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[Geesuv]

Having been lucky/brave enough to capture a Giant Cave Spider, I am faced with the issue as to what I wish to do with it. I don't want to just sit it in the zoo for all my Dwarves to 'ooh' and 'aah' at, I want to do something fun or useful with it (and perhaps even "fun")
But first I'd like to clarify some things about GCSs and training in general.
First, if I tame a GCS and mod the raws to train it as a war animal, will the GCS still use its web and poison attacks against hostiles?
Second, I have heard that once an animal kills a dwarf, it will harbour a tendency to kill dwarves even when tamed. Is this a confirmed effect or suspicion?
Depending on how this all works, I may just build a pit to throw goblins into and leave it at that...

[Vester]

The second one is definitely true. Blooded tamed animals will still attack your dwarves.

I don't know about the first one.

Also you could collect silk from the GCS, if you have some goblin prisoners.

[Quietust]

Tamed spiders will definitely shoot silk, and potentially lots of it. Rather than use it to deal with hostiles (which could potentially get it injured or killed), I placed mine in a safe silk farming room:

Code: [Select]

╔════════════╗
║            ║
╠═╦═╗╥       ║
║ ╪^╬║       ║
╠╪╬ ╬║       ║
║S╬g╬║       ║
╠╪╬ ╬║       ║
║ ╪^╬║       ║
╠═╩═╝╨       ║
║            ║
╚═≡≡≡════════╝

All 4 doors (╪) are unlocked but pet-impassable. The goblin is chained up, and the spider itself is simply sitting in its chamber, not attached to a chain (got it in there by chaining it first, then unchaining it and deconstructing the chain - though you can leave it chained, it seems to discourage it from pathing out of the room, making it shoot web less frequently). The goblin's chain is hooked up to a lever, and cage traps are ready to capture it should I decide to release it (for example, when the spider dies of old age). A lever outside links to entrance floodgates (≡) and a raising bridge in front of the outer fortifications, allowing my weavers to harvest the silk without being scared away by the goblin - when closed, the webs accumulate in the right side of the room rather quickly. The wall 3 squares south of the spider was constructed after the spider and goblin were put in place, ensuring that there is no way anything will ever escape.