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[lament]

Hi guys!

This is what happened... I have 2 sword dwarves in a squad. I ordered them to kill a trader that was running around my fort babbling because it was getting on my nerves. It was a very efficient kill. In 3 strokes he severed the spine, pierced his heart then smashed the trader’s brain with his pommel. Very satisfying! This generated a good feeling for me and the sword dwarf.

I turned my attention elsewhere for a while. When I checked my status later on I had lost 10 dwarves. I looked back at the area and there was blood everywhere. The sword dwarf never stopped killing. Once he got a taste of dwarf blood he couldn't stop. He was killing every civilian he could catch. I wasn't even getting "struck down" notifications.

I checked on him and he was "quite content" had "talked with a child", was "satisfied at work" and "took joy in the slaughter". He appears perfectly normal. Never mind that he killed my legendary carpenter and some legendary craft dwarves.

Had anyone else run into this? I am working on a mega project and don't have time for this.

Thanks

[Starver]

Loyalty cascade?  I'm not sure, as I've never actually invoked such a death, but if the trader was still considered friendly, despite your manual order to have him killed, then the dwarf that killed him off may have been considered an enemy and attacked automatically by others in the fort, only he seems like he's a lot better at killing than those that attacked him and so has been striking those down quite successfully.

(Not that it would have mattered, if he had been somehow killed by the carpenter, because then the carpenter would have been treated as an enemy, but whoever may have then killed him would have become an enemy, etc.)


Somebody else will be along in a moment to confirm/deny my suspicions, I'm sure, but that's my first thoughts.

[Drazinononda]

I am here to confirm Starver's suspicions. A soldier who attacks a trader from your own civilization becomes an enemy of the civ, while still being a member of civ; and then because he is an enemy of the fort, other dwarves will fight him spontaneously, which results in them also becoming enemies of the civ, and so on.

If your soldier is well-equipped and well-trained, it's possible he'll be the only survivor after a month or two of this, and will be battle-hardened with awesome stats. Then you can start your impromptu Hermit Fort challenge.

[Numeroid]

I haven't personally run into any issues like this, but I suggest in the future you kill annoying traders in more indirect ways. Challenge yourself. Be creative.

[lament]

I don't like this news. I am in my 15th year with a king and everything. I have carved out an area 120 x 80 tiles and 4 levels deep. right above the magma sea. I am in the middle of building a multi-level constructed city with roads and buildings and plumbing. Complete with a spiral ramp to the surface.

Now I am tempted to use seige engines on the next group of traders that come in.

EDIT: Are siege engines safe to use on traders?

[Starver]

Unless you need to kill the traders, I wouldn't, personally.  (But YMMV[1].)  Arranging a drowning chamber (within which your depot, or at least a temporary one, exists) is one fairly easy (and blame-free) way of killing traders.  Not entirely sure if all siege engine options would be as useful, or as risk-free.


I don't know if you can isolate that soldier at all.  If none of the other dwarves who have attacked him have survived (and all have died by his hand, directly or otherwise, and not in turn been killed by others for the 'crime' of attacking the original perpetrator), then you might be able to cease the problem by removing this one from the equation.  Most drastically, by killing him ('naturally', e.g. aforementioned method of drowning, or using any other natural dangers), but if he's never in contact with anyone 'normal ever again, might that be sufficient? (Draz seemingly would know.)

Maybe the swordsdwarf can be given a 'cell', fed and 'watered' and equipped by a supply-dumping chute or air-locked stockpile, and when the next siege comes along open his door (after you have closed everyone else's) and see if he works well as a 'berserker' (and, if so, give you the challenge of isolating him again), but if he gets killed off then at least that solves the problem (after possibly taking some actual enemies out of the equation).


[1] Obviously you made the first one freak out.  You may have stopped him leaving, due to a siege or surface megabeast threat, of course.  Or you just don't like traders, in which case go ahead as you want to.

[TKGP]

if he's never in contact with anyone 'normal ever again, might that be sufficient?

Confirming. As mentioned above the issue is your dwarves being flagged as enemies of the civ, so if you manage to contain anyone that's been marked separately (just this one guy if you're lucky), problem solved. At that point I would just suggest smashing him to be safe, though you could also keep him locked up and make him bookkeeper/job manager or something like that.

[Drazinononda]

Any members of the fort who are also enemies of your civ will trigger "cancels job: interrupted by fortmate" type job cancellations, just like invaders or hostile animals. But they still follow your commands (as much as your dwarves ever do) just as well as ever, so yes, if you can manage to isolate him (perhaps by very careful station orders, especially while building a cell) you could still use him to keep your work orders up to date. You'll just have to bring him food and drinks through an airlock or, more dangerously, dropped down a chute long enough to prevent job cancellations.

My advice: send him outside until you can dig him a private suite with outdoors access on one side and an airlock to the indoors on the other side. Furnish the suite with good quality furniture, including a bedroom, office and dining room. Burrow the soldier to the room and lock him in. He can be your manager and bookkeeper in peacetime, and your skirmisher against ambushes.

[lament]

I like the isolation thing. Now I just have to figure out how to bring him up 100 z-levels to the surface through my main mine shaft. He gets very excited whenever he sees a squishy civilian, which is constantly.

Hmm. The kings chambers are only a few levels away. Maybe I will try for that first. This is going to be fun.

I have been playing this game for years and never ran into anything like this. 

Good talk guys. Thanks for the advice.

[helmacon]

Be VERY careful, as soon as more than one person gets in a fight with him at once the whole thing will explode. Theres notheing worse, or *ehurm* !!fun!! , than watching your whole fort unravle into cival war. well, actaly its pretty cool, but it ruins you production.

[katana]

You know, if he lives, you can have a true crazed hermit fort where the sole inhabitant will murder incoming migrants.