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Topics - Talvieno

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1
Other Games / [FUNDED!] Voxel Quest: Open World Simulator RPG/roguelike (Kickstarter)
« on: October 22, 2014, 11:10:17 am »
I have no idea how the heck we don't have a topic for this game, but I've now rectified that issue. I present to you... Voxel Quest.

Spoiler: Shiny Graphics (click to show/hide)

In a fairly brilliant twist of engine design, solo developer Gavan Woolery has spent the past couple of years building an engine for a fantasy RPG. "Is it just voxels?" you ask? Not remotely. Rather, the entire map procedurally generates itself down to the smallest pebble from a set of simple algorithms - and the visuals are nothing short of fantastic. As to the gameplay, think of it as an RPG/roguelike/card game cross, if you will (with no limits on construction/destruction), but it's even more than that:

Voxel Quest is planned to be a game that creates a fully procedural, three-dimensional, infinite world with an emphasis on simulation and dynamic storytelling. Everything is done procedurally - no two worlds will ever be alike. Everything is driven by the AI - if the player can do it, the AI can do it too. The player is no god, but merely another cog in a great machine. While it won't have the depth and detail of Dwarf Fortress, it does focus heavily on storytelling and deterministic gameplay. The AI will do more than just try to kill you - you may have a character fall in love with you, ask to join your party only to betray you later on, or protect you for reasons of their own.

There will be three game modes:
  • Sandbox: Plays through like a tabletop game.
  • Roguelike: Plays through like a roguelike. Level fast, play hard, die fast.
  • RPG: Plays through more like a traditional RPG. No permadeath here.
There will also be an editor, and everything will be moddable - you could even turn it into a sci-fi game instead of a fantasy game, if you so chose.

He's not asking for a whole lot of money, either - he plans to get money from other sources after it starts, but he's absolutely determined to release it open source, and make sure that it stays independent. He doesn't want to take offers from potential investors. (He actually turned down a big deal from Facebook, as I understand it. As you'll see he answered farther down, it was simply a job offer, though he's turned down deals from other potential investors.) While his jokes tend to fall flat (just watch the KS video if you don't believe me), he's a really nice guy, and very, very passionate about his game. I don't see much risk involved in rooting for him - he's actually being pretty careful.

I thought you guys might like a heads-up. :) I'm going to stop playing PR guy now and let you guys check it out.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gavan/voxel-quest

2
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / MOVED: LangCreate 1.0 and RandCreatures 0.2.0 (for 34.xx, being updated)
« on: September 13, 2014, 08:22:51 am »
I'm moving this over to Utilities and 3rd Party Applications, because now that I'm adding so much to it, it's really just as much for adventure mode as it is fortress mode. I don't feel keeping it here is justified anymore.

Click for the new topic: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=119625.0

3
DF Suggestions / Consolidate News into Shorter Segments
« on: August 19, 2014, 05:57:49 pm »
Observe.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There is such a thing as an overload of information. When too much information is presented at once, it ceases to be of value and oftentimes is disregarded entirely. An excellent example of this is the "wall of text" that people are far less likely to read.

My suggestion is simple. Consolidate it into shorter blocks. For example, you might have this:

The latest news from Gearsquared is that a year ago the site was conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.
The latest news from Washoiled is that a year ago the site was conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.
The latest news from Amberbarb is that a year ago the site was conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.
The latest news from Oillanterns is that a year ago the site was conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.
The latest news from Spearbreakers is that a year ago the site was conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.
The latest news from Boatmurdered is that a year ago the site was conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.
The latest news from Abbeywhite is that a year ago the site was conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.
The latest news from Firefailed is that a year ago the site was conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.

Which all share the format:

The latest news from [PLACE] is that [WHEN] [EVENT] [NAME].

So just consolidate it. Only one variable is different in each sentence, so you can just do this:

The latest news from Gearsquared, Washoiled, Amberbarb, Oillanterns, Spearbreakers, Boatmurdered, Abbeywhite, and Firefailed is that a year ago the sites were conquered by Tugadee Mirthdesks.



