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« on: December 14, 2009, 06:25:28 am »
I've been playing DF for about a month now and the 1. problem for me is that this game hates me. Most new games now give you a reward for successfully zooming in and out; DF punishes you for every single mistake and laughs in your face: "You forgot about water pressure didn't you moron? Haha, you dwarfs can't swim and they never will. Good luck making a new fort with you plant gatherer and paraplegic hunter, bitch."
The interface looks pretty old. I'm sure it worked great when the game had 5 workshops and 6 types of stone, but now it needs an overhaul. I want my mason's stone storage to automatically not have ores included, I want my booze stockpile to reserve some barrels (I'm not talking about min/max, I want DF to not give barrels to anyone else, even if booze doesn't need them right now), more consistency with hotkeys (Statues, coffins have different create-place keys)...
The dwarf psyche is beyond words, it's probably that same music going on and on and on. There are so few things to directly affect it. Right now there are parties (no control), statue gardens, pets (can't assign owners) and a few more things. I would like some leisure rooms (public bath, concert hall, library, whatever), tax cuts, prize giveaways or something to help them remain sane more directly.
Why is the game punishing me with nobles? I give the dwarfs food, bedrooms and pets, even though there's more and more of them. And in return I get pompous assholes that make pointless demands and use up workshop hours with their unskilled labor. A good book-keeper let's me see detailed stock; a good manager should maintain the stock I designate (like 200 booze, a legendary manager could break it down to 50 beer, 50 wine and 100 jack daniels) and make the cooks, brewers, farmers as automated as the butchers/tanners; a good broker would automatically trade non-melt-able narrow items and crafts for cheese and spears, and filter out large pieces of armor; the Hammerer should punish criminals, not ruthlessly murder dwarves and send them into manic depression... Nobles could therefore be split into assholes and management.
For future development I suggest the devs focus on optimizing old features before adding new ones. Cows can't be milked; soap can't be used; workers are stronger and tougher than soldiers, no (work) animals can haul...
Also the game has very little replay-ability(?), should have more "new game +" features and keep players interested. You got a fortress with 500 dwarves? - you can start with 8 folks from now on. You survived for 10 years in freezing/scorching climate? - you get the option do adjust the overall temperature in world creator. You killed 50 elf caravans? - you get to adjust the elf population in world creator... This would also allow goal-oriented scenarios (export over 9000 ores, provide X power to your dwarf kingdom, secure an outpost in hostile territory) or playing in challenge mode (like the ones on DFwiki).
Don't worry about tutorials: there are forums, the wiki, you tube (Thank you whoever made DemonButter). Don't worry about graphics, just let the modders do their thing (I'm sure that's how most FPSs and RPGs remain popular).
And please don't focus on adding new things right now, no point in having any more trade-only items or micro-management intensive workshops.
