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Author Topic: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?  (Read 1079 times)

joostheger

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What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« on: September 08, 2023, 03:53:21 am »


The wiki states, that werebeast transformation occurs on the 13th of Limestone, on the 11th of sandstone and on the 8th of Timber.

That means that between the first and second transformation there are 26 days, but between the second and the third where are 25 days.

Does this mean, that the tick-difference varies between transformations? If the transformation occurs on the same TIME OF DAY each moon, then yes.
Otherwise, if the ticks between the transformations are equal, that means that the transformation occurs on differend times of day, each moon.

Who knows this?


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Nihilich

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2023, 03:09:48 pm »

I have observed that the werebeast transformation occurs on the very second that the previous day ticks over into the full-moon day. Technically, I think that means we should call it "midnight", but there's no actual night in dwarf fortress so it feels like a less useful distinction. "The first second of the day?" Maybe that.

I will say that I have not observed werebeasts transforming at any other time of day, other than its very beginning, but my observations are not rigorous. It is possible that there is, like, a 1-2 tick difference or something like that between transformations on the 13th and on the 11th. I only observed with my naked eye during regular play, and have not pressed . or , to rigorously detect the exact moment of transformation.

Sounds like there's room for us to be scientists here :)
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joostheger

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2023, 04:57:48 pm »

Alright, thats interesting! thanks! Well it might differ by a few ticks, that wouldn't matter for me. If it can be considered 'midnight', for my question this means: "at the same time"

If that what you're saying is right, it means that there is a great difference in ticks between some moon cycles.
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elilla

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2023, 03:58:07 am »

I happen to have a fortress with a walled-in werearmadillo right now!

I confirmed it, he turns at the exact tick that the full moon day starts (here 13th Limestone) (I like to imagine it's a Friday)

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elilla

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2023, 04:07:20 am »

Sorry, I posted too eagerly—this isn't true! Here's another save in Moonstone (please don't ask what my armadillo is doing outside his enclosure in a high-traffiic tavern) (mistakes were made) (it turns out it's really hard to burrow a sociable child).

As you can see, we're already into Moonstone the 6th (full moon day) and he hasn't turned yet.  When he finally did (and started a minor massacre), it feels like we were already close to the 7th than the start of the 6th.  But it was well before the turn-of-the-day, too.

I repeated both turnings to confirm they're not random.



« Last Edit: September 09, 2023, 04:14:24 am by elilla »
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mikekchar

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2023, 12:11:50 am »

I can confirm that the time they transform isn't fixed.  I used to have multiple werebeasts in my fortress (on purpose) and they all transform at slightly different times.  I don't know if there is some logic to it, but I couldn't figure it out if there is.
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Bumber

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2023, 12:39:55 am »

If it's consistent per unit, then it's probably handled by a counter on the unit or syndrome.
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Saiko Kila

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2023, 12:51:16 pm »


The wiki states, that werebeast transformation occurs on the 13th of Limestone, on the 11th of sandstone and on the 8th of Timber.

That means that between the first and second transformation there are 26 days, but between the second and the third where are 25 days.

Does this mean, that the tick-difference varies between transformations? If the transformation occurs on the same TIME OF DAY each moon, then yes.
Otherwise, if the ticks between the transformations are equal, that means that the transformation occurs on differend times of day, each moon.

Who knows this?

From my tests many versions ago, transformation (or full moon rather) occurs approximately every 31016 ticks, and lasts for 2210 ticks, so for example transformation in Granite (at cur_year_tick=29910) occurs 90 ticks before end of the day. But the time of full moon is always rounded to nearest ten-ticks (so the difference in length of full moon is there, but it's small), and the actual transformation can vary by a few ticks between the same strain infected dwarves. That's why it's hard to have werebeast squads - one member can transform before the other, which will cause attack.

I suppose that dwarf may be affected based on certain characteristics (for example Toughness?), but he needs the full moon for that. Unfortunately I did not have werebeasts in Premium versions, so can't check it now.
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joostheger

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2023, 02:45:26 am »

Mm. I already did suspect that a moon cycle was regular. Realistic, but unfortunate voor me. I was trying to us it in modding, to determine the time of year.
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Saiko Kila

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2023, 02:44:31 pm »

Mm. I already did suspect that a moon cycle was regular. Realistic, but unfortunate voor me. I was trying to us it in modding, to determine the time of year.

I always thought that the time of year depends on the sun, not on the moon ;)

Yeah, every moon phase occurs on the same date (and hour) every year. A few years ago I made a script in Cheat Engine to show which hour it is in Dwarf Mode (even though it is not that important, just to feel the passing of days), and percentage of time to the next full moon (to know when to expect transformation). Nowadays I would probably do it in dfhack, because it is updated very quickly, and scripts usually need only small tinkering between versions.

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joostheger

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2023, 03:27:21 pm »

Well my idea was, if let say between cycle 6 and 7 there is another timedifference, my syndrome-interaction-mixup may notice that it is autumn.
do you know how I might do this with DFhack? I've not yet tried anywhing with that. I want my livestock to go to sleep in winter, autonomously
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Salmeuk

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2023, 07:39:22 pm »

the most inconvenient time possible, in my experience
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Saiko Kila

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #12 on: September 20, 2023, 03:02:58 am »

Well my idea was, if let say between cycle 6 and 7 there is another timedifference, my syndrome-interaction-mixup may notice that it is autumn.
do you know how I might do this with DFhack? I've not yet tried anywhing with that. I want my livestock to go to sleep in winter, autonomously

In DFHack, you can simply check what season is  by reading a variable by your script or in console, for example:
Code: [Select]
lua to enter LUA interpreter
Code: [Select]
~df.global.cur_season to show which season it is (0=spring, 1=summer, 2=autumn, 3=winter)

You can even check what time of the season is by reading
Code: [Select]
~df.global.cur_season_tick which shows "season ticks", which are 10x longer that normal year time ticks, so there is 10080 ticks per season (cur_season_tick/10080 times 100 will give a percentage of a season progress, for example).

But to utilise it you would have to write scripts for DFHack. To be honest I don't know how to do it easier than with DFHack.
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joostheger

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Re: What TIME OF DAY do werebeasts transform?
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2023, 02:09:26 am »

Thats a very good hint, thank you! Wel, i've tried 32 (literally) methods of doing this without DFHack. But I surrender, lets dfhack it then.
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