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[Servu]

So my last fortress "Angerhorn" was experiencing a common catsplosion just as any healthy mid-game fort, kittens were being ordered to be butchered all the time and the adoption messages were constant. FPS was rapidly falling.

But at the same time I completed my power plant, which was basically a deep hole dug in the middle of a river that then linked to a horisontal tunnel powering my water wheels.

A short time after the plant had been running, an unexpected message popped to my screen.
"[Name], kitten has died after colliding with an object" After a short inspection, I determined that the kitten had leaped down the artificial waterfall and it's guts were currently being mangled by my water wheels.

These messages would pop out every now and then while my cat population slowly started to plummet. After some time spent watching the river I noticed that cats and kittens, stray or not, would every once in a while go down the stairs leading to the riverbed (They were used back when the river was frozen to excavate the top of my waterfall). These stairs were only one tile away from the "+"-shaped drain and the water depth near them would rapidly change between 0 and 4. I dont know why the cats would wander there alone as the place was nowhere near any of my assets. Maybe they tried to fish the abundant trout inhabiting the stream or perhaps the dried part of the river was a good place for verming hunting? Nevertheless the felines would be caught in the strong current and be flushed down the drain.

I regard this a truly patriotic deed from the cats involved: Not only were they giving up their lives for the common good but decided to do so at my power plant so their blood could run the mills used to feed the population!

This also never resulted in any tantrums, as suicidal behavior was pretty random and even the worst catdwarves would only lose a single pet every once in a while, letting their bad thoughts cool down.

I think I still have the save somewhere, so I can post screenshots if you want them.

Here is the rough layout of the water intake area as I remember it.

Code: [Select]

###~~~~~###
###~~_~~###
###~___~<##
###~~_~~###
###~.~,.###
###.,.,.###

# earth wall
, exposed riverbed
~ water
_ hole
< stairs up


[Scarpa]

If you just cage the cats instead of butchering them you'll eventually hit a cap on total felines and get no more kittens.

But that's not nearly as fun.

[worldspawn]

I commend this kitten grinder as a tasty effort and it should be duplicated en masse.

[Ashmore]

That seems worth trying for fun in serious cases, but I'll probably stick with my kittens of war approach.

[rdwulfe]

Okay. I'm afraid, but I have to ask... Kittens of war?

[Protactinium]

I had a pet-killing meeting hall (originally designed by accident) by having my river splash onto the suspended floors in the chasm. The adults enjoyed the waterfall, the pets got washed off.

Then, "Urist McYoungkid, Child, has died after colliding with an object."

And several more children died before I realized that the currents strong enough to kill pets were strong enough to kill children.

[MMad]

Okay. I'm afraid, but I have to ask... Kittens of war?

Modding a [trAINABLE] tag onto the cats to make it possible to train War Cats, I'm guessing.

[Ashmore]

Okay. I'm afraid, but I have to ask... Kittens of war?

No modding or training required. It's only a matter of teaching them enough manners to give visitors a friendly greeting at the "service entrance" (and maybe keeping it tightly closed to remind them...) when the front door is closed.

Their MO might be different, but the confusion they add give them an effect similar to that of furry flash-bang grenades — making goblin troupes scatter and end up with their backs full of bolts as they chase after the cats while being oblivious to the the marksdwarves who've finally scrambled to their positions.

Well, that's the theory, at least.

[Faces of Mu]

Regarding the weakness for tides that children have, does the restricted pathfinding zone apply to animals as it does to dwarves? Does it apply to children? The above example would be fantastic if you could stop children going near.

[Ironhand]

Animals don't follow pathing orders and restrictions. Neither do soldiers.
I don't think children do either.

[Ashmore]

I think the difference in effect here is that cats seem to go wherever they want while chasing vermin, while dwarves and most other animals would find no reason to go down those access stairs since it doesn't lead anywhere they need to go (at least if it's the only stairway to the riverbed, if you had one further down they might path through there).

[Rutilant]

Okay. I'm afraid, but I have to ask... Kittens of war?

Modding a [trAINABLE] tag onto the cats to make it possible to train War Cats, I'm guessing.

Why the hell does everyone lowercase the tr?

[Footkerchief]

Why the hell does everyone lowercase the tr?

It gets auto-lowercased because the forum thinks it's a [tr] section of a [table].

[lucusLoC]

i had a waterfall in the dining hall of a prior fort.

Code: [Select]


........
..####..
..#~~#..
..####..
........


. is floor
# is a grate over open space (helps keep things clean and unflooded)
~ is the waterfall

it was perfectly child safe (at least i never had a child die to it) and cats would die to it regularly, especialy kittens. odd thing is is that all the bodies would wind up below the open space, so it was like they were getting sucked in. either that or i had a dorf that hated cats and just kept throwing them in. . .