Burrowing and mining is going to be interesting … especially with physics, I mean, will a building collapse if you tunnel below it? Will mine shafts collapse if improperly supported? All things that will be interesting to see how they develop!
As for actual defences and the whole walls filled with magma/ water thing… I think I’m just gonna sit for magma moats 
brave are the souls who dread to cross the magma moats of my settlement.
Well one of the ways to protect yourself against tunneling was to build deep foundations for your wall. Since the walls in a medieval castle where usually filled with a large chain and some form of concrete it would be much more difficult for the enemy to dig through.
Again, though, Siege Engines are the answer – simply launch flaming balls of crap at your enemy and eventually either enough people will be killed or enough structures will be destroyed or condemned that the enemy’s settlement will collapse under the pressure of a “too-many-x-not-enough-y” situation.
we really are two hearts that beat as one like-minded souls… should the opportunity present itself, i will be constructing some magma moats as well…
well it’s tight choke points and kill-boxes for me.
I thought about the tunneling issue some more, then remembered something from Mythbusters a few years back…
What about this? Some models were used for earthquake detection, but there was a couple of designs that could actually detect the use of picks underground (the one tested in the episode was an early Chinese model, I believe).
Since Dwarves are planned to be mostly underground, you wouldn’t face the same sort of threats aboveground, like an advancing army or Titan. I’m guessing threats would eventually start coming from the walls around you, giving less time to react and prepare. Even on the surface, you could at least get a warning if foes are advancing underneath your base (to some extent). Otherwise, the player will have little insight into the activity underneath the surface, save for digging a ravine or moat completely around your base to the bottom Y-level.
Maybe this could be a higher-tiered craftable item, once your town develops? It’d certainly open up the team to more diverse enemy types.
(What am I saying…? I think I just suggested a defense measure in order to create the very situation that would require it…)
I love the idea - something that could provide warning to your settlement about an approaching titan or if it was particularly sensitive an approaching army?
As for what the actual item would be … I’m not sure it needs to be a seisometer? I like to think of things perhaps drawing influence from reality, but not a direct copy of reality. So it could be some sort of instrument created by the engineer and imbued with some sort of power from the geomancer? Like a golem core or something?
Who knows!
Hmm,this thread has too much wall in it.
Think of the ways someone could get behind it.Hidden agents or maybe flying enemies.Still walls are pretty effective.I would rather use the natural landscape.Because you could blow up a wall but you could blow up a mountain.And if I manage to get enough magic power I will just build a floating city and laugh at invaders.
Thou normal walls could be quite good,if you build them big enough.I will imagine that at some point someone will build walls like the ones of Ba Sing Se from the Avatar series.
With all these liquids, what about flammable oil that can be triggered to burn the enemy, or even beer to confuse them, and make them generally quite friendly…
Beer can actually be quite useful… to slow them down and slower their reactions! Just fight your way through the bunch of drunken idiots, and emerge victorious.
I really want to do this now
Would they consume the beer … or are they just smothered in it … cause er, I’m not sure how that would work?
Maybe they absorb it through their skin?
And then you place down a nice box of Cuban cigars.
And then offer them a light
And then "miss"
And then enjoy the warm flames and screams.
You know what they say: “Light a man a fire, and he’s warm for a day. Light a man AFIRE, and he’s warm for the rest of his life.”
back to the aqua-wall it instead be filled up with Beer! and Drunkienize thy Enemies! also What about the idea of a town on supports, better Idea see what if you have a few supports over water than get a geomanecer to put dirt and stone on it than collapse the support since this game has “real” gravity it would fall down than when you have done this enough times over and the dirt and stone reaches the top of the water level build support on that than repeat the steps after that you have a island town in which than the Enemy would have to have boats to get to you but boats won’t be put in until later within the game so your safe unless you or the enemy builds a bridge in which you could blow it up or have archers shoot the building enemy so they can’t build to you. BEAT THAT PEOPLE!/ OBAMA!
But then if they couldn’t use boats to get out there, how could you? Unless you build a bridge and break it? Sounds like an awful lot of work and materials to use, when you could just use them to build a massive wall or set of walls.
True but this is more like an End Game Protection I understand your point of view guess its back to the Beer walls! hiccup
I think I’m gonna make my city in the wall of a giant cliff.
I think if alcohol is heated so it evaporates, people can get drunk on the fumes themselves. I’m not sure exactly how much quicker/slower the rate is compared to consuming it, though. So having pools of cooking alcohol around your base to ward off or incapacitate attackers…would this be considered some form of chemical warfare?
Maybe it would incidentally attract more enemies like the goblins and thieves, like some big party central. I can’t imagine it having the same effectiveness on a Titan, though. (More body mass equals higher consumption tolerance–your ale stores would go dry trying to intoxicate one!)
Chemical warfare would be interesting to look into, poison clouds, gasses and liquids…
Now all we need is a stonehearth Version of WWI mod and well be complete!