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[WCG]

I got three vampires in a migrant wave after my fortress was just one year old. So yes, I'd say that's a threat!

Unfortunately, I was using Dwarf Therapist, which makes it obvious which dwarf is a vampire. But I tried to pretend I didn't know.

After only a few weeks, I've lost three dwarves already, including one of my original dwarves. And I still don't have a military worth mentioning (let alone a Hammerer). I assumed that my dwarves would start panicking, looking at all the migrants with suspicion, so I'm locking up the four migrants who didn't arrive with family members. (Actually, six in total didn't arrive with family, but one had a cousin already in the fort and one is very young, so I'm assuming that they'll give her the benefit of the doubt.)

I wish I could assign dwarves to be chained up, like you can animals. But since I can't, I just made small, one room burrows for each of them, and when they entered, locked the door behind them. (I'm still waiting for two of them to enter their rooms. They don't seem to be in a big hurry, even though I removed all their jobs.)

One of these dwarves isn't a vampire, just a lone, unlucky bachelor fisherdwarf. But that seemed the best way to play this from a role-playing perspective.

[Imp]

So I think that I found one more test that might guarantee vampireness in some cases- if a migrant arrives on your map and immediately generates a "Recover Wounded" task for one of your dwarves, and it has no obvious wounds, then it's a vampire.

I'm not sure if this is because of wounds sustained during worldgen that heal as soon as the vampire enters the map (similar to how megabeasts would show up with all sorts of severe injuries in 40d) but I have definitely had this happen with at least two vampires. The "recover wounded" task seemed to have been generated the instant they entered the map and they were not injured by wandering wildlife as far as I can tell. At least one of the vampires was carried into the fort by a dwarf despite being uninjured after being picked up (I really should have gotten a screenshot).

I've had exactly this happen as well, every detail the same.

[Deimos56]

So I think that I found one more test that might guarantee vampireness in some cases- if a migrant arrives on your map and immediately generates a "Recover Wounded" task for one of your dwarves, and it has no obvious wounds, then it's a vampire.

I'm not sure if this is because of wounds sustained during worldgen that heal as soon as the vampire enters the map (similar to how megabeasts would show up with all sorts of severe injuries in 40d) but I have definitely had this happen with at least two vampires. The "recover wounded" task seemed to have been generated the instant they entered the map and they were not injured by wandering wildlife as far as I can tell. At least one of the vampires was carried into the fort by a dwarf despite being uninjured after being picked up (I really should have gotten a screenshot).

I've had exactly this happen as well, every detail the same.

Likewise.

Twice, actually, but the second guy turned out to be missing a hand. If the fortress crumbles before I get bored/whathaveyou, I'll have to check the legends on that guy.

[Loud Whispers]

Vampires are like a kerosene fireball, fun to toy with, safe and pretty cool. But give it another source of fuel, leave it unchecked and it'll burn your house down.

[Hectonkhyres]

Vampires are like a kerosene fireball, fun to toy with, safe and pretty cool. But give it another source of fuel, leave it unchecked and it'll burn your house down.

So... like cats then?

[NTJedi]

I wish they'd fly into a berserk, superhuman killing frenzy upon being discovered or something. Do they rack up many casualties on their own if you don't notice them for awhile?

Good Point!!  Currently when a vampire is discovered:

Military barges into Sir Dacula's room...
Sheriff says, "You're under arrest for the crimes of two blood draining murders.  What say you?"
Sir Dacula responds, "Gosh Golly you caught me, I give up and accept anything you decide for my fate."
Sheriff says, "We plan to station you outside permanently inside a single glass wall port o potty, where you will warn us of approaching threats!"
Sir Dacula responds, "Sure, no problem... can I get a bite to eat before we go?"
Sheriff says, "Well I guess... wait... NOOO !!"

Suggested Change when a vampire is discovered:
Military barges into Sir Dacula's room...
Sheriff says, "You're under arrest for the crimes of two blood draining murders.  What say you?"
Sir Dacula responds, "It seems you discovered my unusual drinking habit. I refuse any torture or prison awaiting me thus either we fight it out here or you allow me to safely leave your lands where I promise to never return.  What say you?"
  **Player then can choose whether to allow the vampire to leave or be killed.

Other random scenarios can also be introduced:
  a) such as when the vampire is confronted it trys to only escape.
  b) the vampire trys to seduce\charm the sheriff for freedom (if opposite sex).
  c) the vampire insists on being allowed freedom to leave or promises its family of other vampires and children of the night will attack the fortress out of vengeance.  (If killed the fortress is ambushed by a group of vampires within a year... same as goblin ambush yet vampires.)

