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1

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Some more military xXScienceXx

« on: August 01, 2019, 12:28:34 am »

Last year, in a previous post, I did some military science in the arena, using moderately high numbers of 1v1 matches and seeing who wins.

This year, I did some more science. Some of it was inspired by replies to the previous post- thank you to all who had replied there.

First, a simple bit of recording. I took a totally unskilled dwarf in the arena, equipped him with basic equipment, and had him fight unarmed goblins one at a time. As he fought, he gained skills- but not at the same rates.

Fighter skill advanced the fastest, followed by the weapon skill, as you see. I did some additional experiments (not so formal, not recorded), but it also seemed that the skills that advanced the fastest were the most valuable in combat (dwarves with skill in Fighter tended to beat dwarves with skill in Axedwarf, and both beat those skilled in Shield user).

Second: how important is skill? Obviously, more is better: how much better?

The x-axis shows the skill differential, and the y-axis is the win rate. So if you are 2 skill levels below your opponent, your skill differential is -2. If you are 3 skill levels above your opponent, your skill differential is +3. As you might expect, the result is looks like a Sigmoid Function- you don't get to a point where you have no chance to win, but it gets smaller and smaller.

In last year's science, I tended to use dwarves. As the commenters mentioned, dwarves can get a martial trance, which can really skew the results. You see that in the orange points on the win rate graph; even with a high skill differential, with dwarves, the win rate can't really get above 90%. That's why I later switched to goblins, who can't trance; there, you see the win rates trend toward 0% and 100%, as you would expect.

The skill differential battles involved one goblin with all Proficient skills, and one goblin with a different skill level (ranging from None to Expert); I calculate the skill differential from that. It's possible that these curves look slightly different depending on your reference point (for instance, if I were to re-run it with one goblin always having Adept skill, the curve might look different).

Finally, some commenters suggested that I test picks. I have added those to the win rate by weapon type, for armored dwarves and unarmored dwarves separately; unfortunately, for these tests I had not yet started using goblins.

As many commenters expected, the pick performs well in both armored and unarmored cases. I calculated an overall average win rate (against all enemies in the tests), and the results are:

Armored:
------------------
Hammer: 60.5%
Pick: 53.6%
Axe: 47.7%
Sword: 43.5%
Spear: 42.4%

Unarmored:
-------------
Sword: 58.2%
Pick: 54.0%
Axe: 52.2%
Spear: 49.4%
Hammer: 33.3%

Combined:
------------
Pick: 53.8%
Sword: 50.8%
Axe: 49.9%
Hammer: 46.9%
Spear: 45.9%

Edits:
Additional results:
Effectiveness of Armor, measured in skill levels

Recommended reading:
From Iron to Steel

Spoiler: Methodology (click to show/hide)

2

DF General Discussion / The (Not-So) Horrible Truth about Military xXScienceXx

« on: May 30, 2018, 10:47:16 pm »

EDIT: User tussock revealed a major error in my methodology. Leaving original post for historical reasons.

Later posts with more science:
The Effect of Equipment Material
The Effect of Weapon Choice
The Effect of Shield and Armor

Original post begins:

You know all that received wisdom about military setup? Use blunt weapons for armored enemies, and slashing weapons for unarmored enemies? That iron is superior to copper, and steel to iron?

Yeah, you just keep thinking that.

This is a story about how I found out that everything we know is wrong. You want to know how to outfit your dwarves? At the end, you'll find out.

It started when I was looking at the Military Testing page on the wiki. I saw tests being run like "5 dwarves with adequate combat skills and iron equipment using battleaxes versus 5 similar dwarves using swords". Hey, I thought. I can contribute to that. So I started doing little tests.

My first tests were on the effect of skill. One question: "What skill level does a dwarf have to be in order to be able to beat two dwarves, similarly equipped, with no skill?" But my results were strangely inconsistent. Sometimes the Competent (III) dwarves fared better than the Skilled (IV) dwarves. That's strange. The experimental design is simple; maybe my sample sizes just weren't big enough.

So I started thinking bigger. I rewrote the arena layout to comprise a grid of 9x9 cells, separated from each other, perfect for controlled combats.

Spoiler: Large Arena Image (click to show/hide)

Populating the arena by hand became too slow. I downloaded AutoHotKey, learned the syntax, and wrote scripts to duplicate dwarf layouts into many cells at the press of a hotkey. I was ready to get mass statistics. I would take all the wonderful variation possible in Dwarf Fortress's combat system, and through sheer weight of samples, beat out the noise and get the signal.

I tested the age-old debate of axe versus sword. I populated the arena with dwarves in full iron armor; one team with axes, another with swords. The results? Axe won 38%, sword won 62% of fights. Now that's a useful result! Next time goblinite comes calling, my dwarves will carry swords.

