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[Spinning Fly]

Basically, two of my dwarves mysteriously got transported onto trees.

First one is a herbalist, who was stuck 2 z-levels above ground. The other is a miner, who has somehow managed to end up 7 z-levels above ground on an adjacent tree.

The only clue I could get as to how this happened was in the reports. Apparently there was a mantis man on the tree, 1 z-level above ground who tried to grab the miner . The miner amputated and decapitated him effortlessly and delivered a few one-liners to boot.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After "zooming to location" from the reports tab, I ended up here at level 144, 1 z-level above ground. You can see the mantis man's corpse there, on the branches of a peach tree.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The herbalist was stuck 1 z-level up from the mantis corpse (i.e. 2 z-levels above ground) on the same peach tree. He played no part in the conflict with the mantis man, but was distracted by a mantis woman while gathering plants (no attacks though, so nothing in the reports).

The miner ended up 7 z-levels above ground at level 151, on a walnut tree next to the peach tree.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

While all this was going on, the dwarven caravan had been unloading at my depot. Now they're just sitting at the depot with all their goods unloaded, but I can't trade with them. Scanning the depot with "q", it says "There are no merchants trading right now".

There is also apparently a "missing" wagon according to the units tab, a wagon wood log sitting in my wood stockpile and a merchant with a yak and a guard standing around 1 z-level below the depot. The guard had shot a bolt at the mantis man earlier.

Can anyone explain what the hell just happened?

Edit: Felling the tree just causes the dwarf to fall down to the ground and get crippled/killed. Also, when I tried constructing a staircase straight up through the tree (i.e. on the same tile as a branch or twig), the dwarf on the "construct building" job would pick up the block and just stand at the block stockpile without moving. Constructing floors on those tiles worked fine however.

[FrisianDude]

The herbalist could have been left in the lurch by possible other herbalists; herbalists sometimes climb trees (if they can get a stepladder) to pick fruit from it - another herbalist might take the stepladder away while the first one is in the tree.  I think via the zone 'gather plants' you can disable them climbing trees for nuts.

Also sometimes trees pop up stupidly quickly, I think. Miner probably 'dodged' into it.

[steel jackal]

if a dwarf stands on the trees tile when it grows from a sapling to a full tree they will get stuck up there

[Spinning Fly]

I thought the herbalist might have been collecting fruit...but that tree wasn't within any of the gathering zones.

I didn't know about trees growing so suddenly though (especially 7 z-levels high). I agree that's probably what happened. It happened to another dwarf too, and he almost starved before i found him and freed him. Serves me right for being so elvish and embarking on a thickly forested biome 

I was starting to worry that it might have been because of a minor cave-in that I caused when i was channeling out some area for above-ground farms, and the dust propelled the guy up a few z-levels. That would have been interesting though...

I'm still having trouble with that caravan. They're all still sitting at my depot. It's been over a month since they apparently "embarked on their journey" but they haven't moved an inch. Any ideas?

Edit: There is a clear path for the wagons, so that isn't the reason.

Edit 2: Ok scratch that, they all left (leaving their goods behind) as soon as I deconstructed the depot. I imagine they're pretty pissed

[FrisianDude]

7z-s is a lot

[EBannion]

The 'dwarves stuck in trees' is pretty common since the introduction of climbing; it's your typical 'housecat' issue: they get up there to chase something, or to escape something, and then ca'n't figure out how to get back down.

The caravan fell prey to an issue where if a caravan wagon sees a sentient corpse, it will get so scared it spontaneously deconstructs into 'wagon wood' (which is why it's in your stockpile) without a message to you, and the rest of the caravan turns around and leaves. I suspect that because half of the caravan was already in your depot and unloading when the mantis died, it was one of the last wagons to head in that 'saw' the dead mantis man, and it resulted in the caravan being 'stuck'. They aren't mad at you and it shouldn't hurt your reputation with them when the next caravan comes, but yeah, that's why it happened.

[PatrikLundell]

Them dumping their stuff will hurt you trade reputation a bit, though. The incident results in a "trade" loss, which might translate into a smaller caravan next year.

