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[Weizen1988]

Wiki says that animals like elephants and the like require very large pastures to survive. Could someone give me a ballpark of what "very large" is per elephant? We talking 10x10, or more like 50x50? They look to be very effective at killing things, at least if Boatmurdered was any indication, and seem to wander through my current embark from time to time, trying to figure out if I can afford the grazing space.

[PatrikLundell]

10*10 is probably more than enough. I stopped trying to war train grazers when the war elephants I had started to roam the fortress, probably chasing their trainer. The first one starved to death spreading miasma 100 or so levels below ground, while I just managed to butcher the second one before it starved to death. The first one had stayed on the pasture for years without problem, but both started roaming shortly after the second one was bought and trained.

[Weizen1988]

10*10 is probably more than enough. I stopped trying to war train grazers when the war elephants I had started to roam the fortress, probably chasing their trainer. The first one starved to death spreading miasma 100 or so levels below ground, while I just managed to butcher the second one before it starved to death. The first one had stayed on the pasture for years without problem, but both started roaming shortly after the second one was bought and trained.

Hmm, yeah that could be a problem. Im still probably going to try it. Giant war elephant army sounds like it could A, feed my fortress forever, the non trained ones, and B, kill most anything. Most of the fort is dirt or muddy stone anyways, so they would never be far from food, would mostly be defending the caverns anyways.

[Fleeting Frames]

Them chasing their trainer will also eat into your FPS. Does make them more aggressive, tho.

[utunnels]

I think dorfs will feed their pets if they are starving. At least for those goats...
I never had an elephant pet though. 

The elephants are just meat in current version, they are cowards and do not attack invaders even if they are trained war beasts. However they can take more punishment than a war dog so I guess that is their main purpose.

[Immortal-D]

However they can take more punishment than a war dog so I guess that is their main purpose.

True.  The only critter more durable as a sentry animal is the Giant Turtle.

[Weizen1988]

I think dorfs will feed their pets if they are starving. At least for those goats...
I never had an elephant pet though. 

The elephants are just meat in current version, they are cowards and do not attack invaders even if they are trained war beasts. However they can take more punishment than a war dog so I guess that is their main purpose.

So what in your opinion is the best war animal, or are they all mostly just there to take hits?

[SebasMarolo]

I think dorfs will feed their pets if they are starving. At least for those goats...
I never had an elephant pet though. 

The elephants are just meat in current version, they are cowards and do not attack invaders even if they are trained war beasts. However they can take more punishment than a war dog so I guess that is their main purpose.

So what in your opinion is the best war animal, or are they all mostly just there to take hits?

Best war animal, huh? Well...
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=156319.0
Those.

[Fleeting Frames]

Aggressive animals can also double as small sort of hunters/alarm system. Can't be infected by werebeasts, after all.

For cave dragons in particular, takes a while to grow up, tho - over 26 years to reach the size of a regular polar bear. They also have two thirds of the speed of a dwarf, but that fire immunity is neat in said fort. Overall, cavern beasties aren't especially fast.

Aboveground, there are few significant options
Saltwater Crocodile: Largest "Large predator", grows up in 3 years and can be mass-produced quickly, but are slow (17 km/h gait, compared to dwarf's 30 km/h)
Polar bear: half the size of crocodile, but moving at 40 km/h. More unusual to encounter, however.
Lion:  quarter the size than the crocodile, but twice as fast as the polar bear.
Cheetah: Slightly smaller than dwarf, but moves at 120 km/h.
Anything with a shell: None are predators,  but idea is that they're harder to kill, buying you time. That said, they'll retract into shell and stay still, which can be quicker to coup than something that runs away at high speed (but on the bright side, doesn't pull a dwarf with "pasture animal" job).

Note that giant version of the cats don't boast the speed, going by wiki on cheetahs. However, even giant cheetah is bigger than a horse, with giant lion being a head taller than a jabberer.

Out of these, I'd favour polar bears the most - not egglayers, faster than dwarf but not too fast. That said, this is all speculation.

[Weizen1988]

I think dorfs will feed their pets if they are starving. At least for those goats...
I never had an elephant pet though. 

The elephants are just meat in current version, they are cowards and do not attack invaders even if they are trained war beasts. However they can take more punishment than a war dog so I guess that is their main purpose.

So what in your opinion is the best war animal, or are they all mostly just there to take hits?

Best war animal, huh? Well...
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=156319.0
Those.

Yeah, I saw that thread, I was concerned about how long that took to set up, but nothing good is quick usually. I guess grazers dont make a lot of sense for war animals.

[Melting Sky]

Jabberers are excellent war beasts. Vicious, quite fast, carnivorous, reproduce quickly, grow up fast and they are the size of an elephant.

In the end the best war animal is the one that's available. Go get yourself an army of pachyderms. You might as well grab some if they are wandering through your front yard. Elephants may no longer be the aggressive, blood thirsty Gods of rage they were back in the days of Boatmurdered, but they are still physically just as big and strong as they once were.

I generally find the caverns are the best place to look for suitable war beasts so once you breach them keep an eye out. Cave crocodiles and Jabberers are both very high priority targets for capture.

[Weizen1988]

Jabberers are excellent war beasts. Vicious, quite fast, carnivorous, reproduce quickly, grow up fast and they are the size of an elephant.

In the end the best war animal is the one that's available. Go get yourself an army of pachyderms. You might as well grab some if they are wandering through your front yard. Elephants may no longer be the aggressive, blood thirsty Gods of rage they were back in the days of Boatmurdered, but they are still physically just as big and strong as they once were.

I generally find the caverns are the best place to look for suitable war beasts so once you breach them keep an eye out. Cave crocodiles and Jabberers are both very high priority targets for capture.

Yeah, trying to get a male and female giant elephant right now, they seem to wander by on occasion, just never into my cages, whole map is flat, so no obvious chokepoints, but the wiki suggests that short of a whale, giant elephant is basically the biggest thing around, so figure its worth it for the meat and stuff even if they end up being less deadly than before.

[Pancakes]

Jabberers are excellent war beasts. Vicious, quite fast, carnivorous, reproduce quickly, grow up fast and they are the size of an elephant.

In the end the best war animal is the one that's available. Go get yourself an army of pachyderms. You might as well grab some if they are wandering through your front yard. Elephants may no longer be the aggressive, blood thirsty Gods of rage they were back in the days of Boatmurdered, but they are still physically just as big and strong as they once were.

I generally find the caverns are the best place to look for suitable war beasts so once you breach them keep an eye out. Cave crocodiles and Jabberers are both very high priority targets for capture.

+1
Jabberers seem to be physically and mentally designed to be used as effective war animals. Plus, who doesn't like the idea of giant pink flamingos eating small green men?

[Weizen1988]

Jabberers are excellent war beasts. Vicious, quite fast, carnivorous, reproduce quickly, grow up fast and they are the size of an elephant.

In the end the best war animal is the one that's available. Go get yourself an army of pachyderms. You might as well grab some if they are wandering through your front yard. Elephants may no longer be the aggressive, blood thirsty Gods of rage they were back in the days of Boatmurdered, but they are still physically just as big and strong as they once were.

I generally find the caverns are the best place to look for suitable war beasts so once you breach them keep an eye out. Cave crocodiles and Jabberers are both very high priority targets for capture.

+1
Jabberers seem to be physically and mentally designed to be used as effective war animals. Plus, who doesn't like the idea of giant pink flamingos eating small green men?

Havent run into any yet, if i see any ill be sure to trap them, it sounds like big carnivores are the best animals.