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[C4lv1n]

I know that cows are usually what people use for animal industries, plus whatever stuff they have extra, but I was thinking, what about cats? Do they breed fast enough to make them more worth while than cows? And I know that they provide more skin because of their greater numbers, the only problem is their adoption of dorfs.

Alternatively is there an animal that breeds as fast (or close to) cats, that won't adopt your dorfs? Because they could be equally effective.

[Collic]

My instinct says the potential hassle of unwanted pets isn't worth using them over any other animal that has multiple litters. I heard, or read somewhere that in one of the versions donkeys don't die of old age. That could be a plus if it's true.

[Urist Imiknorris]

IIRC horses are immortal too.

[Rex_Nex]

Do they adopt dwarfs that don't even have contact with them?

If not, just create a "Kitty Replication Pit" and throw said cats down there. Come back in a few years...

[Tcei]

Cats will adopt a dwarf regardless of how near/far/assessable the dwarf is. Caging them immediately will prevent adoption, tho you need to be quick as time spent out of hte cage increases risk of adoption. Alternatively just remove the vermin hunter tag and you'll be fine

[NecroRebel]

In 40d, I was examining various animals extensively and found that the single best livestock animals, hands down, were polar bears, followed by grizzly bears. From a cursory look at the new raws, it appears that this is still true, with black bears now edging out cows where in 40d cows were better than black bears. Bears mature in 1 year, just like cats, don't have MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE like cats (so give birth to 2-3 animals most often), have a better value multiplier (3 for polar/grizzly bears, 2 for black bears), and are of course much bigger.

Dogs, incidentally, are also better livestock animals than cats, due, again, to the 1-year maturation rate, same breeding rate, and larger size.

For livestock for food/bone/leather production, your primary concerns are A) animal breeding rate, which usually means whether or not MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE is present, B) maturation rate, that is how fast they become an adult after birth which is essential for actually getting a breeding population up quickly, C) size since size is largely responsible for how much meat and bone they give, and D) their value multiplier to determine, obviously, how valuable the stuff made from them is. I'm not sure if the amount of fat you get from an animal is still a seperate value in the raws or determined solely by size and the particular animal's chubbiness, or rather I'm not sure if the chubbiness ranges are in the raws, but either way that's more-or-less the least important thing you want to look for.

[Rotten]

Yeah, Nerco kind of hit the nail on the head there. Cats provide the illusion of being the best animal, because there tends to be 15 metric assloads of them due to to their adopting of dwarves, but in actuality other animals are better, and less of a hassle. For the casual butcher cats are plentiful and thus best, but if you are setting up a dedicated butcher house/breeding program, going with bears or dogs or something like that is best.

[Eagle_eye]

or: baby mermaids!!!

[Greep]

well, unless you're doing something really weird, you can use anything for the meat industry.   It's only use is leather/food/trade goods, so excess is basically worthless.  Bring 2 or 3 dogs of each gender, let them have a litter or two and you're done.

[Eagle_eye]

not for big scale producers, its not.

*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*
*the stray kitten has died in the heat*
*the stray kitten has been struck down!*

[Lightning4]

Don't forget to take in the new version size modifiers into account too, for any type of animal you breed. BREED GENETICALLY SUPERIOR SUPERCATS, ARMOK COMMANDS IT.

[Beeskee]

It is kinda funny to watch Dwarven society crumble into a kitten product based economy.

[Hyperturtle]

We need Grizzly Cats!

[Kagus]

I set up a groundhog-based ranch back in 40d.  The little bastards bred like mad, and it was tricky handling all the little bastards, but it worked out decently enough.  They provided enough meat and fat to sustain the few dwarves I had sitting around, as well as providing the other resources.

The main problem here was the fact that I was eventually SWAMPED in skins and skulls.  Each groundhog gave one skull and one unit of rawhide, and those were both as usable as those of a giant bat or a bear.  I was practically swimming in totems and sheets of leather.

Also, the small bone stacks made them slightly useless as far as bolts were concerned.  Mostly, I just used them for decorating items.


In the new version, smaller creatures would be even more viable as a food source, as they contain all the vital organs just like anything else.  A single groundhog may not seem like much, but it will yield two eyes, a brain, two lungs, intestines, a heart, kidneys, a liver...  And maybe one or two pieces of "meat".

Each and every one of those organs can serve as an entire meal, or as an ingredient in a roast.  A groundhog's eye is just as nutritious as a dragon's lung.

Again, you get a vast number of totems, skins, and tiny stacks of bones.  Not good if you want to fuel a marksdwarf battalion, but it's just fine for putting groundhog bone spikes on groundhog bone earrings.  And the increased leather stocks will let you maintain a sizable clothing industry.

[Eagle_eye]

wow... just wow. anyone had success with a baby dragon product economy?