For something like:

A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Puzzling League fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Fellowship of Trims fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Society of Duty fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Council of Incidents fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Coalition of Rythms fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Society of Glazes fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Strifeful League fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Councils of Simplicity fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Blockaded Councils fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.
A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Icy Coalition fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.

These all share the format:

[WHEN] refugees calling themselves [NAME] fled from the area just before an army of [ARMY] led by the [RACE][NAME] descended upon the place.

If all that is necessary:

A few years ago refugees calling themselves The Puzzling League, The Fellowship of Trims, The Society of Duty, The Council of Incidents, The Coalition of Rythms, The Society of Glazes, The Strifeful League, The Councils of Simplicity, The Blockaded Councils, and The Icy Coalition fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.

Or, even simpler:

A few years ago refugees fled from the area just before an army of The Words of Dreaming led by the human Ostsi Lurkeddoor descended upon the place.




Failing that, I also feel that most of this information is largely unnecessary. Perhaps it could be prioritized so you only see the most important news? I think in the middle of a war with hundreds dying, individual names probably don't need to matter - especially when it come to kidnappings.





I could be wrong on all this though. It's obviously an incredible amount of detail and I LOVE how much detail there is - I just feel it could be presented in a little more readable of a manner.

4
DF General Discussion / Who would you say is the most memorable character of 34.11?
« on: April 04, 2014, 05:55:30 pm »
The question is simple enough, brought to mind by DarkDXZ:

Quote from: DarkDXZ on April 04, 2014, 04:04:06 pm
[...]
Also curious to see what the DF2014 Cacame will be. Or any other noteworthy ingame character.

We'll be coming up on DF2014 soon, by all appearances. Previous versions had Sankis, Tholtig Cryptbrain, Urist, Cacame, and others - But, who, in your opinion, is the most memorable character of DF2012, aka 34.11?

Quote from: Talvieno on April 11, 2014, 10:03:27 am
I'd like to add that succession game/community fortress characters also count, if anybody wants to list off whichever of those stands out most in their memory.

5
DF General Discussion / DF to Real World Distance Conversion (Science Thread)
« on: November 26, 2012, 02:06:16 pm »
I am well aware of the fact that DF doesn't take creature size into account. This thread is about map size.

The Magmawiki has nothing that shows the size of Dorfworld compared to our own distances, be it miles or kilometers, and I can't find anything on the forums, either, so I thought I'd do some math and figure things out for myself. What I originally wanted was a full-scale replica of Middle Earth. Tolkien said that it was about 600 miles from Hobbiton to Minas Tirith, which makes Middle Earth (the part represented in the Third Age) approximately 1,800 miles wide, or 2900 kilometers. With this knowledge, I set about finding out the width of a large map in DF.

There are 48 tiles per map area, making a standard "4x4" fortress measure 192 tiles across, and a region tile (16x16) measure 768 tiles across, for a total area of 589,824 tiles.

Toady One has said that a tile measures (approximately) 2x2x3 meters (though he does call that number "arbitrary"):
Quote from: Toady One on August 21, 2010, 10:58:11 pm
[...]  Throwing out 2m arbitrarily as a tile edge, we'd be at 100m^2 for the floor space and 1536 m between villages, which I'm more or less comfortable with [...]
Quote from: Toady One on May 03, 2012, 11:15:37 pm
[...]I think for the purposes of the minecarts it turned out to be 2m x 2m x 3m [...]
Therefore, if we assume that a tile is two meters across, as he said, then the results are:

Local tile (1/16 x 1/16):
    48 x 48 tiles
    96 x 96 meters
    314.96 x 314.96 feet
Region tile (1 x 1):
    768 x 768 tiles
    1,536 x 1,536 meters = 1.54 x 1.54 kilometers
    5,038.08 x 5,038.08 feet = 0.95 x 0.95 miles

Tiny map (17 x 17):
    13,056 x 13,056 tiles
    26.11 x 26.11 kilometers
    16.22 x 16.22 miles
Smaller (33 x 33):
    25,344 x 25,344 tiles
    50.69 x 50.69 kilometers
    31.49 x 31.49 miles
Small (65 x 65):
    49,920 x 49,920 tiles
    99.84 x 99.84 kilometers
    62.02 x 62.02 miles
Medium (127 x 127):
    97,536 x 97,536 tiles
    195.07 x 195.07 kilometers
    121.18 x 121.18 miles
Large (257 x 257):
    197,376 x 197,376 tiles
    394.75 x 394.75 kilometers
    245.22 x 245.22 miles


So, unfortunately, there's no way to get Middle Earth into DF unless you massively scale it down... I'm posting my findings here, though, so that anybody searching for this same information in the future won't find a total lack of it. It's also open for debate (I love debates, so they're very much welcome here).

