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Author Topic: Dragons can't swim?  (Read 5309 times)

Urist Da Vinci

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #15 on: January 22, 2012, 03:24:20 pm »

...
The unfortunate thing is that swimming pathfinding does not work terribly well. Monsters will often take up residence in a lake and stay there indefinitely, luxuriating in the water instead of searching properly for a way to continue to wreak havoc. Your best bet is to lure it out with surplus dwarves stationed on the water's edge, but even then there might not be an immediate response.

I agree. This problem is also seen with forgotten beasts swimming in underground lakes - they won't charge your staircase to the fort unless they leave the water. The best way to get them to leave the water is to lure them with a dwarf or animal.

mdqp

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #16 on: January 22, 2012, 03:45:01 pm »

I am not going to send my dwarves against him (I would love a pet dragon, but since the dungeon master never appears, I can only keep it in my zoo... So, not worth it). Animals could be an idea, but I don't think they would get close enough to him to lure it out (also, a previous ambush killed off most of my livestock). I mean, dwarves aren't that smart, but they know better than going to close to a dragon, I figure the animals will know what's best for them, too.
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Jacob/Lee

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #17 on: January 22, 2012, 03:50:01 pm »

You could always change the dragon's raws from [PET_EXOTIC] to [PET] so anyone can tame it.

mdqp

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #18 on: January 22, 2012, 04:05:42 pm »

You could always change the dragon's raws from [PET_EXOTIC] to [PET] so anyone can tame it.

I am actually tempted, but then I would end up having it too easy, isn't that right? I mean, a dragon, even a small one, would lay waste of many of my enemies... Without even the requirement of the dungeon master, it gets a bit pointless... Was it going to be fixed in the next release? That would be awesome!
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Garath

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #19 on: January 22, 2012, 04:54:07 pm »

small dragons are horrible at fighting. A goblin easily kills one. It's redeeming feature is the breath attack. However, there are some problems.

1. It damages everything, even non burning traps and other stuff.
2. when they are tamed, they tend to follow their tamer around. Dragons have excellent spotting ability and often fry a goblin ambush before you knew it was there, frying the tamer who was walking in front of it, plus anyone else, as well.
3. They need to be right up close to a fortification to fire through it
4. they set fire to the world. horrible slow FPS death
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Quote from: Urist Imiknorris
Jam a door with its corpse and let all the goblins in. Hey, nobody said it had to be a weapon against your enemies.
Quote from: Frogwarrior
And then everyone melted.

bombzero

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #20 on: January 22, 2012, 05:00:59 pm »

i put whoever trained the dragon in the military and post them outside, then let out a caged enemy next to him. trainers dead, but the dragon proceeds to be a ideal fortress guard.
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mdqp

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #21 on: January 23, 2012, 02:19:43 am »

Oh well, I might modify it, than. I did a quick test, and a dwarf can lure it, if it gets too close. I'll have to put everyone else inside the fortress, though, or I might end up 4-5 dwarves just like that... I guess I'll have to create an older world, next time. Short history leaves them too weak, I guess. Or I can make my fortress last that many centuries...  :P
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zombie urist

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #22 on: January 23, 2012, 02:32:05 am »

Try dropping a cat into the river to see how much water evaporates from the fire breath.
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The worst part of all of this is that Shakerag won.

mdqp

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #23 on: January 23, 2012, 03:52:47 am »

How would I go about dropping a cat into the river? Hatch door and a lever? Or is there an easier way to do it?
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Garath

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #24 on: January 23, 2012, 10:33:47 am »

assign area far away enough as pit, tell dwarfs to pit cat
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Quote from: Urist Imiknorris
Jam a door with its corpse and let all the goblins in. Hey, nobody said it had to be a weapon against your enemies.
Quote from: Frogwarrior
And then everyone melted.

mdqp

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #25 on: January 23, 2012, 10:39:03 am »

Well, it doesn't react unless the dwarves get really close, so I am not sure it would react if the cat wasn't as near, either. I will let you know, though.

Edit: nope, doesn't work. And it was at less than 10 squares from it... this is ridiculous.

Edit: by dropping it even closer, I was able to stir it up a little... But the kitten swims faster than it, and managed to get to safety, before it would get out.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2012, 10:48:00 am by mdqp »
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mdqp

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #26 on: January 23, 2012, 11:07:06 am »

A fisherdwarf decided to fish right over the dragon, with some awesome results: he died and got the dragon caged! Can't say I will miss him: he did a poor job at fishing, and was stupid enough to taunt the dragon that way... Now, I might change the raws, and get myself an awesome pet! I will keep it out of harm's way, though, as I wouldn't want it inadvertedly killing off half of my fortress.
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SlimyMarmot

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #27 on: January 23, 2012, 11:20:05 am »

Be sure to remember that if it managed to kill one of your dwarves, it will always be hostile no matter what. You can still make it an arena challenge and feed it enemies, though.
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mdqp

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #28 on: January 23, 2012, 11:47:57 am »

Be sure to remember that if it managed to kill one of your dwarves, it will always be hostile no matter what. You can still make it an arena challenge and feed it enemies, though.

Really? I didn't know that... Is there a way to sell it to a caravan, then? I have seen for myself how dwarves like to free caged goblins I was trying to sell, and wondered if there was a way around it...
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SlimyMarmot

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Re: Dragons can't swim?
« Reply #29 on: January 23, 2012, 02:52:09 pm »

I thought it was worth mentioning, since I once lost a considerable stockpile of booze and its drinkers in a very similar situation.

I don't think it's possible to sell creatures - when you select a cage for trading, the dwarves will haul the cage itself to the depot, not the creature. The latter will be released on the spot, unfortunately.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2012, 02:55:07 pm by SlimyMarmot »
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