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[Galagaman]

I suddenly developed a thing for gorillas and decided that my newest fortress would have a military supplemented by only war gorillas and not any other war animals. Although I know they are not the "best" war animals, I'm still going to do it, but just so I know to not overestimate how well my gorillas can maul anything that moves, how would you rate their combat prowess compared to the other war animals?

[Grim Portent]

In general I find anything below the size of a jabberer is a rather lackluster war animal, though they can do a good job as a swarm of gnashing biting teeth and pummeling fists, and slashing claws. Gorillas shouldn't be much better or worse than dogs, wolves or similar things.

Give the gorillas [CAN_LEARN] and they'll be able to learn combat skills like striking and wresting, which should make them very useful if you can keep them well stocked. Though they may need altered to have hands rather than forelegs, I recall they count as Quadrupeds at the moment.

[Galagaman]

In general I find anything below the size of a jabberer is a rather lackluster war animal, though they can do a good job as a swarm of gnashing biting teeth and pummeling fists, and slashing claws. Gorillas shouldn't be much better or worse than dogs, wolves or similar things.

Give the gorillas [CAN_LEARN] and they'll be able to learn combat skills like striking and wresting, which should make them very useful if you can keep them well stocked. Though they may need altered to have hands rather than forelegs, I recall they count as Quadrupeds at the moment.

Ha, elite wrestling gorillas. Never tried modding the game, but I guess I had to start sometime. Thanks.

[Blastbeard]

Can you order war animals with an [EQUIPS] tag to hold things? If so, give all the war gorillas stone maces, it'll be just like Congo only without those lame lightgun-guided sentry turrets.

[BlackFlyme]

Can you order war animals with an [EQUIPS] tag to hold things?

No, sadly. The only way they would be able to get a weapon would be by wrestling it out of an opponent's hands, which requires quite a bit of luck.

But since gorillas are quadrupeds they don't have anything to grasp with, so they won't be able to steal weapons off of opponents.

E: Their only attacks are biting and scratching.

[Galagaman]

Can you order war animals with an [EQUIPS] tag to hold things?

No, sadly. The only way they would be able to get a weapon would be by wrestling it out of an opponent's hands, which requires quite a bit of luck.

But since gorillas are quadrupeds they don't have anything to grasp with, so they won't be able to steal weapons off of opponents.

E: Their only attacks are biting and scratching.

How could I change that? I want my gorillas to just their nifty thumbs for more than twiddling.

[BlackFlyme]

How could I change that? I want my gorillas to just their nifty thumbs for more than twiddling.

Gorillas can be found in creature_large_tropical.txt

In their raw file they have:

Code: [Select]

[BODY:QUADRUPED:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:SKULL:MOUTH:TONGUE:5TOES_FQ_FINGERS:5TOES_RQ_ANON:GENERIC_TEETH_WITH_LARGE_EYE_TEETH:RIBCAGE:FACIAL_FEATURES]
Instead, replace it with something like this:

Code: [Select]

[BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:SKULL:MOUTH:TONGUE:5FINGERS:5TOES:GENERIC_TEETH_WITH_LARGE_EYE_TEETH:RIBCAGE:FACIAL_FEATURES]
All I did was copy the human body and replaced the teeth with the gorilla's teeth.  Though it means they won't 'knuckle walk' like real gorillas do, since their hands aren't used as a stance-type body-part.

As I mentioned, they can already bite and scratch, so all they are missing is the ability to punch and kick. Again, I'm only copying human raws, but here are some attacks:

Code: [Select]

[ATTACK:PUNCH:BODYPART:BY_TYPE:GRASP]
[ATTACK_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE]
[ATTACK_VERB:punch:punches]
[ATTACK_CONTACT_PERC:100]
[ATTACK_FLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK_PRIORITY:MAIN]

[ATTACK:KICK:BODYPART:BY_TYPE:STANCE]
[ATTACK_SKILL:STANCE_STRIKE]
[ATTACK_VERB:kick:kicks]
[ATTACK_CONTACT_PERC:100]
[ATTACK_FLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK_PRIORITY:SECOND]

[Urist McVoyager]

I don't know, I've heard of Giant Desert Scorpions being pastured around weapons and picking them up on their own. Not sure if that's current, sadly, but if it is it should be able to transfer to other animals.

[Garath]

they (GDS) didn't do so for me. What they can do is wrestle them away from other creatures or pick them out of their bodies (and wield them) if the weapon got stuck and the owner ran or died before taking it out.

[BlackFlyme]

they (GDS) didn't do so for me. What they can do is wrestle them away from other creatures or pick them out of their bodies (and wield them) if the weapon got stuck and the owner ran or died before taking it out.

That's because pincers are capable of grasping. Some types of wings are capable of grasping as well, such as the kind giant bats have.

[Garath]

I know, do you have any other info on wether they will pick up weapons from the ground?

[BlackFlyme]

Can't say I've ever seen a confirmation for animals picking up weapons, sorry.

Though the rumor must have come from somewhere. The character page for Dwarf Fortress on TvTropes claims that desert scorpions can pick up items off the ground.

[chevil]

I have used war gorillas. Useful against snatchers and kobolds but not against sieges. Specially against kobolds. Gorillas can pick up and throw those little buggers 3-4 tiles easily.

To destroy sieges with gorillas look at masterworks armored war dog raws and create some sort of armored war gorillas.

[Rohain]

I think it stems from weapons getting stuck in.  If a weapon becomes stuck into a creature, then the attacker dies (leaving the weapon stuck) the creature may withdraw it from their body and hold it in a grasping hand.

It would seem possible that a dwarf might stick a desert scorpion only to go catatonic on account of the venom, leaving the weapon there.  Not sure if desert scorpions have the ability to grasp weapons though...

[Garath]

yes, they do, in their pincers, which also accounts for their wrestling grabs and chokeholds