Bay 12 Games Forum
Dwarf Fortress => DF Modding => Topic started by: skelepound on February 03, 2017, 08:49:14 pm
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Hello all! This is where we list out the ideas and progress for a new game called Tech Fortress(for now). It uses the DF engine and framework, but all the RAWS will be replaced with new ones. ALL of them, making it original in the same way that one could call Heretic original - its the same, but entirely different. This particular thread will focus on the development of the first world type - the FOREST PLANET! Aliens on this world should be adapted to forest life, and all of the strange alien flora should turn up here too. Alien and Settler Races, the tech tree - all of that gets worked on HERE.
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Since you asked for some of my ideas, this is the plan for one of the creatures - essentially, its an herbivorous spider. A giant, spidery lookin creature with a rock shell - possibly limestone? - that uses its climbing skill to go up into tall trees and devour the fruit from the uppermost branches. It is not hostile, but if attacked it is very dangerous - it doesnt bite, but its limbs are all VERY sharp, and an unprepared settler could be easily disemboweled. A local alien race i am working on the concept for uses them a livestock, because they breed quickly, and have litters of younglings who mature in just 2 earth-years. They are also one-eyed, and (if its not too difficult), their blood will act as a "performance enhancer" of sorts, filling the drinker with energy and strength temporarily.(the aliens im working on ARE blood-suckers, who should make use of this).
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Not sure how to make someone entirely herbivorous. Probably no way to actually make it actually climb trees. You'd just need to borrow from the vampire's syndromes to make the blood increase strength. Bloodsucking aliens would possibly treated the same as vampires, maybe even in their own civs(vampires are sometimes purged in executions.)
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well, there are several herbivores in dawrf fortress as it is - so i know that possible. Amd if it has a really high climbing skill, y'know, it might be able to climb em? Just tryin to think outside the box, cuz they aliens
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TechFortress you say? Hmm...
I'm interested in the "tech" part of that...
What will your mod implement?
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Well, the current plan for tech fortress is to make a futuristic, space-colonization game in the DF engine, with new alien biomes and species. As for the tech part, there is going to be a series of fortresses. Each one can use materials from the last, in the form of a sort of tech tree, to build the next. example - you need the electronics workshop to build a electromagnetics workshop - which gives you coilguns. To make it a bit more limited, you also need blueprints that can only be gotten through trading in order to craft a tech workshop. So you can have the electromagnetics workshop blueprint, but you need wiring that can only be made in the electronics workshop to actually use it and build the workshop. Over time, we want to build a significant tech tree, branching into bio-tech, plasma, robotics, and all that cool shit. Different sets of raws will also be distributed - different planet types, species, alien races, and planet-based technologies. There should also be alien tech that your settlers cannot re-create using blueprints, similar to exotic weapons.
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Wow. Very cool.
This would be a bit like Gnome Fortress, then?
Also, idea: Given that this is space *colonization*, perhaps you could make it so that creatures that normally wouldn't survive in the environment be able to create sites using special spacesuit-type clothing.
Building on that front, you can add airlocks, so that people inside climate-controlled rooms separated from the outside by an airlock will be able to survive without spacesuits. If a building destroyer gets to your airlock, however, that would result in almost instantaneous death of the inhabitants.
Also, you might add a Terraforming Workshop or something like that that slowly, over about a hundred years, transforms the atmosphere.
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Thats some complex, ambitious stuff - for now, im assuming all of the people colonizing these planets have been genetically modified to withstand the conditions therein, allowng them to breathe the otherworldy air and all of that. But cool ideas, might look at them down the line! For now, the implementation of basic tech tress, as well as at least 3 planet types, and various alien species, are our priority. If you want in on this, i dont think we actually have someone to specialize in workshops. Also, im logging off for the night - so ill see any response tomorrow.
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Yes!
Me wants in!
Me very much wants in!
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COOL! Well, do you think you could help with the tech tree workshops? Or making alien minerals? Making creatures is kinda something everyone will do, but for example, im also the interaction guy - i get to add in things like mutations as the equivalent of stuff like necromancy or vampires. So I can do stuff like that, and also i work on creatures. As I said, we could really use a homie to work on the tech workshops - just use vanilla materials, and we can replace those with the space equivalent later.
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Yes, I can do the tech tree workshops. You can just PM me what workshops you want me to design. :)
I'm not really versed in making new minerals, but I might try that too.
