Editing v0.34:Age

{{quality|Masterwork|02:07, 28 June 2013 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''This article is about [[creature]] age. For world generation "ages", see [[Calendar#Ages]].''

'''Age''' is a [[creature]] attribute describing how long the creature has been alive, including creatures born before the beginning of time in terms of [[world generation]] (year zero). Age determines the life stage of creatures and, until it is fully grown, is the most important element of the creature's body [[size]]. All creatures have an age associated with them, but in fortress mode only your own [[dwarf|dwarves]] will have observable ages in the [[thoughts and preferences]] screen. The age of a creature is probably a floating value (to account for growth throughout the year), but is displayed in the game as an integer that is ticked up every time it reaches a birthday.

== Effects ==
The age of a creature has an important effect on its overall [[size]], as most creatures are not born adults. The starkest example of this in the game is the case of the [[dragon]], which is born 6,000 cm<sup>3</sup> in size and takes a thousand years to mature to full adulthood at 25,000,000 cm<sup>3</sup>. However, the vast majority of the non-sapient creatures your dwarves encounter take only a year to mature to adulthood; [[elephant]]s and [[giraffe]]s are a notable exception, as their young take ten years to mature. All non-sapient creatures that have not yet reached adulthood have a "baby" moniker attached to their species name. The life cycle of [[dwarves]] is slightly more complicated: juveniles ages zero to one are considered babes, and must be carried about by their mothers; between the ages of one to twelve are they are considered [[children]], and can perform some limited tasks; and once they reach 12 years of age, they are considered adults. The process is the same for other [[creature#civilized|civilized]] races, [[animal people]], and the humanoid [[semi-megabeast]]s. 

Another aspect that is controlled by age is lifespan. Most organic creatures will eventually die of old age (including fortuitous fortress dwarves), but a few, such as [[elf|elves]], [[goblin]]s, and some unintelligent and unnatural creatures, will live until killed. [[Megabeast]]s, the [[undead]], [[night creature]]s, and the procedurally generated [[forgotten beast]]s and [[titan]]s are similarly immortal. Immigrants may sometimes show up with incorrect ages (future birthdates) {{Bug|3945}} or incorrect life stages (4 month old children) {{Bug|3752}}.  This normally does not cause a problem, and life stages get rechecked every birthday. Note that only an intelligent civilized creature vulnerable to death by expiration will seek [[necromancer|necromancy]], which means goblins and elves never become practitioners of the dark arts.

== Sample list of lifespans ==
{| width=100% class="sortable"
! width="50%" | Name
! width="25%" style="text-align:center" | Minimum Age of Death
! width="25%" style="text-align:center" | Maximum Age of Death
|-
| [[Ant]]
| <center>1</center>
| <center>1</center>
|-
| [[Cave lobster]]
| <center>1</center>
| <center>1</center>
|-
| [[Bat]]
| <center>2</center>
| <center>3</center>
|-
| [[Antman]]
| <center>5</center>
| <center>8</center>
|-
| [[Cat]]
| <center>10</center>
| <center>20</center>
|-
| [[Dog]]
| <center>10</center>
| <center>20</center>
|-
| [[Lion]]
| <center>10</center>
| <center>20</center>
|-
| [[Unicorn]]
| <center>10</center>
| <center>20</center>
|-
| [[Elephant seal]]
| <center>15</center>
| <center>25</center>
|-
| [[Sponge]]
| <center>20</center>
| <center>30</center>
|-
| [[Carp]]
| <center>20</center>
| <center>30</center>
|-
| [[Ogre]]
| <center>20</center>
| <center>30</center>
|-
| [[Elephant]]
| <center>50</center>
| <center>70</center>
|-
| [[Serpent man]]
| <center>60</center>
| <center>80</center>
|-
| [[Sperm whale]]
| <center>70</center>
| <center>80</center>
|-
| [[Human]]
| <center>60</center>
| <center>120</center>
|-
| [[Dwarf]]
| <center>150</center>
| <center>170</center>
|-
| [[Kobold]]
| <center>150</center>
| <center>170</center>
|-
| [[Elf]]
| <center>&mdash;</center>
| <span style="display:none">99999</span><center>Immortal</center>
|-
| [[Goblin]]
| <center>&mdash;</center>
| <span style="display:none">99999</span><center>Immortal</center>
|-
| [[Dragon]]
| <center>&mdash;</center>
| <span style="display:none">99999</span><center>Immortal</center>
|-
| [[Minotaur]]
| <center>&mdash;</center>
| <span style="display:none">99999</span><center>Immortal</center>
|}

== Mechanics ==
The mechanics of aging are defined within creatures' [[raw file]]s, and can easily be modified by those looking to make changes to their game.
*<tt>[CHILD:#]</tt>: Age at which children become adults. 1 for most creatures, 10 for a few others ([[giraffe]], [[elephant]]) 12 for sapient creatures, 1000 for [[dragon]]s.
*<tt>[BABY:#]</tt>: For sapient creatures, age at which babies become [[children]]. Always set to 1.
*<tt>[BODY_SIZE:#:#:#]</tt>: Controls the body size of the creature, typically two or more are used to constrain its growth pattern. The tag is interpreted by age; strangely the second parameter always appears to be set to zero. The third number is its size in cm<sup>3</sup>. The age points may be larger than the age of adulthood for the animal: for instance, according to their tags deers double in size between one and two years of age.
*<tt>[MAXAGE:#:#]</tt>: The first number given is the minimum natural lifespan of a creature, while the second is the maximum. The distribution of deaths from natural causes in between the two values is unknown, but likely linear; interestingly, receiving even the most severe of non-lethal [[wound]]s has no effect on a creature's lifespan. If this tag is not present at all, the creature is biologically immortal.