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[Leonidas]

The forest retreat of Fordedfortunes contains lots of animals:
202 Dingoes
196 Wolves
140 Peregrine Falcons
100 Grizzly Bears
100 Black Bears
100 Porcupines
14 Horses

If my dwarves attempt a pillage or raze mission, the bears will almost certainly fight, and the wolves might fight. That's a fight I'm not sure I can win without losses, even with 100 legendary warriors.

So I should raid to steal away the potentially dangerous animals and cut the site down to size. The trouble is that there's no way to tell my dwarves to steal only the dangerous animals. So the only safe way to take Fordedfortunes is to steal nearly 1000 animals to get the 200 that are actually dangerous.

It sure would be nice if I could tell my squads to steal only the dangerous animals and leave behind the porcupines and dingoes.

[GoblinCookie]

Why just dangerous tags? We could presumably select any tag we liked.

[Leonidas]

Why just dangerous tags? We could presumably select any tag we liked.

True, but that would make the interface more complicated. The more thorough solution would be to select the animals to steal. The more realistic solution would be an option to steal the animals and kill them at the site, rather than flooding the fortress with them. It's not yet clear to me whether the burden of disposing of stolen guard-animals is intended to be part of the challenge of strategic warfare.

[FantasticDorf]

Training your squads to ambush and sneak away animals by a few test runs on <10 population sites often works out better, all i see in those embarks is infinite meat and leather with value modifiers.

Mmm Grizzly bear roast. Though 100 of each animal is too OTT and should probably be capped in the future.

[GoblinCookie]

True, but that would make the interface more complicated. The more thorough solution would be to select the animals to steal. The more realistic solution would be an option to steal the animals and kill them at the site, rather than flooding the fortress with them. It's not yet clear to me whether the burden of disposing of stolen guard-animals is intended to be part of the challenge of strategic warfare.

But what exactly are your dwarves doing here, stealing dangerous attack animals?  They are presumably working on the basis that the attack animals don't know that they are enemies come to steal them.  How then do the attack animals know to attack when they are actually deployed in battle or to attack the site?  There is an argument about whether it really should not be possible to steal guard animals at all?

[Leonidas]

But what exactly are your dwarves doing here, stealing dangerous attack animals?  They are presumably working on the basis that the attack animals don't know that they are enemies come to steal them.  How then do the attack animals know to attack when they are actually deployed in battle or to attack the site?  There is an argument about whether it really should not be possible to steal guard animals at all?

Historically, stealing animals is a normal part of war. Horses are usually the big prize, but depriving the enemy of any kind of draft animal (donkeys, mules, oxen) is good, too.

You don't bring animals into battle unless they're trained well enough to follow commands. War animals usually can't tell friend from foe; they rely on instructions from the humans. So if you can get alone with the enemy's animals, then they'll usually follow you.

all i see in those embarks is infinite meat and leather with value modifiers.

What I see in those sites is enough creatures to drive my FPS to single digits. Butchering them would create enough work to occupy my 150-dwarf fortress for over a month.

I've stolen thousands of animals. I smash nearly all of them, and I still have 30k prepared meals and 30k more meat to cook.

[StagnantSoul]

If I'm going raiding, I'm here to steal llamas. I feel oppressed by the option to not steal solely llamas.

[FantasticDorf]

If I'm going raiding, I'm here to steal llamas. I feel oppressed by the option to not steal solely llamas.

Lets cross our stubby work calloused fingers that in the future we can scout ahead to see where the perpetrator's are hiding the llamas on site then especially set to take them with (d)etails.

[GoblinCookie]

Historically, stealing animals is a normal part of war. Horses are usually the big prize, but depriving the enemy of any kind of draft animal (donkeys, mules, oxen) is good, too.

You don't bring animals into battle unless they're trained well enough to follow commands. War animals usually can't tell friend from foe; they rely on instructions from the humans. So if you can get alone with the enemy's animals, then they'll usually follow you.

I wasn't talking about mounts, I was talking about trainable attack animals, which are different thing in the game mechanics.