[MoonyTheHuman]

Them dumping their stuff will hurt you trade reputation a bit, though. The incident results in a "trade" loss, which might translate into a smaller caravan next year.

i do this to elven caravans until they dont come C:

[Spinning Fly]

I didn't know about the caravan bug. I'll try to give them a way to get in without much outside visibility. Still, that must be a bloody nightmare if the caravan comes right after a siege. Thank goodness the good old depot exploit still works.

No worries about losing out on the dwarven caravan. I have more than enough to sustain for now. Honestly I'm more interested in keeping the elves happy, just in case they bring me a breeding pair of giant grizzly bears. I embarked on a part savage forest/part savage swamp and was hoping to cage a couple of those, but sadly all I'm getting are the stupid insects.

I'm still a bit confused about the miner. I can't believe he dodged up 7 z-levels. He completely wrecked that mantis man anyway, what was the need to dodge after that? Oh well I just hope it doesn't happen again.

Thanks for the help guys!

[EBannion]

I didn't know about the caravan bug. I'll try to give them a way to get in without much outside visibility. Still, that must be a bloody nightmare if the caravan comes right after a siege. Thank goodness the good old depot exploit still works.

No worries about losing out on the dwarven caravan. I have more than enough to sustain for now. Honestly I'm more interested in keeping the elves happy, just in case they bring me a breeding pair of giant grizzly bears. I embarked on a part savage forest/part savage swamp and was hoping to cage a couple of those, but sadly all I'm getting are the stupid insects.

I'm still a bit confused about the miner. I can't believe he dodged up 7 z-levels. He completely wrecked that mantis man anyway, what was the need to dodge after that? Oh well I just hope it doesn't happen again.

Thanks for the help guys!

What I think happened was that the mantis man scared the other dwarf, who climbed the tree to get away from it, and the miner was nearby and was enraged that his friend was threatened. He attacked the mantis, who fled up a tree, and he followed. In that case, the mantis man probably fled as high as he could before being killed, and perhaps his body then fell down and wedged where you later saw it? That would leave the dwarf in the top of the tree.

[Spinning Fly]

What I think happened was that the mantis man scared the other dwarf, who climbed the tree to get away from it, and the miner was nearby and was enraged that his friend was threatened. He attacked the mantis, who fled up a tree, and he followed. In that case, the mantis man probably fled as high as he could before being killed, and perhaps his body then fell down and wedged where you later saw it? That would leave the dwarf in the top of the tree.

I tried "zooming to location" for each of the lines in the report (miner slashes mantis man's arm off, mantis man tries to grab miner, miner beheads him, and the miner's 3 comments about death and fear), and all led to the square where the corpse ended up, or an adjacent square on the same z-level. So that explanation doesn't seem likely.

Also neither of the dwarves had/has any skill in climbing. I'm guessing FrisianDude and steel jackal are right, and the 2 just happened to be standing on a sapling when it grew into a full tree.

[Bearskie]

Just because they don't have skill in climbing doesn't mean they didn't climb. It's a notoriously difficult skill to raise.

[Plump Helmet]

The caravan fell prey to an issue where if a caravan wagon sees a sentient corpse, it will get so scared it spontaneously deconstructs into 'wagon wood'

This kind of thing, incidentally, is why I love this game.

[FrisianDude]

Just because they don't have skill in climbing doesn't mean they didn't climb. It's a notoriously difficult skill to raise.

this is also true. Multiple times I've seen a Dwarf seem as if he's falling to his death (poorly 'closed' staircase which sometimes feautres beasties climbing up and causing Dwarfs to dodge) - but then the Dwarf of 0 climbing skill has latched on to some rock wall rather than plummet.

[Spinning Fly]

Just because they don't have skill in climbing doesn't mean they didn't climb. It's a notoriously difficult skill to raise.

this is also true. Multiple times I've seen a Dwarf seem as if he's falling to his death (poorly 'closed' staircase which sometimes feautres beasties climbing up and causing Dwarfs to dodge) - but then the Dwarf of 0 climbing skill has latched on to some rock wall rather than plummet.

I would assume that it took less climbing ability to just cling on to something to stop yourself falling to your death than to climb all the way to the top of a fairly tall tree. But then again this is DF.

Come to think of it, climbing up 7 z-levels with your bare hands only to realise that you can't climb back down, and consequently starving to death, sounds like standard dwarven behaviour. Especially if you're trying to reach a sock.