Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

Military testing

2012-05-20T13:05:35Z

Waladil:

This page on the wiki houses trials run within the game by players, with the intention of arriving at conclusions on how certain combat situations work, or just combat in general.

If you want to know more about how to do your own testing go to the [[DF2010:Arena]] wiki article. To learn more about the military and how it works in Dwarf Fortress, go to the [[DF2010:Military]] article.

The format in which trials are presented here is by no means a strict rule. Feel free to add and change elements but make sure the information is easy to read and understand. Try to provide any information you think is relevant and useful without digressing too much.

= Standard format for testing trials =

Here's an example of how to present your test's information. If you're not sure how to make tables and stuff, just copy this from the edit page and fill it with your own information.

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 6 || Grand Master Swordsdwarf Grand Master Elf-hater || Tower-cap stake
|-
| #2: Corinthian Magma Weasel || 6 || -no skills- || -no items-
|-
| #3: Tea cup || 6 || Legendary Absurdist || Mustard
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 0 || Severed limbs Bruised internal organs || Tired Bored Extreme Pain || Infection
|-
| #2: Corinthian Magma Weasel || 3 || Broken nose Broken toes || Nauseous || Severed head
|-
| #3: Tea cup || 1 || Cracked handle || -none- || Slippage
|}

'''Notes:'''
The creatures were placed in tight groups, spaced equally apart. The dwarves died fast from injuries caused by the tea cups the magma weasels were throwing. The weasels died from friendly fire.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
The test was meant to test how 3 different sides interact in combat and if any creature uses other creatures as projectiles. As far as this test goes, it seems to be true.

= DF2010 (0.31.16) tests =

=== Dwarves against Skeletal Horses (tested by: plynxis) ===

'''Times run:''' 2

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 6 || -no skills- || full iron armor (with chain leggings and mail shirt), shield and longsword
|-
| #2: Skeletal Horse || 3 || -no skills- || -no items-
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags1 !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 6 || 4 have no injuries 2 badly wounded || Unconscious Extreme Pain || -N/A-
|-
| #2: Skeletal Horse || 0 || -N/A- || -N/A- || Fatal injuries
|}

1Refers only to those injured.

'''Notes:'''
I did this test to see if dwarves can survive horses if they've got full iron armor and weapons. The fight was short and it looks like the skeletal horses charge hard and if they hit, they stun and can kill pretty fast if they're not stopped. I tried it 6:3 because I didn't expect the dwarves to survive a 1:1 ratio against the horses anyway. And yes the amount of trials is pathetic :P

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
Even if dwarves are fully equipped, skeletal horses are very hard to deal with without casualties or at least serious injuries. Going up to a herd requires at least double the dwarves (if they're unskilled at least) to make sure you'll win and even then you're very likely to end up with dwarves that need hospitalization.

=== Dwarves against fire imps (tested by: plynxis) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 4 || Grand Master Shield User || iron shield
|-
| #2: Fire imp || 6 || -no skills- || -no items-
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 4 || -no injuries- || -no tags- || -N/A-
|-
| #2: Fire imp || 0 || -N/A- || -N/A- || Fatal damage from shield attacks
|}

'''Notes:'''
The purpose of this test was to see how shields block fire. In that sense, it was a failure since none of the imps even had the time to attempt fire attacks. The dwarves use their shields as weapons when they don't have an actual weapon in hand and can use it to block at the same time.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
Dwarves with shields and the skill to use them can be very deadly and hard to kill as well. That and fire imps are easy to kill :P

=== Dwarves against Dragon (tested by: plynxis) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 4 || Grand Master Shield User || iron shield
|-
| #2: Dragon || 1 || -no skills- || -no items-
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 0 || -N/A- || -N/A- || Severing of the body when incapable of blocking a biting attack
|-
| #2: Dragon || 1 || All toes broken, nose broken Severe bruising on the rest of the body || Pain || -N/A-
|}

'''Notes:'''
This is a test intended to test fire blocking with shields, in lieu of the previous test which failed at it. Dwarves can block fire breath fine with iron shields and the shields do not get worn.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
Again, dwarves capable of using shields properly are very hard to kill. These ones had very high skill and the only way the dragon was able to kill them was by knocking them over or stunning them and following through with a bite, severing them in half.