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We just need a single tech path for now - a sort of proof of concept. So maybe an electronics workshop, which can make an item called Copper Wire, followed by an Electromagnetics workshop that needs Copper Wire to be built, right, and with Electromagnetic Coils made in that workshop you can make the Coilgun Factory, which lets you make a Coilgun(re-named crossbow for now lol) out of Electromagnetic coils and a metal ingot of some sort- so you need one bar of Copper and a Electromagnetic Coil to make a Copper Coilgun. We can throw in the blueprints part prettty easy afterwards - make it an extra piece needed to build it, just one more object shouldn't be too much of a pain.
If you can give us that, we can start really planning the Forest World tech tree.
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I'm almost done with the workshops/reactions, but I want to ask about the ASCII artwork used to represent them. I came up with this for the finished building stage of the Electrician's Workshop:
↑╤
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As you know, I also need the artwork for "designated", "partially done" and "nearly done" stages. Perhaps you have some ideas?
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not concerned with artowrk at the moment, TBH - i just need a working proof-of-concet series of things. Do whatever you like - i sure as hell aint complainin! :D
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Sure. I'll just put 'X's in the corners for all stages, except for the lower right corner which will tell you which workshop it is.
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seems legit. Also, in a later update for Schools of Magic, im thinking of adding a wrokshop that teaches magic based on what civ you play - humans have a cleric workshop, dwarves can create technomancers, elves can make druids, and goblins can create warlocks. Do you think you could help with that too? Not related to this mod, but ill totally give you credit on the download page.
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Okay, I have a strange problem. I've created the Electrician's Workshop and the reaction for creating wire coils works just fine, but I'm having trouble with requiring the Electromagnetics Workshop to use wire coils as a build item; it just shows "Needs copper wire coils", even when I brought 20 at embark. And yes, I did add [TOOL:COIL_WIRE] to the dwarven entity file. This is why it's taking so long for me to do this, otherwise I would've sent this to you two days ago.
I'll just remove that requirement and test the electromagnetic coil-making reaction.
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Oh, and yeah, I'll totally help you with your other mod.
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COOL! I still have to add a few new magical metals, but since they shouldnt really upset the framework of the mod so far, just download SCHOOLS OF MAGIC from the DF mod download page(i put a link), and a)make elves, gobs and humans playable, and b) make a wrokshop that can make humans gain a cleric spell(just one, proly the strength or lesser healing one), dwarves get a wizard spell(the technomancy one), elves get a druid spell(choose any, maybe wolves) and goblins get a walock spell(fireball or plague would be good choices). If you can make multiple spells gettable thas cool - but don't give all of the spells. 3 tops, maybe 4 at a push.
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IIRC, goblins, humans, and elves can be made playable by simply adding [SITE_CONTROLLABLE] to their entities. Apparently Toady already added all the permitted workshops and things to the original raws.
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For part b), you can't make a workshop teach people spells directly, but you can probably make them produce books that do so via interactions, or if you're aiming for cleanness, you can use some DFHack trickery, presuming said trickery exists.
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I figured it would just produce a bit of liquid that, when drunk, would cause a specific interaction - so Elven Holy Water makes you a Druid that summons Satyrs, and the Black Potion produced by Goblins teaches fireball or plague or whatever. Or maybe a bit of gas, and a couple of people get magics.
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BUT, back to the matter at hand - is there anyone else here? It was supposed to be 3 or 4 people, and im presonally too busy to get much done.
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Sounds easy enough, I'll start on it soon.
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Cewl. Basically alot like the brewers workshop, but make it require gems or something. Rubies for dorfs, and, assuming that you get traders, sapphires for elves, Clear Tourmaline for humans proly, and onyx for gobbos. Can't have em grabbing up plants and making incredible techs wif it.
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Skelepound, would you like me to make any specific creatures? I like making creatures.
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It might be a bit of a big request, but could you make a civ of creatures? I want it to be a low-pop civ of aliens that are essentially giatn humanoids, like twice as big as people, who are covered in black feathers, entirely eyeless, herbivorous, and highy advanced. They will have great tech and good stats, but limited pop. size. Not too aggro, but if it comes to war they start out with igh tech, and can potentially f*** you up royally. But blind, like i said, and with a mammalian facial structure and features. Tusks would be neat. no tail proly.
