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[voliol]

A major issue in the current version is your dwarves being stressed out by the corpses of the last siege's goblins. This is partially because dwarves get too stressed out about enemy deaths. But there is actually another reason: corpses don't disappear as fast as they should, due to a severe lack of wild animals to feast on them.

My proposal to solve this latter problem is a [CORPSE_EATER] token, that allows the granted creature to gobble up any decently fresh corpse that it comes upon. It could be given to creatures famous for being scavengers such as vultures and ravens, but also to hunters that also happen to scavenge, such as hyenas and lions. Having it on more dangerous beasts like the lion also gives way for a more !FUN! issue with corpses laying around - that it attracts wild animals that may not mind taking a bite off even fresher (living) meat targets (your dwarves). Of course, this could also be taken advantage of by the player, to lure corpse eaters into traps. Oh, and putting a dog-pasture over a battlefield would be fun.

[Strik3r]

Related: Animals and Monsters eating up dead things and remains on the map

[voliol]

Related: Animals and Monsters eating up dead things and remains on the map

I didn't expect to be the first one with this kind of suggestion, but to think the last thread was just over a year old. And I even commented on it...  Well, thank you for the linking Strik3r.

[FantasticDorf]

The actual tag i support as a solid idea, its straightfoward to its purpose and can be mixed with other things like [BONE_CARN] for devouring skeletons. I posted on the 'original' thread, but i think the caverns probably have a lot of niche creatures for 'waste disposal' as is, like creepy crawlers and the larger voratious cave crawler, not to mention wild trolls also.

• [CORPSE_EATER_VERMIN] and [VERMIN_CORPSE_ATTRACT] could be a extension for attracting or generating flocks of crows/rats flies and worms (not to mention creepy crawlers) around the dead that speed up degredation.

Now if [CORPSE_EATER] could eat rotten bodies, and all carnivores willingly hunt and eat fresh bodies, that would make all the difference.

[Pillbo]

Lots of scavengers eat rotting meat so it shouldn't be a sticking point, there could be levels such as [EATS_FRESH_DEAD] and [EATS_ROTTEN_DEAD]. You could have just about any carnivore [EATS_FRESH_DEAD], but dedicated scavengers like vultures, hyena, possums, ravens, crows, etc could have [EATS_ROTTEN_DEAD]. Realistically under the right circumstances a lot of animals like lions, dogs or wolves will eat rotten meat, even if it's not a good idea. It could also add an element of butchershop/kitchen theft animal other creatures too, gremlins eat bones, they should be attracted to refuse piles.

It would be cool to have waves of scavengers cycle through a battlefield.  Dogs and large predators pick through first, then ravens and vultures cleanup as the meat spoils, then kobolds, hyena and whatever else has [BONECARN] come through and eat up the skeletons.

Kobolds stealing shinys and munching bones in a battlefield would give them an interesting new role in the game too. I almost never encounter them now, it would be cool to have a less than hostile element to their interactions with the fortress.

[DerMeister]

Lots of scavengers eat rotting meat so it shouldn't be a sticking point, there could be levels such as [EATS_FRESH_DEAD] and [EATS_ROTTEN_DEAD]. You could have just about any carnivore [EATS_FRESH_DEAD], but dedicated scavengers like vultures, hyena, possums, ravens, crows, etc could have [EATS_ROTTEN_DEAD]. Realistically under the right circumstances a lot of animals like lions, dogs or wolves will eat rotten meat, even if it's not a good idea. It could also add an element of butchershop/kitchen theft animal other creatures too, gremlins eat bones, they should be attracted to refuse piles.

It would be cool to have waves of scavengers cycle through a battlefield.  Dogs and large predators pick through first, then ravens and vultures cleanup as the meat spoils, then kobolds, hyena and whatever else has [BONECARN] come through and eat up the skeletons.

Kobolds stealing shinys and munching bones in a battlefield would give them an interesting new role in the game too. I almost never encounter them now, it would be cool to have a less than hostile element to their interactions with the fortress.

Seconded!

