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)

The way I managed to capture one was by digging a tunnel that was in as direct a line as possible from where the Giant Spider was hanging out to the entrance of my fort. (Making sure the end point of the tunnel was far enough away from the spiddy that it didn't "trigger" it to attack.) Then I built a cage trap inside and activated a dwarf of mine who was supper agile (fast) and slowly walked him towards the spider. As soon as the spider started moving I deactivated my dwarf and the civilianized dwarf headed back twards my fort taking the shortest route possible (through the tunnel). Spider followed and got caught. I lost my first dwarf trying this out, but was successful with my second. --Frewfrux 16:52, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

So, the question still stands: Can you use tame GCS to produce webbing? Do they only shoot it at enemies, and can you collect it? --24.179.141.137 23:30, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

I imagine it best not to tame them to harvest the silk. Instead, try to entomb them hostile into a 1x1 room with a fortification in it which faces your silk industry. Dwarves going to work in the shop or hauling from the stockpile will anger the spider enough to make it vomit web through the fortification, continually replenishing your stocks? 76.185.61.24 11:15, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

GCS silk farms work just fine if the spider is tame, provided you use hostile bait. Also, your described setup would not work at all - a GCS won't shoot webs unless it has a valid path to its target (ideally involving unlocked but pet-impassable doors, due to a pathfinding bug), and putting it right near your workshops would make it impossible for your dwarves to do anything at all, instead constantly running away from what they perceive to be a hostile creature. --Quietust 13:34, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

Problem is, it'll scare the dwarves and you'll be flooded with job cancellation spam. Actually, I bet most of the silk would never even be collected, as everyone would be too scared to go close enough to the cage to get it. --Arrkhal (not logged in)

Oh, and a tame one will still shoot webs at hostiles. Just use captured, unarmed goblins. Either with the spider in a fortification "cage," or the lazy way and just "feed" it the gobbos. --Arrkhal (not logged in)

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)

I've got the same thing in my bottomless pit. I've had five units of Giant Cave Spider Silk Web visible on my stocks screen since embark, despite the pit not being revealed (probably a bug). --24.179.141.137 23:30, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

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)

Sensitive to Motion

Anyone else find that Giant Spiders appear to be sensitive to motion? Needs more testing, but A) when my sacrificial pet entered a giant spider’s lair it was safe while it didn’t move. As soon as it moved the spider shot at it with webbing and proceeded to devour it. And B) when a soldier stood in front of a row of fortifications with a giant spider behind it nothing happened, but when he was set to “patrol” along the border of the fortifications the giant spider would occasionally shoot at him with webbing. --Frewfrux 17:00, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Harvesting Giant Cave Spider Silk

For those who are inclined to try, it is definitely possible to harvest Giant Cave Spider (GCS) silk. While profitable, it can also be fairly costly in terms of how many dwarves end up dying in the attempt to capture the creature, but once captured there are at least two methods of harvesting the GCS silk.

1) Build a series of rooms which are connected by floodgates (floodgates can’t get stuck open) each of which has a tile channeled out above it and an activity zone making the hole a pit into the GCS’s den. Then all you need to do is drop in an animal and the GCS will (eventually) shoot at it with its webbing and eat it up. Once the GCS moves to another of the connected rooms you can go in to harvest the webs.

2) Slightly more efficient then the above method, you can also place your captured GCS in its cage along the length of a wall, link the cage to a lever, build fortifications around the cage so that the GCS can’t escape, and pull the lever releasing the GCS. Once it is released, place a recruit on patrol along the length of the fortifications. The GCS will occasionally shoot at the soldier causing webbing to appear which can be harvested. (No dwarves or animals are harmed with this method.) Anyone else know of any GCS silk harvesting methods? --Frewfrux 17:25, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Floodgates will get jammed open if there's anything there, and I'm pretty sure spider webs are included. If you want a gate that will never get jammed, better make it a raising bridge. As for actually farming the silk, there are several methods that involve pet-impassable doors and chained creatures such that the spider can't reach its target but shoots webs anyways. --Quietust 17:37, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't know why, but for some reason I was under the impression that floodgates would crunch anything that gets caught in them. I have no idea why I thought that, however. I guess I'm going to have to pay a bit more attention to my spider den now that I know the doors can get stuck open. --Frewfrux 17:48, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

I'll venture a guess as to why you'd think that: the Nethack castle drawbridge. --77.160.191.85 14:41, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

The Nethack castle drawbridge is actually much more similar to a Dwarf Fortress drawbridge - both act as atom smashers, utterly destroying anything in their tiles when they raise/lower (except for monsters that can phase through walls, of course). --Quietust 21:38, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

You're overcomplicating this. I don't have the patience to go out and capture anything like a GCS, but this method should work:

1. Build a 3x8 room.
2. Build a 3x1 floodgate line down the middle, closer to the exit. Connect to a lever.
3. Build a 3x1 grate line down the middle, farther to the exit. Connect to another lever.
4. Build a chain in the dead center of the section that connects to the outside world.
5. Build your GCS cage in the other half. Connect to another lever.
6. Build a cage trap in a narrow hallway that leads out of the silking room.
7. Build a floodgate infront of this cage trap - this is the actual barrier keeping civilized dwarves from the spider lair.
8. Chain a cat or something to the silking room.
9. Release your spider.
10. Open the floodgates.
11. Let the spider silk the cat.
12. Close the gates.
13. Collect webs.
14. ???
15. Profit!

--Iban 00:46, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Web Spinning

What causes the GCS to spin visible webs for reasons other than attacking? --Iban 08:24, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Can they walk on their webs?

Can a GCS walk on the webs that are built over the chasm? TheWealthyAardvark 18:21, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Cave Spider vs. Giant Cave Spider webs

My bottomless pit has a load of items shown as Cave Spider Webs, however it seems whatever is making them is a GCS. One, almost every Batman in the pit has broken legs, even when they didn't go by the troll (yeah, it has a troll). Second, no cave spiders show up- I've personally seen the webs pop out of nowhere and ensnare (vermin) bats, then k'd over the spot and found nothing. Is it marked as normal cave spider webs because the spider is still in ambush mode, or just because that's how they always are? --Rotten 03:56, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Eh, apparently never mind. I did some looking and they are definitely normal cave spider webs. --Rotten 04:01, 24 January 2010 (UTC)