6
Utilities and 3rd Party Applications / LangCreate (v34 and v40) and RandCreatures (v34, being rewritten)
« on: November 25, 2012, 10:24:13 am »
I'm currently working on updating RandCreatures for version 40.xx. After that, I'll get back on LangCreate. Before, I didn't really add much polish, as they were originally only intended for my own use. This time around it'll be primarily for you guys. I'm exporting everything I can to external, DF raws-based scripts, of which you can see an updated WIP example here (click for link).

LangCreate should still work for version 40.xx without problems, but with all the creature changes, I need to update RandCreatures before it'll work at all.


I'm posting a full update on the progress, as it's been about month since I started rewriting RandCreatures. All told, as of the 13th of September, it's very roughly a third of the way done. Here's a fancy development list:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here's the 34.xx post:
Quote
I've written two programs.
LangCreate - Download Here
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The first generates a DF language in great detail, with prefixes and suffixes to words, imitating word roots (in other words, "xia-" might be added to the front of any word with the "domestic" symbol). It lets you put in word examples (minimum of 10 or so), and then takes those and creates a language from them. For example, putting "murasaki,saru,shokkiarai,zonbi,haburashi,kokonatsu,yoso,randamu,baka,kobito,yosai" would be enough to create a language with a Japanese theme. There are some major limitations, though.
1. My laptop died back in May, so I had to rebuild the language generator on a prehistoric computer in a prehistoric programming language/compiler. It may or may not work on linux and macs. I don't know. I'd rather use C++ or Java, but I can't get any IDEs to run on the computer I've been using.
2. You have to use standard English letters. No using this: å or anything remotely like it, or it'll spit out some really weird words. (Besides, DF doesn't even read those characters.)
(actually, that's all the limitations.)

RandCreatures - Download Here
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The second, and my favorite, randomly generates anywhere from 10 to 1000 absolutely random, fully-functional DF creatures. Each creature has unique descriptions, prefstrings, and names. It all makes sense, too. The more creatures you gen, the more likely the program will find some of them to be worthy of civ status, and it'll then actually custom-design a random civ for the creature, which will actually survive worldgen. You may even see winged, trunked, bipedal creatures building castles at some point, but I'd count on something a little more bizarre.
There are, of course, some minor limitations.
1. It's written in the same language as #1, and has the same issues.
2. There aren't any creatures that cause syndromes. Yeah, sorry. No uberpoisonous snakes. Yet.
3. If you add 1000 creatures and go into adventure mode, you'll likely see creatures EVERYWHERE. Dwarf Fortress doesn't scale down the amount of wildlife relative to the species count. Instead, it keeps adding. The more unique species you add, the more wildlife you see. Fixed. In a manner of speaking.
On the plus side, the game is still playable, no matter what it gens. You won't get one-shotted by anything. (unless you come across a semimegabeast or megabeast, in which case may Armok rest your soul.)

7
DF Community Games & Stories / A Skulker's Tale: A Dwarf Fortress sci-fi epic novel
« on: November 23, 2012, 10:03:59 pm »
Click here for a PDF download link.updated to chapter 60.

Illustrations always welcome, if anyone feels particularly inclined. I'm not much of an artist myself.
If you have any suggestions, artwork, or directions you'd like me to take the plot, PM me.
Encouragement and constructive criticism are also welcome.
(I love getting feedback of any kind, provided it isn't "YOU SUCK" :P)

Spoiler: illustrated with 20 pictures and counting (click to show/hide)

Art by Splint
(Vanya's name is pronounced VON-yuh cuh-RAY-nuh)

A Skulker's Tale takes place in the Boatmurdered/Headshoots/Syrupleaf/Spearbreakers universe.

