Dwarf Fortress Bug Tracker - Dwarf Fortress
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0006354Dwarf FortressUndeathpublic2013-07-07 21:542014-07-07 09:28
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Footkerchief 
lowminorrandom
acknowledgedopen 
0.34.11 
 
0006354: Ghosts continue taking jobs
On ghosts have been observed going about fishing and animal training duties after death.

Fishing: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75990.5 [^]

Animal training: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=127659.0 [^] , save at http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=7781 [^] .

Some notes on the animal trainer's behavior:

* He continued gaining skill after death. He was a level 3 animal trainer when he died, and had made it to level 5 by the time he bugged out.

* The trainer could and did phase through walls, except when he was carrying food to tame a creature with. Then he followed the corridors.
* The unpastured war dogs which the ghostly trainer had tamed followed him around the fortress like a normal animal trainer.
* When the ghost phased through levels to get to a training zone, the animal to be trained ran to meet him there.

* I never saw him pasture, chain, cage, or for any other reason lead an animal/captive by a leash.

* A few years after the linked save, I retracted a bridge under him while he was hauling a bit of meat to a cage trap. He bugged out and floated there for months until I memorialized him. I immediately deconstructed the memorial, but he hasn't come back yet, and it's been years. I have no coffins on this embark so he cannot have been entombed.
Embark with a whole bunch of dogs, on an infinite fish biome. Train up a bunch of dwarves in animal training and fishing. Make sure that they all have at least Novice skill, and that the labors are enabled at the time of death.

Atom smash them all.

Wait for ghosts, and hope that one exhibits this behavior.
Save was using DFHack and Phoebus tileset. I did not use DFHack to take any action regarding ghosts, undead, or dwarves except running the growthbug fix script every 3 months.

The fishing ghost was reported in 2011. One poster on the fisherdwarf thread claimed to have seen the same behavior once "a long time ago", so this bug has potentially been around since 2010.
ghost, ghosts, Intentional/Expected?
Issue History
2013-07-07 21:54ButtonNew Issue
2013-07-09 15:52DarthCloakedDwarfNote Added: 0024056
2013-07-15 12:22ButtonNote Added: 0024064
2013-07-15 12:23ButtonNote Edited: 0024064bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=0024064#r8963
2013-07-15 12:23ButtonIssue Monitored: Button
2013-07-19 16:41ButtonIssue End Monitor: Button
2013-09-22 17:48FootkerchiefTag Attached: Intentional/Expected?
2014-07-07 09:02ButtonNote Added: 0024884
2014-07-07 09:06ButtonTag Attached: ghost
2014-07-07 09:06ButtonTag Attached: ghosts
2014-07-07 09:28FootkerchiefAssigned To => Footkerchief
2014-07-07 09:28FootkerchiefStatusnew => acknowledged

Notes
(0024056)
DarthCloakedDwarf   
2013-07-09 15:52   
This is a bug I hope is never, ever fixed.

Would be really neat to have obsessive ghosts continuing on in their life's work (though they should be appropriately rare).
(0024064)
Button   
2013-07-15 12:22   
(edited on: 2013-07-15 12:23)
If this bug is going to be retained as a feature, it still needs to be fixed so that a ghost which is hauling an item and suddenly loses its path doesn't bug out!

(0024884)
Button   
2014-07-07 09:02   
A ghost siege operator has been reported. See http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=139983.0 [^] .

The reporter claims that the dwarf this ghost belonged to was not assigned the Siege Operator labor, and didn't have any skill in it before his death.