We also know that hammers are better than axes for fighting armored enemies- right? So I populated the arena with a team of axedwarves and a team of hammerdwarves. This time, axe won... 42% of fights, and hammers won... 58%. Well, hammers won, as we'd expect. But it's strange that swords would be better against full iron armor than hammers. After all, swords are supposed to be stopped by armor, but blunt weapons are specialized against armor.

Maybe swords are just better. Swords versus hammers, go! Swords win... 44%, hammers win 56%. That's strange- hammers win against swords; but swords win harder against axes than hammers do?

Let's re-establish that the combat system makes sense. A mirror match! One dwarf on each side, in a no-quarter battle to the death. With a large number of samples (>100), it should be very close to 50-50. The results were... 45% to 55%. That's funny. I would have expected the results to be closer.

Well, maybe the system is just noisy- prone to random error. What we need is more samples. I filled the entire arena, over 1,700 cells. In one corner, the iron-equipped axedwarves; in the other, iron-equipped hammerdwarves. With this massive sample size, we'll certainly eliminate the noise and get the signal. The results? Axedwarves win 54%, hammerdwarves win 46%.

Wait a second- axedwarves win? But last time, hammerdwarves won handily. The sample size is pretty massive- more than most dwarves most of us will send into battle over the entirety of our Dwarf Fortress career.

Well, let's do something that's sure to show results. There's debate over whether bronze or iron is better; but there's no debate about iron versus copper. Let's take dwarves of comparable skill, equipped entirely in iron or entirely in copper. The results? 97 to 96.

It's so close to 50-50, any respectable statistician would tell me that I fail at faking statistics. Only I didn't fake them.

You want to know how to outfit your dwarves? Outfit them in a way you think looks cool. Nothing else matters; not weapon type, not material type. The only effect will be on your imagination. Dress them to die in whatever way seems best to you.

Spoiler: End Notes (click to show/hide)

Skills included:
Fighter
Axe/Sword/Hammer/etc.
Dodger
Shield User
Armor User
Discipline
Some tests varied skill level; but for tests mentioned above, testing equipment, all skills were at "Skilled" (IV) level.

Equipment:
Battle axe/Short sword/War hammer/etc.
1 breastplate
1 mail shirt
1 helm
1 pair of gauntlets
1 pair of high boots
1 pair of greaves
1 shield (of the same type of metal- not wood)
When material was not varied, all dwarves were equipped in iron.

Link to arena.txt.

AutoHotkey Script for populating arena:

Code: (AutoHotkey.ahk) [Select]

numZ := 9
numX := 13
numY := 13

^q::
Loop, %numX%
{
	Send, c
	Send, {Enter}
	Send, +{Right}
}
Loop, %numX%
{
	Send, +{Left}
}
return

^e::
Loop, %numY%
{
	Loop, %numX%
	{
		Send, c
		Send, {Enter}
		Send, +{Right}
	}
		Loop, %numX%
	{
		Send, +{Left}
	}
	Send, +{Down}
}
Loop, %numY%
{
	Send, +{Up}
}
return

^r::
Loop, %numZ% 
{ 
	Send, < 
}
Loop, %numZ%
{
	Loop, %numY%
	{
		Loop, %numX%
		{
			Send, c
			Send, {Enter}
			Send, +{Right}
		}
			Loop, %numX%
		{
			Send, +{Left}
		}
		Send, +{Down}
	}
	Loop, %numY%
	{
		Send, +{Up}
	}
	Send, >
}
Loop, %numZ% 
{ 
	Send, < 
}
return

Python 2.7 script for generating arena.txt:

Code: (writeArena.py) [Select]


class ArenaText:

	def __init__( self, fileName = 'arena.txt' ):
		self.fileName = fileName
		
		self.cells = {}
		self.levels = range( -4, 5 )
		self.xVals = range( 144 )
		self.yVals = range( 144 )
		
		self.blank()
		
	def blank( self ):
		for z in self.levels:
			for x in self.xVals:
				for y in self.yVals:
					self.cells[ ( z, x, y ) ] = 'P'
					
	def setBox( self, z, startX, startY, widthX, widthY, char = '.' ):
		for x in range( startX, startX + widthX ):
			self.cells[ ( z, x, startY ) ] = char
			self.cells[ ( z, x, startY + widthY ) ] = char
		for y in range( startY, startY + widthY ):
			self.cells[ ( z, startX, y ) ] = char
			self.cells[ ( z, startX + widthX, y ) ] = char
			
	def setSquare( self, z, startX, startY, widthX, widthY, char = '.' ):
		for x in range( startX, startX + widthX ):
			for y in range( startY, startY + widthY ):
				self.cells[ ( z, x, y ) ] = char
			