Quote from: A Book Jacket Blurb
All I ever do is run, leaving everything I know and love behind me.

    In ancient times on the planet of Everoc, the demon Sankis created the Spawn of Holistic, a twisted mockery of dwarvenkind. Parasol, a multidimensional company, stimulated their progress until they became a dreaded scourge. Although unaware of Parasol's existence, the dwarves fought back, creating mighty fortresses to defend their borders from the deathless hordes.
    From their fastness in the macabre blood plains, the Holistic Spawn spread the world over, leaving a trail of devastation in their wake. In the meantime, an earth-shattering war began between Parasol and another company, Ballpoint. A third company, Eris, menaced always on the horizon, led by the brilliantly devious Joseph.
    In the year 200, the dwarves founded a new military fortress, Spearbreakers, at the edge of the Spawn heartland, intending to rid the continent once and for all of the ever-present threat of doom. Unbeknownst to them, a timid outcast dwelt in their midst, a homeless, kinless girl by the name of Vanya.
    Vanya's journals tell of the great, unsought quest she undertook in her desperate attempt to save herself, Spearbreakers, and ultimately all of Everoc from an inevitable destruction. Her story reveals her perilous adventures, her trials and hardships, and her forbidden love, as she tries to master her fears and come to terms with who, and what, she is.


This is an epic high fantasy novel, loosely based in a heavily-modded Dwarf Fortress universe. It's one story, but I've split it into pieces, calling them Book One, Book Two, and so on (in the style of Lord of the Rings). Although each is largely self-inclusive and ends right between arcs, the story continues smoothly between them. I would strongly suggest that you start with the first one. The genre is fantasy/drama/science fiction.

I'd like to make the suggestion that you ignore the chapter titles altogether, and simply read through from top to bottom. To make that a little easier, while the links are separated into books, the actual chapter titles progress linearly.

Book One: A Girl's Broken Mind
Preface and Introduction: This post
Chapter 1: Eavesdropping
Chapter 2: The Cavy Tunnel
Chapter 3: Burglary Mission
Chapter 4: A Golden Bracelet
Chapter 5: Dark Conversations
Chapter 6: The Magic Brick
Chapter 7: The Frog Battle
Chapter 8: Cavywoman Returns
Chapter 9: Pyrrhic Victory
Chapter 10: Strawberry Wine
Chapter 11: The Memory
Chapter 12: The Rescue
Chapter 13: A Confrontation
Chapter 14: A Deal with the Devil
Chapter 15: Employment
Chapter 16: Dwarf College
Chapter 17: Enemy Territory
Chapter 18:Jealousy
Chapter 19: Despair
Chapter 20: The Nightmare
Chapter 21: The Caves
Chapter 22: Gorlaks
Chapter 23: The Revelation
Chapter 24: The Search
Chapter 25: Wari
Chapter 26: The Final Entry

Book Two: A Girl's Tattered Heart
Preface
Chapter 1: Salaia
Chapter 2: An Invasion
Chapter 3: The Caverns
Chapter 4: Scythods
Chapter 5: Repressed Rage
Chapter 6: Old Stories
Chapter 7: Parting Ways
Chapter 8: The Blood Plains
Chapter 9: An Unexpected Meeting
Chapter 10: Infiltration
Chapter 11: Parasol Camp
Chapter 12: A Plan
Chapter 13: An Evening Meal
Chapter 14: Urist
Chapter 15: Biomech
Chapter 16: Magic
Chapter 17: The Battle Begins
Chapter 18: Darkness Descends
Chapter 19: Desperation
Chapter 20: The Stench of Victory

