Everything in here refers to dwarf mode only as I don't play adventure (too barren as of yet)
NOTE: Other than these things mentioned below I find the game excellent and well thought out and implemented... So even though I may seem to be purely negative I am not and it would be ridiculous to state all the things I find RIGHT about the game because there are too many. Also I am aware that many of these things are already known and such I still feel it's worth giving my opinion to support reasoning for change and possibly priority level of fixing/changing things. And also please note that I haven't come close to encountering everything that can happen (or even a fraction of what I've read about in the forums lol
Combat in general is FAR too deadly for no good reason (unrealistic to the point of ludicrous at times) For example... My competent warrior in full bronze plate with bronze shield and bronze spear goes out to tackle a group of wolves... first wolf he meets jumps out and tears his brain out? ok now I wanna know how the wolf bit through that bronze helm AND the dwarves thick skull so easily??? this wasn't a "giant" wolf or a "warg" or anything else fantasy so it's really kinda lame for it to be able to do this. I can't even see it realistically killing the guy at all (knocking him on his butt and bruising him soundly yes)
Hunting in general is more or less useless. No matter how great your hunter gets he WILL DIE! And he will die very young. Nothing like seeing a groundhog run up to the hunter jump on his leg claw it's way up his torso and chew out his eyes... I think my last 10 trappers/hunters have lost at least one eye to a groundhog. I know dwarves are short but that's kinda silly (and is related to combat above) Hunters are also too stupid to see that this is a PACK of wolves and will charge in and get literally torn limb from limb as well.
Hauling is borked... I know this is already on the "todo" and all that but I feel the need to re-emphasize it's importance to me. I know you can do things like let the shop clutter with hundreds of items but to me that's kind of a cheat/exploit that I'd rather avoid. To me a game of this nature is at least half about stockpiling goods for various reasons. I simply LOVE seeing massive stores of goods I guess hehe. That's why I like games with visible stockpiles like this instead of simply having a "wharehouse" that can hold XXX of each item or whatever like the first two settlers games. Currently stockpiles SLOW DOWN production in most cases (the only one I can see that's really needed is food atm) being able to set priorities on each item by general type would help immensely as would having dwarves do a simple distance calc to see which jobs total distance is shortest and do that one (modified by priority)
Nobles were implemented way too early I think... Or at least parts of them were... an example is the mandate for specific material stone items implemented BEFORE there was any way to actually fill that request properly. They are too greedy I've had nobles simply claim every single item of a certain type (earrings, sceptre's etc.) and fill every container and open space in their rooms with these items then keep claiming them so that I can never sell these things... I'm waiting til I have a dozen nobles and nothing left to trade because it's all claimed. As I see it the mandates have no viable reason they are just in the game to annoy and make things harder. Consider that if most players are as likely to create "noble drowning rooms" as not then there's something wrong with the balance of advantage/disadvantage to having said nobles.
General dwarf behavior... Can you see louie from the liquor store getting ticked cuz he was too stupid to go to bed on time and go home before going to sleep so he goes and blows up the laundromat? This "feature" seems to be implemented purely to make things a trial at times 
(perhaps it's an incentive not to forget making bedrooms, wells, and other such things.) Overall It's a minor thing mostly but I really think depression and/or going on strike for better conditions is a far more useful and realistic a way to handle things. (in other words dwarf still consumes resources like food and booze but contributes no work until he gets a room or you build a well etc (side note striking mason/architect will go off strike to build a well and people will go off strike to haul beds only.))
On the Military side... Either military dwarves should stop following their leader so slavishly or there needs to be a simple leaderless group designation with the sole purpose of sending large groups of independant fighters to an area (since once in a fight they are independent and wander all over anyway) because it's really a pain in the butt to order a squad to battle when civvies are being shredded only to find out that they aren't coming because fearfull leader is napping at the moment. Dwarves with leaders should use some form of leadership skill on that leader to determine flocking... I.E. A strong leader will keep his troops together and coordinate attacks so that they dogpile opponents and methodically chase down enemies as a group or at least in pairs/trio's etc. based on the relative strength of the enemy. a poor leader works as normal hehe. That would be the advantage of squads as they are now versus just a group of leaderless soldiers. there are many times I just need ANY armed/armored dwarf to show up and times I need a coordinated squad and it would be nice to have both options available. (when I say leaderless group that means that soldiers act as normal but instead of following a leader they will all INDEPENDANTLY follow the exact same orders such as patrol this or station there etc. so while 1 goes to drink the rest are still on duty and so on and they don't all leave just because the leader got a bit tired)
Stacked items are a CRITICAL problem atm IMO... having 2000 individual bolts lying around is really insane and considering how rarely dwarves like to consolidate them in bins it becomes a nightmare since my map is littered with single bolts. (and after the economy with single coins) This might also serve to help with the hauling problems where many barrels/bins/bags get filled with a single item then ignored.
Again on Hauling... I think it would be better to use a first in first out instead of first in last out system for qeue'ing hauling jobs because the first in is the most likely to spoil on food not the last in... I really hate it when half the crop withers because the haulers choose the LAST one to mature to haul and when you have 10+ farmers and 100+ crops ripening within seconds of each other that means a LOT of withering. (you can use dedicated food haulers but with hauling as slow as it is already that hurts all other hauling jobs a lot.) also I think it's more along the lines of plant gathering for harvesting though...
Thanks for reading this dissertation and I hope maybe it can prove some use to someone hehe.
[ October 15, 2006: Message edited by: DimmurWyrd ]
