(Being updated as data becomes available.)
Wording is an issue. Words here are used very specifically:
Trainer refers to a dwarf with the appropriate labors enabled and the one who interacts with the animal in order to tame and/or train it.
Taming refers to taking an animal which is wild and turning it into a friendly creature.
Training refers to taking a friendly animal and converting it into a war/hunting animal.
These words will not be misplaced, every word means what it sounds like it means.
A training zone is created via the "i" menu, similar to garbage and pasture zones.
The steps to taming and training:Capture a wild animal or an invader's mount in a cage trap.
Open the "z" stock screen for animals and assign the creature to be tamed using any trainer or a specific trainer.
- The trainer will take a piece of food that the animal will eat, be it meat, plant, or fish, and take it to the animal's cage.
- The level of tameness depends on the skill of the trainer.
- The now-tame creature will remain in its cage.
As time goes on, the animal will revert from ☼Tamed☼ to ≡Tamed≡ to *Tamed* to +Tamed+ to -Tamed- to Tamed to Semi-Wild to Wild.
- The quality of taming depends on the trainer's skill level.
- This means a better trainer will keep an animal tame for a longer duration as it degrades over stages.
If an animal is left in its cage, the the trainer assigned to the animal will re-tame the animal once it has become "Wild".
If an animal is not in a cage, there must be a training zone designated, and dwarves will take the creature there to reinforce its training and/or taming.
If left in proper conditions, any tame animal will breed.
- Yes, [PET_EXOTIC] will breed now!
The offspring may be kept tamed, and when they become adults they will become "Domesticated".
- Domestic animals will never revert - you now have a safe pet species.
- This also means it's possible to keep a set of wild animals breeding along with a set of domestic animals of the same species, allowing animal trainers to gain experience on wild foxes being bred.
A tamed or domestic creature that can be trained, can be trained into a war or hunting variety at a training zone.
- These are designated via the "i" zone screen.
Over time, the training level will wear off and the trainer will return the animal to the training zone to reinforce the training.
- The decay of training isn't yet known.