Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Topics - Ngosp Umbabok

Pages: [1]

DF Suggestions / Simple adventure mode improvements

« on: January 09, 2016, 11:48:10 am »

The latest Bay12 status report stated that both simple suggestions and adventure mode improvements were subjects to be worked on in the relatively near future and so I thought that now would be a good time to gather in one place a list of simple, logical, and easy-to-implement improvements to adventure mode that are widely agreed upon as being good improvements. I have thought up several myself but if anyone else has any they can think of feel free to share it so we have a good list going.

To clarify a bit further what I'm talking about is small peripheral or minor changes that would be easy to put into the game and wouldn't change it too much but would make the experience more rewarding and enjoyable or less frustrating. Adding in significant new things that add a lot of new dimensions to the game wouldn't be the thing to suggest here.

Some of the ones that I've thought of or remembered (a few of which I think other people have suggested before):

1. Allow the player to consume food and water while fast traveling - I think that this is a logical improvement to the fast travel system, if its cold enough to freeze the water then I think its still reasonable to force the player to stop and create a fire to melt the ice but if it is not cold enough to freeze the water and there are no dangerous animal or enemies nearby I don't see why the player should have to stop just to eat and drink. We don't have any means of insta-travel through boats or caravans or whatever and so on large worlds it can take a long time to go from one end to the other in search of a titan or something and it can get kind of irritating to have to stop every 2 or 3 minutes to eat and drink. We can already sleep and wait in the fast travel screen.

2. Allow the player to fast travel over rivers if they are frozen - I don't know how complicated this would be to implement but it only seems reasonable. Forcing players to exit fast travel to cross rivers in general is another subject that people seem to have a roughly even split of opinion on but if the player is just going to safely walk over the ice anyway then until we get to the point where there is a risk of falling through the ice I don't see why the player should have to stop to do that.

3. Allow the viewing of the different modes of the map while in any locations and while not in fast travel - The way the system currently works now is that when you are fast traveling within a certain distance of some objects it changes the fast travel map to a different view which can sometimes be frustrating. It would be nice to be able to toggle with a button what kind of map style you would like to view without it being conditioned on your closeness to various objects. There are also sometimes things that are helpful to see on your local map that you can't see unless you enter fast-travel, if you could see it without entering fast-travel that would be helpful, even if that means you can't see where various other travelers and creatures are on the local map.

4. Create some sort of way for adventurers to make visual markings on the floor or walls of indoor structures to help in navigation - in large and convoluted dungeons it would be helpful to at least be able to scrawl with charcoal on the floor which direction the exit is every so often.

5. Have sleeping bandits/goblins/kobolds immediately wake up, yell and fight back upon being wrestled with or struck with a weapon when they are sleeping - pretty self-explanatory, adding in what level of noise would wake them up could be a more complicated goal for the future but just having them wake up when they themselves are individually attacked seems to be an easy and simple improvement.

DF Suggestions / Town Square/Plaza in cities

« on: June 17, 2015, 10:58:28 am »

I think that it would be a good idea for there to be town squares in the middle of cities. Right now the cities are just a sprawl with the castle on one end, a temple somewhere and an area with food-sellers outside the castle gates.

This could be changed so that in front of the castle gates or a short distance from it there could be a "town square" or plaza. This could be made to be obviously some sort of special area compared to other open spots as there could be a large area of paved ground, or ground paved differently from other areas with decorative tiles.

Some specific objects and things that could be included include fountains, statues, gardens, benches, hangman gibbets, stockades, announcement boards etc. Larger cities could have larger and more elaborate town squares

Important buildings like the main tavern of the town or the temple could maybe border the town square. I feel as though this is a relatively simple cosmetic change that would add a lot to the feeling of the town being alive and fleshed out as right now it seems kinda lifeless. It would be nice to travel to the main area of the city to see whether there are any events happening in the square, what announcements are posted, to talk to people there, or even on the way to the tavern.

