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[Psieye]

So I've got a heap of partial skeletons from ex-invader bodies now. I think I read somewhere that after YEARS they become a pile of bones. I guess I've only waited 4 years but I do wonder whether I should just atomsmash them instead. Has anyone confirmed partial skeletons to actually be useful?

[nanomage]

maybe they did in earlier versions, in .31 i never saw this happen. i guess you can smash or dump them into magma without a second thought.

[SenorOcho]

They should, but I can't specifically recall it happening.  I don't pay a lot of attention to that, since I tend to make a fairly large refuse pile--  large enough for outdoor vermin collecting with plenty of room for siege cleanup.
I guess it just depends on how badly you want those bones and if the mess is affecting your FPS.  If you've got yaks/buffalo/cows/etc on your map, you should be rolling in bones anyway.

[Psieye]

Yeah, I just cleaned up a siege where 2 full squads riding war polar bears got Harvested. I've got plenty of bone indeed. Mrrrrgh the problem with having an underground fort is that often the invaders have no idea where they're meant to go so they just... stand still. Or maybe it's just the behaviour of human siegers (who these modded in invaders were modelled after).

[Deon]

They should, but I can't specifically recall it happening.  I don't pay a lot of attention to that, since I tend to make a fairly large refuse pile--  large enough for outdoor vermin collecting with plenty of room for siege cleanup.
I guess it just depends on how badly you want those bones and if the mess is affecting your FPS.  If you've got yaks/buffalo/cows/etc on your map, you should be rolling in bones anyway.

Actually, in the current version they shouldn't. Bones have no [ROTS] token. You can add it, but then bones will start decay (even in stockpiles), so we should wait until Toady decides to add non-stockpile bone decay.

In old versions bones decayed unless they were in stockpiles (like food), so it looks like some version broke it.

[nanomage]

Yeah, I just cleaned up a siege where 2 full squads riding war polar bears got Harvested. I've got plenty of bone indeed. Mrrrrgh the problem with having an underground fort is that often the invaders have no idea where they're meant to go so they just... stand still. Or maybe it's just the behaviour of human siegers (who these modded in invaders were modelled after).

Humans (and, i suppose, your modded invaders) tend to camp near the edge of the map for quite a long time before actually going on rampage. I have seen them starting the assault after a month or two or three several times, but most of the time i just can't wait that long and charge at them.

[barconis]

So I've got a heap of partial skeletons from ex-invader bodies now. I think I read somewhere that after YEARS they become a pile of bones. I guess I've only waited 4 years but I do wonder whether I should just atomsmash them instead. Has anyone confirmed partial skeletons to actually be useful?

Partial skeletons never get butchered into bones, and I don't think the dismembered limbs do, either. I always end up atom-smashing or dumping them when I get tired of laying out new middens.

[Psieye]

Yeah, I just cleaned up a siege where 2 full squads riding war polar bears got Harvested. I've got plenty of bone indeed. Mrrrrgh the problem with having an underground fort is that often the invaders have no idea where they're meant to go so they just... stand still. Or maybe it's just the behaviour of human siegers (who these modded in invaders were modelled after).

Humans (and, i suppose, your modded invaders) tend to camp near the edge of the map for quite a long time before actually going on rampage. I have seen them starting the assault after a month or two or three several times, but most of the time i just can't wait that long and charge at them.

Yeah I'll have to remember that when I start my next fort. I wanted instant action, not all this waiting around dammit - though it's effective at stopping trade and outside contact for sure.

So I've got a heap of partial skeletons from ex-invader bodies now. I think I read somewhere that after YEARS they become a pile of bones. I guess I've only waited 4 years but I do wonder whether I should just atomsmash them instead. Has anyone confirmed partial skeletons to actually be useful?

Partial skeletons never get butchered into bones, and I don't think the dismembered limbs do, either. I always end up atom-smashing or dumping them when I get tired of laying out new middens.

I'm fairly sure I was butchering the dismembered limbs but they may have been of valid corpses not sentients. Ah well, next fort I'm going to devise a way to make a "path of death" with them. "Behold, all the bones of those who challenged us!"

[Sphalerite]

Partial skeletons never get butchered into bones, and I don't think the dismembered limbs do, either. I always end up atom-smashing or dumping them when I get tired of laying out new middens.

Partial skeletons of animals which can be butchered (that is, wild non-speaking creatures) will get butchered into bones.  Skeletons, whether partial or complete, of tame animals or intelligent creatures will never be butchered.

[SenorOcho]

In old versions bones decayed unless they were in stockpiles (like food), so it looks like some version broke it.

Actually, it didn't matter if they were in a stockpile or not-- just whether they were above or below ground.

[Korva]

I get bones at times but as has been said, it's probably just the chopped-off limbs, and I can't figure out why sometimes I get bones basically as soon as the flesh rots off, while other parts can lie around for years without breaking down into bones.

[nanomage]

I get bones at times but as has been said, it's probably just the chopped-off limbs, and I can't figure out why sometimes I get bones basically as soon as the flesh rots off, while other parts can lie around for years without breaking down into bones.

handless arms and footless legs are what will become bone statcks. Armless legless headless mutilated corpses yelds bones upon having rotted completely, too, also these bones are depicted as "g" (or other tile depicting goblin from your tileset)

[wuphonsreach]

Magma.

(I'm fortunate enough to have two magma pipes on my map, and their in neighboring tiles and have different heights.  So I have a room for refuse between the two pipes that I flood every so often when it gets full.)

[spook54321]

Ive seen the main body of an invader turn into a pile of bones after falling 15-z levels from my dodge this^tm and exploding on contact with the ground.  and occasionally I will get a single bone from a limb that got lopped off from all the copper swords and axes in the dodge this^tm (the only real use for copper goblinite/defense mod low level critters)

so i would say that bodies with no limbs, heads, tails, etc. and detached limbs with no feet or hands do turn into use-able bones but anything else is only worth dumping in the magma sea/corpse farm in Armok temple

[darkflagrance]

My modded dwarves practice extensive butchery on the hordes of invaders who come their way.

I've noticed that partial skeletons are totally useless. So too are heads, arms, legs, back front eye teeth, and all severed body parts. I just dump them en masse into either the magma or my atom smasher after my butchers and bone crafters have been at the usable stuff.