=== Dwarves against Dragon (2) (tested by: plynxis) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 4 || Grand Master Shield User || chestnut shield
|-
| #2: Dragon || 1 || -no skills- || -no items-
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 3 || -no injuries- || -no tags- || Severing of the body when incapable of blocking a biting attack
|-
| #2: Dragon || 0 || All toes broken, nose broken Severe bruising on the rest of the body Severe bruising of internal organs || Extreme Pain Nauseous || Suffocation
|}

'''Notes:'''
This test was made to test the effectiveness of non-firesafe material shields against fire. Other than that, the setup is entirely identical to the previous test.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
Shield material does not matter when used by a dwarf it seems and it also never gets worn, so technically a shield of any material is just as adequate for defense. The dwarves again used their shields to attack successfully. Fights with dragons also seem to always include the dragon getting all his toes broken and often his nose. It is also apparent that chance is an important factor when attacks that land by one side (the dragon in this case) are almost always fatal and the other side (the dwarves here) is capable of completely blocking the majority of these attacks. This demonstrated by the fact that in the previous test all dwarves died while in this one the dragon died instead, with all survivors being intact.

=== Dwarves against Skeletal Horses (2) (tested by: plynxis) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 6 || Grand Master Shield User || chestnut shield
|-
| #2: Skeletal Horse || 3 || -no skills- || -no items-
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 6 || -no injuries- || -no tags- || -N/A-
|-
| #2: Skeletal Horses || 0 || -N/A- || -N/A- || Fatal injuries
|}

'''Notes:'''
This is a followup of the previous test to examine how effective shields are against skeletal horses.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
The dwarves are not only capable of killing the horses, but also prevent any injury to themselves. The horses still push them around a bit, but there is little they can do when dwarves gang up on them. The fight is also, quite short.

=== Dwarves against Horses (tested by: plynxis) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 6 || Skilled Shield User || chestnut shield
|-
| #2: Horse || 3 || -no skills- || -no items-
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 0 || -N/A- || -N/A- || Fatal injuries
|-
| #2: Horses || 3 || Light bruising || -no tags- || -N/A-
|}

'''Notes:'''
This was done by accident, but serves as a comparison between Skeletal and regular Horses. There seems to be no comparison :P. The intent was to test how capable dwarves are with just a "Skilled" level of expertise with shields rather than Grand Master.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
Contrary to Skeletal Horses, the regular ones are much harder to kill with shields. The important point here however is the immense difference of capability a dwarf has at a low skill level contrary to a high skill level. Dwarves at this level do not have a consistent ability to block attacks and use their shields enough to prevent quick death, especially by horses.

=== Dwarves against Horses (2) (tested by: plynxis) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 6 || Grand Master Shield User || chestnut shield
|-
| #2: Horse || 3 || -no skills- || -no items-
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 3 || -no injuries- || -no tags- || Fatal injuries
|-
| #2: Horses || 0 || -N/A- || -N/A- || Fatal injuries
|}

'''Notes:'''
This is intended to test the actual effectiveness of dwarves as grand masters against regular horses, so as to compare to skeletal horses and the previous test that had dwarves using shields at a lower skill level.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
Arguably, a higher skill level is a lot more effective, but horses still are very hard to kill without casualties. The difference between fighting a bones-only Horse and an actual muscled Horse is very apparent.

=== Dwarves against Hydra (tested by: plynxis) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 31 || Grand Master Shield User || chestnut shield
|-
| #2: Hydra || 1 || -no skills- || -no items-
|}

1These are the dwarves that survived the previous test. They're completely unharmed, but I thought it good to mention this.

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 1 || Lost a leg || Tired || Fatal injuries Severing of the body when incapable of blocking a biting attack
|-
| #2: Hydra || 1 || Severe bodily bruising Internal organs bruised || Over-Exerted Nauseous || -N/A-
|}

'''Notes:'''
This test was not completed, but the eventual outcome is fairly obvious. It was begun right after the previous one in order to compare how a stronger monster would fare against grand master shieldwarves.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
Like the dragon, the hydra has a very hard time with the dwarves. The fight is long and even though it can kill them all eventually, the damage it takes in the meantime is definitive. A slightly higher number of dwarves might have killed it and even if a whole squad dies, the threat the hydra poses is practically elimintated as it will probably eventually die on its own anyway.

