Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[J_klaw]

O.K. so I am still pretty newby at Dwarf Fortress. But I had a pretty good fort going, about 70 dwarfs only 2 dead to stupid reasons before this. Then one day a ware hare showed up and the game tossed up the "oh a great terror!!" bullshit. I wasn't worried, just another thing to kill. I brought it down with the minor loss of one dwarf.

Problem solved right?

Nah, i guess one of the other guys got bit, and he turned warehare right in the middle of my production and promptly tore EVERY single tooth out of my legendary carpenters mouth. then proceeded to rip all of his limbs off (that one carpenter literally filled my refuse/corpse stockpiles because he was in so many damn pieces) and rampage through my workshops slaughtering half a dozen more dwarves before being put down.

Well that sucked, but at least its over now.....right?

Nah, now I've got warehares popping up everywhere, one of them got into my hospital to finish off the work the rest did, me fortress is drenched in blood and filled with corpses. I've lost about 30 dwarfs to this menace now.

But, I still have a lot of my important crafters, miners and such. So i think I can recover! but not if I cant solve this warehare problem. As mentioned, I'm still pretty newby. Advice of any kind would be much appreciated!!!

[MrLupenTails]

Send Elmer Fudd after them! The werebeasts should be dwarves again soon, so you should be able to slaughter them without mercy in some creative way afterwards. Or you could do something completely unnecessary and split the fortress into two parts. One part werehare and one not.

[Salmeuk]

Once you have 50% of the fortress infected I tend to abandon, simply out of laziness. Should you wish to save the fort, your best bet is to segregate the fortress into sections: those you can absolutely know to be uninfected, and the questionables. The werehares won't bother you with a wall in the way.

Werecreatures can prove valuable. Loose them upon hapless invaders, traders, and the like. Use them to scout the caverns. Breach HFS and test the limits of immortality. Build a prison complex slash education center, and train them into master mechanics.

Welcome to Dwarf Fortress!

[PatrikLundell]

As you've found out, were's are controllable as ordinary dorfs while not in were form. I can think of three destinations:
1. Purge the fortress of weres. This can be done gradually via usage as expendable shock troops, for instance, or done through a (reasonably) efficient atom smashing execution process.
2. Split the fortress in a were and a normal half.
3. Go fully were.

The wiki has info on when infected creatures turn http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Werebeast, so you know when you have to lock either the normals or the weres in (and note that weres are building destroyers, so doors won't keep them locked up; you need drawbridges or walls).
Also note that the were curse is transmitted via blood drawing bites and that weres turn on the first full moon after infection, so you can quarantine all potential victims in time for the following full moon and see which ones turn and which ones do not (infection rate is not 100%, and might be dependent on disease resistance). Quarantine them separately, or those spared the first time will be ripped to shreds by those infected.

It might be worth nothing that weres of the same were species are supposed not to be hostile to each other, but other were species are just as valid a target as are normal dwarves.

[ZzarkLinux]

Thanks for sharing the good story!

I second Salmeuk's idea of separating the werehares and using them to enhance your fort. Build an arena where caged goblins can combat your werehares. You've already got the beasts and the blood, now you just need to organize it for fun and profit. What could go wrong?

[thatkid]

Send Elmer Fudd after them! The werebeasts should be dwarves again soon, so you should be able to slaughter them without mercy in some creative way afterwards. Or you could do something completely unnecessary and split the fortress into two parts. One part werehare and one not.

Pshhht. Why split the fortress up? Let the disease spread, only allow those who can survive receiving the werehare gift to live there.

[J_klaw]

Alright, So I have decided to (for now) to divide my fortress between wounded and not wounded dwarfs. For a short term solution. I will let you all know how it goes. I'm sure it will be !!FUN!! at any rate 

[thatkid]

Alright, So I have decided to (for now) to divide my fortress between wounded and not wounded dwarfs. For a short term solution. I will let you all know how it goes. I'm sure it will be !!FUN!! at any rate 

Do be aware that the transformation heals wounds, so it's possible that the perfectly healthy and unwounded dude who inexplicably regrew his missing arm recently is, in fact, a werebeast.

[Niddhoger]

Alright, So I have decided to (for now) to divide my fortress between wounded and not wounded dwarfs. For a short term solution. I will let you all know how it goes. I'm sure it will be !!FUN!! at any rate 

Do be aware that the transformation heals wounds, so it's possible that the perfectly healthy and unwounded dude who inexplicably regrew his missing arm recently is, in fact, a werebeast.

