Bay 12 Games Forum

I've noticed, at least on my setup, that designing a fort on a single z-level is a LOT better for FPS.

First time i hear that. I'm intrigued since I always wanted to build a somewhat realistic overground village but was afraid of the fps penalty.

Though I can't imagine how this can be more efficient, path-finding across half of a bigger, open map seems to be costlier than pathing a few z-levels down in a dungeon...

Still working on it, its not abandoned!



I created mysql database tables and already filled most them. I want pages like the crop table and armor-stats pages to be generated automatically based on mysql tables. Enhancing or updating them will be way easier this way.

Currently I'm working on a little framework. I want the index and pagination to be automated.

Also, every handbook for a game should be available in multiple languages so I'm working on a simple approach to translate the dwarven compendium. Each page can be translated individually and if no translation is given it will fallback to english.

Usually I would have used gettext which is a standard php module for translation but instead I decided to use html pages for each page that contains separated texts. I hope that it's easier this way that different pages are translated by different people at the same time and that its more intuitive to translate the text. (gettext is usually better suited to translate small parts of text on dynamically generated webpages).

It will look like this:



I will translate the compendium into german myself, so once I'm finished it will be already available in two languages.

Oh, and I decided to "split" the compendium into three books. Or rather add two books.

First, the dwarven compendium dedicated to fortress mode.
Secondly "the dwarven survival guide" for adventure mode.
And lastly "the dwarven bestiary" which will contain information about animals, creatures and civilizations.

Further I want the handbooks to be displayed in different DPI's so I made a little script that automatically recalculates width, height, x and y statements and resizes Images.

I can't say for sure when this will be finished. However, once it is finished enhancing and updating the compendium should be way easier than using photoshop.

I plan on recreating the dwarven compendium in html + css.

Some people asked me for source files and said that they would like to expand and edit the compendium. All psd (photoshop) files together are currently 8 GB. I can't reasonable upload 8 GB with my upload speed.



Recreating it in html/css should drastically reduce the file speed by using textures that can be cached by your browser. I allready extracted most images and created all textures i would need.... The complete file size is about 50 MB which even includes some psd files and unnecessary huge images. All textures and images are saved as PNG so there is no loss through compression.

It has many advantages for me, too. If i currently want to change the page numbers of multiple files i have to open them all in photoshop and save them in different formats, which is time consuming if the files are some hundred megabytes big. Also i could, for example, easily change the background color of hotkeys in less then a minute...

I'm also quite common with php so I will use that knowledge for automatic pagination and other nice things.

3508x2480 equals 300 dpi which is the standard resolution for print.

When I'm finished with the Compendium it will probably exceed 1 gb. I don't want to upload 1 gb at once. Uploading multiple 10 mb big pngs is way less painful.

I know that i could reduce the filesize by reducing the resolution, but thats not what I want.

I just added 9 graphics to the album : ). Armor, Uniforms, Armor layering and charts of all possible armor.

Feedback is welcome!

Don't worry, I will update it for the 2014 version anyway. This is from now on the inofficial dwarf fortress manual (wip) .

I corrected the typo, added a note and visually equalized the pages.

Changed it.

I added a new page today: Crossbows and ammunition.

Oh, i totally forgot that their is no pick weapon skill! (I thought there were and they would additionally profit by their mining skill)

I will test that again in a moment!

Edit:

Ok, new test:




Every dwarf had a complete steel armor set and shield.
Every dwarf was skilled in fighter, dodger, shield and armor user.

No weapon skills were assigned because there is no weapon skill for picks in the arena.



6 Rows, 28 columns, 168 duels, 336 Dwarves.

The top dwarves in each row were armed with a steel pickaxe.

The bottom dwarves were armed with, row by row,  steel swords, steel battle axes, steel war hammers, steel spears and silver war hammers.


I only counted the Survivors.

Note that sometimes both duellists died as the winner bled to death within a few frames afterwards.

Conclusion:

Pickaxes are definitely viable Weapons. They seem to penetrate armor thus being a bit superior to the sword and axe in a fully armored battle, but less so then spears and war hammers.

Edit 2:

Gonna test again without armor.

Ok, results for the same setup without armor and without shields on both sides:



Second Conclusion:

The results i expected.

Pickaxes seem to be between Swords/Axes and Spears. Being closer to spears.

They can penetrate Armor and are superior to swords and axes if both duelists wear armor, but nowhere comparable to a war hammer.
They are inferior to Sword and Axe against enemies that do not wear armor. But in that case they still do way better then a hammer or mace and about equal to spears.


Edit 3:

I also made another Arena test, Grand master equipped with Steel shield and Sword against every other skill level equipped with steel amor set and steel sword + shield


Being just one skill level better in everything seems to be about about as useful as a complete steel armor set. At least if its the last skill level, i don't know if they work linear or exponential.

Edit 4:

updated weapons page. Divided between blunt and edged weapons and added picks.