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[moogmg]

I'm new to the game and was recently looking through the legends of my generated world. When I was looking at historical figures I found a goblin  vampire with over a thousand kills. Yet, only one or two kills were mentioned in the history of this vampire. So, a few questions.

1.Is it common for vampires to get this many kills? even weirder is my world is only around  a hundred years old.   
2. Are not all kills shown in  the history of a  particular figure ? 

thanks for any help. 

[moogmg]

I should mention it shows the people killed in the "kills list" but not the history itself.

[Nyan Thousand]

Yes, and it only shows kills of named people. You will also find there something like "998 dwarves". That means he killed two historical figures and 998 other nameless extras.

[Niyazov]

I should mention it shows the people killed in the "kills list" but not the history itself.

This indicates that you have your init settings set to cull unimportant historical figures. This is done to keep world sizes manageable and legends from getting clogged with historically insignificant people and events.

Someone who lived a prosaic life and then got killed by a vampire will be trimmed; she's not an unimportant extra during her life in worldgen, and the events of her life will be tracked identically to those of the mightiest heros while she lives, but after death the game evaluates her boring life and removes all specifics from the save. This means every event in her life, including her interactions with notable historical figures. Little to no evidence of her will be preserved in legends, and historical figures' histories will not show their interactions with her.

I'm not totally sure which events the game considers when trying to determine whether or not to cull a historical figure, but I'm pretty sure that combat, kills, night creature conversion, and migration are major factors, while things like job changes, marriage, and childbirth are not, even if the children do go on to become important historical figures (in which case one of their parents will be listed as "an unknown creature".)

I'm not sure if the game counts culled figures when it records the number of attackers, defenders, and casualties in historical battles, but I'm pretty sure that it does. Animals with no kills likely don't get counted since legends mode accounts of fortress-mode battles only count animals as defenders if they have kills to their credit.

[Greiger]

It should also be noted that the more recent versions of DF do not actually generate every single creature in the world anymore.  It was part of the new towns update if I recall because one town can easily contain the population of a previous version's entire world.  And making them all stay as historical figures made memory chips explode.

Theres historical figures as mentioned, but there is also a mass of nameless population as well and historical figures will sometimes interact with those if appropriate.  Subtracting from the population numbers and adding a generic nameless creature of that species to their kill list. 

It is most apparent in adventure mode.  Look for some random townsperson.  And look at them.  Note how the vast majority of them are only identified as their profession.  Now talk to one, suddenly the game generates a name for them and they have instantly been elevated to historical figure.  Note that when you look at them, they now have a name.  They will also list as a historical figure in legends mode as well.  Although they still won't have all the detail of a worldgen historical figure.  That is how much of the world population is stored in recent versions, regardless of the cull setting.  Just a number denoting how many of a particular profession reside at a site, and their average skill level.

[Niyazov]

I hadn't realized this; thanks for the explanation.

It should also be noted that the more recent versions of DF do not actually generate every single creature in the world anymore.  It was part of the new towns update if I recall because one town can easily contain the population of a previous version's entire world.  And making them all stay as historical figures made memory chips explode.

Theres historical figures as mentioned, but there is also a mass of nameless population as well and historical figures will sometimes interact with those if appropriate.  Subtracting from the population numbers and adding a generic nameless creature of that species to their kill list. 

It is most apparent in adventure mode.  Look for some random townsperson.  And look at them.  Note how the vast majority of them are only identified as their profession.  Now talk to one, suddenly the game generates a name for them and they have instantly been elevated to historical figure.  Note that when you look at them, they now have a name.  They will also list as a historical figure in legends mode as well.  Although they still won't have all the detail of a worldgen historical figure.  That is how much of the world population is stored in recent versions, regardless of the cull setting.  Just a number denoting how many of a particular profession reside at a site, and their average skill level.

[Mr S]

Huh, I just took it in course that you didn't know that miller's name just by looking at him.  You knew he was a miller because of the color of his tile his attire, and perhaps tools of the trade.  When you strike up a conversation, he introduces himself.  Interesting to note that they're now historical figures.

Thanks for breaking the fourth wall, Grieger.  Thanks.   

[Anathema]

Huh, I just took it in course that you didn't know that miller's name just by looking at him.  You knew he was a miller because of the color of his tile his attire, and perhaps tools of the trade.  When you strike up a conversation, he introduces himself.  Interesting to note that they're now historical figures.

Thanks for breaking the fourth wall, Grieger.  Thanks.   

That's actually kind of brilliant - when you put it like that, not only does DF Adventure mode suddenly make sense, but you realize all other RPGs don't. It's going to ruin my immersion every time I see a new NPC's name over his head in any other game - wait, how would I know his name? I haven't even talked to the guy yet.

[Niyazov]

Huh, I just took it in course that you didn't know that miller's name just by looking at him.  You knew he was a miller because of the color of his tile his attire, and perhaps tools of the trade.  When you strike up a conversation, he introduces himself.  Interesting to note that they're now historical figures.

Thanks for breaking the fourth wall, Grieger.  Thanks.   

That's actually kind of brilliant - when you put it like that, not only does DF Adventure mode suddenly make sense, but you realize all other RPGs don't. It's going to ruin my immersion every time I see a new NPC's name over his head in any other game - wait, how would I know his name? I haven't even talked to the guy yet.

maybe fantasy NPCs all wear name tags? "Hello my name is LORD SKULLDRINKER"

[Greiger]

Diablo 3.

Hi my name is Scoundrel.   When yer still supposed to be assuming he's just some random bloke in need of aid.

[Nyan Thousand]

Huh, I just took it in course that you didn't know that miller's name just by looking at him.  You knew he was a miller because of the color of his tile his attire, and perhaps tools of the trade.  When you strike up a conversation, he introduces himself.  Interesting to note that they're now historical figures.

Thanks for breaking the fourth wall, Grieger.  Thanks.   

That's actually kind of brilliant - when you put it like that, not only does DF Adventure mode suddenly make sense, but you realize all other RPGs don't. It's going to ruin my immersion every time I see a new NPC's name over his head in any other game - wait, how would I know his name? I haven't even talked to the guy yet.

maybe fantasy NPCs all wear name tags? "Hello my name is LORD SKULLDRINKER"

No, see, everybody just knows each other. What do you think are they doing when you turn off the game? They socialize, man. u-v-r them and you'll see everybody's connected somewhat.