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[Vndetta]

I set up a silk farm as shown on the wiki (under "Simple Silk Farm" http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Silk_farming). Always worked great in the past, but now that I'm running .40.19 and things can climb I can't get it to work.

Just like the diagram, I have a tame GCS pitted, along with a non-friendly bait animal. The GCS climbs right out of his fortification hole and kills the bait. If I prevent this with floors/hatches/etc. the GCS will not web - I presume because it can't path to the bait. Chaining the spider didn't work, and it won't respect pasturing if it can reach and kill the hostile creature. I also tried 2-story fortification holes, no luck.

I always really liked this farm design, can anyone figure out how to make it work in .40.xx?

[taptap]

I had my silk farm with a wild spider and using non-archer military dwarves as bait, in a more complex multi-z-level design (retracting bridges on repeat to collect silk). Spider removal by cage trap. Worked fine as long as the gcs lived, though you have to pay for silk with bad emotions.

[Vndetta]

I had my silk farm with a wild spider and using non-archer military dwarves as bait, in a more complex multi-z-level design (retracting bridges on repeat to collect silk). Spider removal by cage trap. Worked fine as long as the gcs lived, though you have to pay for silk with bad emotions.

Hmmm. It's good to know something works, although I'd prefer to not tie up a dwarf all the time - and I've already tamed the two GCS's I've caught; it will probably take a while for them to revert. Has anyone gotten a silk farm to work with a tame spider?

[Deboche]

You can try building something like the goblin repeater where you have the spider path to a creature and hopefully attack it with webs but if it gets too close a pressure plate closes a floodgate and opens a floodgate on the other side. The spider goes back and forth shooting webs and with a couple more floodgates attached to levers you can seal the whole thing off so dwarves can go in and harvest the webs every once in a while.

[Loci]

I set up a silk farm as shown on the wiki (under "Simple Silk Farm" http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Silk_farming).

No you didn't.

Just like the diagram, I have a tame GCS pitted

There's no pit on the wiki.

along with a non-friendly bait animal.

Nor is there a reference to a non-friendly bait animal.

I always really liked this farm design, can anyone figure out how to make it work in .40.xx?

Somebody already has... and updated the wiki. Try the version on the wiki.

[Vndetta]

Somebody already has... and updated the wiki. Try the version on the wiki.

Right you are, whoops. I was using the previous version's example from the wiki with the spider pitted from above, and traditionally the tame/wild aspect was optional. Not sure why I didn't notice that someone had updated it already.

In any case, the new example is using the military dwarf as bait, so if I have to use that I'll wait for my trained spiders to revert and give it a try.

EDIT: In the example, are those larger + symbols around the cage trap floodgates? Doors? And how would raising the green bridge allow the bait dwarf to escape? Isn't he just stationed in the main room area?

EDIT2: I built both the updated Simple example and the High-Volume one as shown on the wiki and set up a newly-caught wild spider, still not webbing. I'm thinking because it can't path through the forbidden doors. Hmm.

[Vndetta]

I had my silk farm with a wild spider and using non-archer military dwarves as bait, in a more complex multi-z-level design (retracting bridges on repeat to collect silk). Spider removal by cage trap. Worked fine as long as the gcs lived, though you have to pay for silk with bad emotions.

This sounds like the "High Volume" example on the wiki, which didn't seem to make the spider web either, since it can see the bait but not path to it... how did you get this to work in the new version?

[taptap]

I had my silk farm with a wild spider and using non-archer military dwarves as bait, in a more complex multi-z-level design (retracting bridges on repeat to collect silk). Spider removal by cage trap. Worked fine as long as the gcs lived, though you have to pay for silk with bad emotions.

This sounds like the "High Volume" example on the wiki, which didn't seem to make the spider web either, since it can see the bait but not path to it... how did you get this to work in the new version?

Did you test this or assume things? This did indeed work (in 40.14) until the spider died after exhausting 18 years of service. It looked pretty similar to the wiki example, no hatch though, I rather opened the door and retrapped the spider. Batch-production

[Vndetta]

Did you test this or assume things? This did indeed work (in 40.14) until the spider died after exhausting 18 years of service. It looked pretty similar to the wiki example, no hatch though, I rather opened the door and retrapped the spider. Batch-production

I did test it, so I'm not sure what went wrong. Thankfully, I seem to have stumbled upon a solution! Apparently someone had the same problem here: http://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/2fp7fc/my_silk_farm_isnt_working_any_ideas_why/.

I'm guessing the trick was the stone door between the spider and bait needed to be forbidden but still pet-passable, with a wild spider, and I kind of dug around/carved fortifications near the spider for a minute. Then I stationed a military dwarf and the webbing began shortly afterward, woot! This last time I didn't bother with the bridges and just stuck the spider into a one-tile wide fortification box in an otherwise empty room, with the forbidden/pet passable door at the Z-level above between the spider pit-hole and the exit. Hooray! Thank you guys for the responses =)