DF Suggestions / "Everyone get inside" option

« on: January 30, 2015, 12:58:07 pm »

I think it would be a good idea if there was a button you could press or an option through one of the menus for all dwarves located outside the fortress to get inside immediately when for example a squad of goblins appeared. Right now as far as I am aware the only ways to get all dwarves inside the fort quickly is to use burrows or a time-consuming method of canceling outside jobs and ordering new inside jobs specific to each dwarf outside the fort.

This would seem better then the burrow option in that it would leave the people inside the fort but still outside the burrow undisturbed and free to go about there work instead of having to go the burrow despite already being inside the fort. With regards to the second option it would just be faster, easier and more efficient.

There could maybe be an option for everyone to get both inside the fort and underground or dwarves who were outside could also just get inside the walled and door-protected area right outside of the forts entrance.

DF Suggestions / Ability to construct customizable signposts

« on: January 13, 2015, 12:57:07 pm »

I think it would be a good addition to fortress mode if the player were able to construct freestanding or wall-mounted signs that would read out a specific message which would be entered in by the player.

Examples of potential uses include

Signs explaining the direction of certain rooms to help later traversing of the fort in adventure mode

Signs to help the player in fortress mode remember exactly which lever had which effect when pulled

Signs that could be briefly read to explain the contents of custom stockpiles

They would also have a myriad number of applications in dwarf fortress games that are played in succession by multiple players, it would help people who just got the fort have a source of info about what stuff does what and where things are and the purpose of certain rooms and areas and so forth.

DF Suggestions / Search dwarf-list by current labor or profession

« on: January 09, 2015, 11:58:05 am »

I would like to see a search button enabled in the unit list in Fortress mode similar to the new "F" button used to search for keywords in adventure mode conversations.

When you have 200ish dwarves and you just want to examine or find one specific dwarf it can take a few minutes to find them in the list of all the dwarves in your fort. If you have a search button then you could either type in the profession of the dwarf you are looking for or the name of the labor you think they are carrying out and then the list could be narrowed down to only the dwarves who are members of that profession or dwarves who are carrying out that labor.

Its not that big of an issue but it would be a simple little nice change that would improve the interface.

DF Suggestions / Frozen rivers should be passable in fast-travel (adv-mode)

« on: December 26, 2014, 10:36:01 pm »

Title is pretty self-explanatory. There really isn't any reason why you should have to exit fast travel if you are just going to walk over the river like any other piece of ground. There have been suggestions before about being able to fast-travel over rivers if you are a master-level swimmer and stuff like that and some people have differing opinions but I think this is something that everyone would agree is a good idea.

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / workshops not being built

« on: December 25, 2014, 11:49:42 am »

I recently downloaded the most recent version and embarked only to find that my workshops were not being built, does anyone know whether this is a bug or something to do with new features/changes?

for example i tried to build a farmers workshop and had dwarves with no jobs that had labor enabled for farming, architecture and carpentry/masonry for the material used but they still stood around with no job.

thanks

DF Suggestions / Archenemy/nemesis of player adventurer

« on: December 07, 2014, 11:57:11 am »

I think it would be cool if at a certain point in adventure mode there was an archenemy/nemesis of the player character that actively sought out to fight/ambush/foil the plans of the player character. For lawfull characters this could take the form of a mastermind-bandit leader who resents the players chivalrous actions and for a bandit/unlawful player (when that role is fleshed out more) this could take the form of a zealous sheif/paladin/bounty-hunter who has a personal mission to hunt down the player.

Right now the majority of adventure mode consists of the player character strategically planning how they are going to engage an enemy site and under what conditions and in which order the differant sites will be dealt with. Having a persistent enemy that followed the player around the world and was dangerous and unpredictable would add alot to the game.

At some point once you gain enough fame or infamy you could attract the ire of this nemesis person. It would be cool if they were a highly skilled fighter with full armor and excellent weapons at the masterwork or artifact level. The nemesis would feel like a heavy challenge to the player to the point where the player felt like they would be at a disadvantage in an open fight and that the player would have to ty to think of some way to engage the nemesis under conditions that would favor the player.