Book Three: A Girl's Weary Feet
Chapter 1: Parasol
Chapter 2: Shuttlecar Ride
Chapter 3: A Disaster
Chapter 4: Kenzon
Chapter 5: An Ignored Heroine
Chapter 6: One Small Truth
Chapter 7: An Unexpected Visit
Chapter 8: Surprise and Tears
Chapter 9: Stuck at Home
Chapter 10: The Moral Line
Chapter 11: A Pleasant Respite
Chapter 12: False Freedom
Chapter 13: Founder's Day
Chapter 14: A Temporary Home
Chapter 15: Getting Ready
Chapter 16: A Tense Meeting
Chapter 17: Returning Home
Chapter 18: Koth
Chapter 19: Making Plans
(a work in progress)

Book Four: A Girl's Fiery Soul
(exists only in notes)

Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)



The italic portions before each chapter are written in second-person by "Urist Jones", the dwarven archaeologist, as he reads the journal entries. I'll usually keep them brief, but they'll almost always be there.
A Skulker's Tale
Book One: A Girl's Broken Mind
Introduction
Just inside the cover of this ancient journal, there is a loose sheet of paper of standard quality, apparently written later by the author, as it bears the same handwriting, and ends with the same five-pointed star as a signature.

    I was born in 188. When I was 3, I was taken to a dwarven mountainhome and left there, having nothing with me but my newborn sister. An old couple took me in as family, encouraging me to call them "Granma" and "Granpa". Five years later, when I was eight, my Granma died, and my Granpa blamed me for her death. From then on, he was cruel to us. After two years, I'd had enough... I took my seven-year-old sister and ran away from home, carrying everything we owned in two small luggage cases. We set out for a new life.
    For three long years, we traveled between fortresses, trying to stay out of sight and keep people from finding out we were homeless. As soon as we were spotted, they always kicked us out, and had to travel to the next. In this way, we traveled ever deeper into the territory of the Holistic Spawn.
    The Holistic Spawn are evil creatures... when one bites a dwarf, it infects it with the young soul of a demon. When the demon matures, it takes over its host's body, transforming it into a nightmare: shriveled skin, bony, elongated arms and legs, claws instead of fingers, eyeless sockets, and a huge, gaping mouth running down between its ribs, ringed with razor-sharp teeth. Though we were always on the run from them, we never actually saw one. It was a terror that skirted the edges of our minds as we traveled in caravans from one place to the next.

    Finally, when my sister and I were 10 and 13, we took refuge in a place called Spearbreakers. It's a military fortress situated between a jungle and a vast stretch of hellish land, where it rains blood all year: the blood plains. It was a grim landscape to look upon, and I hid myself and my sister deep underground, hoping we'd be safe.
    Due to the curious political system, each "Overseer" had only one year in office before the next was elected. We arrived during the second year, in Talvi's reign. Soon after, Talvi broke under the stress and started to slip from sanity, gaining a fierce love of Mr Frog, then a lowly mechanic, and an even fiercer love of "cavies", which is what she called guinea pigs.
    After her term was over, she handed the fortress over to Mr Frog, who began making major changes. He hated homeless dwarves, and started taking pains to wipe us out. I almost starved early that year, but he soon ordered a new wagon road dug out underground, increasing our trade with other civilizations in the region. I would sneak around after dark and steal food from the caravans that passed through, just enough to keep us from starving to death.
    Nobody seemed to notice the food disappearing, but Talvi noticed that her cavies were starting to disappear. It had nothing to do with me, but she recruited my help and that of other homeless dwarves, in exchange for food. We put up posters saying, "Have you seen me?" with a picture of her cavies. Then, Talvi started digging around in Mr Frog's room, and stole an odd device from him: it was a little metal tablet that emitted light from one side. I never got a close look at it, because she wouldn't let anyone close. She called it "Joseph", giving a human name to the inanimate object.
   
    Then, Mr Frog's reign was over, and Draignean took over, building magma forges atop the Magma Sea, deep in the bowels of the earth. Sadly, his right-hand-man, The Master, went insane, massacring a number of people before Colonel Fischer put a stop to him. He had been making a jade spearhead, and nobody ever saw what happened to it afterwards. In the meantime, Talvi had slipped ever farther from sanity, beginning to think that she was a cavy herself.
    During this year, my sister grew very ill, and somehow, she wound up at the hospital. I feared for her life: the hospital at Spearbreakers had such a terrible reputation that many dwarves would rather throw themselves to the zombies than spend a night within. It didn't come as a surprise when I overheard Wari, one of the nurses, talking about her passing with one of the other doctors. Even how inevitable my sister's death was didn't make it hurt any less, and I spent the next two years in hiding, all my hopes and dreams shattered.
   
