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[Akoto]

Hi all,

I have a couple of cave dragons captured in cages, and I've tried to start the process of taming them and training them for war. Something about the process seemed stopped up, though.

I've assigned them both to be trained by the fort's best animal trainer, who is very good, but I've seen neither of them taken to the pasture for training. They're still sitting in their cages some distance away.

I have made certain that their assigned trainer does have the Animal Training and Animal Care labors enabled. Are they just being tamed where they are, without need to be taken from their cages to the pasture, or might something else be up?

[SebasMarolo]

I know this one, I know this one!

Set an activity zone for training encompasing the cages, but dont take the dragons out. Otherwise, untrained cave dragons will run amok your fort.
Also, keep them on their cages even after training them. Its better if you let them go semi wild and train them again in the safety of their cages so your civ can gather more and more knowledge abou them, so next training sessions will yield better results.

Also also, try to breed them, and train the hatchlings. If you tame them while they're babies, they wont revert back to wild. I think.

Another thing, you may have to build the cages as buildings first. Just press (b)uild, go for the cages, press x to choose which cage, and select the ones with the cave dragons inside.
If you don't mind me asking, how did you capture them?

[Akoto]

If you don't mind me asking, how did you capture them?

Cage traps laid in a single-tile corridor. They walked right into them.

I will try your thought about building the cages. Right now, they're both stored in different areas nowhere near the pasture.

[Fleeting Frames]

Note that if you try to tame the young:
iirc, eggs are laid once a season and take two to hatch.

However, the training level the born children have is what the mother had the moment the eggs were laid.

Nevertheless, what SebasMaroio posted wouldn't work for this species in particular due cave dragons being adult at birth.

Also, since cave dragons take a while to grow up, the adult ones are generally much more dangerous anyway than young few years old. Still, even the young are fire-safe.

[Akoto]

Two questions I find myself pondering on the dragon subject, partly prompted by the help I've received ...

1. Is a real dragon (as in, not the cave sort) worth training even if you're lucky enough to catch one? Or, to cheat and spawn one? Heh. From what I can tell, they're formidable, but they generally just end up melting half of your population with dragonfire while trying to kill threats. Of course, I suppose I could dig it a special lair and let the dwarves admire it ...

2. With respect to cave dragon (and I guess dragon) breeding, we've already discussed to keep the dragons in their cages at all times, even once trained. Don't they need to be loose and to have access to a nest box in order to mate and lay eggs, though?

Fun to experiment with, if a little dangerous. Still, the glory of war unicorns and now dragons defending my city, which has just recently become home to the King and Queen!

Oh, and relevant: I've relocated the cave dragon cages to the Animal Training zone. How will I be able to tell if it's begun to work and that lazy trainer's doing his job?

[Fleeting Frames]

Dragons are far more troublesome than cave dragons. Beyond friendly fire, there's also the issue that megabeasts generally are enemy of your civilization, thus prompting military to slay them - even if you captured them without them killing any pets or dwarves.

And yes, you need to release them from their cages for egglaying.

Because of this, to me dragons seems mostly useful for bunkers. Though only slade is dragonfire-safe to control their line of sight, and if you're using one might as well ensure they're pitted into a wall with no ceiling - I theorize that enemy fire cannot reach them in such a case, but have not tested this idea beyond pitting a dog into tree roots on open space once.

Needless to say, there are deadlier and cheaper designs for killing a target in your entrance corridor. Nevertheless, it's cool.

[Akoto]

Shame that you can't have a dragon in a special lair, just there to be looked at. I understand dwarves get a positive emotion for admiring their terrible majesty!

As for my cave dragons, so far as I can tell, the trainer hasn't done a thing with them since I built their cages in the training zone. Confused.

[PatrikLundell]

- You don't need a training zone to train animals in cages. You do, however, have to designate each animal to be trained for training (which I presume you have done with your best trainer).
- Training is wonky and it seems creatures are trained once per season or so (although gremlins set to be trained by any trainer can be chain trained, where a second trainer starts as soon as the previous one is FINALLY done [due to the bugginess of training of citizen gremlins]).
- For cave dragon breeding, I set them to be trained by anyone, train them in cages until they've reached a reasonable level of training (they won't die of old age on you, so you can take your time). Then I bring them to a pasture with a nest box (the male first, although the female usually makes a bee line for the box to lay an unfertilized egg anyway). The pasture should be designated for training. Since the first egg is usually unfertilized, you need to collect it and wait for the next season's egg and be quick about forbidding it so it won't be collected (or lock the door, but that will prevent training).

[SebasMarolo]

Or make sure you dont set the general "eggs" on your food stockpile, but rather the kind of eggs you want taken. For exmple, if you have cave croc and turkey poultry, but want to breed the crocs, make sure the only kind of eggs your food stockpiles are allowed to take are turkey ones.

If there's no stockpile allowed to take them, and your kitchens are linked to stockpiles, thus keeping your cooks from walking into the croc nest for some fresh eggs, your croc eggs will be left in peace.