Bay 12 Games Forum

I was running the numbers on a new founder build and they didn't add up. It turns out line 424 of /src/title/newgame.cpp mixes a skill with an attribute.

newcr->att[SKILL_WRITING]+=1;

I've been looking at the source off sourceforge's SVN, which I think is the latest version, and I've got a few questions to ask as a result.

1. The MP5 is unique among the autoweapons, in that bursthits is always at least 1; however, this doesn't seem to do anything because if the game has to bump up bursthits to 1 then the code that checks bursthits never executes anyway because aroll+bonus is too low to score a hit. What's this supposed to do?

2. The M4 carbine seems to be just as accurate as the other rifles, but less powerful. Since I've read past posts that indicate that it's supposed to be more accurate than the other rifles, I'm wondering if this is intentional.

3. It seems to me that once you get a fighter up to "Elite Liberal" rank, with the +15 to stats that entails, it's pretty likely that almost every attack you land will be doing 1000% damage thanks to agility, skill, and possibly strength. As a result, I'd recommend toning down the damagemod function so that a perfect hit only does around 500% damage or so; a huge amount, but one less likely to nearly always result in an instant kill or disabling attack. Also, the first couple of points of positive mod are weird in that the damage increases by 20% going from mod 0 to mod 1, but then only 20% total going from mod 2 to mod 4.

Current code:
   if(mod<=-4)damamount>>=4;
   else if(mod<=-3)damamount>>=3;
   else if(mod<=-2)damamount>>=2;
   else if(mod<=-1)damamount>>=1;
   else if(mod>=10)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 10.0f);
   else if(mod>=9)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 8.0f);
   else if(mod>=8)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 6.0f);
   else if(mod>=7)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 4.0f);
   else if(mod>=6)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 2.0f);
   else if(mod>=5)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.75f);
   else if(mod>=4)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.5f);
   else if(mod>=3)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.4f);
   else if(mod>=2)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.3f);
   else if(mod>=1)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.2f);
The revision I'm suggesting:
   if(mod<=-4)damamount>>=4;
   else if(mod<=-3)damamount>>=3;
   else if(mod<=-2)damamount>>=2;
   else if(mod<=-1)damamount>>=1;
   else if(mod>=10)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 5.0f);
   else if(mod>=9)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 4.0f);
   else if(mod>=8)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 3.25f);
   else if(mod>=7)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 2.5f);
   else if(mod>=6)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 2.0f);
   else if(mod>=5)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.75f);
   else if(mod>=4)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.5f);
   else if(mod>=3)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.35f);
   else if(mod>=2)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.2f);
   else if(mod>=1)damamount=(int)((float)damamount * 1.1f);
4. I think that recruiting is a broken right now not only due to the unlimited meetings per day but also due to the way max_eagerness is calculated (recruiter's heart - recruit's wisdom). If you don't opt for several heart bonuses in the initial questions you'll have trouble recruiting anyone early on, and it's possible to create a founder who starts out with only 7 or 8 heart and thus cannot recruit ANYONE normally without first going out and earning juice. The game doesn't even tell you when you hit the maximum eagerness, you just continually get a neutral message that reads as if you might be making progress when in fact you're stuck.

5. The last annoying thing I've noticed is that there's no cap on juice you can get from spraying LCS tags all over the place. Since you can do this nearly risk-free at low-conservative sites like crackhouses and the homeless shelter there should probably be a harsh cap on how much juice you can get this way.

If I made it possible to play dwarf mode as an entity with creatures that lived a very short time, say [MAXAGE:1:4], would it be workable or would the fortress die out? Would the number of people dropping dead of old age prevent immigration or cancel it out? What if the creature was [CHILD:1] without [MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]?

Is is possible to determine what gender your character is after character creation, or what gender an NPC is?

A skeletal mace lord just attacked me, apparently through the wall of the pyramid I'm on.

Fortunately, cheating cannot replace good aim.

edit: Okay, so he was on the floor above me. But he also dropped his mace when I entered the map, probably because he has no fingers.

[ November 01, 2006: Message edited by: Cosmonot ]

edit2: this has happened three times now.

[ November 01, 2006: Message edited by: Cosmonot ]

In adventure mode, I had a random encounter in a river, and was unable to move after defeating   my opponent, preventing me from leaving the map. I have a save.

My mason keeps spamming me with pathing errors when I try and build a bridge over the cave river. I know bridges have been a problem in the past, and since it was my first bridge I didn't choose any inaccessible stones. My mason hauled all the rock to the construction site, then started spamming until I suspend the job. I have a save if you want it.

My fortress is just getted started, and my dwarves are giving me constant spam about "Store Item in Barrel: Job item lost or destroyed." They've done this in previous fortresses, but this is constant. I have a save; if you want it, tell me where to send it and if it should be compressed.