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About the magic-teaching liquids, I might not be able to make them cause an interaction to the drinker, but I can make them induce a syndrome that allows the drinker to do a specific interaction/interactions themselves, as well as induce speed gain or anything else that can be done via syndromes. Would that work?
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You cannot find a way to give a specif syndrome, a la SPECIALATTACK for werebeasts and stuff?
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Sry for the delay, just got to downloading the new techfortress test tree, for the electromagnetics. It sounds like you nailed it - although i might have made the Electromagnetics workshop used for the direct creation og Coilguns as well as electromagnetic coils. But its cool - i like it. Maybe(in the future when the mod is more progress) we can also make Railguns, which will be like Ballistas - bigger and way, way more powerful. Im going - now that V1 of my mod is out - to begin work on a full plan for the tech tree - i only have a bit of a vague outline so far. It will probably feature on the Magnetic/Electric tech tree a load of stuff like Magnetic Forcefields as armor and such. Two other paths I will work on will be Psionics, enhancements for le human(or temporarily dorf) brain, giving that civ abilities like Pyrokinesis, and at top levels, making the people of the fortress immortal. Then there will be Genetic Modification, which allows syndromes to be inflicted in a way not unlike the workshop for the magic we was talkin about, and not unlike the psionic tree either - but its effects will transform the user into mighty beasts and supersoldiers, temporarily or permanently. Also considering Robotics/Cybernetics tree. When I write them up, i will post them here - and if your okay with it, we can start development immediatly. Pikachu17, another creature i wanted to ask you to mage is huge alien behemoth - an herbivore like the wild goats you find in regular DF on mountains, but it will actually be a megabeast. It should - if possible, have somewhat poor sight, but be highly aggressive. Im thinking something that stands 15 feet tall, on two massive, muscled legs with cloven hooves, six beady little eyes, sharp buck teeth in a triangular shape at the front of its mostly molar filled mouth, and giant horns, black as moonless midnight and twice the length of the monsters head. No arms of any sort, but a long, thick tail. And covered in pale green scales.
Thats the first megabeast for the forest world, and for some extra wildlife, i have idea for a predator. It is a four legged egg shaped creature, with a long thin tail that is covered in tiny, venomous barbs. Its venom causes necrosis if it touches flesh, and it runs at at least 1.5X human speeds. Weak on endurance though - a good coilgun shot should kill it, or at least cripple it/cause major blood loss. it should be a white color - like an egg lol - with slick skin and black blood, if possible. Its head and neck should be short, and its mouth should be relatively non-threatening - after all, it rarely uses it to fight, mainly to gorge itself. If possible, give it no nose, and real good eyesight. And it should be a pack animal that travels in groups of at LEAST 3, pref. more.
One last creature - a smaller species of fungoid, it has no vital organs but funnctions as a living creature just the same, made out of soft tissue. It bleeds pale yellow stuff that the egg guy should be immune to, but if ingested by a human causes bloody vomit and lethargy. It runs at slightly slower than human speed, breeds/matures quickly and in litters, its meat is fully edible - unlike its blood - and it can swim well too. It should be like a six legged lizard looking thing, about the size of a cat, but red and bumpy, with no mouth or ears(and no need to eat or drink, it osmosises) and only one eye. No tail either - it has evolved to quickly reproduce in order to survive where other creatures simply became stronger. It should travel in larger packs than the egg beasties. If you could to that it would be really awesome, bro.
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It might be a bit of a big request, but could you make a civ of creatures? I want it to be a low-pop civ of aliens that are essentially giatn humanoids, like twice as big as people, who are covered in black feathers, entirely eyeless, herbivorous, and highy advanced. They will have great tech and good stats, but limited pop. size. Not too aggro, but if it comes to war they start out with igh tech, and can potentially f*** you up royally. But blind, like i said, and with a mammalian facial structure and features. Tusks would be neat. no tail proly.
Sure, I can make a civ. Not sure if I can make them low-pop. twice size, black feathers, and blindness would work. However, blind creatures can't use ranged weaponry, and that seems like a bad idea in a technology based mod. Herbivorous?.. I have no idea if I can make civ creatures herbivorous. To make them highly advanced, either I need your reactions( and I if have posted them somewhere, I don't know where), or permission to make my own. Blind creatures would not fire crossbows, or see anything that's not on their own square, as far as I know.
What should their civ be like? Do they have regular blood/pus/spit/sweat/tears ?