[Equus]

Might just be bad luck but so far it appers that vampire prefer to eat the first seven or perhaps people with high skills. since my latest vampire ate 2 from the first seven right of the bat

[zilpin]

  b) the vampire trys to seduce\charm the sheriff for freedom (if opposite sex).

Considering that nearly my entire military (male and female) are wearing leather dresses and carrying iron whips, I don't see why the "opposite sex" requirement has any purpose in Dwarf Fortress.

[Loud Whispers]

Vampires are like a kerosene fireball, fun to toy with, safe and pretty cool. But give it another source of fuel, leave it unchecked and it'll burn your house down.

So... like cats then?

No, vampires are cute little sparks, cats are the components of chemical bombs and soap.

[NTJedi]

  b) the vampire trys to seduce\charm the sheriff for freedom (if opposite sex).

Considering that nearly my entire military (male and female) are wearing leather dresses and carrying iron whips, I don't see why the "opposite sex" requirement has any purpose in Dwarf Fortress.

Physical attraction has always been more than just what someone or something is wearing.   I feel sorry for anyone who makes romantic decisions only on what is being worn.

[Corai]

Unless everything goes horribly wrong (and this being DF, it tends to do that), most ordinary threats (monsters, goblins, zombies, FBs etc) will only endanger those dwarves whose professions may take them out of the fortress. So miners, woodcutters, weavers, fisherdwarves and soldiers might expect high casualty rates, but normally you don't lose your best "inside" dwafves like weaponsmiths, farmers, cooks, brewers, strand extractors etc, unless you're unlucky or the fort is collapsing anyway.

Enter Urist McVampire.

Suddenly your legendary armoursmith winds up dead. Then you have to either put off that massive order of steel armour you were making, or accept it being of substandard quality. Either decision could lead to a disaster if your military meets something nasty in the meantime.

Or he might feed on your legendary cook. "That's OK," you say. "Quality doesn't matter too much on food anyway." You might notice when his replacement is cooking MUCH slower and you run out of food. Tantrum spiral may ensue.

In short, yes indirectly vampires can destroy a fort, though they seem fairly easy to spot most of the time. It is a bit of a shame that they don't resist arrest when the hammerer comes for them, but hopefully Toady will fix that in future. THAT could result in serious fun, especially if the vampire picks up a weapon, or was part of the fortress guard. Another reason not to draft new migrants straight into the army...

Incorrect. A vampire soldier is as good as a untrained fool. As there skills are frozen, unless they arrived as a skilled soldier.

[TempAcc]

Unless everything goes horribly wrong (and this being DF, it tends to do that), most ordinary threats (monsters, goblins, zombies, FBs etc) will only endanger those dwarves whose professions may take them out of the fortress. So miners, woodcutters, weavers, fisherdwarves and soldiers might expect high casualty rates, but normally you don't lose your best "inside" dwafves like weaponsmiths, farmers, cooks, brewers, strand extractors etc, unless you're unlucky or the fort is collapsing anyway.

Enter Urist McVampire.

Suddenly your legendary armoursmith winds up dead. Then you have to either put off that massive order of steel armour you were making, or accept it being of substandard quality. Either decision could lead to a disaster if your military meets something nasty in the meantime.

Or he might feed on your legendary cook. "That's OK," you say. "Quality doesn't matter too much on food anyway." You might notice when his replacement is cooking MUCH slower and you run out of food. Tantrum spiral may ensue.

In short, yes indirectly vampires can destroy a fort, though they seem fairly easy to spot most of the time. It is a bit of a shame that they don't resist arrest when the hammerer comes for them, but hopefully Toady will fix that in future. THAT could result in serious fun, especially if the vampire picks up a weapon, or was part of the fortress guard. Another reason not to draft new migrants straight into the army...

Incorrect. A vampire soldier is as good as a untrained fool. As there skills are frozen, unless they arrived as a skilled soldier.

Really? I thought only their stats were frozen.

[Koronii]

Really? I thought it was just their attributes that were frozen.

[werechicken]

Why should vampires wait until they are arrested before acting. There's a fair few things they can do as soon as they're suspects.

You could have them try and silence witnesses (which if there are more than one is the same as going berserk)

Sneak off and make use of the missing dwarf feature, they could even return later and dwarfs with good observation could realise it's the kissing vampire suspect.

Carve a bloody path through the fortress on their way out.

And my personal favorite; try and start a cult offering the witness the bribe of immortality, could be spotted by groups of dwarfs meeting in someones room and/or wearing some form of uniform.

[Tolisk]

Great idea.

Only, where would you get the uniform?