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[Splint]

making them common domestic pets in 31.25, and using dfhack to make them contributing members of society.

They were the best haulers I ever had.

[Eric Blank]

Alright, Girlinhat, need some advice here (or anyone else who knows modding well enough to answer this).

First off, thanks to everyone for the advice on getting them to survive worldgen in 31.25.  Worked wonders.  Although I'm still not in the cutebold camp (and leaning towards scaly, though not ugly and hideous), I still like the idea of kobolds as dwarven pets/companions.

I'm thinking of modding them to be pets, and trainable for war or hunting.  How would I go about doing this, and what do you think would be a good pet value?  Also, is there any way to do it and NOT have them show up as slaughter-allowed livestock?  I'm not interested in kobold leather cloaks (though dwarves DO have cat and dog leather, so maybe it's not that out of the question).

Well cats and dogs aren't sentient like kobolds so it's pretty much just our culture treating most species as holy as Indians treat cows, but I digress.

Splint's description should work, but if you want a population of kobolds that isn't part of any civ and thus won't muss up that civ by modding them, try this:
Duplicate their RAW entry, renaming it kobold_02 or whatever. At that point you can add the [PET] and [TRAINABLE] tags anywhere in the entry.
You can then add [BIOME:NOT_FREEZING], [BIOME:MOUNTAIN], [FREQUENCY:10], [POPULATION_NUMBER:3:30] and [CLUSTER_NUMBER:3:30] to get them to show up in most wilderness settings besides bodies of water, tundras, and glaciers.

A good pet value may be 130. trained kobolds will then cost 130, and untrained 65, which isn't exactly expensive but still respectably valuable.

If you want them to show up with migrants or be purchasable from the embark screen/dwarven caravans rather than relying on elves or wild populations, you can add [COMMON_DOMESTIC]

They'll gain experience in skills, but won't be performing any labors unless you followed Splint's example and used DFhack.

[Urist_McArathos]

I'm not interested in them being parts of my civ....yet.

It would be neat to mod them as a separate caste, if that's even possible in the current modding world.  Have dwarves be a regular part of the dwarven civ, with a rarer group being the kobolds they work with and keep as pets.  Obviously they couldn't be tamed or trained if they're part of the civ, but that's alright by me.  It would fit the feel I have in mind for them better, but I was under the impression it couldn't be done.

They don't need to be separate from existing Kobold civs; the idea is (in my thinking and desired outcome) that "wild" kobolds form bands of thieves and raiders that are a frequent nuisance and even danger to the world around them.  Kobolds brought up by dwarves are taught things like empathy and the reason why their behaviors are destructive and harmful, and thus "tamed".  They're like a cross between pets and companions: not as smart as dwarves or other higher creatures (even goblins), but obviously more intelligent and sentient than dogs or cats.

I like the idea of them showing up with migrants; I've considered modding the animals so less come as pets (seriously?  Pet camels, yaks, and guinea hens?), and it'd be fun to have kobolds come.  I'm just worried that if I take out too many options from the animal list, I'll wind up with a fortress that's overrun with kobold pets, causing its own catsplosion-esque issues. 

[Eric Blank]

The problem with not separating them from the civ when making them wild is that a race that exists in a civ CANNOT have a wild population, for whatever reason. I tried making a civ of the animalman races for 31.25, but despite it's success, the wild populations disappeared from the sites and pops file exprt and I ended up scrapping it with preference to wild populations. I also ran into this problem when making my dragonkin mod and had to duplicate the dragonman entry to make a civilized version whilst keeping the feral groups. Something's still wrong with that civ though, unfortunately...

However; combining dwarves and kobolds into the same species as separate castes is entirely possible.

[Urist_McArathos]

The problem with not separating them from the civ when making them wild is that a race that exists in a civ CANNOT have a wild population, for whatever reason. I tried making a civ of the animalman races for 31.25, but despite it's success, the wild populations disappeared from the sites and pops file exprt and I ended up scrapping it with preference to wild populations. I also ran into this problem when making my dragonkin mod and had to duplicate the dragonman entry to make a civilized version whilst keeping the feral groups. Something's still wrong with that civ though, unfortunately...

However; combining dwarves and kobolds into the same species as separate castes is entirely possible.

No, they won't exist "in the wild", but the intent was to capture kobold thieves and tame them, not capture ones that wander onto the map like wild animals.

However, if it's possible to make kobolds members of the dwarf civ via separate castes, please do go on! 

[Karnewarrior]

This will get very strange when a dwarf gives birth to a kobold...

[jaxy15]

I killed kobolds as a necromancer dragon in the arena, and then I raised them. Then I killed them again, and then I raised them.
And it went on and on.

[Girlinhat]

When you tame a civ creature it gets messy.  I had a world where I was at war with elves.  I made them [PET] but could not tame them.  Eventually though, one gave birth, and I could tame the child that was born on my map.  When I did, the child counted as tame, and would wander around identical to a conventional pet in the sort of aimless sway, but would scare dwarves and cause job cancellations just like a hostile invader.  It got stuck in a limbo half-state of "tamed enemy".  I had to put it down.

I can only assume kobolds would give similar bugs when tamed.

[Splint]

I added the [PET][COMMON_DOMESTIC] tags and brought them and used dfusion. Since they have no real language, they start nameless where elves and humans will be given dwarven names.

[Elf Lover]

Imagine having a Kobold Necromancer...

Watching all your dead come back to life after it sneaks into your body refuse piles, and into your butcher's workshop.

[Splint]

And then they would rule the world...

[Eric Blank]

Makes you glad they can't read, doesn't it?

[Splint]

Just because we can't understand them doesn't mean they don't understand us...

Hell I think Galiflarlingas is the equivalent of an "INVADER! TO ARMS!" type thing, cause they always say that when they ambush me. It wasn't spelled like that mind, but it was probably the right pronounciation.

I honestly always pictured them as knowing a little of every language and at least thier ABCs from stealing books.

[wierd]

Kobolds in DF remind me strongly of the fraggles from fraggle rock, who subsist in a massive underground colony on pure kleptomania.

I mean, the fraggles primary foodsource is the gorg's garden. How is that any different from what the kobolds do, pilfering strawberries and plump helmets?

I envision them as similarly childlike in mentality, where complex thoughts of consequences for actions, and comprehension of others' needs are "profound revelations" rather than simple matter of fact realities for the more intelligent races.

I could actually see kobolds being a kind of semi-domesticated and mischevious pet, as they would clearly profit from having a reliable foodsource, and better shelter, yet still not grasping the social norms of their patrons society, and causing mischief purely accidentally. (See, "curious george")

However, of they start singing like fraggles, magma is coming to fraggle rock! 

[ASCIt]

I vote for a compulsory Kobold draft.