Pikachu17, another creature i wanted to ask you to mage is huge alien behemoth - an herbivore like the wild goats you find in regular DF on mountains, but it will actually be a megabeast. It should - if possible, have somewhat poor sight, but be highly aggressive. I'm thinking something that stands 15 feet tall, on two massive, muscled legs with cloven hooves, six beady little eyes, sharp buck teeth in a triangular shape at the front of its mostly molar filled mouth, and giant horns, black as moonless midnight and twice the length of the monsters head. No arms of any sort, but a long, thick tail. And covered in pale green scales.
Not sure about poor sight. Not sure what height anything is, so wouldn't be exactly 15 feet tall. What BODY_SIZE should they have? cloven hooves, six small eyes, giant black horns, no arms, green scales and a long long tail. Can't actually make anything triangular, although I could call it 'triangular teeth'. Does it have regular blood/pus/sweat/tears?
It is a four legged egg shaped creature, with a long thin tail that is covered in tiny, venomous barbs. Its venom causes necrosis if it touches flesh, and it runs at least 1.5X human speeds. Weak on endurance though - a good coilgun shot should kill it, or at least cripple it/cause major blood loss. it should be a white color - like an egg lol - with slick skin and black blood, if possible. Its head and neck should be short, and its mouth should be relatively non-threatening - after all, it rarely uses it to fight, mainly to gorge itself. If possible, give it no nose, and real good eyesight. And it should be a pack animal that travels in groups of at LEAST 3, pref. more.
Could have tiny venomous barbs, four legs(not sure about 'egg-shaped'), necrotic venom, 1.5X human speeds(1.5 times gait speed, or 1.5 agility?), weak endurance(endurance stat, or weak material?*), white color, black blood, short head(and neck, although I'm not absolutely sure on this), no nose, real good eyesight(maybe), and a pack of at least three. what do you mean by 'slick skin'? It could have bite as a secondary attack, and have bite also be weaker.
*what is a coilgun like?
a smaller species of fungoid, it has no vital organs but funnctions as a living creature just the same, made out of soft tissue. It bleeds pale yellow stuff that the egg guy should be immune to, but if ingested by a human causes bloody vomit and lethargy. It runs at slightly slower than human speed, breeds/matures quickly and in litters, its meat is fully edible - unlike its blood - and it can swim well too. It should be like a six legged lizard looking thing, about the size of a cat, but red and bumpy, with no mouth or ears(and no need to eat or drink, it osmosises) and only one eye. No tail either - it has evolved to quickly reproduce in order to survive where other creatures simply became stronger. It should travel in larger packs than the egg beasties. If you could to that it would be really awesome, bro.
Soft tissue, pale yellow stuff(what should it be called? Should it cough blood, cause nausea, and lower speed when ingested?), slightly slower speed(gait itself slower, or agility lower?), mature quickly(can make large litters, and I could make it become an adult in a year, but can't breed quicker),
fully edible meat(what kind of flesh does this fungoid have?), good swimming(automatic swimming, or high natural skill?), six legs, cat size, red color, no mouth or ears, no eating or drinking, one eye, no tail, and large packs. Do you want an eye-hit to insta-kill it? How exactly are they fungoid?
With most of these creatures, I need to know specifically whether they have regular blood/pus/sweat/tears/spit/tendons. Their basic average speed, whether they are immune to infection/general poison. Some of these questions you have already answered for specific creatures.
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Unless specified otherwise, normal blood and other fluids, coilguns for now are crossbows, feather guys can see without having any eyes, they have high peace and knowledge ratings commonly and lower hatred/martial prowess propensity. For now give em crossbows. poor sight can be ignored for the megabeast, give it whatever BODY_SIZE works for a giant horned beast - idk what would be best - and when something like triangle buckteeth or egg shaped body cannot be coded in, add it to the description, or maybe the prefstring. Its for flavor as much as anything. When I say speed, i never mean agility - i will specify otherwise. weak endurance for the egg predator, as well as (if its not too much trouble) make up a particularly breakable material of some sort. Slick skin is flavvor text. And yea, bit should be a secondary attack. the yellow stuff on the last critter is blood, just call it that - and do not cause slowing syndrome, the other two symptoms are fine. Id like if you could make a custom material for his flesh, something soft but semi-durable, make up a new kind of meat that is lower density or weight for the meat you get offa him, high natural swim skill, eye hit should not be an insta-kill, but maybe make it cause major pain? Fungoid is just a classification - more flavor text. I had written a longer paragraph, but my computer crashed and i had to start over. Creatures that cause syndormes are immune to their own syndromes, and anything that is not otherwise specified is vulnerable. I was hoping you could cause an actual tiredness effect on the one things blood poison - thats what i was thinking when i said lethargy. Is that all, or do you need more info?