=== Bronze vs. Iron ===

To simulate Fortress mode, 8 battles of 8 vs. 8. Since goblins only use iron, both teams wore iron armour, only difference between the teams being iron vs. bronze short sword.

'''Times run: 8'''

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 8 || Proficient Swordsdwarf || Full iron set minus breastplate and shield, iron short sword
|-
| #2: Dwarf || 8 || Proficient Swordsdwarf || Full iron set minus breastplate and shield, bronze short sword
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Iron team || 4 lost rounds, 20 of 14 wounded || Severed limbs cuts || Tired Pale Faint || Bleeding
|-
| #2: Bronze team || 4 lost rounds, 24 of 21 wounded || Severed limbs cuts || Tired Pale Faint || Bleeding
|}

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
Casualty/wounded(bruises and missing tooth/broken noses etc not counting)/intact rates of 67/30/3% for bronze and vs. 72/19/8% for iron would suggest that while bronze might be better in bigger and longer fights, as in all but 1 of the battles the first casualty was for the bronze team. This is probably because all attacks, both edged attacks and both blunt attacks the short sword has were seen to be used and because good part of the attacks that hit armour were deflected(and effectively became blunt attacks), and because bronze as a heavier material works slightly better in blunting, while the iron seems to have a slight edge in edged attacks. This is also supported by the comparably much higher amount of wounded dwarves(presumably having been hit early in the battle, lots of missing feet, at times lower legs, hands, lower arms, ears and noses) in the bronze team, despite them losing less as KIA.

A 52 vs 52 fight was also tested to see how much difference there would be when majority of the kills would be made when dwarves would be tired and suffering from broken bones(presumably the iron team more than bronze), and bronze team slightly more from cuts and missing body parts. The bronze team annihilated the iron team, having only 50% losses. Of its 26 survivors, however, 25(!) were wounded. Only one dwarf remained intact without cuts or body parts missing.

=== Adamantine Axes vs. Silver Hammers (no armor) ===

'''Times run: 10'''

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarf || 10 || Grandmaster All Skills || Only silver war hammer
|-
| #2: Dwarf || 10 || Grandmaster All Skills || Only adamantine battleaxe
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Wins
|-
| #1: Hammer team || Won 5 of 10 rounds
|-
| #2: Axe team || Won 5 of 10 rounds
|}

This study seems to show that (for legendary dwarfs), silver war hammers are about equal with adamantine battleaxes, even with both sides being unarmored. The previous time I ran this test, hammers actually won 6 of the 10 rounds, but this time it was evenly split.

:(Is that because a grandmaster dwarf can disable or kill an unarmored dwarf with just one hit with either weapon? Might be worth examining the combat logs.) [[User:Bognor|Bognor]] 09:08, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

{{Category|Military}}

=== Dwarves against Skeletal Horses (3) (tested by: Stormtemplar) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarfs || 6 || Proficient Fighter and swordsdwarf, skilled Dodger, Armor and Shield user || Full iron armor&Shortsword
|-
| #2: Skeletal horse || 6 || None || none
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarfs || 6 || 1 with minor wounds, one with head bruising and some broken parts || 1 unconscious (Dwarf with head bruising) ||
|-
| #2: Skeletal horse || 0 || || ||
|}

'''Notes:'''
Dwarfs began in a line, horses began slightly scattered

'''Tester's conclusion:'''
The test was a test of how a middling military would fare against an equal force of skeletal horses. The dwarfs did excellently with only one badly wounded and one other with a minor wound.

= DF2012 (0.34.02) tests =

=== Maces VS war hammers (tested by: hostergaard) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Human male || 12 || -no skills- || Silver mace
|-
| #2: Human male || 12 || -no skills- || Silver warhammer
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Macemen || 0 || -N/A- || -N/A- || Getting their skulls jammed trough their heads
|-
| #2: Warhammermen || 12 || Some broken hands and fingers. Some smashed open. A few bruises. Some cuts. || 1 Unconscious || -N/A-
|}

'''Notes:'''
I want to figure out how good the different blunt weapons are in relation to each other. For now I will test with silver only.
I placed them in two groups on different z-levels with 6 from each side in each group. Each side was ordered in lines (parallel to the y axis) with no space between the individuals. The lines from each side was place right next to each other in each group. Group one had the 6 macemen on left (on the x axis) and the 6 hammermen on the right. Group two had mace on the right and hammer on left.

