Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Tirion]

I'm designing an automated elephant skin factory- chained wild female gives birth, wild offsprings get scared by tame animal in line of sight, they fall off a cliff into a 10z pit and splatter, dwarves butcher body parts for 1 skin each...

But I have 2 questions before I can start:

-Is there a way to reliably chain wild animals without them breaking free or attacking the dwarf? Like building/placing (by stockpile) the caged animal right next to the chain before assigning it to be chained?

-Is there any effect of chain material? Can elephants break free from all restraints, or just from non-metal ones, or what? Is a rope reed rope sufficient, or will I have to use steel chains?

[SauliusTheBlack]

I must say, you are devilish and cunning, and most probably dwarvish. Do let it be known if it succeeds.

As on your question, I don't have a clue.

[Brewster]

1) No way to chain a wild animal that I am aware of - you could just cage it, then release it w/ levers and mechanism, in it's own private room.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Remotely Opening Cages

A built cage can be linked to a lever to remotely open it. When the cage opens, the occupant(s) inside are released, the cage and mechanism deconstruct and can be returned to their respective stockpiles. Note that you have to use a "built" cage as described above, it won't work with cages on your stockpile. Also note that the mechanism attached to the lever will not automatically deconstruct; you have to manually deconstruct the whole lever to get back the mechanism used to open the cage. From: http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Cage

2) Material does not factor-in. A sheep yarn rope can hold an elephant.

[Sphalerite]

I have managed to chain wild animals, but it's really tricky to do.  In my sea serpent farm I would place the cage with the animal in it right next to the chain, then order the animal attached to the chain.  A dwarf trying to attach the animal to the chain would succeed about 50% of the time.  I had cage traps nearby to recapture the animal after the unsuccessful attempts.

The material which the chain was made from didn't seem to matter.

[Tirion]

I have managed to chain wild animals, but it's really tricky to do.  In my sea serpent farm I would place the cage with the animal in it right next to the chain, then order the animal attached to the chain.  A dwarf trying to attach the animal to the chain would succeed about 50% of the time.  I had cage traps nearby to recapture the animal after the unsuccessful attempts.

The material which the chain was made from didn't seem to matter.

Does the "tame dog behind window and lever-controlled door/floodgate" method work to scare the young animals away from their chained mother? How scared do they get, would they jump off a cliff trying to run away, or not?

Also, am I right to assume that hatch covers, when linked to a lever, act like 1x1 tile retracting bridges without that pesky weight limit thing and without flinging stuff around?

So, if I place the following setup in a 1 tile wide tunnel:

(pastured dog)(gem window)(lever-linked door)(empty floor)(elephant mother chained to a rope)(empty floor)(lever-linked floor hatch over a deeeep hole)

The babies get scared by the dog and run as far away as possible- which means they are gathering on the floor hatch. When I pull the lever for the hatch, they fall down into whatever grisly fate I designed for them.

[Sphalerite]

Yes, having a tame animal behind a window will scare the children away from their mothers.  See the sea serpent farm thread for an example.

They won't jump off a cliff to get away.  They'll run around at random.  This doesn't mean they'll gather on the hatch - I've seen fleeing animals run back and forth, even though at times they're running towards what's scaring them.  In my harvesting setup I was scaring animals into a line of cage traps.

Floor hatches have no weight limit, and don't fling things around.  But in your case I would actually advise using bridges.  Newborn elephants should be below the weight limit for a bridge.  Have the corridor leading away have a pressure plate followed by one or two 1x10 retracting bridges over a 10+ Z-level drop.  The baby elephants will run over the pressure plate, triggering it, and then run onto the bridge in time for the bridge to retract and drop them into the hole.  If the bridge is surrounded by walls it won't matter if the baby elephants get flung, there's nowhere for them to go.  The trap will then reset itself automatically.