	def writeFile( self ):
		fileLines = []
		for z in self.levels:
			fileLines.append( "Z=%s" % z )
			for y in self.yVals:
				yLine = ""
				for x in self.xVals:
					yLine += self.cells[ ( z, x, y ) ]
				fileLines.append( yLine )
		with open( self.fileName, 'w' ) as f:
			fileText = "\n".join( fileLines )
			f.write( fileText )
		
	def writeBoxGrid( self, xSize, ySize, char = '.' ):
		for z in self.levels:
			endY = xSize + 1
			while endY < self.yVals[-1]:
				endX = xSize + 1	
				startY = endY - ySize
				while endX < self.xVals[-1]:
					startX = endX - xSize
					self.setSquare( z, startX, startY, xSize, ySize )
					endX += xSize + 1
				endY += ySize + 1

			
at = ArenaText()
at.writeBoxGrid( 9, 9 )
at.writeFile()
print "All done!"

3

DF Modding / Edit Dwarf Name

« on: May 23, 2018, 11:48:38 pm »

Many years ago, I used a nifty utility called Dwarf Companion. It had all sorts of cheaty features, which I never used. But it had one feature which I found indispensable- changing a Dwarf's first and last names. (What can I say? I am guilty of roleplaying.)

Dwarf Companion seems to be a thing of the past. But is there another good way to do this?

If there isn't, I'm guessing I'm writing a dfHack LUA script. Any scripts that I should look at for examples? Otherwise, I'll start with make-legendary and stumble on from there.

If it helps, I am mostly wanting to set dwarves' last names to be the same within a family.

4

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / River Generation

« on: May 05, 2013, 11:52:46 pm »

What makes rivers generate?

I've set RIVERS_MIN to high numbers. I've put scattered mountains around so that there are spots where rivers can start. And yet, there just don't seem to be many rivers. I'll occasionally get one minor river; but I want bigger rivers, and more of them.

Here's my intermediate result, for reference:

(Edit: This is the world generation image dump, using the Phoebus tileset, I believe. Whichever tileset comes default on Lazy Newb Pack.)

Why do I get fewer rivers than the setting for RIVERS_MIN? How can I get more rivers? And how can I get more non-minor and major rivers?

5

DF Bug Reports / [40d] World changing unexpectedly

« on: September 03, 2009, 02:26:03 am »

I've noticed two problems on a near-vanilla copy of DF.

Download link:(my entire folder)
Known modifications: I've changed megabeast size to 200 and GCS frequency to 100.

Symptoms:

1)I've found worlds I liked, exported their seeds during worldgen, and had the game create a different world when using them. Always the same different world every time- I've re-exported the seeds and everything, and it's always the same world. Always wrong. Note that this is a fully-painted world.

2)I've embarked on a site in a particular region, abandoned, and come back to the region block, only to find it's been regenerated. In the screenshots below, I embarked on a(n awesome) site with a magma pipe, but looking at the same region, it now shows another magma pipe outside. Interestingly, if I load the original world (before embarcation) into another copy of Dwarf Fortress, this region block will look like the post-embark version on the initial Dwarf Fortress copy.

The first image shows the magma pipe circled in yellow on Visualfortress.

The second shows that same site abandoned- and a new magma pipe.

The world is regionX. But when you load it up you'll see that it matches the second picture, and not the first.

6

DF Modding / Random Seed Inconsistency

« on: September 02, 2009, 01:31:51 am »

I'm in the process of generating lots of new worlds to find one site I like.

I found one. I abandoned, exported the gen info in legends. Copied it to the end of my world_gen.txt. Genned and started it up...

And it's a DIFFERENT world. The same different world every time, but it's undeniably wrong.

It's the same copy of the game. What could be wrong? I've modded some creature raws- megabeasts with increase size and GCS with upped frequency.

EDIT: Not only that, but when I go to reclaim, the region now has a new HFS, magma pipe, etc., even though those were originally part of the embark site.

So when I regen, it changes the whole world- most importantly, a different set of biomes are evil. When I abandon, it changes the region. But if I reclaim, the magma pipe and things are still there.

7

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / This is a ☼World☼

« on: August 29, 2009, 03:13:33 am »

UPDATE: Link to latest update:
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=41117.msg732836#msg732836

Yes, it menaces with spikes of microcline.

I'm forcing myself to finish my current megaproject before starting a new fortress. But I'm allowing myself the liberty of playing with worldgen when I need a break. The results so far:

I wanted each race to have plenty of area to expand and thrive, so I've given them a couple of spokes apiece.