'''Tester's conclusion:'''

Leaves little doubt that in case of naked men fighting each other with warhammers and maces the hammers win. The hammerman who lost consciousness fought several macemen before fainting.

= DF2012 (0.34.04) tests =

=== Iron Spears VS Iron Warhammers (tested by: Naryar) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Speardwarves || 9 || -no skills || iron spear
|-
| #2: Hammerdwarves || 9 || -no skills- || iron war hammer
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Speardwarves || 6 || Minor injuries || None || Brain damage
|-ea
| #2: Hammerdwarves || 0 || Brain damage
|}

Notes : Each team was in a 3x1 line. Spears won easily. Now let's try better weapons and skill.

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Speardwarves || 9 || High Master Speardwarf || steel spear
|-
| #2: Hammerdwarves || 9 || High Master Hammerdwarf || silver war hammer
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Speardwarves || 0 || Brain damage
|-ea
| #2: Hammerdwarves || 5 || 3 had multiple fractures, 1 had multiple fractures and a lost hand, 1 had nothing || 1 pale
|}

Notes : Each team was right next to each other, no more stacking dwarves like before. Hammerdwarves now won.

= DF2012 (0.34.04) tests =

=== 3 v 1 Mail Shirts (tested by: Waladil) ===

'''Times run:''' 1

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 12 || Grand Master Armor User || Steel gauntlets/greaves/high boots/helm, iron battle axe, 1 iron mail shirt
|-
| #2: Dwarves || 12 || Grand Master Armor User || Steel gauntlets/greaves/high boots/helm, iron battle axe, 3 iron mail shirts
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 0 || || || Suffocation/Bleeding out
|-ea
| #2: Dwarves || 12 || Minor cuts and bruises || 3 faint, 1 pale
|}

So I've been wanting to test the common knowledge that more armor layering = better, so this is the test I set up. Both sides were identical, except that one team wore three mail shirts rather than one. Using steel as the rest of the armor and iron axes ensured that everything important happened around the iron armor.
The battle was slow, almost every hit being stopped by armor. Over time, team one's thinner armor let more blows through, and they eventually bled out or suffocated from lung damage.
This test proved that wearing more armor increases protection. However...

'''Times run:''' 2

'''Initial setup:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Number !! Skills !! Items
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 12 || None || Steel gauntlets/greaves/high boots/helm, iron battle axe, 1 iron mail shirt
|-
| #2: Dwarves || 12 || None || Steel gauntlets/greaves/high boots/helm, iron battle axe, 3 iron mail shirts
|}

'''Results:'''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Side & Creature !! Survived !! Injury level !! Health tags !! Most common cause of death
|-
| #1: Dwarves || 9 || Minor cuts and bruises || Some faint/pale
|-ea
| #2: Dwarves || 0 || || || Suffocation/Bleeding out
|}

This test was very similar to the last, except that the skill of armor user was set to zero. And that reversed the results. While team two was more protected, they were also considerably slower (606 v. 788) and I think they were also quicker to over-exert and pass out.

Overall results: The added armor is only useful at higher levels of training. I didn't calibrate enough to find the actual midpoint, but it seems that the added layers drop off in efficiency and are not as useful, potentially being harmful if the user is unable to handle the weight.

v0.34 Talk:Vampire

2012-04-23T22:18:56Z

Waladil: /* Breathless */ new section

== Lets improve this article ==

I think it might be a good idea to divide this into two parts, one for adventure mode and one for fortress mode, since it is quite a difference.
I'm not very good at wikis, so i dont really want to do anything wrong, but this would be usefull to be added:
* Do vampires actually sustain your fort if everybody else dies?
* vampires usually have tons of sentient creature bone crafts on them in adventure mode
* vampires are often found in high positions in adventure mode
* potential (dwarfy) uses marked d for dwarf

et cetera. just some ideas here, would be happy if somebody did this. --[[User:Miauw62|Miauw62]] 14:19, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

