10 Astounding Tales Which Exemplify Dwarf Fortress' Insanity

7. Killer Carp - "I Think I Made The Fish Too Hardcore."

Above all else, Dwarf Fortress is notorious for each and every patch somehow turning certain species into homicidal, unstoppable maniacs bent on the destruction of all dwarfkind. While Boatmurdered was well noted for its hordes of stampeding elephants besieging the fortress walls and unicorns have long been seen as stab-happy maniacs capable of slaying entire bands of hunters on sight, it's the common carp which is the most feared fauna to this day. During the second version of Dwarf Fortress (v0.28.181.40d) the game underwent a significant number of changes, ironing out early problems, expanding upon the way the player could interact with the environment and tweaking the stats of certain creatures. Unfortunately this included the soon-to-be river dwelling archfoes of players everywhere. Despite being half the size of the average dwarf, developer Tarn "Toady One" Adams opted to use a standard bite attack with the fish giving them 1-6 points of damage, three times the maximum damage of a strong punch. Then, atop of this, he added bonus of being able to latch onto the target and rip chunks out of them in seconds. Combined with gaining the Swimming skill, boosting their already considerable strength and stamina, and a heightened level of aggression, dwarves started dying by the dozen within days of the version's release. Fisherdwarves everywhere were instantly accosted by fish seemingly outfitted with serrated buzz saw teeth and an insatiable hunger for alcohol soaked flesh. While the carp, and a vast number of equally large fish benefiting from this unexpected power boost, were mercifully nerfed in the following updates they proved to be only the beginning of the nightmare for dwarves. In their wake other broken foes soon arose one after the other, with an onslaught of giant sea sponges almost immune to all damage, giant mosquitoes each capable of draining a dwarf dry and so numerous they could crash the game, and undead husks of any living creature which can never truly be slain.