Resurrecting this because I have found the answer to my problem of waytoolargeatimeinvestment in [ITEMCORPSE] tags; even if they only grant me the modest success of one per creature, it will be a lot easier to change these around and collect the bounties than it would be to try and build even a cheated fortress up and get together all the materials. Though now I will have to see whether I can use multiple itemcorpse tags (first, for multiples of one item, and second for multiple items from one corpse) before I can really get rolling; if multiple tags are supported I can do in one world what might otherwise take me several.
On to the experiment!
Update: I have answered my questions about [ITEMCORPSE], here are my notes...
Q1: Can you insert ITEMCORPSE tags in the middle of a pregenned world without breaking DF? - Yes.
Q2: Can you change ITEMCORPSE tags in the middle of a world where the stuff with special items on death has already died and spawned said stuff without breaking DF? - Yes! And it's not like the stuff you grabbed changes. Only spawns that occur after changes change at all.
Q3: Can you use multiple ITEMCORPSE tags without breaking DF? - Without breaking DF, yes... with getting multiple items, no, only a random chance of either item. Still different from using only one, though.
Q4: Can you use multiples of the same ITEMCORPSE tag without breaking DF? - Yes, but this does *not* result in multiple items from a single corpse. *Might* result in different probabilities when used in conjunction with other itemcorpse tags, though.
Basically, you can't get more than one item out of a corpse, but you can get different items out of the same type of creature with multiple tags, and you can change things as you like within the creature files after saving. I still have to answer one last question, though, which is if it's possible to get a *specific* piece of armor out of a corpse or not. I'm not sure why I can't get just chainmail or just robes or just capes out of these foolish humans instead of something random within the ARMOR/HELM/etc. files.
Edit: And of course the answer to the last question is an affirmative, and I just happen to be the kind of douche to think the ITEM in ITEM_ARMOR_CHAINMAIL is unnecessary for the subtype. Testing looks to be *far* easier now.
[ September 17, 2007: Message edited by: BDR ]