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v0.31:Giant cave spider

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xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼
Giant cave spider

S

Biome

  • Underground Caverns (dry)
  • Underground Depth: 1-2
Pet Attributes
Pet value 2,500

Cannot be trained

Exotic - cannot be tamed 

Size
Birth: 20,000 cm3
Mid: 100,000 cm3
Max: 200,000 cm3
Alignment

Savage

Age
Adult at: Birth
Max age: 20-30
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 fangs.

Giant cave spiders are far different from your regular Template:Ls; those are just treats for your Template:L. Giant cave spiders are as big as Template:Ls 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. Due to the material changes, however, chitin is not as great as armour as it used to be, resulting in a few dwarves, on occasion, punching one to death within a few attacks by punching its skull into its brain, which can be a godsend on an unlucky cavern breaching excercise.

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 (and being eaten) 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 (to a distance of at least 2 tiles), 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.

Farming Silk

Several setups have been devised to harvest giant cave spider silk in large quantities. One proven design is as follows:

╔ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ╗
║ + + + + + + + + + + + ║
║ + + + + + + + + + + + ║
║ + + + + + + ╥ ╔ ═ ═ ═ ╣
≡ + + + + + + ║ ╬ ╞ ╡ + ║
║ + + + + + + ║ ╬ + ╬ ┼ ╣
║ + + + + + + ║ ╬ g ╬ S ║
║ + + + + + + ║ ╬ + ╬ ┼ ╣
≡ + + + + + + ║ ╬ ╞ ╡ + ║
║ + + + + + + ╨ ╚ ═ ═ ═ ╣
║ + + + + + + + + + + + ║
║ + + + + + + + + + + + ║
╚ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ═ ╝
  1. Dig out (and optionally smooth) a sufficiently large room (example shown is 11x11).
  2. Template:L all of the light gray Template:Ls and red Template:Ls.
  3. Build the 3 green Template:Ls, all raising lengthwise to form long walls.
  4. Construct a Template:L somewhere convenient in your fortress and link it to the 3 bridges.
  5. Build 2 non-wooden Template:Ls above and below the gray "S". Mark both doors as pet-inaccessible but leave them unlocked.
  6. Build a restraint underneath the gray "g". Assign a disarmed captured Template:L soldier (not a thief or a wild animal) to the restraint.
  7. Pull the lever to raise the bridges (and hide the goblin from your mason), then construct the blue wall to seal the chamber.
  8. Build the 2 Template:Ls and link them to the lever, then pull the lever again.
  9. Using a pit/pond Template:L on the Z-level above, drop a tamed giant cave spider into the gray "S" square. Place a 1-tile meeting zone on this tile to reduce lag when collecting webs.

At this point, the spider will begin blasting the goblin with webs, and most of the webs will fly through the fortifications and land on the floor to the left. Once enough webs have accumulated, pull the lever to open the chamber for collection and raise the 3 bridges - the bridge on the left will prevent the goblin from scaring your weavers away, and the 2 bridges on the right will block the path between the goblin and the spider, causing it to calm down and stop trying to shoot webs (in order to reduce lag). Once all of the webs have been collected, simply pull the lever again to reseal the chamber and start the spider webbing again.

Note that since this design requires the giant cave spider to be tamed, your fortress must have a Template:L or you must modify your RAWs to make giant cave spiders non-exotic pets.

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