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[vexxice]

S---------><-------W
ALLAHU AKBAR

 
Okay, now that I got that out of me, I want help solving this mystery. So, the outpost liason from the mountainhome came with a merchant. I lowered the drawbridge to welcome the weary travelers, and all seemed to be going well.

The merchant decided to take a path through the trees I have circled in yellow. There was a rattlesnake where I have circled red. When the merchant got there, the wagon exploded (and so did the snake)! The merchant ran for his life from the mad suicide bombing snake. The rattlesnake apparently had over twenty teeth (which are strewn about now), so I would be running too.

Truly though, what do you think happened here? I joke about the snake, but what actually happened, and will it stop the dwarven merchants from coming? The game tells me that the wagon can reach my fortress, even between those trees, so I don't know if it just didn't fit. There are pieces of merchandise scattered all over the area. The outpost liaison made it into my base fine, but can he return home without a wagon? Can I acquire these items now that they are away from the wagon?

[Bumber]

What does the combat report say about the snake?

The wagon fell apart when the pulling animals got spooked. You can claim the items once the merchants leave. They're going to blame you for the lost profits no matter what you do, meaning less goods next year.

[vexxice]

Turns out an epic battle was fought in under a second. The snake got the merchants horse real good. The merchant got mad and gored the snake WITH HER BARE HANDS  . So, I guess this isn't quite as much of a mystery as I thought. I didn't know that wagons eploded if the animals leave them.

[Iamblichos]

An IED, cleverly disguised as wildlife?

"Uh, sir... that snake isn't hissing... it's TICKING!"

[PyroTechno]

Clearly, it just triggered the wagon's self destruct.

[Voidlord]

An IED, cleverly disguised as wildlife?

"Uh, sir... that snake isn't hissing... it's TICKING!"

Not as unlikely as it sounds I.S.I.S is apparently strapping bombs to chickens and goats in desperation, (they are running out of ammo, amongst other things) and using them as suicide bombers...

[Dirst]

Pro tip: If you're organizing an event that involves a lot of international travelers, you don't want the attendees asking people at a U.S. airport how to get to ICIS.

[Calidovi]

Step 1: Put snakes in minecarts
Step 2: Design an elaborate railway system with the bones of stray goats
Step 3: Crash snakes into merchants infidels
Step 4: Reap glorious -Zinc Cage- harvest for your and your God

[Naryar]

I think rattlesnakes have PRONE_TO_RAGE It doesn't have the [BENIGN] tag. Like carp, or unicorns.

That's what making him aggressive. Clearly the merchant went too close, at which point the rattlesnake declared a fatwa on the entire caravan, claiming them to be miscreants, and then what happened was only natural.

And wagons spontaneously deconstruct if the caravan is sufficiently stressed. I don't know the specifics, though.

[arbarbonif]

I just had the merchant guards kill a giant king cobra after my miner and broker spent a day and a half chasing it all over the map, punching it.  It didn't even try to attack anything.

[PyroTechno]

I just had the merchant guards kill a giant king cobra after my miner and broker spent a day and a half chasing it all over the map, punching it.  It didn't even try to attack anything.

That one was a pacifist. Take it to another thread - people here are only interested in snakes that shout something vaguely racist and blow up in their faces.

[gestahl]

Step 1: Put snakes in minecarts
Step 2: Design an elaborate railway system with the bones of stray goats
Step 3: Crash snakes into merchants infidels
Step 4: Reap glorious -Zinc Cage- harvest for your and your God

I'd never thought of dropping fire snakes onto elven merchants before now.  Maybe its time for a worldgen.

[Calidovi]

Step 1: Put snakes in minecarts
Step 2: Design an elaborate railway system with the bones of stray goats
Step 3: Crash snakes into merchants infidels
Step 4: Reap glorious -Zinc Cage- harvest for your and your God

I'd never thought of dropping fire snakes onto elven merchants before now.  Maybe its time for a worldgen.

How long until you can process venom from barrels, oh Toady?

[Bakaridjan]

I think rattlesnakes have PRONE_TO_RAGE It doesn't have the [BENIGN] tag. Like carp, or unicorns.

That's what making him aggressive. Clearly the merchant went too close, at which point the rattlesnake declared a fatwa on the entire caravan, claiming them to be miscreants, and then what happened was only natural.

And wagons spontaneously deconstruct if the caravan is sufficiently stressed. I don't know the specifics, though.

It doesn't take much. In my most recent experience of exploding wagons, I happened to have the human diplomat show up just before the dwarf caravan and outpost liaison. The human's guards did some serious pathing to go kill a gray langur man on a chain up on my wall. Apparently my fortress is the only place in the world where things die because the sight of a single dead gray langur man was enough to send the merchants into shock and abandon all their goods on my doorstep. Seriously, how do they ever even make it to my fort in the first place? In my first fort that successfully got going I probably went five years with all of the wagons exploding because I didn't know what was going on and I had left my refuse pile right out by the front gate. Is this considered a bug at all?