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I'm not sure if you're interested, but I could generate you some weird creatures to use for this mod.
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I'd be glad if you could, but keep in mind:
a) the first version of Tech Fortress involves colonizing a forest world. You need to kind of blend weird alien features with traits that would make a creature seem adapted to survive. For example, the "egg predator" i mentioned, while weirdly shaped and bizzare by earth standards, would be able to survive in the ecosystem because the other creature i mentioned is slower, and would make easy prey for the egg beast. The fungoid, the other creature i mentioned, would survive the way rabbits do; rapid breeding. The egg predator would have to have a population explosion to damage the fungoid in any real way, and to do so would make a good deal of the egg predators starve or maybe resort to cannibalism. The fungoid also has blood which will be poisonous to other predators, which that they will not often be attacked by other predators. The giant thing is a megabeast, and it eats the leaves off trees like a Brontosaurus, while being so big and menacing that it doesnt have to flee from predators - it can gut them with its horns. Its more like a rhinoceros, while the fungoid is like a mix between a poisonous frog and a rabbit.
b)They should have a higher power level than earth creatures, because the players will have access to railgun and laser weapons, plasma and robotics/cybernetics - even psychic powers(which i will probably design because magic makes me happy lol). Make sure that the creatures not only could survive this planet, and have a clear place in the food chain, but could be a threat in some way to an adventure mode character - a desperate, dehydrated player will often drink blood to survive, but if a player tried to do so with a fungoid, he would end up vomiting blood.
Keep that in mind, and we can really use you!
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I'd be glad if you could, but keep in mind:
a) the first version of Tech Fortress involves colonizing a forest world. You need to kind of blend weird alien features with traits that would make a creature seem adapted to survive. For example, the "egg predator" i mentioned, while weirdly shaped and bizzare by earth standards, would be able to survive in the ecosystem because the other creature i mentioned is slower, and would make easy prey for the egg beast. The fungoid, the other creature i mentioned, would survive the way rabbits do; rapid breeding. The egg predator would have to have a population explosion to damage the fungoid in any real way, and to do so would make a good deal of the egg predators starve or maybe resort to cannibalism. The fungoid also has blood which will be poisonous to other predators, which that they will not often be attacked by other predators. The giant thing is a megabeast, and it eats the leaves off trees like a Brontosaurus, while being so big and menacing that it doesnt have to flee from predators - it can gut them with its horns. Its more like a rhinoceros, while the fungoid is like a mix between a poisonous frog and a rabbit.
b)They should have a higher power level than earth creatures, because the players will have access to railgun and laser weapons, plasma and robotics/cybernetics - even psychic powers(which i will probably design because magic makes me happy lol). Make sure that the creatures not only could survive this planet, and have a clear place in the food chain, but could be a threat in some way to an adventure mode character - a desperate, dehydrated player will often drink blood to survive, but if a player tried to do so with a fungoid, he would end up vomiting blood.
Keep that in mind, and we can really use you!
Well it depends on what you want. I've modified a script that generates raws for weird and relatively deadly creatures who are given traits based on an adjective and creature type.
For example, its generated a "Chopping Lion", which is a four tailed warm-blooded creature where each of it's tails ends in a deadly axe which it uses to perform natural attacks that have the same penetration and contact area as an axe attack, each of these tails can attack simultaneously too like a Hydra in vanilla can with it's multiple heads. Of course it's name can be changed to something more suitable.
Creatures come generated with their own descriptions, body plans, everything.
If you'd like I can generate a bunch for you and you can edit their names and descriptions to give them the right flavour/feel.
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Feels a little too human - but can the script generate megabeasts? My personal mod, Schools of Magic, could really use that. Anything else tho, it needs to be a little bit more... alien
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It does generate megabeasts.
And, Alien is all in name and description, raws don't really have defining traits, they just define what a creature can do and give it a basic body plan.
For example a lion and bear have identical body plans, their shape is differentiated in the mind of play by their descriptions.
