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v0.31:Giant cave spider

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Revision as of 08:12, 13 February 2011 by 72.1.186.174 (talk) (Added Quietust's farm setup. It's too good to hide on the talk page.)
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xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼
Giant cave spider

S

Biome
Cannot be tamed
Butchering returns

(Value multiplier ×4)

Food items

Meat 19
Fat 18
Brain 1
Heart 1
Intestines 1

Raw materials

Skin Chitin
v50.14 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23
This article is about an older version of DF.
A large underground monster with eight legs and sharp, venomous teeth.

Giant cave spiders are far different from your regular Template:Ls; those are just treats for your Template:L. Giant cave spiders are nearly twice the size of a dwarf and will make treats of cats, dwarves and the occasional careless adventurer. You can find giant cave spiders in, obviously, caves, caverns and most underground areas. They are extremely dangerous as they feel no pain and thus cannot be stunned, can Template:L creatures and have the ability to shoot Template:Lbing to ensnare their prey.

Giant cave spiders are fortunately (depending on your point of view) not a rarity anymore and there are dozens present in the underground caverns, deep below the surface. They can be extremely hard to kill, so watch out.

They are both a boon and a bane, the boon being their webs (whenever they aren't a part of the bane.) Giant cave spider Template:L is worth much more than ordinary Template:L and given the proper setup and victims, they can produce endless amounts of it. Be aware that if they are tamed, Giant Cave Spiders will not spit webbing at enemies (or fight back at all) unless they are being attacked themselves.[Verify]

If you see one in adventure mode, an announcement, "You've spotted a Giant Cave Spider!" will appear.

Giant cave spider venom appears to be a neurotoxin which causes progressive Template:L and is ultimately fatal due to suffocation as the victim's diaphragm succumbs and ceases to function. The poison's effects set in relatively quickly with complete paralysis at phase 5 (360 seconds) and death usually occurs at around 1300 seconds.

Capturing

Due to the considerable value of giant cave spider silk, many players attempt to capture a live spider and set up a silk farm to boost their fortress's economy. While simply opening a path to the Template:Ls and lining it with cage traps may eventually work, a much more effective method is to take advantage of one peculiar behavior of Template:Ls - simply build a Template:Len Template:L within the caverns and surround it with cage traps, and any giant cave spider (or Template:L, Template:L, Template:L, etc.) that enters the caverns will immediately charge toward it and be captured.

Silk Farms

One well-tested silk farm setup looks like this: 

╔═══════════╗
║+++++++++++║
║+++++++++++║
║++++++╥╔═══╣
≡++++++║╬╞╡+║
║++++++║╬+╬┼╣
║++++++║╬g╬S║
║++++++║╬+╬┼╣
≡++++++║╬╞╡+║
║++++++╨╚═══╣
║+++++++++++║
║+++++++++++║
╚═══════════╝

Connect a lever to the two floodgates on the left and the three raising bridges on the right (which rise lengthwise, to form a solid wall the entire length of the bridge). The spider is tamed and unchained in this setup: you drop it in from above. The "g" is a chained, disarmed goblin, which should be one of the last things to go in. The doors near the spider are unlocked, but marked as pet-impassible, and there's a one-tile meeting zone under the spider to reduce the lag caused by the spider.

When the bridges are down, the floodgates will seal the room and the spider will continuously blast the goblin with webs. When the bridges are up, they'll hide the goblin from the view of your dwarves and open up the room, allowing them to collect the valuable webs.

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