Bay 12 Games Forum

It's been done throughout history, using gems for eyes, stars, flowers, etc in pictographs, murals and engravings. An earthly race like dwarves would definitely do this. Jewelers workshops should have an option to encrust the forts engravings, improving their effect on whosoever views them. The way this affects the engravings description could be something simple like "It is set with [quality] X and X" or more advanced: "His eyes glimmer with rubies" "The ground is represented by many cut emeralds"

I know these already exist somewhat in the game, as I've had a fort succumb to the antics of a group of sneaky necromancers who would stealthily wander my fort area animating mussel shells and corpses. However what I'm suggesting here is that every now and then you'll have a wizard show up who will maybe just start lobbing fireballs around, or creating poisonous gas clouds at a distance. A good wizard would function like a traveler and stay at the fort's inn a while and along with or instead of giving items for his stay he'll do things like make more fruit bearing plants grow for a season, or trees, or whatever I'm sure you get the idea. I checked the dev list and didn't see anything like that in there.

So whenever a dragon or fire breathing baddie comes along, they tend to set most of the map on fire, fight? This tends to leave behind large burned areas, and if you 'k' view these tiles they are ashes. So, why not implement an ash collection zone? If you can collect sand and clay in the same manner, why not? It would save having to burn mass amounts of trees for potash. Plus it just kind of makes sense.

So the heart of the idea is that you would have an area inside or outside of a fort, as well as a new skill in the 'other skills' category with architecture, alchemy and cleaning, something along the lines of Innkeeping or Hospitality. I know that dwarves aren't known throughout the miscellaneous fantasy universes as being the most hospitable creatures, but you'd think that a dwarven fort no matter how big or small would attract a wanderer every now and then, besides just werewolves and other disastrous things. I don't know if there are wandering npc adventurer types but if i understand some of the things ive read in legends mode there are some npcs of each race that just kind of wander around and fight things. So what if every once in a while an adventurer or traveling merchant (another idea good on its own to implement, random solitary merchants with less voluminous but more diverse inventories) comes across the fort, this could happen more as the fort grows in size and reputation, and they stay a few weeks offering up rare items, gems, or coins in return. Dwarves may choose to go and speak with the visitors during their break/rest time, which will increase the forts reputation throughout the world as word of the inhabitants deeds (or misdeeds) spreads. The zone itself would be sort of like a hospital, instead of cloth and soap and splints you'd keep track of food, engravings, impressiveness (through displayed and constructed assets and engravings). Where the new skill is concerned, one or two dwarves could be assigned to it with tasks like feeding guests (taking them their meals like a prisoner or patient), keeping guests occupied or entertained when they arent wandering around the fort, and maybe if a wanderer likes the fort enough the player can be prompted with them asking if they can remain and become a citizen of the fort. Again I know dwarves arent the most social creatures but youd think thered be at least one human or elf around sometimes. Remember that stereotypical elf/dwarf animosity doesnt seem to exist in DF.

This idea sort of got touched on in the "Drow" thread but I thought it deserved one of its own.


What if there could be civilizations underground that fought over territory the way humans elves and dwarves do. I think Drow are a dead ringer for one of the races. You could also have gnomes serving as like the kobolds (also touched on in Drow and elsewhere). I think the third race should consist of various governments of the humanoid-animal creatures commonly found underground. Perhaps you'll have a nation of Cave Fish people, Bugmen, Olm People, etc. Trade depots could be built underground and neighboring underground civs would establish trade. You could have the UG civs be a diff color in the civ tab or maybe have them displayed only when at cavern level. As touched on in Drow i think underground civilizations would specialize mostly in bone carving, fungus harvesting/logging, gems, and arms. There could be historical figures and battles and all the things that happen in the surface world. Just as you find gods and ruins and cities up above, perhaps so below? It would be neat to come across some dark god holed up in a cave, or atop some subterran pyramid, or a mummy's crypt dug into the side of some obscure place.

Hello all, I'm a long time DFer but this is my first post on the forums. I tried searching for this idea but I couldn't find it so I hope I'm not bringing up old ideas.


What if giants/titans/anything big enough had the ability to throw other things as objects? Whether it's trees or boulders, large monsters would essentially view anything under a certain weight as ammo. This might also be applicable to creatures that are large but smaller than giants (I.E. A Troll can throw a dwarf, table, barrel, etc but not a tree or a boulder). I know that dwarves throw things during tantrums (i'll never forget one moment in a fort long gone where I inadvertently witness a dwarf begin a tantrum by chucking the barrel he was hauling down the mountain) and you can do it in adventure mode so why not give certain mobs the option? I think it would be neat to see dwarves getting tossed about, or watching a giant break into an outpost or tower and begin throwing tables and windows from the top. Or to see some fort's prized champion get beaned with a tree or a really big rock.  I dont know or understand coding at all, but couldn't you use similar method as what's used for catapults?


*edit* I also think it would be neat to have the option of a giant picking something/someone up but not throwing them, so maybe if the thing wanders off the map it can serve the same as when a baby or child gets kidnapped by goblins.