40d Talk:Giant cave spider

Anecdotes on article page

THEY ARE EVIL. One killed 2 of my proficient miners on its own! It has a breath attack that shoots webs and it rips off people limbs! Dont attack them if you know whats good for you! --User:Diabl0658

What is this? I did not write this in the comments! Diabl0658 22:23, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

The article page was cleaned up - less personal (the 'my' aspect of it - that only applies to your (Diabl0658's) experience and not necessarily that of any future editor). JT copied the anecdote in the article to the talk page and attributed it to you. (Side consideration sub pages of /anecdote for this type of thing?) --Shagie 22:44, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

What Shagie said. I figure the articles themselves should be left for "fact" (you can inject subtle humour or hearsay if it's between the lines), while any personal experiences or questions can be mentioned on the Talk pages. (I dunno if an anecdotal page is necessary. Do we really need so many more stub pages?) That's the general idea on Wikipedia, anyway... --JT 23:13, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

The sub page idea could be a way of clearly making a place for anecdotes that would otherwise show up in article pages or talk pages (where talk pages would (in theory) be more about the factual/design content of the articles themselves. One of the wikis I am involved with is particularly prone to vandalism - the funny vandalism they move off to a sub page. This way, its still there as a record but isn't hampering discussion or reading the article itself. Realize I'm not calling anecdotes vandalism, but rather suggesting a similar way that they can be put somewhere so they don't hamper discussion or the article. --Shagie 23:25, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

Categories?

Should this article not be under the "creatures" section? --Talith

Phantom vs GC spiders

I've noticed a few references to "phantom spiders" in material lists and such. Is it possible that a phantom spider is in fact what created that hellishly large web in the picture, or is it known that that was a regular giant cave spider? --AlBorland

Nope, that's a bona fide giant cave spider. You can see it towards the centre of the web. Phantom spiders are vermin-sized critters which appear only on evil maps. --JT 01:06, 6 November 2007 (EST)

You should probably upload that web picture to the wiki rather than an external host. -EarthquakeDamage 02:18, 10 November 2007 (EST)

The Spidernator

Added a line half intended to bring a chuckle to readers, though well with intent of warning of one of their greatest threats that wasn't previously mentioned; they can't be stunned or incapacitated in any way, due to having such tokens as [NOPAIN] and [NOSTUN], along with several other immunities. I modified the "quote" a bit so that it more accurately fits the description for more practical purposes. --Hesitris 21:53 EST, 15 November 2007

Giant Spider Silk

Sure, they can poison you and web you up and eat you later. (Attercob! Attercob!) But don't their webs make the loveliest high-value silk shirts and cloaks? --Jellyfishgreen 11:11, 1 October 2008 (EDT)

I understand they can be tamed by a Dungeon Master; does anyone know if they will still produce silk for the loom if tame? Is the webbing they spray at attacking enemies collectible for the loom? --Jellyfishgreen 10:08, 14 January 2009 (EST)

To catch it, you would probably need a ton of cage traps and AT LEAST half a dozen recruits for bait (the faster the better). Beware: 'bait' has 90% fatality rate, and you may cause a tantrum spiral. Use a wave of immigrants you don't want for this (insane) task. --Arkenstone 04:47, 13 August 2009 (EST)

Alternatively, if it's inside a bottomless pit (and you know which level it's on), you can dig a tunnel up to it (but not all the way), build a cage trap, chain a puppy behind the trap, then dig out the final wall (and make sure everything inside the pit is forbidden, such as any ratman bones). If the spider has already revealed itself, place the tunnel somewhere in its line of sight - once it sees the chained animal, it'll make a beeline toward it and walk straight into the cage trap. In my latest fortress, I got impatient and unchained the first dog to reveal the spider, then chained a second one to lure it into the trap - my GCS silk farm can easily generate over a hundred webs per season. --Quietust 17:57, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Visible invisible web

I've seen giant cave spider silk webs in my pit in my most recent fort (haven't bothered to touch them yet, haha). Could it be that new pieces of web are visible from creation point? --GreyMaria 17:30, 4 November 2008 (EST)

Escaping a web

Could someone who knows include information in this article regarding whether a dwarf can escape a web or be freed from one? When my dwarf gets stuck in a web he invariably gets killed...--Jpwrunyan 00:30, 3 February 2009 (EST)

Well, when the spider cannot reach entangled dwarf, the paralysis wears away pretty quickly.--Dorten 01:40, 3 February 2009 (EST)

Thanks, I think I understand now. The web just "paralyzes" the dwarf for an amount of time after which he is able to move again and get stuck again.--Jpwrunyan 02:23, 4 February 2009 (EST)

Stray Giant Cave Spider (tame) bleeds to death

Anyone have this problem? I've a tame giant cave spider that just keeps randomly dying while staying in my meeting hall. It was perfectly healthy. I assume that the creature is somehow "freezing" to death, even though I'm on a warm map? I come to this conclusion because of its homeotherm:10040 and no layering, perhaps, and I'm thinking that it is too hot for the creature. -Belathus 07:17, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Upon further review, I think a friendly trade caravan is killing it. Either way, it is bothersome. -Belathus 07:52, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Wall climbing abilities?

I was in the middle of constructing my spider moat (it involves a sealed of room with a cow(and a trap in front of it), the other room contains the soon-to-be-captured GCS, my plan was to have the not tame GCS kill everything in my moat and then get re-caught but they i realized "couldn't it simply climb out?" How does GCS's move around in their almost cliff-like pits and chasms? do they have some kind of wall climb abilities? - Sava2004 20:04, 30 May 2009 (EST)

As far as I know, there are no creatures that can climb walls. I've never seen a GCS change z-levels in a pit or chasm unless they were at the surface, where there were ramps. --Elvang 10:11, 31 May 2009 (UTC)