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[GreatWyrmGold]

Toady says that herding goblins don't seem scary enough.

Tell that to medieval Europeans whose settlements were raided by vikings. They thought of themselves as herders--so much that they kept cattle and pigs in Greenland despite their advese effects on wildlife. (Although ignorance may have helped that last part). Plus...trolls, giant cave crocs, and all the other wonderful cave beasties that are found in caverns that gobbos ride to siege your fort.

Actually, I see them being on the Golden Horde/Dothraki diet: They drink the milk and blood of their mounts, as well as the occasional bit of mystery jerky.

This is pretty much what I was thinking.

Mmmm, Jabberer milk.... *droolgargle*

Although, I have to admit, this sounds scarier.

[SirHoneyBadger]

I think in large part it depends on what one herds. Herding cape buffalo, for instance, would be terrifying for everyone involved.

[Lord Zack]

Isn't this what slaves are for? If Toady doesn't want the goblins herding then the goblins should delegate this duty to slaves. Furthermore, the slaves themselves could supplement the livestock... Goblin civs might have a "sprawl" of villages inhabited by slave laborers watched over by goblin overseers with the slaves tending herds of livestock in grazing fields surrounding the village, surrounding they're dark towers.

[tolkafox]

Goblins herd wolves and worgs. They eat mystery meat. They drink the blood of their victims.

[Crioca]

Toady says that herding goblins don't seem scary enough.

Tell that to medieval Europeans whose settlements were raided by vikings. They thought of themselves as herders--so much that they kept cattle and pigs in Greenland despite their advese effects on wildlife. (Although ignorance may have helped that last part). Plus...trolls, giant cave crocs, and all the other wonderful cave beasties that are found in caverns that gobbos ride to siege your fort.

Yes that was pretty much what I thought, but if he's set on the "no agriculture" thing, why not just have them feed their populations entirely through raiding?

[EmperorJon]

Because they can't raid enough.

[Dynastia]

Okay, so they can't eat because all their food sources are "not scary enough"?

Simple ; give them large litters with a very short gestation period, and let them eat their own babies. After that, they could herd fluffywamblers in the magical gum-drop rainbow forest, and farm butterscotch pudding, and they'd still be utterly terrifying.

[Cthulhu]

Goblins are plants.  Use your heads, people.

[Draco18s]

I thought the [CARNIVORE] tag made them carnivores? O.o

[BONECARN] implies [CARNIVORE]

BONECARN        Creature 'eats' bones. Eating bones makes their happiness go up, but can cause death (suffocation)Verify. Implies CARNIVORE.

[harborpirate]

Have them eat new cavern stuff that grows only in magical areas. Why are gobbos so desperate to break into your fortress? To get into the caverns for food.

Having them eat nothing (without ever going back to fix it) would be lame.

[loose nut]

The way I understand DF goblins currently, they're an aggressive and territorial civilization, so they're probably agriculturally based, and eat plump helmets mostly, same as dwarves. They probably don't know how to farm much of anything else. Likely, they'd have a snivelling goblin underclass and captured slaves do the farming. That would seem the more likely fate for kidnapped dwarf children, than learning to fight your own kind.

If goblins are spirits, they probably shouldn't build fortresses, but hatch out of the deep underground at various intervals. If they're wandering raiders/ herders (and really this could be an option for goblin, human, and possibly elf civs; DF elves are almost Scythians already) they shouldn't build fortresses either.

[tolkafox]

I thought the [CARNIVORE] tag made them carnivores? O.o

[BONECARN] implies [CARNIVORE]

BONECARN        Creature 'eats' bones. Eating bones makes their happiness go up, but can cause death (suffocation)Verify. Implies CARNIVORE.

[BONECARN] means they eat bones, it implies they are carnivores because they would have to eat the meat before eating the bones. It won't make them carnivores though.

"Urist Mchammer the Undulated Slayer of Green has slain Gobbo Mcrancher the Epic Herder of Cows with Pummellots the Silver Warhammer of Smashing."

I believe this is what Toady is trying to prevent, Urist Mchammer doesn't get a metal for killing a rancher. He doesn't even get a thank you. He can get his metal and thanks when he kills Bloodyhoof the Dwarf-eating Antelope.

[Lord Zack]

Urist Mchammer might get a medal for slaying a brutal goblin slavelord who gets his food from the labors of his slaves and even sometimes eats the slaves, however.

[Draco18s]

I thought the [CARNIVORE] tag made them carnivores? O.o

[BONECARN] implies [CARNIVORE]

BONECARN        Creature 'eats' bones. Eating bones makes their happiness go up, but can cause death (suffocation)Verify. Implies CARNIVORE.

[BONECARN] means they eat bones, it implies they are carnivores because they would have to eat the meat before eating the bones. It won't make them carnivores though.

You don't understand what "implies" means, do you?

im·ply/imˈplī/
Verb: Strongly suggest the truth or existence of (something not expressly stated).

Example:
FIREIMMUNE_SUPER        The creature is immune to DRAGONFIREBREATH. Implies FIREIMMUNE.

Find any way to create a creature that has [FIREIMMUNE_SUPER] yet is vulnerable to normal fire (i.e. not [FIREIMMUNE]).

[tolkafox]

Magma.

–verb  (used  with  object),  -plied,  -ply·ing.
1.
to indicate or suggest without being explicitly stated: His words implied a lack of faith.
2.
(of words) to signify or mean.
3.
to involve as a necessary circumstance: Speech implies a speaker.

So unnecessary bashing from poor word choices in a wiki aside O.o I believe the proper word choice would be "Infer" not "Imply". You're also derailing this thread. Stop that!

Here's a list of other word choices to avoid future arguments:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

betoken, connote, denote, designate, entail, evidence, give a hint, hint, import, include, insinuate, intend, intimate, involve, mention, point to, presuppose, refer, signify, suggest

I give on the killing of the goblin slavelord, but it would be much cooler if he was a goblin slavelord of humans. Or dwarves, makes it more ethical if you kill a goblin who has dwarven slaves. This might make it even harder for civilizations to survive if goblins are enslaving and eating them though, they already have a hard enough time as it is.

Edit:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

example:
FIREIMMUNE_SUPER        The creature is immune to DRAGONFIREBREATH. Replaces FIREIMMUNE.