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Messages - muldrake

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301
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Trapped Miner
« on: September 03, 2020, 04:30:13 pm »
Quote from: Wicked on September 02, 2020, 03:44:27 am
Thanks for your time in replying, Starver.
I hadn't put her into a squad, all I did when I found she was stuck was try to put her in a burrow (which it turned out she couldn't reach) and designate some digging right next to her, which she ignored. Maybe those two set up a conflict. As I said, she only got motivated when ordered to dig herself out. If that is not standard, I'll just put it down to one of those things the reason for which I know not. I guess she could have been sleeping until I designated the escape route, I don't think so but I didn't check.
Cheers

It's fairly common to have dwarves dig themselves into things they can't dig their way out of, and when they do, they'll just stand there until they starve to death or die of thirst.  This is really common when you hit cavern layers and decide you'd rather keep them closed off for now, and do something like build a floor over the stairs.  Dig a down staircase on the level above them, then an up staircase on the level they're on, then wall that off.

Also burrows are nearly useless.  They certainly aren't useful for getting dwarves to do specific things.  Unless you know exactly why you're using a burrow and what you want to achieve by it, and know burrows and their buggy mechanics, don't.

The general rule if you have a single dwarf and they're somehow trapped or not moving out of somewhere they should be able to leave, have another dwarf help.  There are a number of ways dwarves can put themselves or others into inescapable situations (like one dwarf climbing up a tree on a ladder and then another steals the ladder), but it's usually possible to have someone else fix that situation.

302
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: What's going on in your fort?
« on: September 03, 2020, 04:20:47 pm »
Quote from: anewaname on September 02, 2020, 03:57:40 pm
That was a fine battle...

I always attempt to fight fire-beasts on stony ground and in large rooms. There is already too much risk of a dwarf being set on fire and smothering other dwarfs, to allow ground vegetation to also contribute smoke.

This is a good idea.  I instead in a long-ago fort opted to fight one in a crowded tavern packed with dwarves and with a booze stockpile and everything caught on fire and everyone died.  Well, I didn't actually make that choice consciously, but I did learn that a central staircase down to the caverns with a tavern on top isn't really a great idea.

303
DF Suggestions / Re: Terrible Suggestions Thread
« on: September 03, 2020, 04:18:29 pm »
Quote from: Starver on September 02, 2020, 04:17:51 pm
Every single series of fictional universe is available to apply as a Mod.

The game randomly applies fictional universes to itself by going out and finding them on the Internet.  So suddenly Smurfs, or ponies, or He-Man are in the game.

304
DF Suggestions / Re: Terrible Suggestions Thread
« on: August 30, 2020, 12:31:24 pm »
Quote from: Reelya on August 26, 2020, 07:47:09 pm
That's why sand is so irritating when it gets in everything, it's actually microscopic bearded men with axes feebly hacking at you.

Worldgen now generates a human to host swarms of billions of nanodwarves.  Instead of weather and earthquakes, it is the human scratching and taking showers to try to shake off the dwarfswarms.

305
DF Suggestions / Re: Terrible Suggestions Thread
« on: August 24, 2020, 12:08:33 am »
Quote from: Reelya on August 23, 2020, 09:36:48 pm
A forgotten beast that is miasma and gets into everything.

Every square of miasma has a chance to turn into a forgotten beast made of miasma with a horrible syndrome.  And when it dies, it explodes into even more miasma.

306
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: What's going on in your fort?
« on: August 23, 2020, 02:26:44 am »
Quote from: A_Curious_Cat on August 22, 2020, 06:31:10 pm
What do you think.  Will she go berserk if she fails the mood, or will she be more manageable (i.e. a better "explorer")?

No form of insanity is good and they are all ultimately fatal.

307
DF General Discussion / Re: *We need your help to save the noobs!*
« on: August 21, 2020, 03:53:51 pm »
Quote from: Bumber on August 20, 2020, 09:12:10 pm
This isn't really intended to be a UX thread, except for game-breaking flaws.

It's for anything that drives away noobs that can actually be fixed.  Some things are integral to the game, like its natural complexity.  Other things, though, like the utterly horrible state of the embark screen, are early on things that noobs encounter and can easily conclude the game isn't for them.  Sometimes they're actually wrong about this, though, and it is those noobs who can be "saved."

Remember that the current project is a Steam release.  The Steam refund policy allows a no-questions-asked refund so long as it is before two hours of gameplay.  So while mercenary concerns have generally been considered beneath the notice of the devs, in this case, they actually do want a successful Steam release.  It's inevitable that some people are going to buy this game, freak out when they see what it actually is, and then refund before that two hour time period.

It's also not a time period that you can remotely understand DF in.  So some of those people will pull the trigger before that and not even realize the game actually had a lot to offer.

The main two elements of the game you'd encounter before your two hours were up would be worldgen and embark, so anything that gets a new player from there to actual immersive gameplay with some level of tutorial information will "save" some noobs.

