40d Talk:Pet

Population control

Is there a reliable way to remove pets? On some of my fortresses, I wind up with 100+ pets and actually see a framerate hit because of it. I don't really care if their owners get an unhappy thought, they'll straighten out when they drink their masterwork beer. Ripheus 21:06, 3 March 2008 (EST)

Non pet-passable door + death room might work. (A drawbridge would probably work nicely). Get the dorf to walk into the room (build something in there or draft them and station them there), wait for the pet, set door as tightly closed, get the dorf to leave the room, drop bridge. +Kitten tallow biscuits+. --Wabbiteh 06:21, 10 March 2008 (EDT)

Death rooms are mandatory in fortresses requiring high fps. Best if you station them near main corridor with few backup corridors. It may be possible to trap pets by just door settings alone. Animals don't know that tightly-closed doors count as forbidden for them and will not include them in pathfinding calculations (they see free corridor, not closed door). They will stand before tightly closed door and won't find a better way. Forbidden doors count as obstacle and will be bypassed if possible. This may be used to create automatic death rooms (if they are controlled by pressure plates you may need absolutely no dwarven intervention). Also, you can't butcher cats killed by anything other than butcher, so no +Kitten Tallow Biscuit+ for you. --Someone-else 17:35, 9 May 2008 (EDT)

Worked and worked well, thank you sir. I prefer the spike trap, personally. Ripheus 22:55, 24 March 2008 (EDT)

Cost of ownership

On the z-animals menu, at least once the economy starts, non-cat pets have a price listed next to them. Is it possible to buy pets off owners? If so, how? (If not, why the monetary value?) --Squirrelloid 02:22, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

If you mark stray pet as available it'll have price too. It's the price at which a dwarf can buy a pet, whether it's owned by other dwarf or is stray. That's what I think.--Dorten 03:22, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

Pets in combat

Will a pet attack enemies attacking its owner? How does pets work for protection? Can a tame mule or whatever actually be any good in a fight?--Dwaref 22:33, 28 June 2008 (EDT)

Firstly, I've never seen a horse attack anything. Some pets such as Dogs can indeed attack enemies, but they aren't that good at stopping Goblins or anything stronger. They're good at getting rid of pests though. --AlexFili 04:02, 24 July 2008 (EDT)

I've seen a horse attack and stun goblins, but only in self defence (counterattacks, I assume). I believe that the horse was a pet, probably of a woodcutter, as it was wandering around outside my fort at the time. Led those gobbos a merry chase, it did. --Raumkraut 08:13, 24 July 2008 (EDT)

I'm hoping they do! I bought a tame black bear off some shady elves, and I'm hoping it'll get adopted soon; prefeably by a military dwarf, or at least one that spends a decent amount of time outside of Rissenpaddle's halls. Can't wait to see the look on those goblin's faces! --Eddie 07:14, 26 July 2008 (EDT)

Named and owned pet in cage

If you assign a kitten to a cage, it is possible for it to adopt a dwarf before it is put in the cage; I found a pet in my cat cage. --Bombcar 03:08, 19 October 2008 (EDT)

Yep, it is quite possible. I've had it happen on a few occasions (much to my annoyance). --Toloran 15:09, 2 November 2008 (EST)

Pet Training

Can you train pet dogs? In my fortress I had loads of dogs, but it is my first fort so I made all of them available and now they're pets. --Stinhad Limarezum 07:44, 21 October 2008 (EDT)

You can only train strays. Though assigned war/hunting dogs seem to act like pets in terms of making their owner happy and such. Don't worry about them being assigned, there will be puppies soon enough. HeWhoIsPale 08:32, 21 October 2008 (EDT)

Non-preferred pets

Do dwarfs take pets that aren't the creature they like for their [prefstring]? I have black bears, cougars, wolves, deer, and marmots, but non of my dwarves are claiming them as pets. They only seem to like cows, horses, and cats. HeWhoIsPale 08:32, 21 October 2008 (EDT)

I've had the same problem, I think they only take prefstring pets :/ --Xonara 21:00, 18 January 2009 (EST)

Generally its prefstring, although common pets may be less bound by that. Also, cats adopt dwarves (not vice-versa), so whether the dwarf likes cats or not is completely irrelevant. What is relevant is whether the cat likes the dwarf - there are dwarves that cats will *not* adopt. Presumably this is based on personality somehow. --Squirrelloid 21:58, 18 January 2009 (EST)