Spring

So, if I dug out the bottom... three squares of the walls that extend from the lower side, built a three-height one-width bridge in the gaps, set it to raise either to the left or right, would I end up with the effective wall in the space of the gap, or a tile left or right?

Submitted by: Savok - 2007-10-08 to 1085 Early Spring

I think it would be the former, and I know it wouldn't be the latter.

It might fail to have any effect, in which case you should try bridges with a width of two.

Submitted by: Savok - 2007-10-08 to 1085 Late Winter

Continuing here...
Maisoul:
"So, if I dug out the bottom... three squares of the walls that extend from the lower side, built a three-height one-width bridge in the gaps, set it to raise either to the left or right, would I end up with the effective wall in the space of the gap, or a tile left or right?"
Savok:
"I think it would be the former, and I know it wouldn't be the latter.
It might fail to have any effect, in which case you should try bridges with a width of two."

Submitted by: JellyfishGreen - 2007-10-09 to 1083 Late Winter

+10 points for the Zork reference. I presume the far end at the river will have a bridge, a door, a pressure plate, and a floodgate?

Submitted by: Markavian - 2007-10-09 to 1086 Late Winter

As VeryInky would probably point out, a tunnel full of traps is good practice for your mechanics :)

Submitted by: THLawrence - 2007-10-10 to 1086 Late Winter

A raised drawbridge will act as a wall and is impossible for invaders to destroy. So a raised 1*3 drawbridge will act like a 3 long wall

Submitted by: Maisoul - 2007-10-10 to 1086 Late Winter

The couple 1x3 drawbridges I made to test wouldn't raise left or right. I presume they'd raise up or down, but that wouldn't really work.
Maybe I was doing something wrong, though. I definitely set the one-width three-height test bridges to raise right, and the lever for testing was connected.

Submitted by: Savok - 2007-10-10 to 1086 Late Winter

"is impossible for invaders to destroy"
Mabye, but there have been reports of them destroyed by demons.

Submitted by: THLawrence - 2007-10-11 to 1086 Late Winter

The bridges in those cases destroyed by burn damage and weren't targeted by the demons but were merely in the line of fire. Literally.

What creatures other then demons and magma creatures use burn type attacks? Dragons? Do hydras?

But siegers don't. They can't destroy raised bridges. And those creatures that do will never target the bridge directly. It takes a miss or cone/line burn attack to destroy a raised drawbridge.

Submitted by: Savok - 2007-10-11 to 1086 Late Winter

So, bridges can be easily destroyed like any other building, but can't be targeted?

Submitted by: Maisoul - 2007-10-12 to 1086 Late Winter

So should something like a dragon come wandering down the corridor 'o doom, the bridges are safe so long as there aren't any dwarves nearby or beyond them for the dragon to target?

Submitted by: Savok - 2007-10-12 to 1086 Late Winter

Would the traps even hurt megabeasts?
I've seen a movie of a colossus walk through a few ranks of weapon traps and get only a few light gray wounds.

Submitted by: Maisoul - 2007-10-12 to 1086 Late Winter

Once the corridor is fully trapped, anything wanting to get through without destroying bridges or getting there fast enough that the lever hasn't been pulled yet would have to pass at least 13 squares to get to the next vertical stretch of the corridor - nine down, or up, against the wall, and four right to the next wall.
That's 143 squares, not counting a few at the start and end of the path. Probably a little overkill for invading armies. Not sure about any of the big monsters, though. Never had any visit.

Submitted by: Savok - 2007-10-12 to 1086 Late Winter

I count 155 total, including the "extras."

I guess you're right. If the resident gets the equivalent of one light gray wound per square, that's enough to easily kill it.

Submitted by: Markavian - 2007-10-12 to 1086 Late Winter

Most mega beasts aren't affected by traps, but that's ok... so long as they clean up the critters! I've only encountered a bronze Collossus before; and sending every dwarf and his dog and wrestling it to the ground was the only thing that seemed to work.

Hey here's a suggestion; why don't you dig a tunnel to the south of the spiral that joins up at the far end, then when it fills, block their escape and connect the invaders up to the trapped corridor so they all die fleeing.

Submitted by: Markavian - 2007-10-14 to 1087 Late Winter

I'm impressed, there is a huge pool of blood on the outside of your fort. (Just north of the road). How did the carpenter die?

Submitted by: Maisoul - 2007-10-15 to 1087 Late Winter

Lessee. I know it wasn't the carpenter - when the siege happened, he flat out refused to leave the wells just left of the bridge for a while, so when the goblins got close I just... uh... locked the doors of that room and forgot about him. He starved. Oops.
Some of the goblins who hit the traps may have survived? I'm not really sure what the blood outside is, as none of the soldiers went into battle.

Edit: Oh, that one? Hmm.
Oh. Yeah. That was before the siege - I send out the military dwarves when elephants or leopards lurk too close to the road.
Alternatively, caravan guards making a last stand. I think they all died on the road, though.
[Message edited on 2007/10/15 at 06:16 by Maisoul]

Submitted by: Markavian - 2007-10-28 to 1089 Late Winter

Yay, fun video! Those stone trap arrows look great, I hope you still fill the gaps in with more traps. If you have trouble blocking the northern door, try building a raisable 2x3 bridge to block the way.

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