... если улик будет макси

And whose problem is it that the player didn't want to spend 200 MP to check the count?

I'm for fixing bugs; the algorithm for conducting such battles has been posted on DF2, I'll try to post it tomorrow. It will naturally include code, but with a description so that it's clear what's what. The main point is that the snakes simply didn't fly away from the hydra on quick combat, but, admittedly, that's not entirely accurate, but for those to whom code (let alone pseudocode) is foreign — it will suffice. Same story with flyers.