308
DF General Discussion / Re: +
« on: August 18, 2020, 02:08:16 pm »
Quote from: Maximum Spin on August 18, 2020, 04:05:32 am
Quote from: muldrake on August 17, 2020, 11:35:37 pm
Quote from: Shonai_Dweller on August 17, 2020, 11:20:45 pm
Half of the fun of the game is trying stuff out. Yes, tell people what things are in the default embark, obviously. Especially during the tutorial. But the more you hand-hold with suggested builds for every situation, the less fun people are actually going to have exploring the game.

And a lot of people quit early, frustrated, before even getting there, hence the "saving the noobs" thread existing at all.
The thing is, though, this statistic applies to every game.
Some people are just dumb, you know?

I thought this was the "save the noobs" thread, not the "noobs are dumb and should go away" thread.

309
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Trivial findings
« on: August 18, 2020, 12:56:33 am »
Quote from: spazyak on August 18, 2020, 12:16:11 am
I wonder how the ethic got disabled for my fort then or if something else is at play.

If it's vanilla, it's likely it's just a bug.  Ethics also aren't just for the fort, they're for the entirety of dwarfdom.

310
DF General Discussion / Re: +
« on: August 18, 2020, 12:55:31 am »
Quote from: Shonai_Dweller on August 18, 2020, 12:49:43 am
Quote from: muldrake on August 17, 2020, 11:35:37 pm
Quote from: Shonai_Dweller on August 17, 2020, 11:20:45 pm
Half of the fun of the game is trying stuff out. Yes, tell people what things are in the default embark, obviously. Especially during the tutorial. But the more you hand-hold with suggested builds for every situation, the less fun people are actually going to have exploring the game.

And a lot of people quit early, frustrated, before even getting there, hence the "saving the noobs" thread existing at all.
Frustrated by what though? Certainly not a lack of embark profiles. Lack of information, graphics, descriptions, reasons things are happening, awkward controls, opaque connections, bugs, stress, text-walls... These are far more important to work on.

If you're frustrated by exploring a sandbox because the game doesn't give you the exact combination of items to work out any problem, you're probably better off playing something else.

Considering the embark menu is one of the main things they're currently working on, apparently the devs realize that its general inaccessibility and obtuseness is an obstacle to entry.

311
DF General Discussion / Re: +
« on: August 17, 2020, 11:35:37 pm »
Quote from: Shonai_Dweller on August 17, 2020, 11:20:45 pm
Half of the fun of the game is trying stuff out. Yes, tell people what things are in the default embark, obviously. Especially during the tutorial. But the more you hand-hold with suggested builds for every situation, the less fun people are actually going to have exploring the game.

And a lot of people quit early, frustrated, before even getting there, hence the "saving the noobs" thread existing at all.

312
DF General Discussion / Re: +
« on: August 17, 2020, 11:11:33 pm »
Quote from: Shonai_Dweller on August 17, 2020, 07:45:01 pm
Noobs don't need to start a bronze industry. They want to dig a hole, brew some booze, cut down a tree and patch up a woodcutter with a crushed leg.

I don't see how they could be harmed by giving some starter options other than "embark at random" and putting together a bunch of things they have no idea what they even are.

313
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Trivial findings
« on: August 17, 2020, 11:06:40 pm »
Quote from: spazyak on August 17, 2020, 08:16:27 pm
Apparently you can sell and trade berserk and insane dwarves and visitors that have been captured or arrested and kept in a cage. I haven't been able to successfully haul a berserk dwarf to the trade depot but I have been able to haul a melancholic one. I need to try and see if banishing a captured dwarf will also make them able to be brought to the trade depot
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'd call that a bug, because supposedly, the "SLAVERY" ethic should prevent you from being able to sell caged sapient beings.  And the punishment for slavery under dwarven ethics is "Capital punishment."  Strong disapproval of this among other practices is why dwarves are usually at war with goblins.

314
DF General Discussion / Re: +
« on: August 17, 2020, 05:54:17 pm »
Quote from: FantasticDorf on August 17, 2020, 06:03:16 am
Quote from: muldrake on August 17, 2020, 01:50:30 am
It would be nice if some of the preconfigured embarks would include things like cassiterite/tetrahedrite/coke since it wouldn't necessarily occur to noobs to bring these relatively cheap components to start a bronze industry immediately.

There are no pre-confgured embark profiles by default in DF, those are written in by the player themselves or saved to template.

Most LNPs seem to package a few.  It would be a good idea to have them in the base game.

315
DF General Discussion / +
« on: August 17, 2020, 01:50:30 am »
Quote from: Starver on August 16, 2020, 12:59:23 pm
On ores, the direct making of alloy bars from them sometimes is better than making the basic bars and then making the alloy from those bars. A "smelt all ores" job could remove that possibility without other types of micromanagement filling in.

Bronze is the most obvious of these and the most likely you'll be making early.  1 cassiterite + 1 copper ore of any kind = 8 bronze.  And the cost is only 1 charcoal/refined coal.  Doing the same from bars would take two steps and much more coal, as well as much more time.

It would be nice if some of the preconfigured embarks would include things like cassiterite/tetrahedrite/coke since it wouldn't necessarily occur to noobs to bring these relatively cheap components to start a bronze industry immediately.

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