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Author Topic: I have a zombie problem  (Read 2350 times)

Sutremaine

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I have a zombie problem
« on: January 22, 2013, 07:01:55 pm »

Here is the upper left corner of my map. I would like to boost my FPS by getting rid of the zombies, armour, bolts, and clothing lying around.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have 15 adult dwarves, 3 of which are trained in melee and 8 of which have a high level of ranged skill.

So, before I add anything more about the situation, your initial thoughts?
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I am trying to make chickens lay bees as eggs. So far it only produces a single "Tame Small Creature" when a hen lays bees.
Honestly at the time, I didn't see what could go wrong with crowding 80 military Dwarves into a small room with a necromancer for the purpose of making bacon.

wierd

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2013, 07:13:47 pm »

A series of walls and large atom smashers?

Once set up, quick easy cleanup at he flip of a switch...

*edit

I suppose I should be more specific...

Here's a rough, general idea:  you lay down 10x10 raising bridges, starting on the far side of the reanimation zone, with parked squads for immediate protection of the masons. Use quantum dumped stone or clay piles to reduce hauling times.  You want the bridges to retract up, and form a wall when "open".  This makes it harder for zombies to path, and creates a maze of raised bridges they must navigate. When they head your way, drop the bridges, and atomsmash them. With the zombies smashed, they won't reanimate. Put a dump area under a smasher with it raised, and designate the target area for dumping. Smash when ready.  Take advantage of the temporary lack of zombies to make the smashy-maze cover more of the afflicted area. Rinse, repeat until you have it as essentially one giant atom smasher.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2013, 07:31:42 pm by wierd »
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Tevish Szat

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2013, 07:47:59 pm »

Undead can be obliterated by cave-ins, atomsmashing, and Obsidian Casting.

If you've got sourced underground water, I might recommend a dual pump stack to first flood the surface with lava, then pour water over it to leave a massive field of obsidian walls.  Of course, that's probably the most stupidly onerous way to handle it

Undead often hate all life and will path to bait animals.  They have no ranged attacks, so you don't even have to use a spiral path to protect the bait in the grinder.  Bridges seem like the best grinding mechanism as if you're dealing with reanimated corpses and not weather thralls, the bits left by weapon traps will just animate again expanding your problem.  Cage traps could also work, but they you'd have to find another way to dispose of the caged undead... of course, a Mass Pitting scheme that let out over Magma Flow would get them erased by falling into SMR, so there is that.  Once the undead are gone, you can deal with the items however: magma, or dump-and-atomsmash
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Sutremaine

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2013, 07:57:44 pm »

Here's a rough, general idea:  you lay down 10x10 raising bridges, starting on the far side of the reanimation zone, with parked squads for immediate protection of the masons.
That's the left side, and the fortress entrance is on the right side (non-evil mountain). When you say 'far side of the reanimation zone', I read that as the furthest point from the entrance. Which is... not the best of building sites. You mean the part of the reanimation zone furthest away from the zombies?

Most of them will not path into the fortress. I'm currently doing cleanup around the entrance itself and have been doing so for a total of about a season, and while I draw a couple of zombies in per opening of the gates most of them are content to stay where they are and maul passing goblins.
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I am trying to make chickens lay bees as eggs. So far it only produces a single "Tame Small Creature" when a hen lays bees.
Honestly at the time, I didn't see what could go wrong with crowding 80 military Dwarves into a small room with a necromancer for the purpose of making bacon.

wierd

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2013, 09:02:56 pm »

Yes, "far side" == side away from zombie apocolypse.

You need a relatively safe section that is close enough that you can lure zombies (with delicious kittens...) into the smoosh-o-matic, but far enough away that fat juicy dwarves won't be attractive during its construction.

Once you have the first tier of atom smashing goodness installed, place a pen/pasture activity zone halfway between the zombies and the smoosh-o-matic.  Pen one of the many surplus kittens, or worse, one of the mind control parasites that have already claimed a victim and you can't butcher inside the pen, and disable animal hauling on all dwarves. Cats roam, and don't have an ai imperitive to be in the meeting hall, and will usually pen themselves. You also need another pen/pasture with a delicious kitten in it at the fortress facing side of the smoosh-o-matic, as the bait to lure them deeper inside.  The first kitten draws them close enough to notice the second, like a trail of breadcrumbs. One all the zombies are inside, pull the lever.

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Sutremaine

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2013, 09:35:16 pm »

It's been a season now and the corpse cleaning on the mountain has yielded some interesting results. A couple of straggling undead noticed the cleanup crew and made a move, but the timing was such that they made it onto the mountain before being killed by an armed dwarf. Not going to try that beyond the boundaries of the mountain, though I may try and do something about the neat line of bolts just inside the evil area. Maybe a nice catch channel...

I don't have any cats. Got plenty of sheep though? Non-cats will sometimes migrate to pastures of their own free will, but I'll have to lock the dwarves away from the animal before sending that 'command' because disabling Animal Hauling doesn't disable the Pen / Pasture Large Animal job.
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I am trying to make chickens lay bees as eggs. So far it only produces a single "Tame Small Creature" when a hen lays bees.
Honestly at the time, I didn't see what could go wrong with crowding 80 military Dwarves into a small room with a necromancer for the purpose of making bacon.

Naryar

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2013, 09:54:53 pm »

Pour magma on it ?

Sutremaine

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2013, 11:42:43 pm »

Hey, I'm trying to improve my FPS here...

The magma is less than 40 levels down, but bringing enough of it to the surface to melt much of the stuff hanging around outside will 1. be a fairly large project for the number of dwarves I have, 2. slow everything down until the lava stops moving, and 3. not do anything about the zombies themselves.

Making a mini-moat out of free lava might be an option with more dwarfpower though. Zombies aren't harmed by magma or fire, but going by casual observation they still prefer to step out of its way (don't know if they'll avoid pathing through magma if they would when still alive. I need to test that directly still). I could dig out the plumbing, make a hole to the surface from below, and then use pumps to pressurise the magma to one level above the surface.
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I am trying to make chickens lay bees as eggs. So far it only produces a single "Tame Small Creature" when a hen lays bees.
Honestly at the time, I didn't see what could go wrong with crowding 80 military Dwarves into a small room with a necromancer for the purpose of making bacon.

rawrcakes

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2013, 12:35:14 am »

You, my friend, do not have a zombie problem. You have a zombie opportunity!

Dig a pit 4x deep or so by your entrance, below ground. Add two 10x bridges or so. Lure 'em in and drop 'em down. Repeat untill all the zombies are in the pit. Now you have a pit of fun that you can drop traders elves enemies into. The fall shouldn't kill them, so you'll have the fun of them trying to fight against an unstoppable tide of zombies.

For bonus points, make a labyrinth of connected rooms leading out, with walls connected to levers where you can change the exit path. Watch your enemies attempt to claw themselves to safety with their legs broken and a zombie horde hot in pursuit!

If you want to be boring, however, you could use the dfhack clean, I suppose.
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thegoatgod_pan

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2013, 06:54:24 am »

I'd dwarf hack it away via autodump, and use the improved F.p.s. to start pumping up some magma for the future.
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jellsprout

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Re: I have a zombie problem
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2013, 12:01:16 pm »

If your militia has proper equipment, send them in. You could room them first for a bit to make them tougher, but if you manage to avoid getting swarmed this shouldn't be necessary. The zombies will not only provide your militia with excellent training, it will also make them tantrum proof. Being attacked by the undead counts as a tragic event, so after a bit of fighting they should stop caring about anything anymore.
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