Its actually deeper than even this.  Transformations (to and from were-form) will even reset hunger/thirst counters.  So when you segregate your fortress, the were-half doesn't have to bother with food and drink! I tend to make them soldiers.  Any wounds that aren't immediatly fatal heal the next month, so you either have fully healed soldiers or a new tombstone.  Either that or you set up a gulag for them.  Have them as miners, and send the ore they collect back into your fort via a double-airlock controlled by minecarts and pressure plates. 

The problem with going full-were, is that they are in fact building destroyers.  They'll tear the fortress down once a month, so very little actually gets done between rampages.  Thus, just keep a military force behind a drawbridge training 24/7.  When !FUN! arrives, send your legion of killer rabbits (with their big, sharp, pointy teeth!) at the enemy! I guess it couldn't hurt ot have a were-doctor as well.  This guy will stabilize anyone critically injured after a transformation to float enough time until they heal again.  Otherwise, you might have were-creatures bleeding to death on the ground before the next full moon.  Transformations tend to strip a dorf of his armor, so if he reverts mid battle... well better hope his wrestling skill is maxed. 

[thatkid]

Alright, So I have decided to (for now) to divide my fortress between wounded and not wounded dwarfs. For a short term solution. I will let you all know how it goes. I'm sure it will be !!FUN!! at any rate 

Do be aware that the transformation heals wounds, so it's possible that the perfectly healthy and unwounded dude who inexplicably regrew his missing arm recently is, in fact, a werebeast.

Its actually deeper than even this.  Transformations (to and from were-form) will even reset hunger/thirst counters.  So when you segregate your fortress, the were-half doesn't have to bother with food and drink! I tend to make them soldiers.  Any wounds that aren't immediatly fatal heal the next month, so you either have fully healed soldiers or a new tombstone.  Either that or you set up a gulag for them.  Have them as miners, and send the ore they collect back into your fort via a double-airlock controlled by minecarts and pressure plates. 

The problem with going full-were, is that they are in fact building destroyers.  They'll tear the fortress down once a month, so very little actually gets done between rampages.  Thus, just keep a military force behind a drawbridge training 24/7.  When !FUN! arrives, send your legion of killer rabbits (with their big, sharp, pointy teeth!) at the enemy! I guess it couldn't hurt ot have a were-doctor as well.  This guy will stabilize anyone critically injured after a transformation to float enough time until they heal again.  Otherwise, you might have were-creatures bleeding to death on the ground before the next full moon.  Transformations tend to strip a dorf of his armor, so if he reverts mid battle... well better hope his wrestling skill is maxed.

Would you say it's better to have were-creatures spar with or without weaponry?

[PatrikLundell]

I guess the sparring choice depends on how you want to deploy your force. If you want to patiently wait out the siege until just before they turn were, I'd go weapon and armor less, but if you want to be able to let slip the hares of war at the moment the enemies arrive you ought to go for armor and weapons, since you'd have to be a bit unlucky with the timing to get a transformation mid battle.

[Torrenal]

Random thought here...
Do werehares breed like rabbits?

[Salmeuk]

I believe that in the unlikely situation that two were-creatures get married and have a child, the child would be brutally murdered the next full moon since it lacks the were-curse.

If only!

[arbarbonif]

One thing I have noticed with my recent expedition into were-ness (actual were-WOLVES) is that the transformation doesn't seem to be instantaneous (or something else is happening).  I had 3 weres (and one guy who turned out to not have weredom) locked into a small (2X3) room and the first full moon the non-were and one of the weres died.  After the next month I had only the one were left.  I don't know if it was a side effect of close quarters or what, but the weres ended up killing each other on transform.

[Niddhoger]

If your were-creature can retain armor and weapons while transforming, thats great! A were rabbit is likely small enough to keep armor on, but I doubt it can grasp properly. 

My point is htat if they DO retain their weapons, you can send them out -right- as they transform.  If they don't... just send them out -after- and -before- they transform.  Your were-window isn't htat long, so by the time they exit your fort and kill a few gobbos, they might be ready to revert.  So for those large sieges/longer battles, I'd send them out in dorf form.  If their were form is powerful (were elephant vs zombies!) or can otherwise maintain their armaments (weregopher squads!) send them out transformed.

Again, the main advantage of your were-squad is that they regenerate.  No more warriors missing arms and legs, or who have "impaired grasp" from never-healing nervous tissue damage.  I believe it heals syndromes as well.  I also just toss people into the were room if they loose limbs.  Got your arm bit off by a surprise FB visit? Congratulations! You are now a were-soldier!