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[Kat]

Interested to know what other people's experience with bones is. Particularly goblins and other creatures that can't be butchered.

I've had some corpses here that have been here for 5 years now, and have not turned into anything that the bonecrafters can use. Many of those were killed with swords, axes and spears.

There are also some goblin corpses that turned into bones very rapidly - 2-3 months. Those were killed by being thrown from a tall building.

I've also had some corpse parts simply disappear without ever turning into usable bones.

Some stacks of goblin bones appeared to become unusable. Bone crafters say "Need unrotten bone body part". This happened while the stack was in the workshop.



So far, to me it looks like:

1. The method of death affects how long corpses and body parts take to rot into bones.

2. Death by falling creates corpses that turn into bones very quickly.

3. Bones from rotted corpses may deteriorate quickly.

4. Rotting corpses and body parts may rot entirely away, never producing anything usable.


So, it looks like butchering livestock is what you need for a reliable supply of bones, whereas goblin bones are unreliable.

[darkflagrance]

The problem with goblins is that they are sentients; I believe the unmodded dwarf fortress player will be equally unable to process the bones of tigermen and, unfortunately and ironically, mermaids. Interestingly, I've been able to use goblin bones in crafts, but a butcher who is about to process a goblin corpse will continuously cancel his job, even if other eligible non-sentient corpses such as those of slain wild animals are available.

In the Fortress Defense Mod, I've been able to completely butcher and use the corpses of certain non-sentient invaders, such as Stranglers (who are basically wild animals who have been modded to lay siege to the player).

After many sieges, the battlefield becomes covered in corpses. I've noticed that eventually, many of these rot away completely without my dwarves ever bothering them.

[Brandstone]

Corpses and unworked bones will rot away completely outside. Inside, corpses will rot into bones then stop rotting. I'm not sure if this has changed with the addition of ghosts though, and I don't know the timeline for rotting.

[Kat]

well, the thing that struck me was, that there were several stacks of goblin bones, of 6.

The bone crafters would use 5 of the 6, and for some reason, would say "need unrotten bone body part" and not use the 6th one.

I thought that meant it had rotted further while in the workshop, which was inside, as was the stockpile that the dwarfs had put the 6 goblin bones, after pulling them from the outside refuse pile.

[slothen]

I am unhappy with bones.  Bones should be an easy and renewable source for decorating things, but an entire stack of bones will only make a single decoration.  This means if you want to use bones for decoration you have to use a long drop to dismember your livestock.  On the plus side this gives you more leather.  But really, I shouldn't have to go to that trouble.  Bone artifacts are still broken I believe.

[Xenos]

I am unhappy with bones.  Bones should be an easy and renewable source for decorating things, but an entire stack of bones will only make a single decoration.  This means if you want to use bones for decoration you have to use a long drop to dismember your livestock.  On the plus side this gives you more leather.  But really, I shouldn't have to go to that trouble.  Bone artifacts are still broken I believe.

This is actually my preferred means of mass butchering...(pit with retracting drawbridge)

[Kat]

I am unhappy with bones.  Bones should be an easy and renewable source for decorating things, but an entire stack of bones will only make a single decoration.  This means if you want to use bones for decoration you have to use a long drop to dismember your livestock.  On the plus side this gives you more leather.  But really, I shouldn't have to go to that trouble.  Bone artifacts are still broken I believe.

you get more leather? what about meat products?

always seemed a bit odd that you got 1 cat skin and 1 cow skin, and they both seem the same size.

rather large cats, and miniature cows seems... unlikely.

[slothen]

Elephant hides are worth a lot, and i would presume elephant bones would be too.  If you butcher an elephant you'll get one skin, one large stack of bones, plus other stuff.  Each bone can make 5 elephant bone bolts, or the entire stack of bones can be used to do a single decoration, because decorations consume the entire stack.  Absurd.

Now, throw the elephant off a 20z+ tower and let it land in a room with high walls.  The elephant will explode into pieces, and limbs will separate.  Each limb will be butchered separately.  The main body of the elephant will again give 1 skin and 1 stack of bones, but each limb butchered will also give 1 skin, a single bone, and at least 1 meat.  If you're butchering livestock for the leather or for bone decoration, by using the explosion method you've effectively increased your output by a factor of 5 per animal.

[Kat]

Having done more research on the properties of goblins thrown off the Tower Of Throwing Goblins Off The Top Of, it appears that:

A goblin impacting the floor at sufficient speed will break up into:

Corpse, arms, legs, head.

The corpse will rot (in a short amount of time) into a partial skeleton, which will turn into a "(Goblin name)'s Bone (6)", which has a 'g' icon, rather than the superscript '2' icon of other bone/skulls.

This can be used 5 times, by a bone crafter to make things. It leaves a "(Goblin name)'s bone" which cannot be used. Bonecarvers say they need unrotten bone items.

Haven't yet obtained any skulls.