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[aadeon]

Last weekend I watched John Carpenter's The Thing. It's pretty good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film)

It's about a shapeshifting alien that can take over anyone it infects, disguise itself as anyone it's assimilated, and turn into all manner of horrifying things that kill you.
Then I read about how vampires in DF will be infiltrating your fort, disguised as a dwarf, killing people off while you try to figure out who it is.

Adding something like the Thing to DF would take vampires to a whole new level, and I think this next update has the tools to do that.

It should be able to:

-Disguise itself as anyone it's killed (People or animals) or as whatever it looked like before being infected
-Shapeshift into a more dangerous form if it's discovered, like growing extra claws, getting bigger. If it's not trying to disguise itself it will grow whatever body parts are convenient
-Animate it's severed body parts and the body parts of those it kills, which become other Things. (So people's heads can grow legs and crawl away)
-Infect people (though biting, body fluids etc) causing them to turn into Things even if they survive.

I think at least some of these could be accomplished, with all the new things in the next patch. (vampire and werecreature transformations, the new undead, necromancy and other interactions.) I'm guessing it would be a pain to mod in though, if it's even possible.

It would be pretty overpowered but extremely Fun.

[Deon]

Yeah. You said pretty much what I've said there:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=95376.msg2714383#msg2714383

Depending on the moddability, I will try to make something like that ASAP once the new version appears.

[Ottofar]

What if it's... already in?

[Azated]

What if it's... already in?

I doubt a Thing would remain undiscovered in your average dwarven fortress, what with the halls lined with blood occasionally flooding with magma and whatnot.

[Sphalerite]

The Chief Medical Ddwarf strikes at the pool of dwarf blood with the hot metal nail! 
The pool of dwarf blood dodges!
The Chief Medical Dwarf has been struck down!

[Kilroy the Grand]

This.... would actually be interesting, if you make it just right I suppose you could use DF to model infectious diseases, through thousands of years. Maybe make a world filled with zombies or Things.

This has made me even more excited for the next version.

[EveryZig]

I can already picture players discovering a Thing and trying to weaponize it.
Umbrella Fortress!

[Mech#4]

As long as fuse boxes aren't added as well.


Neat idea. It could be like a dorment forgotten beast. Hidden underground, say in ice, where once its found it takes over the nearest dwarf and begins infiltrating your fortress.

[Kilroy the Grand]

As long as fuse boxes aren't added as well.

Neat idea. It could be like a dorment forgotten beast. Hidden underground, say in ice, where once its found it takes over the nearest dwarf and begins infiltrating your fortress.

Aren't you a Spoony bard?

[restricted]

The Thing already exist in DF. It is called Strange Moods and unless it gets satisfied it makes your Legendary+5 Sworddwarf with artifact longsword go berserk.

[EveryZig]

The Thing already exist in DF. It is called Strange Moods and unless it gets satisfied it makes your Legendary+5 Sworddwarf with artifact longsword go berserk.

Normally the Thing's intent does not involve arts and crafts.

[Mickey Blue]

You have no idea what it would have wanted to do once it got out of Antarctica.

[lonewolf9567]

Wow... This would complete me

[Azated]

Neat idea. It could be like a dorment forgotten beast. Hidden underground, say in ice, where once its found it takes over the nearest dwarf and begins infiltrating your fortress.

That's an idea. It could in an ice coffin buried in a metal room somewhere under the ice. The dwarves take the coffin to a stockpile where it thaws in summer and assumes the identity of the nearest dwarf and begins slaughtering your population until you have one dwarf left that constantly switches from one creature to another and moves back to its ship with a bucket of water, throwing it at the hole you made and disappearing until the reclamation team comes to find it.