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[Wh1tefang12]

Carp, I used up all my !!cats!! in the !!box o catz!! now i can't explore the !!underground!!, and now i have to use !!nobles!!, and they die to quick from the fire.

[Tark]

INB4 Deathworks starts complaining

[Duane]

I used to do this just to keep them from mating in the meeting area. I'd throw all the animals down there with some War Dogs and seal it off, then re-open it years down the road. Cats/dogs/horses/mules/donkies/everything piles out.

[Hyndis]

The main benefit of using cats (as I see it) is the VERMINHUNTER tag.  This means that, instead of just sitting around and waiting, the cats will actively seek out and slaughter small vermin.  This will indirectly cause them to explore the vast reaches of the underground as they start looking for more critters to pounce on.

Exactly!

Any other animal will also explore, eventually. Puppies, horse foals, it all works. Just make sure you toss expendable animals and/or nobles down there, because there are forgotten beasts and zombie cave crocodiles in the depths.

I toss down about a dozen animals, preferably cats, and then once the are has been mapped out I send in my miners and masons to get digging to secure the place for habitation and exploitation.

[jokermatt999]

INB4 Deathworks starts complaining

I actually like Deathworks. His/her generally calm and happy outlook on Dwarf Fortress makes for an interesting contrast to the generally psycho methods of most people. Not that I'm endorsing either outlook, it just makes for some nice diversity.

[czolus]

INB4 Deathworks starts complaining

I actually like Deathworks. His/her generally calm and happy outlook on Dwarf Fortress makes for an interesting contrast to the generally psycho methods of most people. Not that I'm endorsing either outlook, it just makes for some nice diversity.

Agreed.

[Coidzure Dreams]

INB4 Deathworks starts complaining

I actually like Deathworks. His/her generally calm and happy outlook on Dwarf Fortress makes for an interesting contrast to the generally psycho methods of most people. Not that I'm endorsing either outlook, it just makes for some nice diversity.

Agreed.

Indeed, we can't all be omnicidal maniacs that want their legendary pump operator to really earn the name Urist McKrakatoa by destroying all life on the surface in an orgy of ash and pyroclastic flow. 

It'd get boring, after all.

[Ubiq]

Cave cats...

Will a wild animal with [VERMIN_HUNTER] adopt a dwarf and, if so, are they automatically revealed along with their location upon that adoption?

[Deathworks]

Hi!

Thanks for the support :) :)

Anyhow, I actually considered responding after the first post was made, but the forum wouldn't log me in properly at the time. Mind you, I didn't want to complain, as the procedure suggested does not necessarily result in the death of the cats involved and it actually served a game purpose.

When I was able to post again, however, there was already a clarification that made my post unnecessary. You see, I wanted to warn about the potential job cancellation spam (not sure whether that danger would have actually existed) from this: Cats and kittens will bring the dead vermin to their owner or drop them in the appropriate refuse stockpile. So, if they have owners or there is space in them stockpiles, a cat might complain about being unable to path where it ought to go. But then again, they just may remain quiet.

In addition, you should not underestimate the swiftness of their feet. The chase between that capybara forgotten beast and a cat went on for quite a while, even though the capybara would swim through murky pools to get closer and breathe fire - which the cat always gracefully evaded.

Deathworks

[Rorcayt]

I used this trick to try to explore hell. I dropped all my (heavy armed nobles) and (cats) into a hell full of icebreathing, serpent headed, chocolate (colored i think) cat demons... Irony.
Because the 60-70 cats were breeding so fast, i almost liberated hell

[Hyndis]

There is no stockpile for them to path to, so there's no spam. They just kill something and leave it.

They're quite fast too and can usually outrun most underground creatures. This is good in that you don't want them to all die at the first forgotten beast, and while they're being chased around the underworld they're still mapping it for you.

[Coidzure Dreams]

Also, distracting nasty things from going upstairs to eat you.

[Intelligent Shade of Blue]

You could mod cats to explode or release poison gas upon death. That way our intrepid feline sacrif... explorers kill whatever kills them, like furry walking bombs.

Urist McCat: Mew?
Monster: Om nom nom!
Urist McCat: *BOOOOOOOOM*

[ReverseWill]

Indeed, we can't all be omnicidal maniacs that want their legendary pump operator to really earn the name Urist McKrakatoa by destroying all life on the surface in an orgy of ash and pyroclastic flow. 

It'd get boring, after all.

Undwarvenly. It's easy, after a point, to be a benevolent overseer and make sure everyone is fed, boozed, and has a dry place to sleep. It's more fun in the end to have a fort crash and burn because of some terrible idea you had.

Like digging an >60 z-level well shaft. Somehow, the elven traders wound up broken and splattered on the bottom. In the next ten minutes, over forty dwarves died flinging themselves down the well to claim illegitimate goods. In the end, it was more entertaining than simply forbidding the items and continuing on without them.

[Acanthus117]

You could mod cats to explode or release poison gas upon death. That way our intrepid feline sacrif... explorers kill whatever kills them, like furry walking bombs.

Urist McCat: Mew?
Monster: Om nom nom!
Urist McCat: *BOOOOOOOOM*

Yeah, I like this idea.