    Over those next two years, sieges bombarded the fortress from outside: armies of Holistic Spawn, and massive hordes of undead led by necromancers. The dwarves always held them off, but it felt a hollow victory to me. Nothing was the same anymore.
    Looking back now, I wish I'd stayed away from Spearbreakers... but at the same time, I'm glad I didn't.
☆

8
DF Modding / Modded Race Not Ambushing or Sieging (Help?)
« on: October 07, 2012, 05:24:00 pm »
Is there known bug where a combination of positions/tags prevents a modded race from doing anything in fortress mode besides sending occasional thieves/snatchers? I have a particular race that, in several different fortresses, has done just this - no ambushes, no sieges, just snatcher after snatcher. It's also possible I'm doing it wrong, in which case it probably has something to do with the positions, which are rather... elaborate.

The relevant (as far as I know) creatures tags are:
Code: [Select]
[INTELLIGENT][LIKES_FIGHTING]
[CANOPENDOORS][NOFEAR]
[BONECARN][NO_DRINK]
[NOCTURNAL]
[EXTRAVISION]
[EQUIPS]
[DIURNAL]
And in the entity raws:

Code: [Select]
[PROGRESS_TRIGGER_POP_SIEGE:3]
[PROGRESS_TRIGGER_PROD_SIEGE:0]
[PROGRESS_TRIGGER_TRADE_SIEGE:0]
---
[BABYSNATCHER]
edit:
[ACTIVE_SEASON:SUMMER]
Or might it be this?
Code: [Select]
[POSITION:WARMASTER]
[NAME:Warmaster:Warmasters]
[NUMBER:3]
[RESPONSIBILITY:MILITARY_GOALS]
[RESPONSIBILITY:MILITARY_STRATEGY]
[COMMANDER:SCYTHE:ALL]
[SQUAD:12:Exowarrior:Exowarriors]
[MENIAL_WORK_EXEMPTION]
[APPOINTED_BY:MONARCH]
[APPOINTED_BY:MINIMONARCH]
[PRECEDENCE:5]
[FLASHES]
[BRAG_ON_KILL]
[CHAT_WORTHY]
[DO_NOT_CULL]
[KILL_QUEST]
[EXPORTED_IN_LEGENDS]
[DUTY_BOUND]
[COLOR:3:0:1]
[SPECIAL_BURIAL]
---
[POSITION:SCYTHE]
[NAME:Scythe:Scythes]
[NUMBER:AS_NEEDED]
[SQUAD:12:Strike Force:Strike Forces]
[COMMANDER:CAPTAIN:ALL]
[RESPONSIBILITY:ATTACK_ENEMIES]
[RESPONSIBILITY:PATROL_TERRITORY]
[RESPONSIBILITY:BUILD_MORALE]
[APPOINTED_BY:WARMASTER]
[PRECEDENCE:50]
[EXPORTED_IN_LEGENDS]
[DO_NOT_CULL]
[CHAT_WORTHY]
[DUTY_BOUND]
---
[POSITION:CAPTAIN]
[NAME:Captain:Captains]
[NUMBER:AS_NEEDED]
[SQUAD:12:Solier:Soldiers]
[RESPONSIBILITY:ATTACK_ENEMIES]
[RESPONSIBILITY:PATROL_TERRITORY]
[APPOINTED_BY:WARMASTER]
[PRECEDENCE:95]
[EXPORTED_IN_LEGENDS]
[CHAT_WORTHY]
[DO_NOT_CULL]
[DUTY_BOUND]In full:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I've checked legends, and all the positions are being appointed, but nothing from them ever ambushes my fortress. I'm ten years in, and this is the third fortress where they've failed to send anything besides snatchers.

If needed, I'll post the full set of raws. I just want to get this fixed at this point.

