This idea actually came to me somewhat from the thread in the eternal voting forum about silk worms. It seems odd to me that dwarves can't capture cave spiders from one cave w/chasm and transport them to another cave to start a silk industry there. Spiders are also somewhat lackluster - they just spin webs. There's no real danger to having them, like there is in real life (I know most spiders aren't poisonous, but if you get a black widow or brown recluse infestation you're in trouble).
I would suggest the following, to make the silk trade more interesting, more profitable, and more in depth. Cave spiders can be ordered, though they'll be expensive and will only live in tower cap farms (I would expect this to be implemented when tower caps are plantable). Specific zones could be designated as "Spider farms", which would cause dwarves to apply spider repellent before entering. More on that later.
They are venomous, and sustaining multiple bites can be fatal. Every time a dwarf is bitten, he has a 20% chance of killing the spider, otherwise the spider bites him again. The first bite causes paralysis, the second causes a gray wound where the dwarf was bitten. The third causes a second gray wound or turns the gray wound brown and causes pain. The fourth causes severe paralysis (paralyzed for half a season unless the antivenom is administered, more on this later) and the fifth bite causes a "Poisoned" status to appear on the dwarf. After the fifth bite, the spider has used up all it's venom and will leave the dwarf. Note that a dwarf who has already been bitten can be attacked by another cave spider, making web gathering without repellent exceedingly dangerous.
A dwarf who is "Poisoned" by a cave spider would slowly die over a season, taking internal damage. First damage to the liver, then the kidneys, then spreading out to the other organs until finally the brain is destroyed. The only cure for this would be to administer the antivenom, which will be done automatically by any dwarf with the Health Care labor enabled if there is any antivenom available.
Currently, Animal Dissection and Alchemy serve no real purpose except to make moderately valuable trade goods. Dwarves should make Spider Repellent and Antivenom from the spiders themselves. Spiders would be trapped, then at the Butcher's shop you would have the option of going after the spider's scent glands or venom sacks. A dwarf's Animal Dissector skill would determine if they can successfully remove both glands, otherwise the gland selected is removed and the other is destroyed.
From there, the venom sack or scent gland would be taken to an Alchemy Lab for processing. Scent glands would be processed into Spider Repellent, the aggressive pheromones of a Cave Spider (note that this will attract a giant cave spider rather than repel it). A dwarf with Spider Repellent on won't be bitten. Venom sacks would be processed into Cave Spider Antivenom, which is used to treat poisoned or paralyzed dwarves. If you really want to add realism to this, you could have the dwarf also grab a nearby large animal to make antivenom from, but it's largely unimportant.
As a side note, Cave Spiders will also bite cats or other animals that wander into their domains. Cats would receive a fatal dose at 3 bites while larger animals like cows and horses might require 10, and giving them antivenom would be triggered at a Kennel rather than automatic like it would be for a dwarf. Use it at your discretion to prevent or stop a catsplosion. To keep cats away from the spiders all you would have to do is put the tower cap farm behind a pet-sealed door.
Obviously with all this added difficulty the price on cave spider silk goods would have to be adjusted. I would also suggest that goblins should wear more leather and plant fiber cloth, cave spider silk and giant cave spider silk should require fairly sophisticated levels of technology to farm effectively. Otherwise a siege-supported economy could easily be run.
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Topic: Spider Silk Industry (Read 1212 times)