Captured creatures

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v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

You can capture creatures in a variety of ways, including animal traps for vermin, cage traps for wild animals and hostiles like goblins, forcibly caging tame animals (see below), and you can also buy caged animals from traders. Several animals (cows, etc.) are classified as grazers and need to have access to moss or grass, and will starve if kept in a cage for too long - providing food to grazers is best achieved through definition of a pasture. Non-grazer caged animals (such as dogs) do not require food or nourishment. Most animals have limited lifespans, though, so these too will die eventually. A caged creature is fed during its taming, but caged dwarves (including those in jail) will quickly starve, for they will only irregularly be fed and watered, if at all.

Below is a collection of some things you can do with creatures in cages or other holding devices.

Training and taming

A dwarf with the animal training labor can tame caged wild animals, provide training to trained (but not tame) uncaged creatures and tame small creatures (vermin) at a vermin catcher's shop. A tame animal has the tag (Tame) after its name and is safe to be released into the fortress. They will not attack your dwarves, and do not set off your traps. A trained creature is marked as "Semi-Wild" or "Trained", the latter possibly with the symbols commonly used to display quality levels. Training of animals will fade over time, and the displayed "quality" of their training will slowly decay to semi-wild and finally fully wild if the training is not refreshed in a pasture, preferably one designated as animal training zone.

Beware - creatures that have killed dwarves (or other friendly creatures^[Verify]) before being tamed, even off the map, are "un-tamable". Despite appearing tame, such a creature will go back to its dwarf-slaying as soon as it is released.

Traders will bring and sell caged animals, the elven caravan will often carry "exotic" species not offered by human and dwarven traders. If the cage contains a creature, this will be indicated in the trade screen by labeling the cage for the creature contained, like "cat cage (zinc)" instead of "(-zinc cage-)".

Tamed vermin and animals may be adopted as pets by the dwarves, and animals may also be slaughtered for food. Cages and restraints are also useful in animal husbandry.

Caged wild animals can't be slaughtered at the butcher's shop. If you want to process captured animals, you must train them beforehand.

Holding

You can restrain creatures by assigning them to restraints, putting them in cages, assigning them to pastures, or throwing them in pits or ponds. Controlling the amount of free-roaming animals can reduce lag. Sticking cats into cages can also reduce pet adoptions: cats cannot adopt new masters if they are physically separated from them.

• Cages: An indefinite number of animals may be locked into one single cage. If you wish to fit your own tame animals into cages, you can do this by building a cage, and assigning some animals to it via the Building properties window (accessible by q). "Large animal caging" jobs will then be created, and dwarves will lock the hapless animals into the cage. Any offspring they give birth to is also born in the cage (and will be assigned to the cage, so your dwarves will not arbitrarily free them). Animals do not breed in cages, but an already pregnant animal will give birth while in a cage. Tame grazing creatures will starve if left in cages, so it is not a long-term solution for those animals. Curiously, wild creatures do not need to eat, so caged wild grazers can be kept indefinitely if they are not tamed.

Caveat — Be careful when reassigning an animal that is not tame (for example, one captured via a cage trap). If the dwarf moving the animal is in any way interrupted or disturbed during the job, the creature will get free, possibly deep within your fort.

By stationing military dwarves nearby, this can be used as an easy way to release and kill caged creature. This works especially well if the military dwarves already have an order to kill the creature before you attempt to transfer it. (Some creatures may actually get transferred successfully, however.)

• Pastures: Pastures are activity zones that confine creatures to a certain area. They are essential for grazing animals (to ensure that they have sufficient grass to eat), however, pastures can also be useful to position watch and bait animals, to keep pets safe from danger, and to corral cats around the food supply for vermin removal. Any number of creatures can be assigned to a pasture, however, too many animals in a confined space will result in overcrowding.

• Chains/ropes: An installed chain (b-v) can have one animal assigned to it q. The creature will be able to move one tile in any direction (including up/down/diagonal). Wild animals assigned to a chain appear to be quite harmless. Members of your fortress will simply ignore them, however visitors (caravan guards, diplomats, etc.) will attack or flee.

• Pits/ponds: You can designate an area as a pit or pond by creating an activity zone, designating it as a pit/pond, and assigning animals to it by setting its properties by pressing P. Note that animals generally do not like to remain in a dark pit instead of your magnificent fortress, so they'll break free at the earliest opportunity. See Mass pitting for information on dumping many caged creatures into a pit/pond at once. If you place too many animals in a confined space, they will become overcrowded and start fights.

Other uses

• Zoo areas may be defined from a built cage via the q menu for the enjoyment of your dwarves. Be aware that dwarves will receive happy or unhappy thoughts from seeing an animal in a zoo based on their preferences. Owning the cage containing a loved animal is even better.

• Confiscating prisoner items: You can strip a captured critter of its equipment. First, use d-b-c and d-b-dto mark the entire stockpile of cages (and every item in the cages) for reclaiming and then for dumping, then use k (for unbuilt cages) or t (for built cages) to view and undump the cage itself. After you ordered the items dumped, dwarves will come and strip the items from your captives. If they do not, double-check that you have a dumping activity zone and that you've reclaimed (d-b-c) - all the equipment a hostile carries is forbidden by default. You can also dump caged prisoner items through the stocks menu.

• Usage as an execution device: Instead of executing the trapped creature, one could arrange a noble's death unfortunate accident by placing a caged megabeast in their quarters and then releasing the beast. Remember to also install a cage trap to recapture the beast afterward.

• Fortress defense: You may happen to catch one of the many creatures that cannot actually be tamed: invaders, semi-megabeasts, animal people, trolls, zombies, or even an attacking werebeast after it transforms back to its normal form. These are not as useless as you might think - you can use them for defending your fort. Build the cage somewhere you expect your enemy to come nearby, link it, and when the dire times come, just pull the lever in the appropriate moment and watch the show. Be aware, though, while most of the creatures will run back into the wilds once uncaged, (semi)megabeasts and undead will stay in your fort and may wreak havoc there, especially if you forgot to set up a device that could recapture them afterwards. If you think that one creature is not enough to do its job, release a whole group of them at once. This is particularly useful when you have zombies, as these will not fight each other, and creatures of the same species also won't attack themselves. Otherwise it's a good idea to separate the individual cages.

• Live training: Military dwarves gain experience much faster from actual combat than sparring, demonstrations, or drills. By relieving your prisoners of their weapons they can be rendered mostly harmless, perfect for your aspiring warriors to whale upon. If training axe, spear or sword you can use wooden training weapons to get the most out of your "sparring partner"; if training a hammerdwarf, then use a lightweight-wood, poor quality crossbow, without quiver or bolts, for your least effective bludgeon melee option.

• Silk farming: If you are the lucky owner of a tamed giant cave spider, you can release disarmed enemies in a room with it, causing it to shoot significant quantities of silk which can then be woven into expensive cloth. Creative arrangements of doors, chains, and fortifications can allow a setup which generates a near-constant stream of silk using a single creature as bait.

• Creature logic: A branch of dwarfputing that relies on the pathing of creatures to perform calculations.