v0.31 Talk:Cage

Can't release small creature?

I'm trying to empty my cages which are filling up with bats and hedgehogs, but when I un-assign them from the cage I get the message: X cancels release small creature: need empty trap. Does this mean I need traps to empty cages now? I would like some documentation on this--208.81.12.34 17:26, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

That always happens when trying to release a vermin from a cage - rather than let them roam around, dwarves will insist that they be placed inside an animal trap. --Quietust 17:48, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I had the same problem. One way that I emptied the cages was by designating a pit and having them thrown in it. The dwarfs were fine with that.--Kwieland 16:32, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Animals dying

I have a fairly old fortress - going on 14 years. With military bugged, my current defense is a lot of traps. The trap caught animals. I didn't realize it, but animals do die after a while in cages. They never eat, but I have had several deer, groundhog, (other animals) corpse show up in my cage trap pile. Dwarfs have no problem taking the whole cage to the butcher shop and butchering the animal that way. Summary - 1. wild untamed animals in cages don't need to eat (dwarfs presumably do, though). 2. Animals have a lifespan, even wild ones.--Kwieland 04:41, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Infinite Air in Cages

I've captured an entire goblin ambush and decided to drown them, but after setting up their cages and then flooding the room they don't die... --Flying Dwarves Hurt 12:53, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, you'd have to link the cages to a single lever and open it after the room is flooded (or while it's flooding for a little more excitement). Makes for a safe and effective drowning chamber. Any of the cages left unopened will keep their captives alive. --MisterB777 16:42, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

That is what I had ended up doing... would have been more convenient to have them drown in the cages, (My mechanics hate me for it thou) --Flying Dwarves Hurt 20:00, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Pitting hostiles from cages, bug?

Something somewhat weird happened to me. I was pitting goblins from an execution tower to their deaths, when a goblin thief somehow managed to get away after being removed from his cage. So he ran for freedom. Between him and freedom was a row of cage traps, so he got trapped again. One of my haulers went to the cage, removed the goblin thief from the cage and hauled him ~30 spaces and threw him of the tower. The goblin just followed him. The empty cage was taken to an animal stockpile.

I'm guessing this is some kind of bug, as the thief should try to get away when he's hauled. Or am I missing something? /Josj 13:20, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

What to do with caged goblins by nickbii

1) d-b-c the cages. by default the Gobboes clothes are forbidden so your dorfs can't strip them naked, this unforbids.
2) Create a zone with i, make it a garbage dump.
3) d-b-d the cages. This tells your dorfs to take anything in the cages to your garbage dump. If you've you've done everything right a bunch of Dump Item jobs will appear in (j)obs menu.
4) Build the cages with b-j. You can't hook up levers to unbuilt cages so this step is necessary.
5) Build a lever. It can be built anywhere. I usually put it just outside the Death Chamber, so the puller doesn't have to be physically in the room, and still be close to the cages,
6) Connect the lever to each cage with a-j.
7) Move your troops to the room and lock them in.
8) Pull the lever.

Reassigning the gobboes from the cages would get them out, but has the disadvantage that a civilian would have to walk up to the cage and open it.
The process is actually quite simple when you've done it a few times. When you get good at it you can do really cool stuff like only dump the gobboes weapons from the stocks screen. This leaves them in their armor, so your guys take longer (and get more experience) killing them.
message(copy-pasted for everyone to find by --TomiTapio 16:47, 27 July 2010 (UTC))

Step 1 is presumably new to version 0.31, since it definitely wasn't necessary in 40d and earlier. Also, for step 3 you must also individually un-dump the cages after using d-b-d or the cages themselves will also be tossed in the garbage dump, something you might not want to do. --Quietust 16:50, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Instead of the levers, you could do the following steps for releasing goblins for your soldiers.

1) order the squad you want to train into the room.