9
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / On Weaponizing a Stockpile Bug
« on: September 04, 2012, 07:44:55 am »
The below pic demonstrates a bug. I don't know if it's reproducible yet, but if it is, I think it might possibly be good to weaponize.

WHAT HAPPENED:
    I'm playing a glacier map in a modded version of Dwarf Fortress. There are three modded races: The Holistic Spawn (Mr Frog's), the Seqiv (Mr Frog's), and the Scythod (mine). As you can see from the pic, war has been constant and very, very deadly. I completely filled my refuse and corpse stockpiles.
    Then, a beautiful thing happened. A dwarf threw a tantrum and destroyed my bridge. Everyone in the fort was too busy stockpiling corpses (and in the hospital) to rebuild the bridge so my dwarves could escape, so I had someone remove a wall from around my corpse/refuse stockpiles to allow me access to the surface.

    What followed was instantaneous. EVERYTHING in the stockpile immediately teleported OUT, all collecting in a single space, as indicated in the below pic.


As this is Bay12, I wouldn't be surprised if someone's already discovered this bug (if it's reproducible). My immediate thoughts went to how it might be possible to set a row of stockpiles filled with heavy/sharp items above a long trench, through which I could funnel enemies. As they entered, I might have dwarves destroy walls near the stockpiles, raining potentially thousands of items down on the invaders' heads. Granted, it would be an awful mess to clean up... but it sounds so dwarfy.


The fort is still alive, and I'm still cleaning up the mess, but I thought I'd put this up.

10
DF Suggestions / Arena Battlemode Suggestion
« on: February 28, 2012, 04:07:34 pm »
We have an arena. The arena is awesome for testing stuff out, whether you're playing Fortress mode or Adventure mode. This can't be denied. Sure, it's a little clunky to use, but hey - you can do just about anything you want, and that makes it worth it.

Now, what if the arena could double as something else, for those among us who love the blood-and-gore aspect of Dwarf Fortress? What if, instead of a testing area, you could play in it the same way you could in adventure mode, without it getting boring? I think it might be called 'Battle mode'. I'm talking randomized auto-spawning creatures, difficulty settings, customized spawn rates, etc. In my opinion, it would be awesome to spawn in the arena with a group of allies, running around and killing everything in sight - zombies, skeletons, rampaging giant badgers, carp, you name it - and it just keeps coming. Your mission is to see how long you can survive, and have lots of Fun in the process.

It would be incredibly easy to implement - almost everything for it is already there. Here's how it might work:

  • Choose the arena. I'm sure DF fans would enjoy submitting their custom-built arenas, so that would take quite a bit of the workload off Toady One. The Arena is already created from a file in the Init folder, if you've noticed.
  • Choose your race. Naturally, I would assume that you would be natural - no vampirism, no lycanthropy, no being a necromancer. You would also have to start as one of the Adventure mode starting races.
  • Choose your skills. You could make and keep presets - one might be named "Living Shield" and be extremely good at staying alive. The preset-choosing for skills isn't in the game yet, but it wouldn't be hard to add, and the skill choices are already in Adventure mode - that's where this would come from. You choose to be a peasant, hero, or demigod, and then you set your stats/skills.   Another option could be to randomize your skills - to let the game choose random settings for you - this would keep you on your toes, and force you to adapt to what you have. Also, I would assume that it would give you your armor/weapons automatically - and that you'd have to scavenge weapons/armor from slaughtered enemies.
  • Choose your allies. Why not? It's simple enough, and it's always fun to fight with a team. After choosing their races, you could choose from various custom-made presets you've created, to help speed things up. You could choose to fight alone if you wished, or have the game give you a randomized set of allies, the quantity of which would be your choosing.
  • Choose the game settings. I imagine they would be things like:
    • Initial Difficulty - controls the enemy difficulty - hardest might spawn dragons or forgotten beasts. Easiest would let you run around killing cats and rabbits. (This would, unfortunately, require a datafile for the difficulty rating of all the creatures.) This setting would also affect the quality of the enemy's weapons/armor, and their skills. It would also probably slowly increase over time ingame to keep things interesting.
    • Spawn rate - choose how fast the enemies spawn. They would likely spawn on random floor tiles (or water for water creatures) on the map, a certain distance from the player, making adding spawn points unnecessary.
    • Max enemy density - while the Spawn Rate setting would control how fast enemies spawn, this setting would control the maximum number of enemies on the map at once, so that you can't sit in one place and wind up with a map crawling with enemies. However, I'm more for this not existing - losing is fun. If you want fewer enemies, you could set this lower.
    • Undead/Cursed/Necromancers/Werebeasts/Vampires On/Off - does what it says on the tin.
  • Begin! The battle begins, and you're ready to slaughter enemies until you die of exhaustion. (Though, possibly, healing rates out-of-battle could be increased, and exhaustion could be turned off. Hunger/thirst would need to be.)
After you're done, you could possibly save and have your character and party exported to the unused world of your choice, ready to go adventuring, with all your stats still intact. This would be handled the same way as the initial embark in Adventure mode.