The player coming upon excellent weapons or great armor early on in the game could speed up the time until the nemesis started to hunt them or if the player was already maxed out then the nemesis would be super-maxed out with superhuman stats, a large group of followers, and full armor and weapons of steel/divine metal/adamantine. The feeling that the player was at a disadvantage in an open fight would be a crucial part of the dynamic and would be necessary for the player to feel fear and to feel as though they have to outwit the nemesis.

This nemesis could try to interfere with the players plans or kill them in a number of ways such as tracking them and tying to assasinate them while they are sleeping, attacking them from behind while the player is fighting other enemies at some site, or the nemesis could gather a group of followers and wait in ambush to surround and mount a surprise attack against the player. The player could be forewarned about the nemesis by villagers or it could come as a total suprise.

This would make the game a lot more dynamic. The majority of the players fights are not defensive except for boogymen and animal attacks. I think with a game like DF where you interact with the world so intricately and can do so many things the gameplay would be greatly enhanced by an enemy that the player felt threatened by, and one that they had to outsmart and carefully engage rather then take on in a straightforward fight.

If anyone has any thoughts on this or ideas to add feel free to share.

DF Suggestions / Make throwing of bolts/arrows realistic

« on: December 06, 2014, 04:52:16 pm »

I think that a relatively simple way to make adventure mode combat more realistic is to make it so throwing arrows and bolts is less deadly. Right now it's more effective to throw them then to actually fire them because of the rate of fire for bows/crossbows. Thrown arrows/bolts that hit seem to damage nerves/ligaments to the point of crippling limbs a good 35-50% of the time.

The vast majority of people even those who are athletic cannot throw an arrow or bolt with enough velocity to do that kind of damage. Past 10 feet away there would barely even be a chance of leaving more then a tiny nick in the skin. The only real ways in which this would ever be used is in desperation and even then the only way anything would come of it is if you were within ~10 feet of someone and it managed to poke out one of there eyes.

On one hand this isn't that significant of an issue but there are definetly times where myself and I'm sure other people have used it as a crutch. For example in caves/lairs you can toss an arrow/bolt at whatever is in there and cripple it before it gets to you. Without a real weapon like a dagger to throw you shouldn't be able to do that without using a ranged weapon. It seems cheap that picking up a quiver of arrows is like suddenly having 30 daggers.

DF Modding / Increasing enemy armor usage in adv. mode

« on: December 05, 2014, 01:02:20 pm »

Hello fellow dwarf fortressors

One of my big pet peeves about adventure mode is that enemies never seem to wear any armor. When I do see armor it's usually only on bandit leaders or goblin captains but even then it's never more then 2 pieces at a time.

Would there possibly be a way to increase the rate at which adv. mode enemies wore armor and to make them individually wear many pieces at a time? (possibly coupled with increased armor skill)
That would make combat way more interesting, Ecspecially when combined with mods that aim for realistic weapons/armor properties like Stahls mod.

Thanks

DF Suggestions / Rare super-artifacts (created during world gen)

« on: December 05, 2014, 11:09:30 am »

With procedurily-generated artifacts scheduled to be worked on by Toady One after he finishes with job priorities and taverns I thought that it might be an appropriate time to bring up the idea of super-artifacts.

The basic premise would be something like in every world during world gen there (in addition to the future regular artifacts) could be generated 1 or 2 super-artifacts that are immensely powerful, potentially dangerous or difficult to use and are woven into the mythology/cosmology of the world in ways that make them widely known but many regard them just to be myths. They would be extremely difficult to find, likely requiring multiple sites to be travelled to along with puzzles and deadly monsters to vanquish.