2) lock the door

3) disband the squad (making the dwarves non-military)

4) un-assign the goblins from their cages. Your now civilian dwarves, having nothing else to do in the locked room, will open the cages

5) re-establish the squad

It's a bit roundabout, but it saves the hassle of levers and mechanisms.--Twilightdusk 02:02, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

3) makes no sense - simply lock the door, and then take them off the training (Set as inactive) BLAM they are like civs and will open cages :) --Djsmiley2k 14:16, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Zoo noise suggestion

It might be cool if the caged zoo animals and ogres made sleep-disturbing noises, like the workshops do. --TomiTapio 14:37, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Workshops does not produce noise. 213.134.175.225 10:39, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

But that is a bug, so maybe "like workshops are meant to" 85.118.156.10 16:36, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

Selling caged creatures

I had a pretty good collection of Draltha and Cave Crocodiles in cages, so I decided to try to trade some of them. Bad idea. The dwarves seem to think that you just want to trade the cages, not the animals inside them (unless I'm missing something). In the end I lost more dwarves to those damn crocodiles then I did to the recent hydra invasion.

i'm having the same problem... When trying to sell the cage, the dwarves let the creature loose (imagine a Beak Dog running free inside my fortress...) and haul the cage to the Trade Depot. I think its a bug, because when setting "zoo cage", i have to guess which cage contain which creature, since the cage window shows only material names, not the creature inside (nickel cage, instead of Beak Dog Cage, for instance). -- gervas

When placing a cage, pressing 'x' (Expand/Contract) will list all the cages you have, allowing you select a goblin iron cage instead of an empty one. --Xigy

Message: Something has emptied a cage!

I just had a troglodyte freed from its cage. The released troglodyte had been trapped for at least a year and had not been moved to a stockpile due to being in a section of the fortress that had been sealed due to a gremlin infestation. Has anyone else seen this behavior? Would say a goblin free a cave crocodile? Could a creature be freed from an animal stockpile?

The troglodyte in question was one of six. Four were trapped and two have been hanging around the cages. Three cages remain intact, suggesting that this isn't just the result of a timer.

As I understand, opening cages is one of the kinds of mischief that gremlins enjoy. --Neil 10:30, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Goblin just escaped from a hauled cage

This might be worth noting. I just defended my fortress from a goblin siege with cage traps. after they were all captured, I had my dwarves haul the cages to the animal stockpile and as that was being done, one of the goblins escaped from the cage. These cages were being hauled to a stockpile, so I know I didn't accidentally unassign it from its cage, and I didn't mark any of its equipment or anything for dumping or anything of the sort. Luckily he escaped right in front of my barracks and was beaten to death by my fledgling military with training weapons. But its either a bug or intended that he escaped.--96.248.39.87 23:27, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

This sort of behavior has been known to occur in the past when ordering a cage to be brought to the trade depot - are you sure this isn't what happened here? --Quietust 00:54, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

I've heard that thieves can escape from the cages, was it a Goblin Thief? --Twilightdusk 02:03, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

100% sure I wasn't trading the cages, I've been aware of that bug, they were being brought to an animal stockpile. And these weren't goblin theives, they were 9 goblin swordsman swordsmen and an elite hammergoblin, it was a swordsman that managed to escape(also I think goblin thieves don't exist, just snatchers.)--96.248.39.87 13:50, 2 December 2010 (UTC) I edited my post to add how many goblin swordsmen

Dead caravans and caged animals

I remove animals from cages stolen from dead merchants (I usually just kill my merchants) by designating them to be melted (if they're metal). The only problem with this is that the animals inside simply go for the edge of the map, and leave. In the article, it mentions that being unable to remove said animals is a bug, which is only partially true. While it is still possible to remove the animals via non-standard methods (though I'm still not sure how to go about fixing wooden cages. How about pit designations? Just a theory - I'll have to test it soon), they'll leave the map after doing so. 64.24.169.62 08:01, 29 January 2011 (UTC)