snip
Okay thanks Quietust. I hope you do write that script, but I wouldn't ask you to do something that might be frustrating and time consuming...
Good luck if you do though
OKAY - here are my current findings on flags and a bit more besides:
You can change caste using gm-editor = stable
You can change sex using gm-editor = stable (valid values are 0 and 1)
You can KIND OF change race using gm-editor = stable, but creature will instantly 'transform' back into their original race.
the flag 'marauder' changes a creature into 'hostile'. (quicker than fiddling with invader_id?)
the flag 'merchant' seems to make a dwarf friendly - possibly related to the friendly-trader migrant bug.
the flag 'left' makes a dwarf disappear - probably what the game uses to make merchants/diplomats/wagons leave once they reach the edge of the map. USEFUL FOR MEPH?
'incoming' doesnt seem to do anything - possibly related to incoming traders or migrants?
'diplomat' flag seems to correctly list the creature as a diplomat, but you instantly get the ''diplomat leaves unhappy'' announcement like a normal diplomat will do. DOES actually leave though. Flagging a creature as a diplomat, then unflagging them after the announcement does not make them continue to leave. USEFUL FOR MEPH?
'zombie' and 'skeleton' don't seem to affect creatures. Possibly works just like ghosts do, ie, select the undead zombie/skeleton/ghost, then change the flag from true to false to turn them back to human form before they die of missing bodyparts etc. COULDNT TEST PROPERLY YET.
'projectile' seems to turn the creature literally into a projectile. Unfired. So they are removed from lists, you can no longer (v)iew them and they just lie there as inanimate objects... OR this may be how the game handles when a creature is launched by a force - as they are not selectable in that moment, so they must be in this state. Unfortunately, with just the flag change, they are in a permanent state of limbo, floating outside of normal physics.
'active_invader' makes the creature an active invader - NOTE the SIEGE tag in the top right does not appear though. Also, the creatures seem bugged, as they don't move much. Possibly like the way siegers bunch together and take a long time to reach the fortress, but during the entire time testing, with a clear open path to my dwarves, they did nothing but mill about, like dwarves do in a meeting hall.
INTERESTING TO NOTE - dwarves lose their fort-related needs when in hostile/invader, so it can extend the lives of dwarves who are near death maybe...? There are better ways to do this though.
'hidden in ambush' will do nothing if the creature is of your civ. with the active invader tag however, the creature disappears as expected - still seems to be stuck like the other invader flagged creatures however. MAYBE because of invader_id? or lack of civ id? will test more when I have more time.
'caged' removes the creature tested on - possibly how the cage removes the creature from its normal pathing etc. Not sure what happened to the cageless caged test subject though... EDIT - he's still listed in the (u)nit list, but he is now: 'no job(caged)'. Still missing from the world though.
using the 'tame' flag on citizens makes them ''(semi-wild)'' but otherwise seem to act as normal citizens...
the 'cleanup' flags 1, 2, and 3, seem to just remove a creature from the game.
'unwanted_visitor' seems to make a creature hostile AND path towards your dwarves - in conjunction with invader, makes the creature act strangely - just pathing randomly around despite being listed as invader.
the 'vision' flags don't seem to take effect on a creature, but the creature I blinded with the flag didn't seem to react to the wild wolf I put into his test chamber - normally citizens run all over the place. So maybe it does work, but it won't display so on the (v)iew>(w)ound, or the thoughts and feelings page.
the 'breathing' flags seem to work - setting breathing_problem leaves a creature permanently winded.
'visitor' lists a creature in the (u)nits screen as a visitor.
'announce_titan' flag is interesting. It seems to work exactly as a normal titan announcement, but it gives the creature description, i tested on an unnamed human, and it announced 'The Human has come! A medium-sized creature prone to great ambition'.
'scuttle' transformed the human into a wagon instantly, which when unpaused, instantly scuttled. There were no notifications of the transformation or the scuttling. Left behind a human corpse, unfortunately. Was looking forward to a wagon corpse.
'ghostly' transforms a creature into an 'undead' Ghostly form of itself. Un-flagging an otherwise unharmed creature as 'ghostly', just brings them back to life like nothing happened.
that is it for flags for the moment.
ATTRIBUTESI also messed about quickly with attributes.
I managed to make a dwarf 'unfathomably weak' by setting his strength to 1, which I have never seen before. Will test more if really necessary - but gm-editor can change attributes, and attribute-tissue whatever that is.
AGEyou can change the birth_year, made a spawned creature go from the standard 1 year old, to 10. Changing them back to age etc
does not make them children.
CURSESyou can add curses, which seem to be able to allow you to add curse related tags, such as NOEXERT and OPPOSED_TO_LIFE etc.
will test this more, but preliminary testing seems to suggest there are maybe flags or other values that need changing to make this work, or at least it doesn't work on civ members.
EDIT: Tested on a 'marauder' flagged elf, and it worked fine.
HISTORICAL FIGURESdoesn't seem to work just yet. There are 2 flags, and 2 id's. I used really large unlikely numbers as the id's, but they could have been duplicate to another creature. Shouldn't have been, but possible.
Will keep testing...
Hope this stuff helped. I will dig some more though.