Examples from history and earthly mythology/religion include the hammer of Thor, Pandora's box, the book of Thoth, the Holy Grail, the thunderbolts of Zeus and the well that Odin drinks out of to become wise. These super-artifacts could be items, weapons or even large objects like the previously mentioned well. Using or activating these super-artifacts could cause player-based effects such as necromancer-style immunity to bodily needs, or could even have effects that change the whole world such as unleashing a flood of monsters, transforming the landscape, or even destroying the world (part of the risk of using a super-artifact which purposes are unknown).

Of course it would make more sense to broach this topic once procedurly-generated mythology is worked on more with randomized creation myths and struggles between deities and so forth as this would give a proper context for the super-artifact (although it wouldn't be nescecary). But even without this the framework for them could be implemented alongside world gen of regular artifacts pretty easy.

They wouldn't even have to be accessible at first, until the means to reach them is implemented into the game, initially only viewable in legends mode. They could all be located on distant islands, castles in the sky, under the sea, in the land of the dead and other similar places. It would just be cool to eventually be able to search for and interact with super-artifacts that are more then just a named masterwork-weapon embedded with zebra bone and tourmaline. The search for the Golden Fleece is one example that comes to mind. They could often be almost impossible to reach but every now and then it would be very epic to go on a long adventure spanning the globe in search of the most important and revered/mystical/feared object of all time.

If anyone has any thoughts on this or ideas feel free to share.

DF Suggestions / Hooking shields with axe-edges during combat

« on: December 03, 2014, 03:53:51 pm »

It would be cool if during combat axe blades would sometimes hook onto the edge of a shield and tear it from a persons hands or temporarily prevent them from using it effectively. In adventure mode this could be a difficult-to-use combat maneuver that players can do on purpose, in fort mode it would make the combat more dynamic.

If someone wielding a greataxe or someone with any kindle of axe who is really strong strikes at someone and the edge of the axe catches the inside of the shield and pulls it away from the shield-holder it would make sense for it to possibly result in the shield being ripped away or the shield-user being pulled to the ground if they try to maintain control of it.

Even if it didn't do either of those just getting a hold on the shield with the axe edge could allow the axe-holder to kick or punch the shield-holder if they were fast enough to avoid the weapon in the shield-holders other hand or if the shield-holder was put off-balance by the collision.

A persons stats and skills with blocking and/or wrestling could tie into the outcome of the axe-shield collision, with higher physical stats and higher skills making it easier to maintain control of the shield. Someone who was really strong and talented could even potentially then jerk the shield back to make the axe-user lose control of the axe or fall forward.

DF Suggestions / bandit camp AI improvement

« on: November 26, 2014, 10:17:05 am »

Just a suggestion with regards to the AI of bandits in adventure-mode bandit camps.

A relatively simple way to greatly improve the experience of fighting in the bandit camps would be to make the bandit AI better at detecting and responding to intruders.

A simple way of doing this would be to make it so they occasionally glance around and scan there surroundings and if they see dead bodies of comrades that they haven't previously responded to then they could shout out to the rest of there pals which could then lead to all or most of the bandits in the camp either retreating into a small circle that faced outwards or to form small groups or a group that then walked around the perimeter of the camp looking for the intruder.

This could just be a placeholder until more realistic AI could be implemented but even that would be a great improvement. Right now its way too easy to take out an entire camp just by sneaking from one bandit to the next beheading them from behind and as we all know when a cheap option presents itself it can be hard not to use it.

DF Suggestions / optional conversation-based combat initiation (adv mode)

« on: September 20, 2014, 11:56:59 pm »

I just thought that adding a few conversation lines for initiating combat would be helpful. Currently if you approach a bandit camp they are not automatically hostile, you have to attack first.

It would be nice if there were some way to confirm that the people in the camp are bandits and to let them know you are initiating combat

For example: -have you been committing robberies?
-I am putting an end to your banditry, drop your weapons or die!

This could also be applicable to bandits harassing villages, you could tell them that if they don't leave immediately then you will attack them.

Sometimes it just feels a little ambiguous, it would be fun and help with immersion to have conversational options you can use to turn someone hostile and to get them to say something signifying that they are now going to fight you.