Bay 12 Games Forum

I couldn't find a recent thread on the topic, so I'll share my recent ideas;

Now, last I remember I think we can build musical instruments but they're just trade goods like the rest, but I don't think it would be too hard (I could very well be wrong) to implement a system where musically inclined dwarves perform in public places (and hopefully practice in private) with the instrument of their choice, which gives a happy thought to any dwarves that are listening. If a dwarf particularly likes the instrument or the song, they might even give the performer a coin or two, so we don't have starving artists but buskers (and maybe nobles could pay them for private performances, or to follow them around mariachi-style).

Another music related idea I had- I want to forge and ring a great big bell. Probably using metal (brass in particular), we could order a large bell to be forged, and to use it requires it to be constructed like a building. Ringing the bell could work like a regular performance, maybe not using the skill of the dwarf but mostly the quality of the construction, and the bell could maybe also be set up to ring when a lever is pulled, maybe to alert the dwarves when things are happening (as opposed to automatically knowing what's going on as they do now I guess), or just so you can set up Norte Dorf. Note that a gong could probably serve the same function as a bell. The bell/gong may be rung whenever a noble arrives (or says so), a child is born, etc.

Apart from that, what instruments might be possible to build in DF's setting, and where would they be crafted? I can imagine drums and horns would be the easiest to make with wood or bone (and metal drums aren't out of the question), while string instruments might require wood, and trumpets and the like needing metal.

Especially on young fortresses, you never know what dwarf is gonna get a strange mood next, and what skills they happen to have (or not). Everyone loves artifact weapons and armour, but what about the odder things that dorfs are compelled to build?

I have a turtle shell animal trap in my latest fortress, for instance.

On my latest fortress I've been trying to set up floodgates so three of them open and shut as the entry drawbridge does- but they always take two lever pulls rather than three to set them off, so they end up out of synch. My brewer/bowyer was an unfortunate casualty of this experiment. How do I get floodgates to work properly?

Sorry if this has been suggested before (trust me, I know the feeling, CoH player), so I figure I'll do the shotgun effect and throw in a bunch of different ideas at once hoping one is newish.

I'm a bit of an animal lover both in real life and with games, and seeing that the kind of animals you get in DF are very useful in real life, many only recently supplanted by technology, I think we should be able to train other animals besides dogs to perform tasks. Assigned to a particular dwarf, they could help them in basic hauling tasks, allowing a dwarf to carry two items at once perhaps, or they could be assigned to a pump or device as a dedicated source of musclepower. Consider horses and donkeys pushing mills in real life, and elephants helping with logging today.

Of course, another way to make animals more useful is to allow them as mounts (I don't think this is in-game, right?), which is pretty self-explanatory. Mounted Combat sounds like it could be a skill of its own, or perhaps a more general Animal Rider skill. Mounts could allow dwarves to move faster, or have an advantage in combat, but the animals in question would likely need to be properly trained for it as well. At this point there might as well be a new building for it, the Stable.