I can provide the raw materials,random creatures adhering to certain archetypes, with psychic powers, weird appendages, excretions, extracts, materials, interatactions... etc.
And you can find suitable names and niches and descriptions for ones that catch your eye if you want.
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The way im trying to do it is one part changing body part/plans in strange ways, and 2 to 3 parts description - I would like if you could gen a few megabeasts for me - like 10, so i can choose which ones to use for my magic mod, and i WILL be giving credit, of course - but for this I feel the creatures to be made by hand, to ensure that each and every one is perfect. Mixing up avian traits with mammal and lizard traits is only a small part - i have to plan and scrap alot of creatures befor I officially submit them here. For my other mod, it will work fine, but I want to keep these creatures made by hand. For now, at least - i might get lazy later on :P.
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Yikes. Looks like I've been away from this thread a long time.
Been busy, but now I'm designing the magic workshops with ease. The thing I'm wondering, is how would you get a dwarf/elf/human/goblin to drink the magic fluid?
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Same - i have many busy, as Doge would say. Glad 2 hear ur progressing well
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Oh, and if you make it qualify as a type of alcohol, dorfs will drink it rather than water.
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Yes, but that would mean a random dwarf will become a wizard/druid/warlock/cleric. Well, I guess you could lock a dwarf in a room with a stockpile solely of Angelic Elixir, but that's a little bit of a hassle.
A way to get around this might be to have a reaction in a magic workshop that produces a chair made out of a material with a magic-inducing contact syndrome. You then build the chair and assign it to the wizard-to-be and when he goes to sit on it to eat or whatever, he'll turn into a wizard (if that's how contact syndromes work, I'm not sure.) I'll have to find out a way to make it one-use, though.
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(if that's how contact syndromes work, I'm not sure.)
It isn't. Contact syndromes only work through contaminants.
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I like randomized actually, kinda like most other in game things. And of course the locked in a room thing is a very dorfy technique.
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(if that's how contact syndromes work, I'm not sure.)
It isn't. Contact syndromes only work through contaminants.
Yeah. I get so used to the realistic-ness of DF that I forget what would be realistic to accomplish in programming.
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You could make the material instead be a boiling boulder, and there could be a reaction that creates the boiling boulder(the boulder has SYN_INHALE syndrome with it), then hopefully the creature would breath it in, and maybe you've got a warlock/wizard/whatever-the-reaction-is-to-do-to-the-dwarf
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Yeah, I found out that method when reading about Spellcrafts. A problem I find with it though is that if you burrow everybody right next to the workshop you can convert the entire fort.
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Any progress on the workshop yet? This would be seriously useful to both MY mod, AND to the TechFortress mod. After all, Cyborgs should be created in laboratories. Also, has anyone else progressed on the mod? Im really just trying to coordinate it at this point, because im busy with several other things
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Again, got a little busy, but I'm working on it again now. Also, I have an idea for a creature for the TechFortress mod. How about a creature called an Electro (female Electra, collectively Electrae) who has a static electric charge, that induces a syndrome similar to electrocution when you touch him bare-handed? He might be able to shoot lightning, to make him stronger against armored dwarves. No stun, no fear, no exert, etc. Perhaps some !!FUN!! things can be made from the butchering products as well.
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More interesting name, and make it a civ - this is a sci-fi mod, y'know, and Electro just seems a bit too generic a name. Otherwise, i love it!
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I came up with the name Voltaic Fiend, or perhaps Voltaic Beast.
EDIT: Being a civ, they should bring coilguns and railguns and other relatively high-tech electric things. They might also have some sort of cyborg servants they ride as mounts.
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Is it possible to make Voltaic Fiend/Beast just the human term for the creature? I would see if you could generate a language for the creature, and it should be called, in its native tongue... how about Ur'maliikth? Cyborg mounts is an interesting choice - i like it alot. I would also try and gear their tech a certain way - we still in the concept phase, so no real limits. And remember, at least SOME of the tech they have should be inaccesable by humans - alien tech should retain some value therefor, so if they have, for example, a Vial of Nanobots that, when consumed, turns the user into a Voltaic Cyborg - kinda like a necromancer, but the key effect is that the nanobots give you a giant increase to regeneration, so you can even regenerate in the middle of a battle, and only a death blow can really kill you easily. Or fire. I would make them actually originally biological, normal carbon-based lifeforms, which have enchanced their entire civ beyond recognition with cybernetics. They should also have castes to represent what type of tech they have - like a scientist caste with a weaker lightning attack but a massive intelligence, and a sniper caste with a powerful, but high cooldown attack. By powerful, I mean like 1 hit kills. BUT, they are also very fragile. And as you suggested, even the animals of their civ are cybernetically enchanced. Also, if they are called Voltaic Fiends, that makes em sound aggresive. So you ought to make them raiders. Is all that cool?