I've looked through everything, and this doesn't appear to have been mentioned before, which I find strange.

11
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Ethereal Hooves
« on: February 19, 2012, 04:33:01 pm »
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Now, disregarding the fact that my mason knows kung-fu, take a look at this picture...

ehm... what's going on here?

(also, the engraver is throwing a tantrum)
(and in case you didn't notice, the hoof went through the wall)

12
DF Modding / Is enemy AI moddable?
« on: February 18, 2012, 01:41:10 pm »
I'm a hardcore fan of messing around with AI for no reason other than to make it smarter than the person playing against it.

Anyway, my question: Is the AI for enemies in DF moddable? Or is that all hard-coded in?

13
DF Adventure Mode Discussion / On Weaponizing Blood
« on: February 17, 2012, 03:00:20 am »
Blood makes a good weapon. In fact, blood makes one of the best weapons I've seen in adventure mode. Here are its advantages:

  • Blood is infinite.
  • Blood is the fastest way to level throwing.
  • Blood can crush skulls.
  • Blood is free, and can be found anywhere.
  • You always start out with it.
  • You can drink it. Try drinking your sword when you're thirsty, I can guarantee you'll have a lot of Fun with that one.

Allow me to explain. (Note that most of this research was done by my brother, I just watched and experimented with it a bit on my own. He's the one who loves Adventure mode, I usually go in for Fortress mode.)

Blood is infinite, and the fastest way to level throwing, by which I mean you can stand in one place, scoop some blood off the ground, fling it at yourself (literally), scoop up some more and fling it again. This levels up your throwing skill remarkably quickly if you loop the same key combinations repeatedly, and the pool of blood will never run out.

Blood can kill, by which I mean, if you have high enough throwing ability, you can literally cup some of your own gushing blood in your hands, send it like a missile at the head of the bowman who gave you that wound, and crush his skull with it, all in one swift motion. You can knock out teeth and even sever the horns of a boogeyman without too much trouble. If you throw it at somebody's stomach, they're likely to start retching, and you can use their vomit against them in the same way (although that's a bit lacking in style). With high enough throwing ability, you can shatter just about any bone with ease, and a bit of the red liquid. If you're into using alternative weapons, you can use the blood as a melee weapon and beat your enemies into submission.

It's ironic that you can use the very life force of your enemies against them in such a devastating way. (Unfortunately, it's not quite as effective on stronger monsters such as bronze colossi.)


14
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Freezing Worldgen
« on: February 16, 2012, 10:19:53 pm »
Can anyone get these world parameters to gen? Preferably without DF freezing up? Trying to figure out if it's just my machine, my install, or something else.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

15
DF Gameplay Questions / On Magma and Mechanisms
« on: November 20, 2011, 07:43:44 pm »
Okay, I'm kind of needing to know why this happens...

Floodgate, used for magma. Floodgate is made of obsidian. Mechanism #1 and mechanism #2 are both made of obsidian. Lever is made of obsidian. I pull the lever a few times, and the floodgate comes loose. Magma goes everywhere, carrying the broken floodgate along. Tried it with a floor hatch too and it did the same thing. Snap, crackle, and all hell (in the form of magma) breaks loose. As does the floor hatch.

What am I doing wrong?

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