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[Uggh]

I trapped some Barn Owl Women (and Men) in cage traps outside my fort. Now the rest of the tribe gathers around the cages, probably wanting them back. They do not provide a threat as they are not aggressive but I get a lot of cancellation spam due to my dwarves trying to recover the occupied cages and reload the traps.
What can I do to get rid of them? My military was annihilated only recently (with large parts of the fort), so direct attack is no option. Furthermore,the cages are close to a river, making fighting even more hazardous.

[AutomataKittay]

Military's the only way, or waiting for them to walk away

[Uggh]

I have been waiting for more than half a year now. Is it guaranteed that they will leave eventually?

[AutomataKittay]

It can take up to a couple years for animal migrations ( including beastmen ) to finally leave. Not sure how they behaves in cage traps in latest version, though.

Of course I tend to just send my military in to slaughter anything that's annoying my haulers, but on occasional wild trappings, I've seen them leave after a year or two when I'm ignoring them.

[Uggh]

So if I have to wait (no more military at the moment), could I somehow deconstruct the traps to get rid of the job cancellations? What happens if I dig an upward ramp exactly below a cage trap?

[Brewster]

You don't have a spare dwarf and an axe? Instant military. Just slap an axe in his hand and have him stand there... that will at least scare them off so you can pick up the cage. IF you don't want to do that, then yes... forbid the building and cage and dwarfs will ignore the trap.

[Deon]

I've had creatures standing near caged mates for years. Just forbid cages to stop job cancellations.

You also don't need a big military. Station soma marksdwarves afar, they will quickly become skilled from shooting at live targets.

[Uggh]

After the last unfortunate attack I went down to 12 dwarves (from around 40) and barely survived the ensuing tantrums. I already tried sending my last two semi-military dwarves to scare them away but they were barely impressed. Then one of the two (my expedition leader, he had an axe) fell in the nearby river and drowned and I withdrew. The situation is kind of fragile at the moment regarding happiness and I don't want to risk the tantrums to rise again.

Can I forbid a cage trap after it has been built to stop the dwarves trying to reload it? I thought I could only forbid unused material but not a building. This would be the easiest solution until I have recovered a bit to take more serious measures.
Or maybe distribute some crossbows and hope they do not come closer...

[AutomataKittay]

You can forbid the mechanisms to stop them from trying to load the trap. Using either designation or t over the trap ( I think it's t, I know I've manually forbiddened traps )

And that's pretty few dwarves, yeah don't send anyone until they're happier

[Uggh]

You can forbid the mechanisms to stop them from trying to load the trap.

Perfect, I'll try this and deal with the Owl men later.
Thank you, everybody

[weenog]

I would call that a perfect opportunity to play around with the otherwise pretty worthless siege weapons.

[goblolo]

you can make a squad of 10 crossbowdwarves giving them wooden crossbows and wooden bolts. They are quite good for crippling unarmored enemies so that your second axe/pick squad will make a quick work on them.

[wagawaga]

you can make a squad of 10 crossbowdwarves giving them wooden crossbows and wooden bolts. They are quite good for crippling unarmored enemies so that your second axe/pick squad will make a quick work on them.

I've seen bone bolts tear entire bodyparts off and then propelling small animals. If they have no armor, any piercing damage will almost always be fatal if not heavily crippling. Also, hope for them to impede the owl men flying - flying enemies are much more manageable while grounded.