Dwarf Fortress Bug Tracker - Dwarf Fortress
View Issue Details
IDProjectCategoryView StatusDate SubmittedLast Update
0003391Dwarf FortressDwarf Mode -- Invasionspublic2010-10-08 19:252013-09-22 17:35
ReporterQuietust 
Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityminorReproducibilityalways
StatusnewResolutionopen 
PlatformOSOS Version
Product Version0.31.16 
Target VersionFixed in Version 
Summary0003391: Building destroyers target floor grates, destroy their own route into the fortress
DescriptionThe behavior for creatures with [BUILDINGDESTROYER:2] is to destroy any buildings that block their path into the fortress. However, they also target floor grates (and reportedly floor bars as well), even when doing so will remove their only path into the fortress.
Steps To Reproduce
Additional Information
TagsBUILDINGDESTROYER
Relationships
Attached Files
Issue History
Date ModifiedUsernameFieldChange
2010-10-08 19:25QuietustNew Issue
2010-10-09 20:08QuietustNote Added: 0013288
2010-10-14 08:31Khym ChanurIssue Monitored: Khym Chanur
2010-11-16 13:45FootkerchiefSummaryBuilding destroyers target floor grates => Building destroyers target floor grates, destroy their own route into the fortress
2012-06-08 08:30QuietustNote Added: 0022918
2012-06-08 08:30QuietustNote Edited: 0022918bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=0022918#r8544
2012-09-24 12:46QuietustNote Added: 0023606
2012-09-27 15:05ndiggerNote Added: 0023615
2013-09-22 17:35FootkerchiefTag Attached: BUILDINGDESTROYER

Notes
(0013288)
Quietust   
2010-10-09 20:08   
It should be noted that they do not instantly topple them like they do with statues - instead, they simply stand next to the grates and very slowly damage them (to 'x', 'X', and 'XX') before destroying them outright.
(0022918)
Quietust   
2012-06-08 08:30   
Logically, there are two ways to fix this problem:
1. Make them only target floor grates/bars if they are actually blocking their path (e.g. they're covering down-stairs, they're covering open space and the creature can fly, or they're covering water and the creature can swim). This would probably be rather complicated.
2. Make them ignore floor grates/bars entirely, just as they currently ignore wells, bridges, roads, traps, cages/chains, stockpiles, and upright spikes.

With a bit of searching, I could make a binary patch for solution 2 without too much difficulty.
(0023606)
Quietust   
2012-09-24 12:46   
Floor hatches are also affected by this, though they could potentially be sealing a path rather than creating one and would thus require fix 0000001 as described above.
(0023615)
ndigger   
2012-09-27 15:05   
This issue can definitely be called a bug, but depending on the intelligence level of the attacker, it might also be called normal behavior. In the case of forgotten beasts you could say the creature is just a raging brute that smashes anything that smells of the hated, noisy, smelly dwarves, without considering the repercussions of his actions.

I regularly use this behavior to trap Forgotten Beasts in elaborately-constructed labyrinths by leaving them only one path into my fortress which must cross a floor grate with empty space beneath it. You can also do this with flying beasts if you force them to smash upward through a locked floor hatch which has some water above it, if that water is keeping a pressure plate from triggering (and his destroying the hatch and draining the water causes the plate to trigger, collapsing chunks of natural rock that seal off his paths further into or back out of the fortress).

Straight up "fixing this" so FBs\other attackers ignore grates and bars would make the game harder (which is often a good thing) but also limits how elaborately I can engineer traps and labyrinths, and overall I would consider it a detriment to available gameplay options.