Deeper Dwarven Domestication - UPDATED to 0.44.12This mod adds a short list of diverse and thematic creatures based on mountain and subterranean beasts. These creatures are meant to add some extra flavor, fun, and utility to your fortress animal farms.
Currently, the 0.44.12 version of DDD is just these same ten creatures as of old, revised and compatible to the most recent game version. In the future I hope push out a broader overhaul of all domestic animals based on civilizations, but I wanted to get these core creatures updated first. Hopefully they can add to your enjoyment of this wonderful game!
This mod is menacing with spikes of pixels, both 16px (Phoebus or Mayday compatible) and 32px (Meph and Vettlingr compatible). The Core mod file is required, and can then be supplemented with the graphics files.
Installation InstructionsDownload and unzip the contents of the Core file and optionally the Graphics file into your dwarf fortress directory. Accept all overwrites (there should not be any). Run the DDD_installer.
This version of DDD uses entity animal tokens to assign the new DDD creatures to the dwarven civilization in the entity_default.txt file. Also, in order for dewbeetles to be able to produce mead requires a slight change to the reaction_other.txt so that the vanilla make_mead reaction will accept their delicious honeydew. In order to make this mod more lightweight and compatible to other mods, I've included an installer script that adds the tags to the entity_default.txt and reaction_other.txt files for you. Simply double click the DDD_installer.exe and all changes should be made.
The installer script should paste in the necessary tags into those files without overwriting any other changes that have been made to those files, preventing conflicts with other mods or any already modified version of these files.
If you don't want to run the installer, or it doesn't work for some reason (like maybe because I'm bad at code), there are instructions on what changes need to be made to those files in the DDD_readme.txt file.
And as always, remember to generate a new world and strike the earth!
The creatures:
Boulder Crab A large subterranean crustacean that can be found wandering caverns in search of food. It is often domesticated by dwarves and harvested for its delicious meat and useful shellstone. Those that live to a venerable age can grow truly massive in size.
Uses: meat, eggs, chitin (counts as shell), flux stone (when butchered)
Special: When butchered, boulder crabs yield a shellstone. This is a boulder of flux stone with a light blue color.
Dewbeetle A large docile insect that can be found roaming in the less hospitable regions of the world. It is often domesticated to collect the sweet secretions stored in small pods on its abdomen. This honeydew can be brewed into a tasty beverage.
Uses: eggs, chitin (counts as shell), milkable for honeydew (brewable into beetlemead)
Special: Milking dewbeetles produces a unit of honeydew which your dwarves can eat, cook, or brew into mead.
Badgerdog A medium-sized mammalian carnivore with large digging claws and long striped fur. It is equally at home above or below ground and is renowned for its fierce nature. These ferocious creatures can go berserk in combat.
Uses: trainable for war and hunting, enrages during combat
Special: Badgerdogs are likely to enter into rage in combat, making them much more fierce than normal dogs.
Moleweasel A fuzzy little borrowing mammal with a long sleek body and short, wide legs. It is often kept as a pet for its lovable companionship and to hunt small vermin.
Uses: vermin control (high speed), large litters and fast growth makes for abundant butchering
Special: Moleweasels move and breed very fast, allowing vermin control over a larger area.
Leatherwing Bat A blind flying mammal that hunts small vermin. Its furry little body is dwarfed by enormous leathery wings. The many folds of skin from these wings can be safely trimmed as a renewable source of leather.
Uses: vermin control, shearable wings (source for leather)
Special: The wings of these bats can be sheared for skin that your tanners will turn into leather. Leatherwing bats also hunt vermin.
Bearded Cavernkeet A small flightless bird adapted to life climbing and scrabling underground. Its short feathers closely resemble silky colored hairs, with a thick tuft beneath its chin forming a very dwarfy beard. This beard is prized by dwarves as a source of silk.
Uses: eggs, shearable beards (silk) once/year
Special: The beard hair of these birds can be sheared once a year for beardsilk, a source of thread/cloth. Beardsilk is worth twice the normal value of yarn.
Tusked Cragboar A medium-sized foraging beast native to shallow caves and burrows. It possesses a large snout and long tusks which it uses to dig and furrow through the earth. The tusks of these creatures continuously grow to compensate for the wear of usage and can be sheared as a source of ivory.
Uses: milk (cheese), trainable for war, shearable tusks every couple months (tooth/bone)
Special: Cragboar tusks can be sheared as a newable source of these ivory/bone.
Woolly Mountain Goat A large shaggy herbivore native to the high mountains. It is able to easily navigate steep slopes and narrow ledges in spite of its larger size and hooved feet. Bigger and sturdier than its smaller goat cousins, this creature is often raised by dwarves for its abundant wool and milk.
Uses: milk (cheese), caravan animal, shearable wool (yarn) twice a year
Special: Can be sheared for a great deal of wool.
Cavetortoise A large subterranean reptile with a thick shell and prominent horn. Suprisingly docile for their size, these beasts are valued for their meat, eggs, shells and horns.
Uses: eggs, shell, horn
Special: A big delicious reptile, source of both horn and shell.
Mountain Tuskox A stocky mammalian beast with stout legs and a dark curly mane. It possesses small curved horns, short tusks, and thickly padded hooves. These large herbivores can be found browsing on the sparse plants in foothills and lowlands of mountainous country.
Uses: meat, milk (cheese) milkable very often, wagon puller
Special: Can be milked more often than normal creatures. Some also say these creatures can provide for a potent early fortress defense.
By using the DDD_installer, hopefully you will not run into any compatibility issues.
As always, with all mods, I recommend you back up any/all raw files before attempting any changes to the game.
If you are using other mods which interact with the reaction_other and entity_default files, there is the possibility of conflict. If the installer runs into problems, you may need to manually merge the affected raws. Merger tags needed and instructions are listed in the DDD_readme
CreditsAdeleneDawner whose
dwarf caramel mod was an early inspiration to complete this
Vettlingr whose wonderful
DBDB mod kept this dream alive during my hiatus. Check it out!
Ironhand whose awesome graphics pack was shamelessly exploited to make more graphics
Kafine whose awesome animal graphics were shamelessly exploited to make more graphics
Boydcarts my good buddy at work who patiently listens to me talk about DF all day, despite having never played himself. Leatherwing bats were his idea.
Links to the old version of DDD (v0.34)
DDD comes in two flavors, an enhancement mod and a replacement mod. The enhancement mod simply adds ten new creatures to the domestic animals list. The replacement mod adds the new creatures and also removes the current domestic animals from being guaranteed on embark; instead they will only be available if your civilization has access to their native biomes.