Posted April 21, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Dwarf Fortress models an awful lot in its little miniature world, but pet overpopulation isn't one of them. Tame animals don't need to eat, but will endlessly reproduce. Cats spawn in large litters and are also readily adopted by the dwarves, who will then throw a fit if you kill off Mr. Snugglepuss. The resulting catsplosion brings the CPU to a crawl as it tries to handle the pathfinding for hundreds of mewling ambient units.

Even with two butcher shops going full-tilt, I can barely put a dent in the stray population. However, each butchery triggers one of my tanners to go to work. One top of that, I've had to build new shops and train new bonecrafters, chefs and leatherworkers just to keep my storehouses of raw materials from overflowing. It's reached the point where my entire dwarven economy is based around the slaughter of helpless kittens, which is a rather spectacular way for a civilization to decline.

Of course, some people get a little more creative with their livestock disposal.
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