Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Neoskel]

You don't have to kill a snake to get it's venom in real life. In fact it's better than killing it as it's renewable. Same should go for spiders in DF.

Milking doesn't kill the milked vermin right? If it does, nevermind.

[Neonivek]

"You don't have to kill a snake to get it's venom in real life."

Maybe the snakes in Dwarf Fortress are like Bees and they die once they strike.

Either that or Dwarves don't actually know how to milk snakes without their slaying, or are just too afraid to try.

[Neoskel]

"You don't have to kill a snake to get it's venom in real life."

Maybe the snakes in Dwarf Fortress are like Bees and they die once they strike.

Either that or Dwarves don't actually know how to milk snakes without their slaying, or are just too afraid to try.

The only 'snakes' in DF are fire snakes and they're not actually snakes.

This is the suggestion forum too, so explaining why something is as it is isn't really a response. I'm suggesting that in future versions dwarves will know how to extract venom without killing the vermin creature, not asking why they don't do it like that.

[Neonivek]

"so explaining why something is as it is isn't really a response"

No but it can often be pretty funny.

[JoRo]

Reading up on spider milking, it looks like modern "spider friendly" techniques (look, a video! http://www.sciencefriday.com/video/031507/milk.html) use anesthetic and electricity, and simply dissecting the spider is how they used to do it.  DF spiders could very well be much larger than actual spiders, and thus easier to milk non-fatally, I guess.

[Neoskel]

I assume that all vermin sized creatures are at least the size of a small rat. Thats why theres the 'large roach' instead of just cockroach, imo.
[VERMIN_MICRO] and [VERMIN_SOIL] obviously encompass smaller creatures than that.

So DF spiders should be pretty large to show up as vermin size.

[Draco18s]

Keep in mind that there are spiders and there are spiders.

[erendor]

We found one of these near our tent while camping, once.  My cousin poked it with a stick and it gave me arachnaphobia.  7cm long!  Look at those fangs!


On topic, I'd say dwarves probably aren't technologically advanced enough to do spider-friendly milking, and neither do they focus on it.  Or probably even care about spider deaths.

[Joseph Miles]

POSSIBLY if it's a tame spider(My mind is on GCSs with this, not normal spiders) then they could. Even then, it's kind of iffy as to whether or not they'd be able to.

[Duke 2.0]

 Fun fact: Large hairy spiders can rub their backs with their hind legs, releasing the hairs in the air. These hairs will mess up your nasal passages, and any mucus membranes that they tough. That means eyes and mouth. Thats right, not only can spiders poison and web you, but also send barbs into the more sensitive areas of the face.

 Ontopic: Please, like Dwarves would care to keep those things alive. I'm sure they look for more ways of tearing things apart.

 Urist: Milking a cow... How did you humies do it?
 Nathan McHuman: You use those udders on the bottom.
 Urist: Oh, now I see. *Brandishes axe*
 *Scene of extreme violence
 Urist: You humans like blood in yer milk?

[Impaler[WrG]]

I think the distinction being between tame and wild animals is good, a tame animal can be milked for its extract, a wild animal must be dissected to get it.  Thus you could create a heard of spiders and milk their venom if you can tame a breading pair (no easy task).

By the way why are fish-dissector and animal-dissector separate skills, their so rare they should be combined into one skill, and possibly folded into alchemist if thats added.

[Neonivek]

Insects and bugs however cannot be tamed in a same way you cannot tame a rock. Their minds are simply by far too simplistic. You can have them as pets but they won't act any differently then insects in the wild would under similar circumstances.

I don't know if it applies to all of them, but it definately applies to most.