:In regards to fortress mode, from my own fortress I have observed the following:
:* Vampires in fortress mode also wear lots of bone jewellery which can be used to identify them.
:* Vampires in fortress mode are not necessarily highly skilled/ranked (e.g. a peasant in my case).
:
:Also, it should perhaps be noted that due to their lack of thirst or hunger, vampires can be happily locked into a room and used by resourceful players for menial tasks such as lever-pulling, work-managing or bookkeeping.
:I believe that vampire skills are frozen, and thus are not particular useful as soldiers unless already skilled - could someone confirm this?
:--[[User:Flobulon|Flobulon]] 16:31, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

:* Vampires tend to have been part of a lot of forts
:* Vampire skills may be frozen but if so it's at bite time and I got a dwarf turned in an existing fort since I leveled his weapon skills extensively in a danger room... no way of knowing pre/post vampirism.
[[User:Shadus|Shadus]] 18:41, 20 February 2012 (UTC)
::Vampires' attributes are frozen. Vampires continue to gain (and lose) skill. --[[User:Vasiln|Vasiln]] 00:17, 6 March 2012 (UTC)
::This is info from the first patch, but I imagine it hasn't been changed. Vampires don't drink but are still alcohol dependent. This is reflected in the article by mentioning that "s/he really needs a drink", and is because they haven't had any alcohol since they entered your fort. I'm pretty sure this results in the vampire being an immensely poor worker despite never needing to stop to eat/drink. I noticed that a vampire that was jailed and then isolated into a sealed off area became perpetually tired; I think this might be unrelated to the sobriety but I'm not sure. -- [[User:Qazmlpok|Qazmlpok]] 18:50, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Do you mean sobriety from booze or blood? --[[User:Headjack|Headjack]]
:From booze. They need to drink alcohol to avoid the negative effects any other dwarf would experience but do not drink alcohol. The "tired" status was probably from not getting enough blood, but the status message is from alcohol. -- [[User:Qazmlpok|Qazmlpok]] 13:20, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

I've tested the "s/he really needs a drink"/"s/he has not had a drink in far, far too long" Vampire Identification Methodtm and found it to be pretty much useless in vampire CSI. Have updated the page to reflect this new discovery. --[[User:CantankerousTank|CantankerousTank]] 22:12, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Fixed text to reflect uncertainty [[User:Headjack|Headjack]] 03:28, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

A few things on my mind:
Do vampires actively marry/reproduce?
Do vampires have vampire kids?
How often do vampires create new vampires through biting & how likely is it?
[[User:Headjack|Headjack]] 08:00, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

: I had a vampire who had a wife in my fort. They also had a children. However, according legends, it seems that vampire was married and got children before he was cursed to be a vampire. His child was not vampire. [[Special:Contributions/80.247.245.72|80.247.245.72]] 13:51, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

--Hey, could someone confirm this for me? I'm finding that vampires cant display custom profession or nicknames given to them. Its happening on my end but I wanna get someone else to back this up; it might be the best way to CSI yet.
[[User:Headjack|Headjack]] 08:34, 22 February 2012 (UTC)
:It is true. However, it will also be fixed in the next version. [[User:Knight Otu|Knight Otu]] 10:52, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

-------Do they have strange moods? technically they should but i'm not sure
- They do indeed get strange moods, had to let a vampire out of its enclosure for one

-Just found another possible way to identify vampires. A dwarf in my fortress that I'm pretty sure is a vampire is displaying a completely different name ingame from what is being displayed for him in the current Dwarf Therapist. Not sure if someone else more experienced wants to test this and/or update the page, this is my first contribution here. [[User:Tombozo|Tombozo]] 03:14, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

-Thats probably another iteration of the name bug
[[User:Headjack|Headjack]] 20:02, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

-Dwarf Therapist identification can also lead to false positives
:- Nice try, vampire. --[[User:IC Pandemonium|IC Pandemonium]] 06:26, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

Somebody on Reddit said that zombies won't attack vampires in your fortress. Can anyone confirm/deny this? [[User:FatherLatour|FatherLatour]] 00:36, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