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Yeah, that sounds cool, but it sounds like those creatures would then be intelligent, which throws away both the name "Voltaic Beast" (Fiend is fine, I think) and the cool butchering products. Unless of course, there is a way for the creature to drop both its corpse and some of the !!FUN!! stuff when it dies, or maybe even allow processing the corpse at an Electrician's Workshop.
Also, I'm not sure about making an entirely new language, it seems a little too work-intensive for me. Perhaps just adopted from the human language, but tweaked to make it sound more robotic, following your origin story? I'm just dabbling in creature design.
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This is a from scratch mod, right? I was thinking it was, so that's how I've been modding the creatures, but it occurred to me that I may have been incorrect.
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This is a from scratch mod, right? I was thinking it was, so that's how I've been modding the creatures, but it occurred to me that I may have been incorrect.
This somehow spun out from df4s.
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Yes, its a from scratch mod - the final goal is to have a game designed within the DF engine, but is in depth and different enough to qualify as its own spin-off game - with tech trees implemented, and creatures that are aliens. Races are the only constant between worlds - while there might be a "native" race of intelligent creatures, a given planet will have colonies of multiple alien races. You represent a human colony on this new world - the Forest World is the first one we are designing.
No random lang generator? Too bad. In that case, do whatever - maybe base thier language changes off dwarven if you decide to do so tho - they are supposed to be descendants of a non-human race, so having a human-based lang would be not cool. Mebbe change a word here and there - words that turn up often.
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Wait, there's a random language generator? Where?
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I thought someone made one - im generlly out of the loop. If there is one than of course i knew about it, you should use it - if not, i was only guessing. :D
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OK, so I finished the magic thing, in the sense that the liquid is getting created and drunk and applies my test syndrome, but I haven't tested it with Schools of Magic. The reason it was taking so long was the testing; I tried to get a test syndrome working, and only after many days of failed testing did I come up with the idea that I should use a pre-existing syndrome like giant cave spider venom instead of trying to create a new one. *self.face.meet(self.palm)*
The test syndrome works now tho, so I'll PM you a link to it soon.
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THANK YOU SO MUCH - i will apply a few specific changes - make the Dwarven Technomancer lab, the Elven Tree Shrine, the Holy Altar for humans, and the Unholy Sigil for goblins(get ready for some serious invaders now!) Did you class the liquid as alhocholic, so dorfs will be inclined to drink it?
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Also, if forts make them in worldgen, you will have mad towers and spellbooks - this could make it so you can hae a VERY high magic world. Of course, magics obtainable with an altar of some sort will be the most common - so Goblin Plague Warlocks will be more common than warlocks with Fireball or Psychic Assualt, and elves with Summon Wolf will be more common than those with Summon Polar Bear or Raven, and so on. I think Dorfs will only have Technomancy - but its a type of Wizards, so its high powered anyhow. Elves will have like Summon Wolf/Satyr, because those are reasonably strong so they will be a viable race - more dangerous sieges AND better playable. Gobbos should have plague at least, maybe fireball and slow as well - after all, the others have pretty strong magic too. And the Human Clerics will be either Strength Booster or Healers - thus making them more powerful as well.
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Elves will have like Summon Wolf/Satyr, because those are reasonably strong so they will be a viable race - more dangerous sieges AND better playable. Gobbos should have plague at least, maybe fireball and slow as well - after all, the others have pretty strong magic too. And the Human Clerics will be either Strength Booster or Healers - thus making them more powerful as well.
Are you going to have DFhack? Otherwise, I don't think elves can have summon creatures(by summoned do you mean by interaction, or just a war animal?). I though this was a from scratch mod, anyway, so why are you mentioning elves and goblins?
Are there raws for this somewhere, or have none been made yet?
I've made those four creatures. Please tell me if they work for you. Paste over D4FS for testing. # denotes what I didn't do.
http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=12765
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I'm bad at interactions, but looking at a bit of the raws I think that Summon Wolf reanimates a dead corpse and transforms it into a wolf, maybe? I'm not sure.
