@jwoodward48df: I did consider the "dirty mind" interpretation and decided not to bite on it at the time. Clothing offers no "dirty mind" protection though, it's almost as useless as the Zuma kind.
@Salmeuk: You build gremlin traps and then train the buggers. They're a pain, actually, because you can't keep them caged because they'll go insane from lack of sleep, and you can't keep them pastured because they need to eat and drink. Thus, you need to let them run free (after the initial caged training) and make sure you have enough trainers to ensure they're trained in a timely manner. They pass through animal locked doors to get to training, and leave the doors as "claimed by enemies" afterwards. Their behavior and usage has changed from 0.40.24 to 0.42.X, and I'll describe the 0.42.X one below.
Once trained gremlins perform odd jobs about the same way as children do, but a bit more often. They also socialize, pray, read, etc. They claim a visitor's room from the inn, and eat and drink (using a goblet) as they please, and retraining is generally automatic. Eventually they'll make a petition to become a member of your fortress, and that's where they become a pain (provided you accept). After they've become citizens they perform unskilled labors (haul, clean, build,...), and claim a regular room, leaving the inn one. Using vanilla DF you have no further control over them, nor can you see their thoughts, but the current Dwarf Therapist actually allows you to both control their labors as if they were dwarves, and to see their thoughts, preferences, etc.
Despite them being citizens, they STILL have to be retrained regularly, and here's where the pain comes in: they usually no longer come to training on their own accord, but just continues working on one task after the other, leaving the trainer to thirst and hunger. If there's no work available they will go to training, though. The way I work around the training issue is to have a small training zone (I used to have multiple, but that caused trouble) and have a burrow covering that one. When a gremlin needs retraining I assign the gremlin to the burrow and release it afterwards. I try to time the burrowing so it's not hauling a heavy item (like a metal bar), so it will take an eternity for it to reach the trainer. To compound the issue, civilian alerts don't play nice with individual burrows, since the civilian alert allows the burrowee to roam freely within the civilian alert burrow, rendering the individual burrow totally ineffective.
I've considered to use DT to set gremlins as animal trainers so they can train each other, just because that's silly.
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Topic: Can I clothe my gremlins? (Read 4133 times)