-I don't know, I am now 3 for 3 vampires positively identified in my fortress, none of whom have names that match the name that Dwarf Therapist shows for them. I wouldn't doubt that this is related to the nickname bug, but it wouldn't surprise me if this (at least the DF part) were intentional behavior. It makes sense - a vampire who lived in 10-20 forts in the past, changes names every time they move. It is possible that the name Therapist shows is their original name, and the name shown ingame is a new alias; this could be the source of the nickname bug - the player can't give the vampire a new name, because the vampire has already given himself one. [[User:Tombozo|Tombozo]] 01:58, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

-I have a new immigrant that seems suspicious. Every single thing in her wound menu is inhibited or broken. I'm able to nickname her but she doesn't show up on Dwarf Therapist. I'm going to keep an eye on her... Has anyone seen anything like this?
:I've had several immigrants like this, so far they've turned out to be 'normal' and, if you save and reload, DT discovers them. My current theory, based on a large number of missing ears, is elven raiders jealous of dwarven ears.

-This page doesn't specify whether vampire dwarves will specifically target living dwarves or if a vampire will feed on another vampire. Has anyone ever observed this?
:Vampires only feed on sleeping creatures. Vampires never sleep. Therefore, Vampire never feed on vampires. --[[User:Timrem|Timrem]] 19:31, 29 February 2012 (UTC)
::Vampires will rest if wounded. I'm pretty sure I've seen vampires feed on resting dwarves, not just sleeping. Could be worth testing at least. -- [[User:Qazmlpok|Qazmlpok]] 13:41, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

I can confirm that vampires and undead will not attack each other in fortress mode. During an undead siege I sent my vampire pikeman outside and closed the bridge. Both parties ignored the other, however the undead did fight back after giving an explicit attack order. You could use a single vampire to fight off an undead horde if your fort is sealed, but issuing attack orders to 80+ undead is a pain, and if you seal off your fort it's simply more fun to use magma. It should be possible to use this fact to quickly flush out a vampire. Build a contained area next to a critical hallway that every dwarf will pass through. Use fortifications to allow viewing the area while preventing (most) crossbowdwarves from shooting in, and a bridge so it can be turned off. Place an undead creature in the area and lower the bridge. As each dwarf passes by the undead, they should panic and ran away - unless they are a vampire. I imagine that this would quickly filter out any vampires in your fort, but I haven't tested any of it. -- [[User:Qazmlpok|Qazmlpok]] 13:41, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

- Mass kill designation might help a bit with that. -- [[User:Frogwarrior|Frogwarrior]] 15:07, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Do vampires produce ghosts if improperly memorialized? Considering converting my fortress into vampires with a tainted well. --[[User:Introprospector|Introprospector]] 01:17, 5 March 2012 (UTC)
:Yes, they do. -- [[User:Qazmlpok|Qazmlpok]] 03:05, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

<strike>Page also doesn't say if Vampires will feed off their own rellies, and thus make themselves unhappy. I'll test this to find out, if nobody knows. (I have one who had a son in the fortress - I'm fairly sure this vampire immigrated, too; so either he came with a wife and kid or that happened in the fort. Will also find out if child is a vamp.)</strike> Apparently missdiagnosed vampire. He got hungry. No idea who it is, now. Sorry! --[[User:Zatnik|Zatnik]] 16:38, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Instead of enforcing Justice normally, once I determine who the vampire is I've just been locking them up in a room by drafting them and stationing them in a room, then forbidding the door. Twice now I've had them get out and discovered the formerly locked door to be "Passable", but not pet passable. I'm quite certain I never unforbade it myself, doubly so since I would have made it pet passable as well. Do vampires have a way to pick locks, or could there be some other force opening the doors? This is in the middle of my fort so a hidden gremlin/thief should be impossible. -- [[User:Qazmlpok|Qazmlpok]] 22:55, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Very likely vampire's "hair is dark brown with flecks of grey" in my most recent fort (from v0.34.6) am adding a verify tag to the "white hair" section of identification... have a nasty feeling that the vamps have developed hair colouring. [[User:Earthfiredrake|Earthfiredrake]] 03:10, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Just a quick note about the "He has the appearance of someone (x) years old and is among the first of his kind" line. I don't know firsthand how useful this is for vampire ID in general, but in a world with a very short history, any dwarf older than the world will have this line for their age. So, for example, I've got a fortress in year 8 of its world, so any dwarf older than 8 years old has this. This caused me to briefly worry that I had an all-vamp fort before I figured it out. 19:00 9 April 2012 (UTC)