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yeh, thats it. TBH, im tryina go thru the raws u sent, and i cannot figure it out - i suck at inorganics n such. Creatures and interactions less so - but i digress. If you can set up those spells, it will be really great
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Any progress on creatures/magic/technology? Sry i haven't checked in, big deadline coming up - its getting pretty close to crunch. I have an outline of the tech development paths so far - only 3 at the moment, but if we can make em, we can call it good enough for version 0.1:
Cybernetics:
Focuses on inflicting syndromes on creatures, similar to the nagic stuff bleep_bloop has been working on for me - however, better types of cyborg can be developed. Some syndromes may only work on animals, so the nanobot fluid for Enhanced War Dogs will not create humans with enhanced abilities. This tech path will leave the creature vulnerable to hacking - hackers will be a special syndrome, necromancer-type thing that can be learned by adventurers, and it lets you do damage to any cyborg creatures - but it will have no effect on humans or biological creatures. Other than vulnerability to hackers - who should, if possible, have the POWER tag so they take over civs - there should be a custom material that does extra damage to robots and cyborgs - EMP bullets which will have a material force multiplier of at least X3. This will be custom railgun/coilgun ammo. The second path, other than cybernetics and robotics(maybe make it so you can also craft robo-minions?), will be that of biotech. This will involve physical and mental advancements on a biological level - while cyborgs end up with things like metal body parts and enhanced strength, bio-enhanced individuals will be able to recieve animalistic traits, such as the head of a lion or reptilian claws, as well as hyperdensified muscles and similar things. (is it possible, by the way, to make it so just one body part of a creature is made of a specific material?) This will also include Psionics, the higher tier abilities gained from bio-enhancement. Abilities can include psychic assaults that wrack an enemies head with pain, telekinetic attacks, and even Pyrokinesis. Biotech will have two paths - after you have achieved relative expertise with enhancing humans physical traits, you can either go down the route of Psionics or Abominations. Abominations will be monsters under your control created by your mad scientists - at top level, there may even be Megabeast strength monsters. These creatures might be a little harder to control than you think, however...
Lastly, there will be energy tech - working with plasma, lasers, electricity and magnetism. At the lowest level you have railguns and the like, but you can move on to things like a Plasma Cannon which will fire Plasma Bolts that deal high damage to all biological life forms(all biological carbon based lifeforms have a 2X multiplier vs. Plasma, which will proly for now just be a metal, maybe one with a low melt temperature like quicksilver. Or the Mega Railgun, a giant ballista-sized weapon that fires huge chunks of metal capable of killing the most fierce of beasts. Or (if thhis is possible) the Beam Cannon, which fires a continuous... beam... of energy that decimates foes(ideally like a normal crossbow, but take only a fraction of a second to shoot, so you can actually hit with it 10 times for each time an enemy can shoot you. Other uses of energy tech will include Power Armor and Forcefield Projectors, which will be equipable items that give you much more defense than standard flak/kevlar gear.
So - any thoughts? And any progress on the magic workshops?
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I'm bad at interactions, but looking at a bit of the raws I think that Summon Wolf reanimates a dead corpse and transforms it into a wolf, maybe? I'm not sure.
What raws? Are there raws in a download I didn't know about?
Skelepound, will the creatures I made be good enough?
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Dont worry, thats just a personal exchange between me and bleep_bloop - hes also helping me with my Schools of Magic mod. All references to magic/elves and such are references to THAT mod. sometimes that stuff ends up here. And no worries, as long as your creatures a) are adapted to a forest environment and b) are distinctly alien, they should be acceptable. Try and think within an ecosystem, making predators to hunt the herbivores you create, and apex predators to hunt the lesser meat eaters. Also, non carbon-based lifeforms are a win, if they arent something like "stone lion". This is a high tech, space colonization game in the DF engine.
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Just noticed now that you sent those creatures pikachu! Gonna take a look at them now, and tell ya what i think
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Holy shit pikachu17, you NAILED it! The raws look great - i heven't tested to see if they work, but you did an almost flawless job. One petty complaint - you wrote "like an egg lol" in the description, which... well, it doesnt quite work. Otherwise, 11 out of 10 man, great work!
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Wow... I had no idea I did such a good job... Thanks for making my day! :D