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[Relee]

I'd only heard of these beasts in myths and legends, but I just embarked on a hill where I found some "Giant Cave Spider Silk Web" inside a bottomless pit.

It's pretty far down there. Can/will the spider climb out and devour the world? Can I build cage traps and lure it out of the chasm and train it to guard my fort? Will it eat the herd of Naked Mole Dogs that also spawned on the same layer? I just noticed there was more webbing on a higher z level. Is it possible there are two Giant Cave Spiders? Or more? Oh god what if there are invisible giant cave spiders in other parts of the map than the chasm? We are so screwed?

This is going to be fun.

[Lord Dullard]

Well, the easiest way to find out what a GCS is like is to just play on adventurer mode for a while. 

But, to answer your questions: the GSC is extremely dangerous not because of any great fighting prowess, but because it has the ability to incapacitate just about anything thrown at it with its webs. Its legs are also mercilessly effective at being 'disposable limbs'. I've had fights with GSCs before where I hacked off four or five legs before finally making anything close to progress.

[Pilsu]

Only reason you can see the web is one of those moledogs running into it and getting devoured. They're invisible by default

They can't climb so you'll be fine. Just make sure not to tame it, they supposedly stop spewing web. Don't know if they could be coaxed into it by using kobolds

[Hamster Man]

I once tried to make a Giant Cave Spider silk factory by capturing it in a cage trap (yes, you can capture them) and then dumping it into a central room with a long corridor on one side, with a door controlled by a pressure plate and switch on either side of the corridor.

I put a cat on a chain on either end, and when it ran towards it, it would get locked in the corridor. I then put a creature on a chain in the big chamber, and opened the door so it would spew web at it, and then hopefully trigger the door again before it could run up and kill it.

It worked great in theory. Problem was, it was too fast so it kept killing anything I put on a chain. I'm thinking next time I'll try putting a fortification or a grate, see if it shoots web through that.

[Footkerchief]

I once tried to make a Giant Cave Spider silk factory by capturing it in a cage trap (yes, you can capture them) and then dumping it into a central room with a long corridor on one side, with a door controlled by a pressure plate and switch on either side of the corridor.

I put a cat on a chain on either end, and when it ran towards it, it would get locked in the corridor. I then put a creature on a chain in the big chamber, and opened the door so it would spew web at it, and then hopefully trigger the door again before it could run up and kill it.

It worked great in theory. Problem was, it was too fast so it kept killing anything I put on a chain. I'm thinking next time I'll try putting a fortification or a grate, see if it shoots web through that.

From what I've heard, it won't shoot webs at things unless it can actually path to them.

[JoshuaFH]

hey, if you can make 1 kitten equal some GCS silk, go for it, that sounds like a mighty fine tradeoff.

[jester]

if there are 2 levels of GCS silk you have 2 spiders.  be careful these bastards are truely savage.   very hard to trap, fast as hell and meaner than a bulldog with aids.  I lost a fortress to tantrum cycles after loosing 18 dwarves in my GCS trapping project

[Warlord255]

If you can start BREEDING GCS.... well, you might just become a legend.

I find that live sacrifices and large rooms are the best for GCS silk farming.

[Yag Alone]

If you can start BREEDING GCS.... well, you might just become a legend.

I find that live sacrifices and large rooms are the best for GCS silk farming.

By default, Giant Cave Horrors does not breed... It can be quickly modified in the raws however, done it for my current themed fortress.

also... they are tamable by the dungeon master. Too bad you can't train them to be war giant cave goblinmunchers. Tame giant cave spider + goblin POW may be a good way to get some silk without any risk for your dwarves

[Danaru]

has anyone had the balls do add the civ tag to GCSs?

"I" certainly don't.

[Pilsu]

By default, Giant Cave Horrors does not breed... It can be quickly modified in the raws however, done it for my current themed fortress.

How do you do that? And how do you get a breeding pair?

Personally I just made them immortal in case I ever find one so it won't die off

[Yanlin]

has anyone had the balls do add the civ tag to GCSs?

"I" certainly don't.

Dwarf Fortress rule 34:

If it's a way to kill everything, it has been done.

[The Grackle]

has anyone had the balls do add the civ tag to GCSs?

"I" certainly don't.

Yes.  They don't do well in world gen b/c all their cool powers don't help in the simplified world gen combat.  Or not as well as you'd expect.

[Hamster Man]

I once tried to make a Giant Cave Spider silk factory by capturing it in a cage trap (yes, you can capture them) and then dumping it into a central room with a long corridor on one side, with a door controlled by a pressure plate and switch on either side of the corridor.

I put a cat on a chain on either end, and when it ran towards it, it would get locked in the corridor. I then put a creature on a chain in the big chamber, and opened the door so it would spew web at it, and then hopefully trigger the door again before it could run up and kill it.

It worked great in theory. Problem was, it was too fast so it kept killing anything I put on a chain. I'm thinking next time I'll try putting a fortification or a grate, see if it shoots web through that.

From what I've heard, it won't shoot webs at things unless it can actually path to them.

They could path to it - the idea was that it would shoot web at it, run towards it, and in doing so hit a trigger that would close the doors and keep it from killing the sacrifice. Also it would make it so the room it just puked web all over was safe for my dwarves to actually harvest it.

But as I said, I wasn't able to quite get it to work right.

[biomatter]

I think the best set-up would be a spiral controlled by channels. The GCS could path to the kitten, but it'd have to go quite the distance, hopefully shooting over the gap to the kitten. Then, the grates come up, or something, which saves the kitten, and you lure it to out (away, far, so you can repeat) with a symmetrical set-up on the other side. How about something like:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

#######D#######
#-------------# <- you collect silk here from door
#-------------# //can be enlarged depending on how spider shoots
#             #
#----- c------#
#-   -       -# <- after spider shoots across this gap to cat
#-   ---------#
#-            #
#------S------# <- how you get spider here is up to you!
#            -#
#---------   -#
#-       -   -# <- repeat over here to lure spider back
#------c -----#
#             # // this is the general idea.
#-------------# // more spirals can be added for additional
#-------------# // buffer from cat (with grate not shown)
#######D####### // spirals can also be set up differently to allow passage by kitten more times


I think this is a great idea. I don't know if it's novel, but feedback would be nice.