== Melancholy ==
To get rid of the 5 vampires I had locked up, I sent them to kill a forgotten beast duster. Unfortunately one survived despite the syndrome and infection, but with the severe wounds and his friends dying and rotting in front of him, he went insane. Somehow he got cured of the infection and appears to be in perfect health now. As he doesn't need food or drink to survive he isn't going to die on his own. Supposedly melancholic dwarves will jump off cliffs or into magma, but he doesn't seem to be even trying to do that. Is there anything I can do to get rid of him? -- [[User:Qazmlpok|Qazmlpok]] 17:37, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

Mmh, they gravitate to meeting areas, trap him somewhere and add magma, or just trap him in a cavern. [[User:Headjack|Headjack]] 00:30, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

== Atom Smashing Vamps Is Dangerous ==

Vampire Ghosts?
If you thought you had it bad before, there have been reports that vampire ghosts are un-slabbable; and their ghosts are still thirsty...

This issue is supposedly fixed according to the [http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/changelog_page.php?version_id=32 34.05 change log]. Testing is still required to see if vampire ghosts can be atom-smashed with impunity now (though the tearing off of limbs would probably still be a detriment).--[[User:Tenyn42|Tenyn42]] 20:42, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

-I smashed a vampire, they later popped back up again as a restless spirit (I'll need to check the legends to see just how troubled their life was). I'm using the vanilla edition, and once people noticed the ghost they were classed as 'deceased' and I could engrave a slab.

== First vamp notes ==

I just got my first vamp (I think he's the first one...) and he was identified completely by accident.
All of a sudden I got a message that "Stodir Keskalosir, Dwarf Butcher vampire cancels..." Although I'd not noticed it before, he does appear by that name and title in the unit listings now, and he also has his night creature tile. He has not attacked anyone yet, my fort has 0 dead dorfs and 0 missing ones. I do have Dwarf Therapist and DFHack, so one of those may explain why he was auto-revealed. His name does match the one shown in Therapist, notably. I did discover a method to flush out vamps, though. His details indicate that he is 98 years old, born in the year 7. Its currently year 252. So he's lying about almost a hundred and fifty years, roughly an entire normal dorf's lifespan. If someone can verify it, let's add "has a mismatched birth year and age combination" to the methods of catching one. In other news, I'm planning a vampire work pit: A small pit, with a level above and a level below. Raw materials are dumped into the top, the vamp(s) inside process them, then dump them back down the other side for retrieval. --[[User:Waladil|Waladil]] 21:17, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

== Unconfirmed ==

Think this is another instance of name bug. I set one of my vampires up in a labyrinth (he can open goblin cages himself without a lever, woot!) He has enough kills to warrant a longer name, at least according to therapist, but he still shows his original short name. Presumably this would be an additional way to ID vamps if confirmed.

== Vampire Diplomat ==

I just got a human law-giver vampire diplomat in my fortress. He just arrived so I don't know if he'll start anything funky, but I was wondering if anyone else had experience with this? Anything I've got to watch for? And if so, it may be worthwhile to add the possibility to this page. [[User:Angry B8|Angry B8]] 15:56, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

-I've just had the same experience - due to some past grievances with their kind, I'm going to try to dispose of them in a manner which probably won't be linked back to me, and I'll post the results up. (21 March 2012)
---Turns out the humans were remarkably ungrateful about the fact that I had delivered them from their vampire overlord, so they besieged me. He didn't go down without a fight - I released several goblins into his room, and he shoved his human-bone jewellery right through their skulls before going down after an armed swordsman struck him down. Conclusion from all of this, vampire diplomats exist and are still treated as respected members of their own civilisation.

