Dwarf Fortress Bug Tracker - Dwarf Fortress
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0008157Dwarf FortressDwarf Mode -- Combatpublic2014-08-25 18:522015-06-08 17:19
nonfish 
Footkerchief 
normalminorhave not tried
assignedopen 
0.40.10 
 
0008157: Civilian dwarves are overly agressive
Several of my dwarves recently got into a fight with a roaming black bear. Instead of running away, the dwarves chased down the bear and wrestled it to death; One dwarves saw the fight, canceled his job dragging a horse to a nearby pasture, and joined in the chase (still dragging his horse)
combat, Intentional/Expected?
has duplicate 0009695resolved Dwarfu Dwarven Civs Kamakazi/Freakout In/Near Combat 
Issue History
2014-08-25 18:52nonfishNew Issue
2014-08-25 18:58nonfishTag Attached: combat
2014-08-25 18:59nonfishIssue Monitored: nonfish
2014-08-25 18:59nonfishIssue End Monitor: nonfish
2014-08-25 20:48FootkerchiefAssigned To => Footkerchief
2014-08-25 20:48FootkerchiefStatusnew => needs feedback
2014-08-25 20:48FootkerchiefNote Added: 0029629
2014-08-26 08:57nonfishNote Added: 0029651
2014-08-26 08:57nonfishStatusneeds feedback => assigned
2014-08-26 09:02FootkerchiefNote Added: 0029653
2014-08-26 09:03FootkerchiefNote Edited: 0029653bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=0029653#r11449
2014-08-26 09:08nonfishNote Added: 0029654
2014-08-26 09:41ButtonNote Added: 0029656
2014-08-26 09:41ButtonTag Attached: Intentional/Expected?
2014-08-26 10:14nonfishNote Added: 0029662
2014-08-26 10:22FootkerchiefNote Added: 0029664
2014-08-26 10:27smjjamesNote Added: 0029667
2014-08-26 10:30FootkerchiefNote Added: 0029668
2014-08-26 10:39nonfishNote Added: 0029670
2014-08-26 10:45FootkerchiefNote Added: 0029671
2014-08-26 10:53nonfishNote Added: 0029672
2014-08-28 21:28tacomagicNote Added: 0029762
2015-02-25 09:40MuumehNote Added: 0032287
2015-06-08 17:19CosmopNote Added: 0032769
2017-11-22 15:48DwarfuRelationship addedhas duplicate 0009695

Notes
(0029629)
Footkerchief   
2014-08-25 20:48   
How did combat begin? Was a hunter involved?
(0029651)
nonfish   
2014-08-26 08:57   
No, the bear just wandered into my main hallway and promptly encountered a woodcutter and some other pleb. No one was hunting at the time.
(0029653)
Footkerchief   
2014-08-26 09:02   
(edited on: 2014-08-26 09:03)
Did the woodcutter decide to attack the bear, or was it forced to defend him/herself?

(0029654)
nonfish   
2014-08-26 09:08   
I think so, but it happened too fast to be sure. After it started, however, dwarves keep noticing the fight, canceling their job ("Job canceled: Interrupted by bear"), then running to join the fight. At this point, I have 8 dwarves surrounding the bear either wrestling it or passed out from exhaustion
(0029656)
Button   
2014-08-26 09:41   
Did you happen to check the personality of the first dwarf to get into the fight?
(0029662)
nonfish   
2014-08-26 10:14   
I just checked: The very first dwarf to get in the fight is apparently "greatly disturbed by quiet and a peaceful existence," but at this point I have 8 other dwarves involved in the fight, including at least one who "values tranquility," I'm guessing that isn't the primary cause.

It seems to me as if the dwarves instinct to flee is somehow triggering them to fight instead of run away as they always have in the past. Even if that is an intended reaction, something needs to be tweaked, since more than half my adult population (all civilians) is now wrestling or passed out from wrestling a wild bear...
(0029664)
Footkerchief   
2014-08-26 10:22   
It seems reasonable that, if a fight has started, the other dwarves are trying to help out. It would be weirder if they just ignored their comrade getting mauled.
(0029667)
smjjames   
2014-08-26 10:27   
The one with dragging the horse is a bug though.
(0029668)
Footkerchief   
2014-08-26 10:30   
Would 0005032 explain this?
(0029670)
nonfish   
2014-08-26 10:39   
No, I had no military established whatsoever (It's only fall of the first year). If the dwarves are helping out, they're doing a terrible job; I have a miner and a woodcutter both involved in the fight, but neither has unsheathed their weapons.
(0029671)
Footkerchief   
2014-08-26 10:45   
Okay, but failing to unsheath weapons is a very different problem from getting in the wrong fight. It might not even qualify as a bug.
(0029672)
nonfish   
2014-08-26 10:53   
Yeah, I wasn't sure if that was relevant.

Here's the current save: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=9522 [^] . You should be able to find the ongoing fight. The weirder part of the whole thing was how the dwarves actively chased down the bear, which unfortunately I don't have a save demonstrating. Let me know if there's any problems; I haven't ever uploaded a save before.
(0029762)
tacomagic   
2014-08-28 21:28   
I was seeing something that might be related to this with my hunters. Occasionally when a hunter ran out of ammo, instead of returning to the fortress to gather more arrows they would engage their prey in hand-to-hand combat. Often spending days wrestling themselves into exhaustion until either they were dead or the prey was.
(0032287)
Muumeh   
2015-02-25 09:40   
I had 8 dwarf children climb up constructed walls (no roof) and gangbang an invading giantess heading towards my main entrance and started punching her in the head. (How on earth that is possible I have no clue). One of them actually managed to kill her.
(0032769)
Cosmop   
2015-06-08 17:19   
I had a rather absurd run in with this myself.
I recently had a troll in my caverns heading towards the entrance to my fortress. In order to reach my entrance, he had to do some extensive climbing over the water at the bottom of the cavern, and was 2 z-levels above the z level of the entrance (though still a good distance away.) I had my speardwarves positioned to intercept him, and when he saw them he panicked, running around in circles 2 z levels above them on top of a tower cap. I left my military there in case he decided to come down (as there was no ramps or stairs leading to him, and the tower cap was surrounded by water - they couldn't reach him), and decided to wait him out. Then I got several cancellation messages as my butcher and some fishery workers were interrupted by seeing the troll (who was not in combat, but was panicking and running in circles) - however, instead of running as I expected them to, they ran to a nearby rock pillar, climbed up two z levels, and then climbed between rock pillars until they were within reach of the tower cap. They climbed onto the tower cap, and punched the troll in the head until it was unconscious. They continued to beat it (bare handed, unarmed) until a fishery worker who happened to be carrying an axe for wood cutting climbed up himself and finished the troll (4 pages of combat log later).

The annoying part was they refused to climb back down - in fact, several of them began to get thirsty and I had to build a path to get them back down. Strangely, even once I had built a path for them to get back down on, only one of the 5 dwarves who had climbed the tower cap took the path down - two of them climbed down the tower cap onto the path, and two of them climbed the long way across the rock pillars.

While it is possible this is related to an intended mechanic, if it is it seriously needs some tweaking. These were untrained, undisciplined non-military dwarves who saw a panicked troll who was very difficult to reach and not in combat, and responded by taking an absurd (and dangerous) climbing path over water to reach the troll and kill it with their bare hands.