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Author Topic: Mysterious Cat Deaths  (Read 11564 times)

PDF urist master

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Mysterious Cat Deaths
« on: December 07, 2015, 09:48:46 pm »

So far cat deaths are an epidemic in dwarf fortress and from what I've seen in the combat logs there are no prior report to a cat death, meaning their death aren't tied to any monster attacks.

Based on my observations in my fort, cats often carry the syndrome dizziness with them now, and their death always leave a pool of vomit with them. These are synonymous with the effects of alcohol poisoning, but I did not have my suspicions confirmed until I stumbled upon this log:



As you can see, the cat is covered in vomit and dwarven wineMy working theory is that there's a bug with taverns right now that lets them serve alcohol to animals that are present in the tavern, which I confirmed with the following screenshots:



This has happened for every animal inside the tavern, with the odd exception of this goose


EDIT: DeKaFu has found the Issue: Tavern floors are often covered in alcohol due to splashes, which then cover everyone in the tavern. Cats have a self cleaning interaction that also lets them ingest syndrome causing substances, like forgotten beast goo. This coincidentally includes alcohol and the effects of inebriation. This means cats covered in alcohol will clean themselves and get drunk, due their small size and the [SIZE_DILUTES] tag for alcoholic beverages, they're very likely to die from alcohol poisoning. A working solution right now is to keep them away from taverns. This could be done by pasturing them, which unfortunately takes away their invaluable contribution to vermin control.
« Last Edit: December 07, 2015, 11:00:51 pm by PDF urist master »
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Yoink

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2015, 09:57:17 pm »

I haven't played enough Fort mode yet to test it, but from what I've read dwarves often pour their drinks on the tavern floor- perhaps these critters are just being caught in the crossfire?
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PDF urist master

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2015, 10:10:11 pm »

I haven't played enough Fort mode yet to test it, but from what I've read dwarves often pour their drinks on the tavern floor- perhaps these critters are just being caught in the crossfire?

Checking the raws for inebriation caused by plant alcohol, it can only happen via ingestion or injection, not via contact, meaning the animals must have drank it to be inebriated. you can check it in the PLANT_ALCOHOL_TEMPLATE under material_template_default in the objects folder for raws.
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2015, 10:20:52 pm »

What if cats are eating vermin who have been at the booze pile/spilt booze pools? Would that 'infect' them?
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DeKaFu

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2015, 10:21:56 pm »

Having looked into it, it looks like the reason this is affecting cats is because they have a self-cleaning interaction using their tongues that includes a tag that makes it trigger ingested syndromes. Previously probably only would've come up if they got themselves covered in forgotten beast goo, but now that there's booze splatter all over the taverns, they're walking through it and licking it off themselves and ingesting the drunkenness syndrome.

Only other animal I could find with the same self-cleaning interaction is red pandas, so someone could probably do some science to confirm.

Edit: Relevant bits of the raws

« Last Edit: December 07, 2015, 10:32:41 pm by DeKaFu »
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PDF urist master

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2015, 10:24:16 pm »

Having looked into it, it looks like the reason this is affecting cats is because they have a self-cleaning interaction using their tongues that includes a tag that makes it trigger ingested syndromes. Previously probably only would've come up if they got themselves covered in forgotten beast goo, but now that there's booze splatter all over the taverns, they're walking through it and licking it off themselves and ingesting the drunkenness syndrome.

Only other animal I could find with the same self-cleaning interaction is red pandas, so someone could probably do some science to confirm.

I think this supplements my theory. I could not explain why other animals like dogs never experience alcohol poisoning like cats do. More testing is needed but I do not have access to red pandas at this fort.
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Putnam

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2015, 10:30:32 pm »

It's almost definitely the CLEAN interaction on alcohol spatters.

Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #7 on: December 07, 2015, 10:33:41 pm »

So....feature, not bug, I guess?
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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #8 on: December 07, 2015, 10:36:42 pm »

I guess. I have the issue marked on bug tracker as Tavern Keepers serving alcohol to animals. I don't know how to remove the issue so I added a note specifying the self-cleaning interaction was the cause.
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Broseph Stalin

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2015, 10:41:15 pm »

So the cats are being splashed with dwarven strength alcohol by patrons spilling in the tavern and when they try to lick themselves clean they die of alcohol poisoning? That is absolutely fucking wonderful and I don't want it to be fixed.

Yes, I will have to keep a much larger population of cats which comes with and it's own difficult and is almost certainly not intentional but I need this delicious madness in my life and fortress.

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2015, 10:44:45 pm »

you could stop the issue entirely by quarantining cats to pastures so they don't get splashed with alcohol. Also Larger cat populations means more adoptions means more cat deaths means greater stress levels and tantrum spirals.
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Darkwood71

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2015, 12:38:25 am »

This is amazing. Can we keep it? Call it working as intended ;).
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Talanic

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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #12 on: December 08, 2015, 12:43:59 am »

I'd say it's working as intended.  Cats are vulnerable to such things in general - they warn that a cat stepping in a puddle of antifreeze once is enough to kill it if you don't wash its paw off manually.
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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #13 on: December 08, 2015, 02:06:23 am »

Put doors on the tavern, set them to pet-impassable. Might still have a few sneak through with the patrons but it should reduce the casualties.
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Re: Mysterious Cat Deaths
« Reply #14 on: December 08, 2015, 03:55:23 am »

So the cats are being splashed with dwarven strength alcohol by patrons spilling in the tavern and when they try to lick themselves clean they die of alcohol poisoning? That is absolutely fucking wonderful and I don't want it to be fixed.

Yes, I will have to keep a much larger population of cats which comes with and it's own difficult and is almost certainly not intentional but I need this delicious madness in my life and fortress.

I agree and now that we have gelding, catsplosions are much less of a danger.
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