I also knew that many of my required goodies (HFS, Underground river) were only found on mountain regions. In order to get good, diverse starting areas, I use mountains surrounded by lowlands- sometimes the mountains only take up a relatively small fraction of the region that way.

I selected four non-mountain biomes that I might be interested in playing with- forest, plains, desert, and glacier. Hopefully the latter two will allow me sand and ice on the same map- haven't fully tested the effects yet, but I hope it'll allow unlimited construction with both ice casting and glass.

If people are interested in my totally over-the-top way of making the world, I can elaborate on the process. Maybe someone would be up for making my python tool into an online tool of some sort.

8

DF Modding / Healing factor

« on: August 15, 2009, 04:59:15 am »

My dwarf was fighting a Giant Bat today, and I noticed that the Bat was healing pretty fast- maybe as fast as a dwarf with a few levels of toughness.

Is it the bat's [SIZE:10] that does this? I don't have much experience fighting large animals.

9

DF Modding / Cheating fair

« on: August 14, 2009, 02:14:45 pm »

I have another idea for a fortress I'm going to try out- a family fortress. I'll set the immigration max to 1, and keep the child limits high.

But I'd like to start with more than 7 dwarves for this. I remember that there was a utility for changing peasants on embark- what was it?

Most importantly, how much do you think a peasant is worth? I was thinking of charging myself 50 points for each peasant. That's a little more than the cost to get a skill from dabbling to proficient (35).

10

DF Modding / When do raw mods take effect?

« on: August 14, 2009, 12:24:22 am »

I changed goblins, adding [DAMBLOCK:100].

I then loaded up a game where I had caged goblins and released some. I couldn't tell the difference (and my dwarf's strength+skill is less than 100). Do these changes only take effect upon creature spawning, or something? I tried deleting the data/objects too.

11

DF Gameplay Questions / Cancels load trap: needs empty cage

« on: August 04, 2009, 01:16:46 am »

I have three cage traps on the map.

I have about nine empty cage traps in a stockpile.

When I get a new cage trap (newly built, or bought from a caravan), it's placed on the cage trap. Then some animal wanders into it, and gets caught. The cage is collected and put in the animal stockpile. I tame the animal, then build the cage and release the animal, then have it thrown into the pit. The empty cage is deconstructed, put in my animal stockpile and never used again. It joins all the other cages listening forlornly to dwarven complaints that they don't exist.

How can I get my cages reused?

12

DF Gameplay Questions / How do I stockpile pipes?

« on: August 04, 2009, 01:05:30 am »

I'm having trouble getting dwarves to stockpile pipes (and mechanisms). I set a refuse stockpile, and enable only pipes/mechanisms under the "item types" category. The stockpile is totally ignored, and the workshops continue to get more cluttered.

What am I doing wrong?

Edit: I've noticed this in 40d and Mayday's pack (which I believe is 40d11).

13

DF Modding / Powder Reagents

« on: July 30, 2009, 12:47:05 am »

I'm adding a custom material, and I'd like dye to be a reagent for making it in the smelter. However, the following line does not cause the dwarf to use up any dye:

[REAGENT:2:POWDER_MISC:NO_SUBTYPE:MUSHROOM_CUP_DIMPLE]

Did I miss something?

(Couldn't find an answer from searches for "dimple dye", "dimple cup", or "powder reagents".)

14

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Wanted: Coastal HFS

« on: July 26, 2009, 01:45:16 am »

Hey, folks,

I'd like to have a site with HFS, a magma pipe, underground water, and a few other things. On the coast. (Fair enough- let me dream.)

I've gotten some coastal HFS and magma, but the maps are terrible. I have to use embark anywhere (since all the tiles are either ocean or mountain), and there are 30-z cliffs. I'm not interested in that. I'd much rather have the ocean, and 2 or 3 z-levels of beach/plains above that.

Is there any way to whittle down blocks that include HFS? Is there any way to edit the region data manually and add HFS to a plains or desert block? Is there any way to get oceans more than 3-5 z-levels deep?

Here's the worldgen data I've been using to get my coastal HFS. The config is world-painted using a python script I wrote. I could post the script if someone were interested, too.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

15

DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / [World Gen] Wanted: Hills

« on: July 15, 2009, 06:26:56 pm »

I'm writing a python script to paint a DF world for me, but haven't been able to get hills. No matter what variation I try on the "World Painter Parameters" for Hills at the wiki,http://dwarf.lendemaindeveille.com/index.php/Advanced_world_generation#World_Painter_Parameters , they always come out as "Temperate Shrubland". My latest attempt was 280 elevation, 50 rainfall, 30 temperature, 100 drainage, 50 volcanism, 100 savagery.

While I'm at it: correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like there's no repeatable effect of drainage, elevation, etc., on the occurrence of sand layers.

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