Bay 12 Games Forum
Dwarf Fortress => DF Dwarf Mode Discussion => Topic started by: Ghoul on April 11, 2014, 11:11:27 am
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Well, I was showing my little sister the glory of my volcano fortress, when a caravan came along burdened by a caged dog. I, in my infinite wisdom told her, and she, rather typically, decided I must save the dog... Well, I unforbid the dog and his cage, and at the same time pressed, M.
Now, I had no idea that this would actually work, but the cage was then hauled off... To be smelted. And so, as the cage was hauled at last to the smelter, I was surprised to find that the dog was not released. No, the whole cage and its prisoner were tossed into the coal fired smelter, never to be seen again.
This mildly amused me, but for some reason seems to distress my little sister. I now expect to be aggrieved for the rest of the day for my dwarf's actions. If not for a week.
On a side note, does this still work for caged dragons and the like?
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Woah, prisoners can be actually executed that way? I've never heard of it before. I guess some science must be done. If it works, it wiull be the most efficent way to kill caged things.
Also showing DF to little sisters is amusing.
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This could bring a whole new meaning to the term "Goblinite"
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This may be a peculiarity of using the melt designation to steal stuff - _captured_ animals get released when you melt the cage they were caught in, and i suspect prisoners will, too.
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Wow, that's hilarious! Anyone for a hotdog?
We have to figure out a way to do that other way around: somehow make a butcher chop an animal with a cage.
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Aww! Poor doggy! Haha! What a great story! I am with your sister! Sometimes I feel for the dwarves and critters in dwarf fortress. But these kinds of stories are priceless. Nor am I one to scoff at weaponizing smelters. I'm sure there is a certain satisfaction one can take in dispensing with a particularly annoying creature through death by furnace :)
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actually, putting your dwarfs in a cage and melting it might be a more suitable way to get rid of annoyances in the fort pop :D
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actually, putting your dwarfs in a cage and melting it might be a more suitable way to get rid of annoyances in the fort pop :D
Persuade annoying nobles that the gilded cage is not a metaphor?
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Exactly :D
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actually, putting your dwarfs in a cage and melting it might be a more suitable way to get rid of annoyances in the fort pop :D
Melting a cage containing a dwarf is a convenient method of releasing the dwarf, nothing more. Contents of a cage are released at the end of a melting job. I don't know whether the OP hit a loophole that allows "melting" a creature or just misinterpreted events, but with animals both wild and tame melting the cage does not kill the creature. The moment the job finishes, the creatures are released. Point in case: two kittens and a tame toad in a lead cage, cage was designated for melting and got turned into a lead bar. Both kittens were un-caged at the end of the job, the toad placed as item in the smelter.
Of course, i know actually checking facts before wildly speculating is tantamount to heresy.
PS: i looked at the trader-owned cages in the depot, and in vanilla you simply can't designate a cage for melting that's trader property. If the OP managed to get such a cage melted, it was likely through a third-party application like DFHack and any odd behaviour would be a DFHack bug :P
@below: yeah, atomsmashing only looks at the container, not at its contents. Melting of objects is different. I've melted occupied cages several times, and the contents were _always_ preserved and freed. This is not anecdotal "i had a wild elk bird after melting stuff in my smelters once" evidence, this is observable, repeatable behaviour.
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I do know for certain that there is an oddity where creatures too large to be atomsmashed can be atomsmashed if you put them in a cage.
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Yay!
Atomsmashing!
Hm... if them dragons ever show their ugly faces at my fort, they are to go into a cage, hauled to the dump, and smashed.
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Melting a cage containing a dwarf is a convenient method of releasing the dwarf, nothing more. Contents of a cage are released at the end of a melting job. I don't know whether the OP hit a loophole that allows "melting" a creature or just misinterpreted events, but with animals both wild and tame melting the cage does not kill the creature. The moment the job finishes, the creatures are released. Point in case: two kittens and a tame toad in a lead cage, cage was designated for melting and got turned into a lead bar. Both kittens were un-caged at the end of the job, the toad placed as item in the smelter.
Ah, well it wasn't as simple as me just designating a random cage. I first (rather accidentally (honest!)) killed the dwarven merchants whilst they were leaving, and all their goods were left scattered. So I then told the cage to be melted, then unforbid it. I honestly had thought it would be ridiculous if it happened all the time.
I do believe some experimenting may be necessary for me to validate my claim...
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Are you sure they didn't release the dog? It is listed as dead and there is a combat report?
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Ah, now you see there's the issue - I've deleted the fortress... Not very smart I know. I don't have the time right now to replicate it... I'll keep it down in my to do list until I have the time.
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Ah, now you see there's the issue - I've deleted the fortress... Not very smart I know. I don't have the time right now to replicate it... I'll keep it down in my to do list until I have the time.
...!
That's a shame. Why'd you delete it? It doesn't lend credence to your story.
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It would not be first nor last made up story on these forums. ;)
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It would not be first nor last made up story on these forums. ;)
Right, you dastardly dimwit, to prove you wrong I've used up my lunch brake to do some !!Science!! (much to the horror of the dwarven merchants).
Creating a new world from scratch, on an unmodded phoebus DF install, I waited for three seasons until the first dwarven caravan. Then crushing a part of the carts with a small bridge, I had access to a caged sow.
I first designated it to be melted, then unforbid it. Then I set the task in the smelter to melt metal objects. My smith then promptly went up to the surface, dragged down the unfortunate sow, and stuffed it and its cage into the smelter.
The sow never reappeared. It was also added to the list of the dead.
I now have this world saved, and I'm confident that this can be replicated by anyone.
I can now say confidently, that you can certainly smelt caged animals that have been unforbidded after the death of dwarven merchants. More science should be done though to determine whether this only occurs to animals brought by dwarven merchants, or if it can happen to unforbidden animals as well.
Unfortunately, having used up my lunch, I've now got to get some proper (although less amusing) work done!
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I think this is worth looking into. I'll try smelting a zombie elf to see if hostiles can be smelted, and I'll also try smelting a sow of my own to validate your claim.
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Do make sure the sow or whatever creature you choose is from a dwarven caravan. Break caravan, designate to smelt, task in smelter, then unforbid, and you will have a dead sow on your hands. And good luck!
Being able to smelt undead body parts would be a far more satisfying (and realistic) way to remove them than simply atom smashing them...
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Do make sure the sow or whatever creature you choose is from a dwarven caravan.
So you think it is more to do with the caged creature and the cage not belonging to the Fortress that causes the weirdness? As I recall, if a caravan breaks the ownership of the caged animal transfers to the Fort... Also, how is your smelter powered?
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Oh man, getting little girls distressed over Dwarf Fortress is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. 'hey, my archer squad is dressed entirely in Unicorn leather armor!'
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Oh man, getting little girls distressed over Dwarf Fortress is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. 'hey, my archer squad is dressed entirely in Unicorn leather armor!'
Lol, Unicorn armour's not something I've got round to yet! Unfortunately she's not quite as small as that though - doesn't seem to mind me crushing merchants, or throwing magmanauts into volcano's, but for some reason she really didn't like the idea of me ordering the death of a helpless hound. Oh well, in time, I'm sure she'll come to understand...
And yes my best guess would be that it is caused by the item not being initially owned, or the animal not being caged, at/by the fortress. The smelter was powered both times by charcoal.
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Ah, now you see there's the issue - I've deleted the fortress... Not very smart I know. I don't have the time right now to replicate it... I'll keep it down in my to do list until I have the time.
Falsehood.