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[Pyro93735]

Okay, I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong and didn't protect myself as adequately as I thought I did, but I'm fairly certain I had a fire imp climb up a staircase through the floor and proceed to kill a few dwarves. Here's what the two floors look like:

code:

#########
#mmmmmmm#
#mmm#mmm#
#mmm#mmm#
#mmm#mmm#
#mmm#mmm#
#mmm#mmm#
#########
# = wall, m = magma
First floor with the magma

code:

#########
####X####
#########
#########
#########
#########
####X####
#########
X = up/down stairway
Second floor, above the magma

What I'm poorly attempting to show is that the up/down staircase is settled directly on top of the wall below it, with no connection between those two floors - my dwarves certainly can't get down there at least. Somehow the fire imp managed to climb up the staircase... it's not some freak phenomenen, he's been contently wandering from floor to floor terrorizing dwarves via that staircase. Can fire imps just travel diagonally up a floor?

EDIT: Cleaned up poor drawing a bit per advice.

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Pyro93735 ]

[Tacroy]

For future reference, use # for walls and . for open floor; it's pretty much Roguelike standard, and easier to do than the characters DF uses. Also, don't put spaces between tiles, they're unnecessary.

Anyway, fire imps can fly. If you have any channels dug for magma usage, they can fly up through those. Also, they're pretty good at sneakin' about, so if there's any connection at all between your fortress and the magma, he could have gotten in through there and just shown up where he is now.

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Tacroy ]

[aha]

fire imps are wusses - they have managed to kill a dog or two - on interrupt I immediately draft near furnace operators who gang up on 'em.

[OoiTY]

On the topic of fire imps popping out of thin air..

I had a fort immediately next to a magma vent and inhabited by several fire imps and magmamen and a few years into the game, a fire imp decided it was time to set a few dwarves on fire and mysteriously appeared on the last level of my fortress, several (maybe like 6 or tiles away from the magma vent; in the graveyard.

It then proceeded to climb up the stairs to set fire to a few dwarves, but anyway, it's weird because there was no way for the fire imp to get from the magma to the graveyard on the last Z-level of the fortress, unless it randomly spawned there like how animals randomly spawn on the map.

Edit - This was in 33g though, not 38a

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: OoiTY ]

[Pyro93735]

quote:Originally posted by Tacroy:
<STRONG>For future reference, use # for walls and . for open floor; it's pretty much Roguelike standard, and easier to do than the characters DF uses. Also, don't put spaces between tiles, they're unnecessary.

Anyway, fire imps can fly. If you have any channels dug for magma usage, they can fly up through those. Also, they're pretty good at sneakin' about, so if there's any connection at all between your fortress and the magma, he could have gotten in through there and just shown up where he is now.

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Tacroy ]</STRONG>

There's absolutely no connection between the magma and the floor above it, in any possible manner other than the one I've already commented on being potentially bugged. There are no channels, and I hadn't yet placed any magma-requiring buildings. With the exception of the up/down stairs placed on top of the walls, it really was a solid floor.

[Sowelu]

My suspicion is that they wander around by saying "Hmm, I think I'll go 4 tiles north 3 tiles east... Hmm, I think I'll go 7 tiles south..." and pick a location first, then determine a way to walk to it.  So it could be possible that an imp in the bottom of a lava pit decides to path into the lowest level of your fortress, and only after deciding where to go, makes the long trek up and out of the pit then down through the whole fortress.

I could also be mistaken...

Hey, here's another idea.  Lava pits are round, right?  When this critter appeared, did it appear inside a hypothetical square that the lava pit was inscribed inside?

[Pyro93735]

quote:Originally posted by Sowelu:
<STRONG>My suspicion is that they wander around by saying "Hmm, I think I'll go 4 tiles north 3 tiles east... Hmm, I think I'll go 7 tiles south..." and pick a location first, then determine a way to walk to it.  So it could be possible that an imp in the bottom of a lava pit decides to path into the lowest level of your fortress, and only after deciding where to go, makes the long trek up and out of the pit then down through the whole fortress.

I could also be mistaken...

Hey, here's another idea.  Lava pits are round, right?  When this critter appeared, did it appear inside a hypothetical square that the lava pit was inscribed inside?</STRONG>

There was no other path into the base. I had one that discovered the top level of the magma pocket, but I walled over it - I've heard that walls are completely indestructible.

It might have appeared inside the hypothetical square that the lava pit was inscribed inside. I'd have to check.

EDIT: I checked, it is not inside the theoretical square of the level it's on, or the level it's above or below.

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Pyro93735 ]

[Sowelu]

Hmm.  No idea then.  I was thinking that it defines a square (well, cube) region as "Lava!", generates the lava inside that, and then can spawn imps in any open space inside that cube...even if it was lava-free and you just dug it out.  I guess they get generated farther away.  This makes it very dangerous to dig anywhere NEAR lava!

[Puzzlemaker]

quote:Originally posted by Sowelu:
<STRONG>Hmm.  No idea then.  I was thinking that it defines a square (well, cube) region as "Lava!", generates the lava inside that, and then can spawn imps in any open space inside that cube...even if it was lava-free and you just dug it out.  I guess they get generated farther away.  This makes it very dangerous to dig anywhere NEAR lava!</STRONG>

"Blocks" are 48x48, if I remember correctly... the fire imp is probably spawning in the "Block".  I -Think- a "Block" is what you see on the embark screen, each "Block" being a square in the embark screen.  It's how Toady organizes the world.

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Puzzlemaker ]

[Pyro93735]

Well, see, I don't know if it's an odd coincidence then, but the fire imp always spawns on the staircase. And the fire imp'll always disappear on the staircase - and reappear on the level below, running amok in the magma. From what I saw, it looked a whole lot like he was using the staircase.