i've read a lot of things that talk up cage traps to no end. i've tried them and i gotta say, i'm unimpressed. i mean sure, they capture things while they're still alive, but that seems more negative to me than anything else because for one, while the traps are removing a threat, they're ADDING something my dwarves have to store away forever, and i have to allocate space to store it, my mechanics need to go out of their way to get a replacement cage, and then if i want to interact with the caged creature i need to go through this complicated process of planting it with (b)uild, q->a on the cage, release/take their things (in the case of goblins), and then store it away again and/or try to sell the damn creature, which can fail stupendously apparently. i'm just glad i have like 40+ war dogs walking around my fort to jump on and maul anything that escapes.
the only thing i really care about is producing a lot of dead bodies, dead bodies are safe and easy to handle, and are profitable to some extent. cages are not conducive to dead bodies, thus i don't like cages. can anyone change my mind?
Also, i have a question about weapon traps. say for example the spiked ball:
http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Spiked_ballat "number of hits", does that mean it'll strike a creature three times before it manages to get away, or that it'll attack three times and then break?