I'm sure we all hate birds in dwarf fortress. Whether they be packs of roving kea eager to steal your priceless artifact socks, or lone peregrines eating up all the vermin and having your cats starve to death, BIRDS ARE ANNOYING AS HELL.
Well, perhaps you'd like to know of a little project we here at Roadkill Industries have been working on...
evil cackleSerious stuffsThe Orbirdal Defense Network is a series of minecart tracks shaped as in below. In this example, there are 6 z-levels of the same arrangement stacked above one another. Minecarts are kept in perpetual motion by the four impulse ramps, reaching deadly speeds very fast.
I've been fortunate enough to have a low embark with about 15 z-levels of sky. This contraption extends from z-level +9 to +14. +15 requires too many bridge-walls to be worth it, and anything below +9 should be useless once I get some war dogs to scare them away from the ground.
Now, see that peregrine falcon there? He's been acting like a dick lately, flying over all my little ponies and scaring them from their pastures. Well now him and his little smarts has just wandered into the path of an incoming minecart. Lets show him who's boss.
Peregrine falcon enters the device, on a direct collision course with the minecart.
COLLISION! The falcon is run over by the minecart, who speeds off like a hit-and-run offender.
The falcon is stunned, unable to fly or escape from the device, and is thrown back by the force of the collision! Even if he was knocked off the ledge, he would have plummeted into the ocean below and drownt anyway.
He skids all the way to the end of the device, where he bumps into the map's edge. Note the severe injuries.
Read the severe injuries.
Just when he thought he was getting a break, the psychotic minecart returns for a second round.
Bye bye birdy.
For all you blood-thirsty maniacs, another bird bites the dust in this spine-chilling 1HKO video:
http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-2719-projectroadkillexplodingbirdsSo what are you waiting for? Get the Orbital Defense Network today, and you no longer have to worry about pesky fliers ever again!
now, about the corpses...__________________
Original post:
Okay, so a little background:
I'm currently running a small fort intended to catch large creatures from the ocean, much like Sphalerite's legendary sea serpent farm. In fact, my setup is pretty much the same. One of the key components of this fort is that the edges of the embark square need to be sealed off with raising drawbridges to prevent land animals from spawning, so that ocean creatures can spawn instead.
Unfortunately, after sealing up the map, I noticed one thing - the BIRDS are still spawning! I seem to catch them being spawned from the edges of the ocean embark (ie the sides with no visible land below it). So, what gives? Did spawning rules change recently or something?
Either way, I'd also like to ask: where do ocean creatures spawn from? If they spawn on the ocean level (z=0), and the birds spawn at (presumably) above sea level (z=+1), can I just wall off z+1 the same way and see some fishes coming in?
And lastly, if all else fails, just post your funny/interesting ideas in getting rid of those darn birds. I might just consider turning this into a duck hunting fortress instead.