Flying Fumer- A Creature Addition

The flying fumer is a monster for Classic (and now Premium!) dwarf fortress, designed to showcase the possibilities for nuanced and complex creatures in dwarf fortress that necessitate careful tactical play and engaging combat. While not the strongest of creatures, it presents a challenge to low-level parties and those who have not mastered the game through the following fearsome features:

-A corrosive acid spray; unlike the ranged attacks of vanilla monsters such as the imp's fireball or dragon's breath, the fumer has a telegraphed emission attack. That means when it sees you, you'll get a message its preparing to launch its acid, and have time to get behind cover or charge it before it can let loose.

-Slow speed is at once a bane and boon. While it can't pursue you, if it plants itself somewhere it will be staying there for awhile. Better hope it doesn't come between you and what you want!

-While the fumer is typically around the size of a horse, an "alpha" variant has a 1-in-20 chance of spawning. This specimen is five times larger, making it more difficult to take down!

-Goblin siegers have a chance of showing up with them as mounts. Their corrosive acid can be fatal to the rider as well as its targets, so using them as mounts yourself isn't recommended. However, they can be tamed and milked for their vile brew if you can find a way to do it safely.

Despite their fearsome attacks, they also have some notable weaknesses and benefits to engaging with them.

-Not only is their attack telegraphed, but is reliant on a special body part, their throat sac. Destroying this organ prevents them from blasting acid, but beware! Piercing or slashing it will cause it to leak that same substance, and if it gets all over you from the spillage it's game over! That said, if you can cleave it from its owner with a single blow, leaving it intact, it is worth 50x as much as the rest of its parts, making it a valuable trophy.

-A wormy and soft-bodied thing, it has few attacks beyond its bile, the rest of it being slow and clumsy. While a kick from something so large is certainly formidable, it is also easy enough to avoid, but don't get too overconfident.

-It has terrible weakness to rock salt. The purifying element sinks through its soft tissues like a heated rod through ice, thus making even a pebble picked off the ground by a canny adventurer a lethal tool if it can be brought to bear against the monster's hide.

Overall, the concept of the monster is as a living puzzle. Down a straight corridor the thing is a nightmare, your survival dependent on your shield and reflexes being enough to protect you before the acid sizzles its way onto something important. But with twists and turns or the element of surprise, a tactically minded adventurer or fortress squad can flank the beast and strike it down before it can unleash its payload. The delayed aspect of the attack is vital to inviting these tactical opportunities, and by giving it other precise weaknesses it becomes more manageable and engaging to deal with. Like the monster hunters found in other video games, preparation and knowledge of the enemy's strengths and weaknesses becomes your greatest asset. I hope this serves as an example of how intricate even a very simple mod can be, one that doesn't need any real code or graphical acumen.

That said, though this mod was designed for Classic dwarf fortress and I remain a lover of ASCII graphics and art, fellow modder dikbutdagreat was kind enough to take my example sprite (pictured in the thumbnail) and convert it into a set of DF-compatible sprites. Graphics aren't my forte so if there's an issue let me know, but I can't guarantee anything. The mod should definitely work fine in ASCII, as that was what it was originally designed and tested for. Regardless, the art is appreciated.