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[C4lv1n]

I just had the Forgotten Beast Gostat show up.

Code: [Select]

A gigantic one-eyed shrimp. It has large mandibles and it undulates rhythmically. Its green exoskeleton is wrinkled. Beware its poisonous sting!
It's currently in level one of the caverns, though there is a clear path to level two. Though there is no path into my fortress, no doors, grates, etc. Just solid walls. If I leave him in the caverns will there be any problems even if he can't get into my fort?

On the other hand, if I do want to fight this guy how hard will a giant shrimp be to kill? I've personnaly broken down it's descriptors like this:


1. A Gigantic one eyed shrimp ~ Very large, and there is only one eye to take out to blind the beast
2. It has large mandibles... ~ I'm betting these are able remove various limbs with ease, or at the very least do heavy slicing damage.
3. ...it undulates rhythmically ~ Only a descriptor
4. Its green exoskeleton is wrinkled ~ Heavily armored? Or very poorly armored if chintin's protective ability has been nerfed like I think it has.
5. Beware its poisonous sting! ~ Obviously poisonous, most likely some sort of nerve toxin. (even if it's not I will treat it as if it is until I learn otherwise) Meaning any dorf getting stung is a dead dorf walking.

Regarding the poison, if it's delivered by a sting then does that mean there may still be a poison splater that my get spread? And would it work on contact or only on open wounds?

[wierd]

With no path, it will just wander around down there.

I usually just ignore them until they either just go away, the other local flora kills them, or I have finished the "exotic animal processing unit" portion of the fortress.

(Processing unit has a few cage traps at first, which some FBs can get stuck in. After that it gets progressively more viscious, ending in an obsidian freezing trap.)

I very rarely have to tangle with FBs.

[dood_]

It's impossible to tell with those things. I've had Jade Giant Sparrows with Poisonous Dust die to one hit, and Skinless Gorillas take out half my fort.

Really depends on your military. Any legendary weapon skill dorf will kill them, but after that, their syndromes can bring a fort to its knees. The aforementioned Jade Giant Sparrows blood caused everyones feet to rot.


The stink in the hospital must have been horrible.

[NecroRebel]

On the other hand, if I do want to fight this guy how hard will a giant shrimp be to kill? I've personnaly broken down it's descriptors like this:

It's wimpy. Not as wimpy as it could be, but of the specials it could have, it has the second-least dangerous.

1. A Gigantic one eyed shrimp ~ Very large, and there is only one eye to take out to blind the beast

FBs and titans are all always the same size, specifically 10,000,000, meaning they have twice the volume of an elephant. That is quite large, but that makes them only a little larger than most semimegas and less than half the size of a full-grown dragon.

I'm pretty sure all FBs have [EXTRAVISION], making them impossible to blind. The one eye just means it has one fewer body part to distract your attacks on its vitals, except dwarves virtually never attack eyes anyway. In short, it's cosmetic.

2. It has large mandibles... ~ I'm betting these are able remove various limbs with ease, or at the very least do heavy slicing damage.

It basically just has a slashing/piercing attack, which, while better at removing limbs than blunt attacks, still won't be very dangerous. A reasonably-skilled soldier will basically dodge or block all of its attacks anyway, though they'll probably get bowled over from constant charges.

3. ...it undulates rhythmically ~ Only a descriptor
4. Its green exoskeleton is wrinkled ~ Heavily armored? Or very poorly armored if chintin's protective ability has been nerfed like I think it has.

Both of these are purely cosmetic.

5. Beware its poisonous sting! ~ Obviously poisonous, most likely some sort of nerve toxin. (even if it's not I will treat it as if it is until I learn otherwise) Meaning any dorf getting stung is a dead dorf walking.

This just means that it has to successfully sting a creature to deliver its syndrome. The syndrome a FB causes is random; it might be nearly-instantly fatal, it might be a nerve toxin that's gradual death... Or it might cause temporary fever and nothing else. Both are equally likely. And since it has to successfully sting to cause its syndrome, not only is it less likely to attack with its syndrome-causer than other FBs would, it can be blocked, parried, or dodged by a skilled soldier. Whats more, AFAIK it won't use its stinger on a charge, and it's likely to spend most of its time charging. As such, this is the least-dangerous form of syndrome-causing special and the second-least-dangerous special in total (after only "Beware its webs!" which does absolutely nothing).

Regarding the poison, if it's delivered by a sting then does that mean there may still be a poison splater that my get spread? And would it work on contact or only on open wounds?

No spatter, no spread. This is another reason why poisonous stings are relatively benign.

FYI, the danger level of specials a FB can have go roughly in this order from least dangerous to most:
Beware its webs!
Beware its poisonous sting!
Beware its poisonous bite!
Beware its fire!
Beware its deadly spittle!
Beware its deadly blood!
Beware its poisonous vapors!
Beware its noxious secretions!
Beware its deadly dust!

...Pretty sure that's all of them. Webs does nothing (it doesn't even make the FB leave webs), sting and bite are attack-based and thus avoidable, fire can cause fires but is blockable, deadly spittle is an attack too but is usable at range, deadly blood leaves toxic puddles around, poisonous vapors are virtually impossible to avoid in melee, noxious secretions leave toxic puddles but can also affect creatures who grapple with or otherwise touch it, and deadly dust is virtually impossible to avoid in melee, smashes creatures against walls or off cliffs (sometimes fatally) like cave-ins do, and can leave toxic puddles.

Of course, all but webs and fire vary drastically in danger level depending on what the attached syndrome actually does. Sometimes you'll get a FB that's just horrendous, like one with vapors that cause all of the blood in a creature to suddenly vanish shortly after encountering the Beast, or one that's mostly harmless, like one whose sting causes short-lived nausea and nothing else.

[Squidpalace]

In my experience a poison sting is one of the better FB weapons to roll. I have never had a fort-wide syndrome problem from fighting one, and dwarfs rarely get stung if they are skilled with a shield. You are quite right though that any of them that do get stung will probably die, and those mandibles will have no trouble ripping off limbs. All FBs are huge and are capable of putting up a degree of resistance in melee. I fought a ladybug with a chitin exoskeleton today, 10 poorly skilled dwarfs with mostly exceptional iron battle axes had a great deal of difficulty penetrating the bug's armour.

Unfortunately one of my soldiers was also holding a rum keg and the ladybug could breathe fire. 10 little bearded warriors melted almost instantaneously. Good luck.

[Ieb]

It might be a notable fact that as far as I've seen, all FB's and titans also have NOPAIN tags present, no matter how much damage you deal to 'em, they'll fight to the bitter end. On the other hand, that still won't save 'em from a bolt tearing the heart and having 'em bleed to death.

As a shrimp though, it'll have chitin and it's rather easy to break. I can't remember though if broken skin/chitin/shell allowed for more damage done to that section of the body. It might again be cosmetic as of now, although if that's the case I figure it's likely to change.

FB's are good target practice for your shooters though, especially inorganic ones. You could just deal with it by building an airlock, carve fortifications there and seal the creature inside after momentarily opening the door, it'll start pathing straight in. After that, plink away with bolts.

[Reudh]

Generally speaking, if it's a flesh-based FB (ie. one without a material specified) it'll be quite easy and choppable. Flesh based FBs will go down very fast.

Ones made from liquids or fire will go down very fast indeed- an unskilled fighter can usually defeat a water or vomit based FB with one or two strikes.