v0.34:Natural weapon

2013-09-20T20:29:43Z

Technologics: changed a word

{{quality|Masterwork|02:17, 18 May 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}
:''For manufactured weapons, see [[Weapon]].''

'''Natural weapons''' are innate attacks that can be used to hurt other creatures. They are distinct from [[weapon|manufactured weapons]], which are items used (along with [[armor]]) by [[:Category:DF2012:Humanoids|sentient]] [[creature]]s to improve their ability to attack and defend in combat. However, all creatures have natural weapons of some sort, some more deadly than others: arms can punch, [[horn]]s can gore, talons can rip, fangs can bite, and hooves can smash heads in. Even creatures that you wouldn't expect to be able to put up a fight have default "push" attacks, which is simultaneously amusing and deadly in the case of the [[giant sponge]]. A description of the various types of natural weapons and their damage considerations follows.

==Striking==
Every creature has basic natural weapons, most commonly biting and kicking. The damage done by these attacks depends greatly on the respective size of the combatants, the strength of the attacker, and the striking/kicking/biting skill of the attacker. These are basic attacks and work as you might expect: a [[lion]] is certainly more dangerous than a [[badger]]. Attacks in this category include but are not limited to punching with fists, biting with the teeth, goring with the horns, scratching with nails, and kicking with feet.

Striking comes into play in unarmed combat, when creatures grapple with one another. However it also comes into play in armed combat, as punches and kicks (but usually kicks) are still valid attacks when the combatants lock blades. Here, the striker and kicker [[combat skill]]s comes into play.

==Ranged weapons==
Some particularly dangerous creatures also have innate ranged attacks, usually some sort of "breath weapon". This might take the form of a [[dragon]]'s fire, a [[magma crab]]'s [[basalt]]-spewing, a [[giant cave spider]]'s [[web]]-spraying, or a [[forgotten beast]]'s [[syndrome|poisonous]] spittle.

==Syndromes==
{{main|Syndrome}}
Natural attacks are far more deadly when there are [[syndrome]]s attached. [[Giant desert scorpion]]s are so incredibly dangerous not because they have big stingers (although that always helps) but because a single sting dooms anything organic it injects, be it a cat, a dwarf, or a dragon. Similarly, much of the danger in fighting [[forgotten beast]]s comes in their syndrome-causing attacks, including breath weapons, poisonous blood, area dusting, venomous bites, and so on. With the exception of some breath weapons, these attacks do not rely on size for damage calculation. What these attacks entail is covered extensively by the [[syndrome]] page.

{{Category|Weapons}}

v0.34:Brook

2013-09-18T02:35:18Z

Technologics: screw pumps can draw water from brooks without any channeling required

{{quality|Exceptional|22:22, 10 November 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}

A '''brook''' is a small [[river]] that [[creatures]] and [[wagon|wagons]] can travel across without [[swimming]]. Walking across a brook will not even get you '''wet'''. (In fact, using the channel command to dig the surface away can leave stones behind, even causing cave-ins if done carelessly.) A brook can easily be identified by the white and cyan tiles on its surface, as opposed to the dark blue tiles of a river. These lighter colored tiles are a special kind of of floor tile which acts like a floor [[grate]] most of the time: fluids, such as [[magma]] and water itself, will fall through it, and it can be fished through as well (remarkably, this floor also seems to support islands even when the ground beneath that island has been mined out while the brook is in ice form, preventing the island tiles from collapsing despite the fact they are supported by nothing but water).

[[Water wheel|Water wheels]] will not function if placed directly on a brook. In order to get a water wheel to work on a brook, you must dig a [[channel]] through the [[floor|surface]] of the brook, which removes the floor tiles, making that part like a normal river. Also, [[well]]s cannot be placed directly on a brook, and must also have the brook's surface removed via channeling.

Water flows from the upstream end of the brook at the edge of the map, while draining at the downstream end. By using {{k|k}} to look at the water levels at the ends of the river, you can determine which end is downstream by looking for tiles that are not full with 7/7 water. You may need to drain some water from the brook before being able to see this effect.

If water gets on top of the floor grate over the brook, the tiles will get mud on them and they become farmable tiles, which in itself is strange because normally water would wash away the seeds!

A [[screw pump]] is capable of drawing water from a brook without channeling it's surface. This property allows the brook to be left intact while being able to set up a pump station for the purpose of filling a reservoir somewhere.

{{World}}

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v0.34:Natural weapon

v0.34:Brook