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[KurzedMetal]

My objective is to automate industries as much as possible and i'm having some trouble with the Meat industry, specially the breeding part.
I like how easy is to set up breeding of birds to get eggs & meat, etc. but it needs too much micromanagement: making the eggs stay in the nests, avoiding animal fights, control the number of offspring

So i have a few questions:
1) I heard that animal pathing can hit in the FPS, is that true?
2) can a caged hen use nests?
3) does animal's offspring born inside their mother's cage? or are they generated outside the cage?

I was planing to create a breeding zone in a way that offpring could leave the breeding zone (and get butchered without opening any door or pulling any levers) but dwarfs can't get in to store the eggs in the food stockpile. This way i can even control the number of offpring (by setting only a few hens to breeding and the rest for egg production)
4) Is there any way to make 1-way entrance/exit door? (if found one in the wiki but exploit a bug/weird ramp feature in 40d, that i wouldn't like to use even if still exist in the lastest versions)

Thanks in advance

[Vattic]

Q1) I heard that animal pathing can hit in the FPS, is that true?
A1) Very true.

Q2) can a caged hen use nests?
A2) No.

Q3) does animal's offspring born inside their mother's cage? or are they generated outside the cage?
A3) If a mother is pregnant when put in a cage she can give birth in the cage but the offspring will also be in the cage. A creature cannot get pregnant while in a cage.

There is one way I know of that allows the offspring to leave but prevents the parents. I've not tried this since some creatures need to eat. Chain the female up but within reach of a nest box and the males pitted somewhere out of the way. Then you want a corridor leading to your fort with a locked door at the end. Up against the door have a retractable bridge over an accessible pit linked to a repeater. When the young animal matures it will stop hanging around with it's mother and run up against the locked door trying to get into the fort. The bridge will retract and the creature will drop into reach of your butchers.

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[KurzedMetal]

Nice, thanks for your answers, helps me a lot

There is one way I know of that allows the offspring to leave but prevents the parents. I've not tried this since some creatures need to eat. Chain the female up but within reach of a nest box and the males pitted somewhere out of the way. Then you want a corridor leading to your fort with a locked door at the end. Up against the door have a retractable bridge over an accessible pit linked to a repeater. When the young animal matures it will stop hanging around with it's mother and run up against the locked door trying to get into the fort. The bridge will retract and the creature will drop into reach of your butchers.

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Animals don't seem to leave the pasture, so the chain it's not needed, it adds more flavor tho.
I didn't know about the existance of the repeaters but i was thinking something using pressure plates. I think in this case might be better, anyways i'm glad i learned about another cool mechanism, i really like them

I really like this solution, it's tidy and best suited for multilevel fortresses.
Anyone knows of a single level solution?
Will the animal/dwarf get hurt with the fall? If it does, is there any way to avoid it?

[IT 000]

I think the point is to kill the bird so that the butchers grab the corpse.

and the males pitted somewhere out of the way. Then you want a corridor leading to your fort with a locked door at the end.

to clear it up, it should be pet impassible. This way pets still pass through it.

[Theodolus]

For a single level solution just put a retractable, or raised bridge to one side and make the pressure plate open the bridge. The baby should scamper out, where you'll have another pressure plate linked to the same bridge to close it back up. I think that would work. One potential flaw would be dwarfs or animals coming in to that room and opening the bridge themselves. To fix that I think this would work...

Code: [Select]

# = wall
+ = floor
B = retractable bridge
P = pressure plate
D = Door

###D#
#+++########
#+++P+BP+B+++
############

So they walk onto the first pressure plate and it extends both bridges. After crossing the first bridge they step on the second pressure plate, which is also linked to both bridges. They should have time to cross the second bridge before it retracts.

Disclaimer: I have NEVER tried this. It's all theory, but I think it's sound theory.

[KurzedMetal]

I think the point is to kill the bird so that the butchers grab the corpse.

Good point, one less micromanaged task (mark them to slaughter)
Anyways i asked the other 2 questions just to satiate my curiosity, the mechanism is great, exactly what i was looking for.

[Dsarker]

I think the point is to kill the bird so that the butchers grab the corpse.

Good point, one less micromanaged task (mark them to slaughter)
Anyways i asked the other 2 questions just to satiate my curiosity, the mechanism is great, exactly what i was looking for.

I believe that tame animals have to be specifically slaughtered, otherwise they will not be butchered.

[KurzedMetal]

For a single level solution just put a retractable, or raised bridge to one side and make the pressure plate open the bridge. The baby should scamper out, where you'll have another pressure plate linked to the same bridge to close it back up. I think that would work. One potential flaw would be dwarfs or animals coming in to that room and opening the bridge themselves. To fix that I think this would work...

Code: [Select]

# = wall
+ = floor
B = retractable bridge
P = pressure plate
D = Door

###D#
#+++########
#+++P+BP+B+++
############

So they walk onto the first pressure plate and it extends both bridges. After crossing the first bridge they step on the second pressure plate, which is also linked to both bridges. They should have time to cross the second bridge before it retracts.

Disclaimer: I have NEVER tried this. It's all theory, but I think it's sound theory.

With this mechanism there would be a some ticks when a dwarf could get a "Store egg" job which would be canceled a some thicks later when the bridge go up again.
Using 3 pressure plates would be safer i guess (even more theory )
1st PP open 1st Br
2nd PP close 1st Br, open 2nd Br
3rd PP close 2nd Br

mmm... i was just thinking, what would happen if multiple Poults try to leave at the same time?

So bad i can't test it right now because i'm getting sieged like no tomorrow (i killed my first titan and a bunch of goblins), i'll get some *fun* soon

[Theodolus]

I think you'd want to put a third bridge in, though, because with only two bridges you end up with the potential for a pet or invader to step on the exterior pressure plate. But yeah, the addition of the third bridge and pressure plate would keep the store egg problem away.

[Wirevix]

I think the point is to kill the bird so that the butchers grab the corpse.

Good point, one less micromanaged task (mark them to slaughter)
Anyways i asked the other 2 questions just to satiate my curiosity, the mechanism is great, exactly what i was looking for.

I believe that tame animals have to be specifically slaughtered, otherwise they will not be butchered.

Correct.  Tame animals that are killed by anything other than a menu-designated slaughtering will be put in a stockpile and ignored forever.

[KurzedMetal]

I wanted to try this but... i just lost my last fortress last siege was vs 60 goblins, and even a general came.

That makes the 1st posted idea ineffective too bad, i was liking the idea of not having to micromanage the slaughter.

I'll try the 3 bridges + 3 pressure plates idea, anyone has a simple mechanism to achieve this? (i'm still too n00b to design something like this myself)

EDIT: Another problem,  i think a Turkey Poult can't trigger pressure plates due to their low size/weight.

[Caldfir]

You could try idea 1 but with the modification that the door doesn't lead to the fortress, but rather a meeting area inaccessible from anywhere except that door. 

That should solve the problem I think:

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[Dutchling]

You could also just remove the door than

[Dsarker]

How do we drop the fullgrown birds, then? Does a single z level fall kill them, or will we still be able to slaughter them? Time for !!SCIENCE!!

[Vattic]

Dsarker: A single tile drop won't kill them and if they are tame animals this is what you want as tame animals must be slaughtered if you want to butcher them. If you're using wild animals then you can make the drop longer and butcher the dead. I'm not sure how long a drop you need to kill.