- One of my two known vamps somehow became Baron so he's locked into his quarters with a couple wall grates and levers. Suddenly this Serpent Man vampire law giver diplomat shows up! I had to open the Baron's enclosure up and they are now negotiating. I'm quite excited to see what the result will be.

== Zero Variation ==
Just adding a little note here, in case anybody else is curious about the same things as I am: I had a look through a lot of the vampires in my world.sav, and there was no variation between any of the vampire curses. Every vampire curse was identical to the example curse: strength, agility, toughness+200, standard tag changes, nothing else. --[[User:Vasiln|Vasiln]] 22:56, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

== Blood vision ==

I'm playing an adventurer vamp, and I've been getting red " marks where some enemies beyond my normal sight lines. Not all enemies get red " marks, so I think it's the ones who are bleeding. Can anyone verify or provide greater info? It's largely speculation now, so I don't wanna add it to the article. --[[User:Waladil|Waladil]] 22:56, 22 April 2012 (UTC)
:They're probably [[goblin]]s, which have [GLOWTILE:'"'] and [GLOWCOLOR:4:0:1]. Kobolds are the same way, except their eyes are yellow. --[[User:Quietust|Quietust]] 23:12, 22 April 2012 (UTC)
::That probably explains it, then. Considering it hasn't happened since then, and since some of the enemies were also not wounded. Thanks. --[[User:Waladil|Waladil]] 22:04, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

== Breathless ==

Playing as a vampire adventurer, I'm noticing a few things that the article doesn't mention. For one, my vamp doesn't need to breathe. At all. He can go as deep underwater as needed and never starts to drown. Would this mean they're good candidates for killing toxin-breathing creatures? Also, whenever I swam a long time as a non-vamp, I'd inevitably freeze to death. As a vamp (After I pissed off the only major civ on a continent...) I swam to another continent, swimming for a full day, roughly from sunrise to sunset. He's also never been tired, even in during one of his several massacres. So I looked up the raws: NOEXERT:NOPAIN:NOBREATHE:NOSTUN:NONAUSEA:NO_DIZZINESS:NO_FEVERS:PARALYZEIMMUNE:NO_EAT:NO_DRINK:NO_SLEEP:NO_PHYS_ATT_GAIN:NO_PHYS_ATT_RUST:START:0]
So they cannot get tired, cannot feel pain, don't breathe (As I discovered), can't be stunned, made nauseous, feel dizzy, get fevers, be paralyzed... so they're pretty much perfect candidates for fighting random Forgotten Beasts that emit those gases. Of course, that NO_PHYS_ATT_GAIN is pretty annoying. <mods it out>. Much better. --[[User:Waladil|Waladil]] 22:18, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

v0.34 Talk:Vampire

2012-04-23T22:04:55Z

Waladil: /* Blood vision */

v0.34 Talk:Vampire

2012-04-22T22:56:54Z

Waladil: /* Blood vision */ new section

v0.34 Talk:Werebeast

2012-03-11T18:17:57Z

Waladil:

<s>Technically this refers to humans, but oh well</s> [[User:Headjack|Headjack]] 22:29, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

So, how about some content around here? Anybody know something 'bout these Werebeasts? I don't.
[[User:Headjack|Headjack]] 23:41, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm going to try and help out here by experimenting with werebeasts and such in the arena, see if we can pin down some specific stats or characteristics. If anybody else encounters one (in Fortress) they should document it here, I propose. [[User:BaronNinja|BaronNinja]] 20:12, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

I think I did. I had a Human "arrive", and he just left right after. I assume that was a werebeast.
[[User:Headjack|Headjack]] 09:48, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

I had a were attack. All of a sudden, I got a Forgotten Beast/Titan like text popup describing the creature, a weredeer. Then it got picked to death by my two miners. Apparently this one (at least) had stealth and I had no indication of it until it was right next to my miners and the box popped up. It was not one of my own people who turned, I checked. No data on bites. --[[User:Waladil|Waladil]] 18:17, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

== Getting cursed ==

Is a single bite that deals damage a sure way to get infected? Does the bite from a natural-formed creature transfer the infection (say, a human bite)?

v0.34 Talk:Vampire

2012-03-10T21:17:16Z

Waladil: /* First vamp notes */ new section

v0.31:Reader

2012-02-04T07:36:30Z