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Author Topic: Odd map edge offerings?  (Read 981 times)

PatrikLundell

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Odd map edge offerings?
« on: August 10, 2018, 11:43:59 am »

I keep finding odd "offerings" at the map edges, typically (always?) consisting of a non fortress sock and shoe. I suspect those are somehow dropped by visitors, but I have yet to figure out why (and catch anyone in the act). As usual, they're 'f'orbidden.
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Saiko Kila

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2018, 02:09:39 pm »

I keep finding odd "offerings" at the map edges, typically (always?) consisting of a non fortress sock and shoe. I suspect those are somehow dropped by visitors, but I have yet to figure out why (and catch anyone in the act). As usual, they're 'f'orbidden.

Are you creating socks in your fortress? Because I can imagine that mercs (for example returning from missions) drop their original socks when entering map and claim the new, better ones from the stockpile or workshop.

Or maybe they are leftovers of units dead on arrival. The body and more useful thing are hauled, the stocks are left for garbage collectors.

If this is a bug, I haven't encountered it.
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Rafatio

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2018, 03:13:14 pm »

I've seen this a lot in that one fort before I found and used the visitor cap, usually whole suits of clothes in these piles, never armor, everything foreign made. I just blamed it on visitors dying on entry, I've seen enough of those, should really keep a closer eye on corpse piles.

Not sure if related, since this would result in fortress made stuff, but there is also the thing that some returning soldiers drop everything when they enter the map. Since friendly drops aren't forbidden here, they turn around after a few steps and pick most of it back up. This might be that bug that unassigns rooms, working on their military gear instead.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2018, 03:18:43 pm by Rafatio »
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anewaname

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2018, 03:25:45 pm »

Announcements.txt has a GUEST_ARRIVAL setting. If that announces visitors, then setting it to pause the game will give you a chance to check each new visitor to see if they dropped something.
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2018, 04:37:56 pm »

My fortress is still too young to send anyone out, so it's not returning characters, and there's only one dead visitor, and I know where his pile of stuff was. I can't really check each and every visitor, because they tend to come in quester droves, which take some time to enter the map. I had the same issue with my previous fortress, i.e. occasional foreign made sock and shoe pairs at the edge. Come to think of it, my previous fortress also had occasional books at the edge, but I've never seen any in my current fortress (unfortunately). Weird, but not harmful...
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Saiko Kila

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2018, 05:42:54 pm »

I looked through my edge tiles, and found a sock and a shoe (as well as some other stacks of clothes, but I was interested only in these ones). I checked the age, and used my archived saves to backtrack in time to determine source of these items.

Amazingly they were dropped back in v0.44.10, by a visiting bard, who came to look for work. She dropped one socks and one shoe when entered the map, but retained the second socks and shoe...

You may find the source of your socks, assuming the original owner is still around, together with the second item of each pair. The age timer for all items in a pair is the same, and they have the consecutive IDs. For example: dropped sock has ID 1000, dropped shoe has ID 1001, retained sock has ID 1002, retained shoe has ID 1003. The timer allows to calculate when the footwear was dropped (each unit is 10 ticks, so 1200 units is ten days, for example).

Now, the question is if this is a dwarven custom (luck ritual to get a job?), or a bug.
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2018, 03:59:53 am »

Thanks for those tips, Saiko Kila.
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Feathermind

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #7 on: August 11, 2018, 10:32:30 am »

Perhaps the visitor was missing a foot?

In older versions I've had immigrants arrive missing a limb.  They still came with a full set of clothing, however, and immediately dropped the articles they could not wear at the map edge.  The evidence left behind by your case makes it sound awfully similar.
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #8 on: August 11, 2018, 12:17:27 pm »

Perhaps the visitor was missing a foot?

In older versions I've had immigrants arrive missing a limb.  They still came with a full set of clothing, however, and immediately dropped the articles they could not wear at the map edge.  The evidence left behind by your case makes it sound awfully similar.
It makes logical sense, but then there would be quite a few crippled visitors, and they'd all be missing a foot rather than a hand.

Edit: I think Feathermind is correct. I managed to track down a dropped pair of items, and not only was it a glove and a gauntlet (rather than sock and shoe), but the likely (former) owner owner lacks the corresponding hand.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2018, 01:41:20 pm by PatrikLundell »
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Saiko Kila

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2018, 03:04:39 pm »

Yes, my bard also has "Her left foot is gone". Apparently she lost her foot to a giant saltwater crocodile 10 years prior.
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2018, 10:21:12 am »

I just had a new, even odder case of this: I saw a dorf hauling a corpse, and since all corpses from the latest siege should have been hauled away, I checked with "deathcause", which revealed death by old age, and a pile of equipment lies by the map edge in the direction the hauler came from, so it appears the bugger didn't realize he was dead until he entered the map (I've heard of people entering the map with fatal wounds, such as missing the head, to die as soon as they enter the map, but old age is new to me).
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Saiko Kila

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Re: Odd map edge offerings?
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2018, 02:48:01 pm »

This situation happens to me alarmingly frequently. I mean at least once a year or so. Maybe it's because of huge amount of visitors, so the odds are one of them will be past his EXP date?  When I mentioned "some other stacks of clothes" earlier, it was about the clothes of guys who died of old age.

This is funny, but seems logical now - apparently conditions like missing limb or missed expiration date are checked only after they enter the map... Or it's their last wish - Oh, to see the mountainhome and die!
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