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[random_odd_guy]

Just had some migrate onto my fortress. Caught a few in cage traps. Knowing stories in days of old of mighty rampaging elephants and other berserk wildlife, I was of course intimidated....except

Hippos are large amphibious creatures who can be found in tropical lakes and rivers, where they appear in clusters of 3 to 7 individuals. They are the largest mundane animals who may be found in freshwater, though unlike in real life, in-game hippos are benign meanderers who will rarely fight back if threatened, though they may potentially be deadly due to their large size and tendency to knock or herd dwarves into rivers. An infant hippo is known as a hippo calf.

...So. Why are hippos the only creature in dwarf fortress that's LESS aggressive than it is in real life? Real life hippos are about as mean as elephants in dwarf fortress used to be. Hahahahhahaha...

Real talk: I wasn't really sure where to ask this so I just made a topic.

[Starver]

They aren't less deadly. Just more subtle!

(That brings back memories!)

[Leonidas]

I tried fighting some hippos once, in adventure mode. It didn't go well. DF combat mechanics put heavy emphasis on body mass.

[random_odd_guy]

I didn't say less deadly! I said less aggressive

Those things would bite you in half if you so much as look at them funny.

[Insert_Gnome_Here]

Well at least the goblins will happily provoke them. 
Make sure they can't be picked off at range, and they'll make a solid layer of defense.

[Telgin]

If you're up for modding, you could take the tags that make badgers rage and apply them to hippos.

Alternatively, you can probably war train them, which won't lead to dwarf killing Fun but might be useful during a siege.

[random_odd_guy]

If you're up for modding, you could take the tags that make badgers rage and apply them to hippos.

Alternatively, you can probably war train them, which won't lead to dwarf killing Fun but might be useful during a siege.

See I could do that but the thing is THEY REALLY SHOULD HAVE THAT BY DEFAULT. So part of me was hoping Toady would see this and realize certain creatures actually *are* that aggressive in real life. 

...Also no, can't war train them. They are however tremendous and have a pet value of 400. Since about a dozen of them wandered into cage traps I'm now breeding them with my various near legendary animal caretakers.

[scourge728]

Honestly hippos should be war trainable

[PlumpHelmetMan]

Toady doesn't regularly frequent threads outside of the suggestion forum unless there's something that needs his immediate interference (like trolling, or an argument that threatens to escalate into a flame war), so I suggest you put it there if you think it's an issue deserving his attention.

[Starver]

Suggest some sort of a [TERRITORIAL] / [PERSONALSPACE] or [MAINTAIN:LINEOFSIGHT:HAREEM]-type thing for the male caste, if you go over to the Suggestions, perhaps?

(I meant "aggressive" rather than "deadly", that they weren't less - just more subtle - I don't know why I typed it as otherwise. My internal auto-thesaurus must have decided to override my brain. Pfeh...)

[random_odd_guy]

Honestly there's definitely other creatures in the game that should be more aggressive than they are. Hippos are just the biggest offender I noticed.

[Starver]

At 1.5 to 2 tonnes, certainly amongst the heavier ones. 

[random_odd_guy]

Heavy enough to solo an entire pride of lions. Yup.

[Leonidas]

It would be interesting if DF had the realistic feature of making male hippos and other large mammals aggressive only during mating season.

[PatrikLundell]

It would be interesting if DF had the realistic feature of making male hippos and other large mammals aggressive only during mating season.

Hippos, regardless of gender, have a foul and explosive temper regardless of season. However, it would make sense for some other animals, as well as females with young (getting in between a bear and her cub is a sure way to achieve an adrenaline surge, but it's not as certain that you'd get to think back on it).