[voliol]

The actual tag i support as a solid idea, its straightfoward to its purpose and can be mixed with other things like [BONE_CARN] for devouring skeletons. I posted on the 'original' thread, but i think the caverns probably have a lot of niche creatures for 'waste disposal' as is, like creepy crawlers and the larger voratious cave crawler, not to mention wild trolls also.

• [CORPSE_EATER_VERMIN] and [VERMIN_CORPSE_ATTRACT] could be a extension for attracting or generating flocks of crows/rats flies and worms (not to mention creepy crawlers) around the dead that speed up degredation.

Now if [CORPSE_EATER] could eat rotten bodies, and all carnivores willingly hunt and eat fresh bodies, that would make all the difference.

Lots of scavengers eat rotting meat so it shouldn't be a sticking point, there could be levels such as [EATS_FRESH_DEAD] and [EATS_ROTTEN_DEAD]. You could have just about any carnivore [EATS_FRESH_DEAD], but dedicated scavengers like vultures, hyena, possums, ravens, crows, etc could have [EATS_ROTTEN_DEAD]. Realistically under the right circumstances a lot of animals like lions, dogs or wolves will eat rotten meat, even if it's not a good idea. It could also add an element of butchershop/kitchen theft animal other creatures too, gremlins eat bones, they should be attracted to refuse piles.

It would be cool to have waves of scavengers cycle through a battlefield.  Dogs and large predators pick through first, then ravens and vultures cleanup as the meat spoils, then kobolds, hyena and whatever else has [BONECARN] come through and eat up the skeletons.

Kobolds stealing shinys and munching bones in a battlefield would give them an interesting new role in the game too. I almost never encounter them now, it would be cool to have a less than hostile element to their interactions with the fortress.

Good points that true scavengers are scavengers because they can eat even rotting and half-eaten bodies. Normal carnivores should definitely be able to devour their prey, and what better time to implement that than when implementing a very similar scavenging mechanic? Oh, and if hyenas are to be considered true scavengers it would be nice to have them split into multiple species, as the spotted hyena (the most recognizable species, probably what the DF hyena is based on) hunts up to 95% of its prey on its own (according to Wikipedia).

I like your vermin tokens, FantasticDorf. They have the strength of dealing with vermin as opposed to "real" creatures, which makes them easier to spawn on the fly when needed. What is the difference between the two, though?

The Skulking (Kobold) entity have [ETHIC:EAT_SAPIENT_OTHER:UNTHINKABLE][ETHIC:EAT_SAPIENT_KILL:UNTHINKABLE], so unless that is removed it makes little sense for civilized kobolds to commit to cannibalism on your battlefields. They could still come out to munch on the Forest Titan you killed, I suppose. Elves are a better target for this, as they could actually go through with the devourings of sentients they already do in world-gen.

[FantasticDorf]

I like your vermin tokens, FantasticDorf. They have the strength of dealing with vermin as opposed to "real" creatures, which makes them easier to spawn on the fly when needed. What is the difference between the two, though?

I probably should have elaborated but, [VERMIN_CORPSE_ATTRACT] are drawn to rotting bodies, and will spawn nearby sort of like how you generate lice from farm animals but do not eat the the actual corpses themselves. [CORPSE_EATER_VERMIN] will seek out bodies arriving offmap, or other tags like grounder and actively start eating the body in any state; when something's been hanging around in your drowning pit for too long, it might become infested elsewise with unwanted vermin like tropical piranhas (which would be a combination of tags to spawn them close to bodies submerged in water), who painfully bite the living infrequently and clean the body out in the water to mirror their real life behaviour versus the fantasy of the myth.

Oceans can probably reliably use crabs, other vermin fish, sharks, etc for a saltwater example to clean up dwarves who have met a wet salty end.

[MachoNacho]

Ok but make it so if you have this token as an adventurer, you can eat corpses with no butchering required.

[DerMeister]

Ok but make it so if you have this token as an adventurer, you can eat corpses with no butchering required.

Doubled.

[Enemy post]

I like this idea, both for the practical reasons of avoiding stress, reducing cleanup, and possibly improving FPS a bit, and also for the image it will create of jackals and vultures picking over the remains of goblin sieges.