Bay 12 Games Forum

Currectly, skills are just flat number that grows and makes things "better".

I would suggect making this a bit more interesting: Each skill should have linked several "tricks of the trade", differentiating between different dwarves a bit more.

Trick is small "meme" that adds efficinecy in some way to skill usage, either general or very specific. Trick is hard to figure out and it is not incredibly obvious: Dwarf could reach legendary without ever discovering any trick of the trade.

Tricks could be learned by several ways:
 * Learned from other dwarves. It would not be easy thou: As trick gives dwarf professional edge, he should be recluctant to let stranger learn it. Father would teach his tricks to his son, very good friends would share them with small hesitation, but new migrant who just arrived will not really be in sharing mood, and neither will your experienced worker be likely to teach his tricks to newcomer.
 * Discovered by working. Inquisitive or Percentive dwarves might figure some Tricks on their own. Even dumber ones would eventually figure out how to do something better after thousands of repetitions. Dwarven personal likes/dislikes could play important role too ... after all, someone really liking bone bolts would likely end up figuing how to make better ones.
 * Bonus from mood. Moody dwarf would be likely to end up with a tricks as bonus, and maybe two or more if they have possessed mood (since they would learn from entity that posseses them)
 * Philosopher dwarf could "observe" dwarves at work and then "research" new tricks, producing about ~ 1 trick a year if everything goes perfectly.

Tricks can be "autogenerated" per this: there are three by three types of tricks:

* Material-trick - it is related to material that is being worked on. Example: Oak-working-trick. Dog-bone-trick
* Process-trick - it is related to task which is being done, mostly corresponding to reaction in workshop. Example: Woodcutting-trick, Chair-making-trick
* Result-trick - it is related to final product. Example: Food-trick. Ore-trick.

and they are combined with:

* Efficiency-trick. This trick will increase output/decrease needed input.
* Speed-trick. This trick will increase speed of production.
* Quality-trick. This trick will increase quality of output.

For example:

Oak-working-with-efficinency-trick will increase output of oaken products (larger wooden bolt stacks, chance to have two tables from one log).

Chair-making-with-speed tricks will increase speed with which any chair is being made.

Food-quality-trick will increase quality of food any being made. Ore-quality trick will increase chances of retaining Ore while digging.

Tricks could also be overlaping for some tasks: bone-efficiency trick and bolt-quality trick could both come into play when making bone-bolts. You'd want to keep that crafter around!

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As you can see, some tricks can be very valuable.

Dwarf with Steel-quality-trick will be priceless as anything he makes of steel will have chance for bumped quality. And who wouldn't love guy who knows how to make a bit more bone bolts from cat bone than others?

While some other, like Maple-speed-trick would be kinda meh (so me knows ho to make things out of male a bit faster? Yawn.) but still nice to have.

And of course, do not forget combat tricks! I am sure dwarf could figure out very specific and effective way to cut off goblin left hand with axe.

While I can see the use of burning wood weapons (and furniture, sometimes), I just don't see clothes being reusable in this manner. I think the most you can hope for is using them as rags for wound bandaging purposes.

I'd imagine ~5 clothing items to be enough to produce at least ashes. Even if charcoal might be out of question, clothing could make decent fuel for bonfires/fireplaces and related workshops (kitchen, still).

Also, torches are basically made of rags on stick soaked with fat, no?

10-weapon traps.

Basically, only ever using extra weapon that my dwarves cannot use (daggers, whips, bows ...).

Its my way of getting rid of that stuff.

. . . or like your dorfs are passing through and deciding if they want to stay there. . . .

it should basically be like an embark, but without the commitment. you hit "embark" and it shows your dorfs on site, and the wildlife and such, but gives you the option to leave (like a final commit after you unpause for the first time, "are you sure you would like to settle here, or would you like to move on?"). in game terms it just does not save a site (since nothing was changed) so you can either re-size the plot or look elsewhere. of course interface wise you may have to mix things up a bit, like setting up dorf skills and supplies before looking for a site, which might be a problem is embark profiles don't work for whatever reason. . .

how about giving the player the option to look at the map *or* set up the embark team, with the team set up saved for that world or something?

If we expand this, traveling from mountainhome to your location could be part of the game. Use adventure-mode like map travel to get to your spot. maybe get ambushed on trip. Suvery location, maybe move on, maybe settle.

Thanks for ideas, i updated page a bit to reflect that .

Hi I'm new here so this has probably been suggested before so I apologize in the probably inevitable event it has.

Seeing as you can already build floodgates, magma forges, etc. all of which are very dwarfy-but-not-quite-steampunk technology, why not allow for the construction of a steam-vent system?

idea : build a device called a Boiler which blocks water flow and also absorbs it slowly. The boiler requires either a magma flow on the z-1 tile or a steady supply of wood or coal (a dwarf with the Wood Burning labor enabled will refill low fuel supplies; coal lasts much longer than wood). these steam systems are then hooked up to a pipe on the z+1 level. the steam can be used to fill chambers with boiling hot steam, perhaps linking to vertical hatches hooked up to a trap system, or for use as artificial power for a network of furnaces, to keep a water stockpile warm during freezing temperatures, or to power a steam engine which works as an alternating lever (ie, an eternally repeating lever pull to regulate some kind of flow system. could also be used for showers (should implement!), steaming clothes for Laundered Pig Tail Sock, etc...

I have vision of this hooked to condensation chamber and waterwheel.

...
Large rock blocks (think Egyptian pyramids)
Constructed at masons workshops.Very heavy and slow to haul.Can't be moved on stairs.Has to be hauled by 2 dwarves when building.The only way to move it up a z-level is to build a ramp.Works as a higher quality block wall.Also has quality depending on masons skill.

Edit:Large blocks can be carved by miners like a cavern wall.

Actually, one of most recent theories is that pyramid blocks were cast and are something like concrete. Researchers were able to actually build some several-ton blocks this way.

I'd more of like actual use for skull totems:

* Use 1 wood and 1-10 totems (like you put whatever amount of weapons to traps) to create "Totem" building.

* Decorate items with totems. I want sword which has totem intengrated to pommel. I want happer with head covered with skulls. I want throne with two skulls/totems at end or armrests. Armor stand whose helmet slot is make of totem etc etc ...

* Skull goblets/mugs

* Skull buckets