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[Nil Eyeglazed]

After I discovered that the evil ash on my map isn't particularly dangerous-- mostly, it just puts you to sleep-- I decided that this would be the perfect test of vampires and tame animals.

I placed Etur (not his real name) and a tame jaguar in a small enclosure on the corner of the map, with one wall made of grates to allow the evil ash in.  It took forever to actually get some evil ash to spawn exactly where I wanted it to, but finally, the two were covered, and the jaguar feel asleep.

I'm a little surprised at what happened next.  Etur switched to his night-creature icon, and I got excited-- but then he just stood there, adjacent to the jaguar.  He's switching back and forth from night creature to dwarf, and not actually moving on to the jaguar (when I saw a vampire in my barracks, it was right on top of the dwarf from which it was feeding).  The jaguar's apparently not losing any blood, nor is the vampire losing his "years since last drink" thought.

So, interestingly, it looks like sleeping tame animals trigger the blood thirst, but can't sate it.

EDIT: The jaguar is faint!  Maybe I was mistaken, and the vamp is feeding.  If I can bottle this evil ash, and find some nice big animals to tame, could this be the answer to vampire thirst?

EDIT2: Etur killed the jaguar!  Next test: invaders

[Frogwarrior]

Oh god yes please test invaders, I was planning on disposing of invaders by dropping them down a shaft high enough to knock them out but not kill, so they'd land next to a chained vampire, or something. Oh god please work.

By the way, regarding the blinking: Does it keep happening even if you pause? If so, it's just alternating the display between the two so you can see that it's a dwarf AND a night creature, sort of thing. Also, maybe it just always takes time for a vampire to feed? I dunno, I haven't seen vampire feeding other than in Adventure Mode; has anyone else seen how long a feeding usually takes?

Whoa, wait a minute - maybe it's something like, a vampire next to something sleeping will choose to suck blood every turn it can, and people only survive a feeding if they wake up in mid-feed? Hm.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

I'll test invaders, but it takes a while-- first I've got to wait for winter to build the chamber on my terrifying ocean, then I have to wait for an ash cloud in the right place.  I'm also working on trying to get a bunch of items contaminated, so hopefully I can contaminate a dwarven bathtub and stake some big creature next to it for sleep-on-demand.  Maybe I can find a creature big enough that it won't die to feedings.

Even if it works on invaders, I'm not sure that it'll work on knocked out invaders-- one of the interesting things about the syndrome I've got is that affected creatures actually flash to a Z like sleeping dwarves do.  I don't think knocked out critters do that, so they probably have a different state.

You're right, I was just mistaken about how vamps are supposed to look-- they do flash.  I've just had mine locked away for so long that I forgot!

It does seem like the vamps suck a certain amount of blood per time period.  (Managed to interrupt a vamp sucking a legendary, and the legendary was faint for a long time.)  I think vamps might also rack up thirst for a long period of time-- a vamp that hasn't fed in a long time needs more blood, leading to likelier deaths.  (After all, a jaguar is as big as a very large dwarf, so I'm surprised that it got killed.)

But I'll let you know about the invader tests!  (Also working on a FB silk farm at the moment, so that'll keep me busy while I wait )

[rtg593]

AHA! So then all we need to do is rig up a repeating system that constantly wakes up our dwarves! GENIUS!!! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CAN GO WRONG WITH THAT!!!

[NRDL]

PTW. 

[Frogwarrior]

I doubt it makes a difference whether they're flashing Z - at least in adventure mode, I am quite thoroughly able to slurp away at goblins or animals that I've choked / delimbed until they pass out.

You could probably test if it makes a difference by drop-trapping a cat into unconsciousness or something.

[Cheshire Cat]

surely cavein dust still causes unconciousness? used to be you could drop a block, constructed or otherwise, down a shaft with fortifications at the bottom and anything on the other side of the fortifications would be knocked unconcious upon contact with the resulting cloud of dust. it was useful for capturing the old HFS or for knocking out champions for suspended animation storage, as both of those would only be caught in a cage trap when unconcious.

[Loud Whispers]

Great Scott! A vampire cattle rearing system! BRILLIANT!

[Girlinhat]

Glory to you.

Easy fix: Mod in a material that boils slightly above room temperature.  Put a boulder of this in the pasture, and run magma under the floor to induce heat.  Animals pass out from the inhaled syndrome, vampires feed.

Adding an unconscious syndrome to edible grass may work as well.

[Flying Dice]

PTW. High calibre science going on here.

[Frogwarrior]

Cave-in dust still causes unconsciousness, you just have to be careful that it doesn't push the cat into a wall whereupon it will probably explode. Takes a bit more construction effort than a drop-trap, but it works too.

[darkflagrance]

Can the evil ash be trapped on the map and unleashed when the invaders enter an enclosed space? Or does it phase through the walls?

[Nil Eyeglazed]

Can the evil ash be trapped on the map and unleashed when the invaders enter an enclosed space? Or does it phase through the walls?

It doesn't phase through walls-- that's actually a problem.  A closed area won't get the ash.  (I bet it'd disappear anyways.)  I've been using wall grates to wall in my vampire and test subjects.  However, it also contaminates items, which hopefully means I can contaminate a shallow trench.  The problem is that my ash is on the ocean biome, and the waves wash the contaminants off before I can retrieve the items.  Still, I'll keep an eye out, should I get a chance.

I've got a giant moon snail (wild) and a naked macegoblin set up for testing.  I'll let you know what happens when they fall asleep.

[Urist McGyver]

Quick question not related nor to topic nor to thread: If I give dwarves [SPEED:0], will vamps also become lightning fast?

[ullrich]

PTW: Since all my forts now are planned to become vamp forts, feeding them animals/invaders will be useful.