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[Derpy Dev]

Forgotten beasts are cool. They are a fun addition to the game, as they add a test of your defense that all players can enjoy, and new ways to have Fun is always great. But can they be made better? I have an idea that could do exactly that.

What if you could tame them? Think about it. When I first thought this, I thought it was a ridiculous idea, but now I have to realize that it would be a fun addition to the game.

Let me give my reasoning.

For one thing, you can already tame dragons and rocs. I never have been able to, I personally have never even seen one outside of adventure mode. But you can already do something with the potential to be overpowered. And since forgotten beasts and megabeasts alike already have the [TRAPAVOID] tag, it would still be quite the challenge to successfully catch one.

Second, forgotten beasts are quite dangerous to begin with, and they have the potential to be an even larger source of Fun when roaming your fortress. Many of them have syndrome effects that are constantly ravaging the area around them, such as deadly dust or toxic gas. Unless you get lucky, taming most forgotten beasts would be a terrible idea.

Third, you can't breed them. The game generates an entirely different selection of forgotten beasts in each world, and only one of each type. Getting a breeding pair is impossible. I seem to remember most forgotten beasts being genderless as well, but the wiki page says nothing about this.

Fourth... why not? This would be fun! Practical? Arguable. Difficult? Unquestionably! Fun? YES. I can think of nothing more fun than sicking a giant fire breathing tarantula made of stone on a horde of goblins or a bronze colossus. And at the end of the day, doing crazy things like that is why we enjoy Dwarf Fortress.

Do you agree?

[StagnantSoul]

Son Imma start throwing durians at you.

[IndigoFenix]

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?

--- Job 41

Some creatures just aren't meant to be tamed.  Though I would like to see more complex interactions besides "they rampage through your fortress for no reason", especially for titans.

I like the "titans as sources of reigonal magic" idea (where magic fades from a region if you kill its resident titan) and being able to capture the titan without killing it should likewise have certain effects.  If capturing and taming were more complex overall, you could play the part of "overconfident ruler who thinks they can tame a god only to learn the hard way that the supernatural is not a toy".

Maybe capturing a titan would allow you to harness its magic somehow, but would also turn the forces of nature against you.

[Descan]

Toady recently mentioned in an interview that the magic system in the game won't be something as concrete as that, but that it'll be a more fluid (as in, can change in game) system-of-systems that will be different from world to world.

That said, you don't really need to tame a forgotten beast to do stuff like that. Just set up a Death Chamber with the beast inside it. Goblins go in, they don't come out, and have some method to re-capture or -cloister the beast and collect the loot.

I dunno, feels more dwarfy to have, basically, a minotaur-in-his-labyrinth deal, but made of bridges and conveyance devices to move the beast around, rather than just a giant leash.

[Derpy Dev]

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?

--- Job 41

Some creatures just aren't meant to be tamed.  Though I would like to see more complex interactions besides "they rampage through your fortress for no reason", especially for titans.

I like the "titans as sources of reigonal magic" idea (where magic fades from a region if you kill its resident titan) and being able to capture the titan without killing it should likewise have certain effects.  If capturing and taming were more complex overall, you could play the part of "overconfident ruler who thinks they can tame a god only to learn the hard way that the supernatural is not a toy".

Maybe capturing a titan would allow you to harness its magic somehow, but would also turn the forces of nature against you.

That makes sense. When you say it like that, it makes a lot more sense to not tame a forgotten beast or titan, but capturing it and holding it prisoner makes more sense in game. Forgotten beasts are exactly that, they're the ancient creatures of the world, the last of their kind, the kings of empty realms, servants of abandoned gods. They are the stuff of legends, and should not be treated simply as, "I can make it a pet and give it to the dwarflets".

Having said that, I still want procedurally generated monsters that can be tamed. I just like that idea. Maybe each region could have a randomly generated monster in it. It wouldn't be exceptionally common, just thrown in with the local wildlife. Maybe jungles could have eyeless monkeys made of dust or something like that. Bonus points if they are smaller versions of the resident titan and they turn hostile if you capture the it.

[StagnantSoul]

Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?

--- Job 41

Some creatures just aren't meant to be tamed.  Though I would like to see more complex interactions besides "they rampage through your fortress for no reason", especially for titans.

I like the "titans as sources of reigonal magic" idea (where magic fades from a region if you kill its resident titan) and being able to capture the titan without killing it should likewise have certain effects.  If capturing and taming were more complex overall, you could play the part of "overconfident ruler who thinks they can tame a god only to learn the hard way that the supernatural is not a toy".

Maybe capturing a titan would allow you to harness its magic somehow, but would also turn the forces of nature against you.

That makes sense. When you say it like that, it makes a lot more sense to not tame a forgotten beast or titan, but capturing it and holding it prisoner makes more sense in game. Forgotten beasts are exactly that, they're the ancient creatures of the world, the last of their kind, the kings of empty realms, servants of abandoned gods. They are the stuff of legends, and should not be treated simply as, "I can make it a pet and give it to the dwarflets".

Having said that, I still want procedurally generated monsters that can be tamed. I just like that idea. Maybe each region could have a randomly generated monster in it. It wouldn't be exceptionally common, just thrown in with the local wildlife. Maybe jungles could have eyeless monkeys made of dust or something like that. Bonus points if they are smaller versions of the resident titan and they turn hostile if you capture the it.

Dragons have the potential of eventually being semi-PG'd, and I swear somewhere Bronze Colossi were mentioned to get similar treatment.

[FantasticDorf]

Stringdump mostly reveal that Forgotten Beasts are full intelligent (I can't remember if they are also [EVIL] but demons are), and toady has already expressed some interest in forming some kind of diplomacy with them so as you previously mentioned its not just ransacking and murder but a individual drawing out a short straw might be able to negotiate a temporary peace deal with said beast in exchange for something it wants, if anything.

The closest you might get is rearing a forgotten beast placed in a giant artifact egg from childbirth (probably emerging full grown) after being delivered by the gods to your site, as seen in one of the tarn brothers ASCII stories for previously mentioned in this thread kill-chamber. Then again that is unclarified by toady when i mentioned it in the FoTF thread, or even if the hatching beast would be your property even if its not tame.

[Xemit]

That sounds like an awesome idea! If I may make a suggestion, how about different classes of forgotten beast? For example, you'll have normal, animalistic forgotten beasts that we're all accquainted with, and this type will have to be tamed in a way similar to an animal. Then you have intelligent forgotten beasts that possess a unique personality, and you will somehow need to speak to them in order to gain their service. Then, you have super forgotten beasts who cannot be tamed and will actually cause dwarves to worship them like some Cthulhu Mythos deity.