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[anewaname]

In Fortress mode, it arrived as a Hostile werebuffalo, killed some dwarves, then converted to a goblin. The Units screen now shows it as Friendly. Is this a bug?

[anewaname]

Also, DF version 43.05 Linux build. I'm looking for someone with enough knowledge to say if this should get posted to the bug tracker.

[Bumber]

Usually they run off the map. Did he decide to drop by the tavern to socialize?

[anewaname]

I did not have a tavern yet and he just wandered around on the map until I sent a squad to chase him and then he left the map.

The change of his status to Friendly is the part that doesn't make sense. It killed 20 dwarves while in were-form, then... Friendly. Another were-creature did the same thing today (reverted to Friendly after leaving its were-form) and this one also needed to be chased off the map.

I brought it up as a "is this a bug?" question because I didn't see anything in the bug tracker about this sort of thing and maybe this is intentional since, about 3 years ago, when a were-form attacked if it converted back to humanoid it would get clobbered because the dwarves still considered it to be a hostile, and back then it seemed very common for the were-creatures to die that way.

[Miuramir]

The change of his status to Friendly is the part that doesn't make sense. It killed 20 dwarves while in were-form, then... Friendly.

A complicating factor is that this involves several different issues mangled together. 

* Lore / philosophy / code of law questions... Is someone under the influence of a hostile transformation, like were-ness, "the same" person?  Are the two (or more) states responsible for each other's actions?  How berserk are the weres, and how much (if any) are the base person aware of what has happened?  Are there moral differences between an original were, personally cursed by a god, and those they spread the condition to? 

* Observation / dwarf state engine / rumor tracking / justice system / etc. questions: How do dwarves observe and keep track of transformation information?  In various fiction, it's frequently not obvious that initial attacks are a were-creature (as opposed to a particularly vicious, large, and/or rabid "natural" creature); and even once a were is suspected or even proven, it is frequently not obvious who the "base" person is.  Dwarven justice is not generally good at inferences from indirect observation.  While the player with their overhead view and inspection tool may well be sure that tavern visitor #37 turns into a blood-soaked monster on the full moon, if no surviving dwarf has witnessed the transformation, Dwarven justice may not be good at assigning blame. 

We probably need a dwarf justice system for accusing potential weres, like vampires. 

* Underlying engine and rumor tracking issues.  Especially with the systems currently being worked on, which try to balance between the fun of rumors possibly being false, and the practicality of pruning information trees for performance. 

Will we ever get Dwarves playing what amounts to an in-simulation deadly game of Werewolf?  Not even the Toad can be sure. 

*

[anewaname]

I see it. This situation is where the "switch the creature to Friendly status" is a best-fit placeholder for a more advanced system. So even if the fighting was observed, if the werecreature became a dwarf instead of a goblin, the vengeful dwarves might be in a state of conflict with some wanting to hang the new dwarf and others calling that murdererous.

I gurgle like a happy baby in anticipation of when I will set up a fort in an evil biome and the new Rumors screen gets a "Ogrem started a rumor" and the sub-report says "Ogrem's cat hissed at Mebel" Then a further sub-report in the chain says "Ogrem's cat always hisses at Mebel" then another says "Ogrem attacks Mebel due to paranoia" (with a separate combat report).

[Thisfox]

I've had weres turn into friendly randoms quite regularly. If no one witnessed their transformation, they're pretty much sure to be labelled friendly. On one occasion, a dorf then proceeded to shoot the naked human, and we ended up with a crazy tantrum spiral. It didn't help that he'd bitten several dorf children who needed to be walled into their bedrooms to prevent a werespiral as well. I don't think it's a bug: It's just hard to say that a confused naked human/goblin/whatever was the one who caused the broken limbs, huge lacerations, and infections when all the witnesses are dead.

[k33n]

It makes a lot of sense, considering they are a under the influence of the disease and that dwarfs are against murder.