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[Derakon]

The game currently tries to keep one "squad" of wildlife on the map at any given time. On some maps, this can mean anything from a fox to a herd of skeletal elephants. As soon as the last animal in a squad either leaves the map or is killed, a new squad is generated.

You can abuse this to keep the outdoors relatively safe, by crippling an animal or otherwise stranding it so it can't get off the map. It'll just sit there, continually unconscious, and preventing something more dangerous from taking its place. Animals do not need to eat, drink, or sleep, and never recover from injuries.

[martinuzz]

Hmmm. I wonder if it works as well to cage them all and NOT tame them. Or releasing them in a pit (cage + lever)
I posted a new defence strategy on the wiki this week, 'Armed civilians'
When you embark on a map that has no wildlife, you can turn on the hunting job for all dwarfs, without hunting jobs being generated. This means that you can have all your civilians walk around in steel plate armor. (Normally this would cause a serious slowdown to your economy because of dwarves going out to hunt.

Now if it were possible to capture all animals in cages (not very easy on most maps) to prevent new ones spawning, you could try to achieve armed civilians on any map.

releasing them in (sealed off) pits is another option which I should investigate. I am afraid that hunting jobs WILL be generated, to be cancelled by a 'cancels job: cannot reach target' message. And thus causing a slowdown. I know that it is not possible to achieve armed civilians by forbidding your dwarves to go outside, for you will be spammed with hunting job cancellation messages.

[Derakon]

Caging animals won't stop new squads from showing up. I had a fort with several dozen caged zombie elephants. You have to leave them loose. It might be possible to ditch them in a pit, but that'd be tricky without caging them first. I don't know if releasing one after caging it will block new squads from generating.

[Tenebrous]

It might be possible to trap an animal with Kagus' pit fall trap. The pit trap is a 'passive' trap, which can easily trap your animal of choice in a pit for all eternity, without causing the game to respawn another environ squad.

As for the hunting jobs, it should be possible to completely block off pathfinding from the trapped animal with constructed walls/floors/etc... If it stops pathfinding, it should stop job queuing.

Beware, however! Nerfing animals (especially in Sinister/Terrifying biomes) may have significant influence upon DF's ability to generate fun! I do approve of arming civilians, though.  

code:

.......   (Z) .: Ground, = or |: Bridge, ^: Pressure Plate, >: Down Stair
.|==...
.|^|.>.   The Pressure Plate here is constructed on a floor constructed upon
.==|...   the support below, and linked to it.
.......
#######   (Z-1) .: Ground, #: Wall, ]: Support, D: Door, <: Up Stair
#...###
#.].D<#   When the support crumbles (instantly upon trigger), the floor above
#...###   will collapse (bridges don't support tiles) and trap the creature
#######   behind the door/floodgate/wall below.

Credit for this design goes entirely to Kagus. Definitely a fun defensive device.

[Dasleah]

"Ah, Whiny McComplain, my fellow Elf Trader! How fares ye?"
"I...I don't wanna.....oh, man....."
"What ho? What has perturbed you so? Has some one maligned a dear tree in your presence?"
"No, I....you - you know how they say the road to damnation is lined with good intentions?"
"Yes."
"...it's also lined with crippled Muskox."

Traders Cancel Trade: Brains Broken.

[martinuzz]

quote:Originally posted by Tenebrous:
<STRONG>It might be possible to trap an animal with Kagus' pit fall trap. The pit trap is a 'passive' trap, which can easily trap your animal of choice in a pit for all eternity, without causing the game to respawn another environ squad.

As for the hunting jobs, it should be possible to completely block off pathfinding from the trapped animal with constructed walls/floors/etc... If it stops pathfinding, it should stop job queuing.

Beware, however! Nerfing animals (especially in Sinister/Terrifying biomes) may have significant influence upon DF's ability to generate fun! I do approve of arming civilians, though.  

code:

.......   (Z) .: Ground, = or |: Bridge, ^: Pressure Plate, >: Down Stair
.|==...
.|^|.>.   The Pressure Plate here is constructed on a floor constructed upon
.==|...   the support below, and linked to it.
.......
#######   (Z-1) .: Ground, #: Wall, ]: Support, D: Door, <: Up Stair
#...###
#.].D<#   When the support crumbles (instantly upon trigger), the floor above
#...###   will collapse (bridges don't support tiles) and trap the creature
#######   behind the door/floodgate/wall below.

Credit for this design goes entirely to Kagus. Definitely a fun defensive device.</STRONG>

If you replace the door with a bridge over a channel at Z-1, then the trap is also safe from building destroyers...