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Messages - Starne

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DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Mining Drop Rate Change: Good or Bad?
« on: May 19, 2012, 01:55:33 pm »
Quote from: NW_Kohaku on May 19, 2012, 01:18:38 pm
Quote from: Starne on May 19, 2012, 01:11:01 pm
These are Dwarves we're talking about, the main things they have in abundance are  foolishness, greed, enemies, stone, and metal.

Were it up to me, I'd increase the flat drop rate of stone by about 10-20%, and I'd increase the drop rate of ores dramatically, to something like 75-80%. I'd leave the "1 Ore Chunk=4 Bars" rule in effect, though. The idea being to make metalworking very lucrative and making the export of metal products into the staple go-to when it comes to trade.

So you're saying...

"We always have more metal ore than we can do anything with," but also saying, "We should have three times as much metal ore as we already get."

I'm not sure I understand the reasoning, here.

Export (lots of)iron bolts to the Goblins and Elves, steel stuff to the Humans, precious metals and steel to the mountain homes.  Later on, a steady stream of metal products going out to the sprawl around the fortress, equipment for the armies you're sending out, and tribute to the king. Stuff for the fortress itself to upgrade the trap system and to repair and replace all those damaged, broken, and worn-out things. Knick-knacks for your Dwarves when the economy returns. You also can't forget a steady trickle of gold, silver, and platinum for your hoard(Gotta draw those throngs of Goblins, Kobolds, Dragons, Giants and everything else in somehow).

Several ways to use metals in the game now, and even more later.

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DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Mining Drop Rate Change: Good or Bad?
« on: May 19, 2012, 01:11:01 pm »
I'm okay with the change, but I think more could be done.

These are Dwarves we're talking about, the main things they have in abundance are  foolishness, greed, enemies, stone, and metal.

Were it up to me, I'd increase the flat drop rate of stone by about 10-20%, and I'd increase the drop rate of ores dramatically, to something like 75-80%. I'd leave the "1 Ore Chunk=4 Bars" rule in effect, though. The idea being to make metalworking very lucrative and making the export of metal products into the staple go-to when it comes to trade.

To go off on a bit of a tangent, I'd also make it possible to make crafts, furniture and stuff out of blocks. I'd also rename wood blocks to wood planks, with one log=3 planks(Products made of planks would be worth more than products made of logs). Making logs into planks manually(IE at a carpenter's workshop) would be time consuming, with some kind of powered Sawmill workshop being much more efficient. I know that a powered sawmill might be a bit out of our time-frame, but I could easily see Dwarves rigging up some kind of mechanical saw-thing powered by a water wheel. The exception to this would be the 'odd' woods such as bamboo and saguaro.

The general idea behind all of this being that the more effort and Dwarf-hours you put into your production chains, the more you get out of your resources. Miner->Mason->Stone Products or Woodcutter->Carpenter-Wood Products would still be viable, but with Miner->Mason->Mason->Stone Products and Woodcutter->Sawmill->Carpenter->Wood Products being more resource efficient. With the metalworking industries being the most productive and lucrative(Miner->Smelter->Smith->Lots of Shiny things).

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DF General Discussion / Re: Future of the Fortress
« on: April 05, 2012, 06:18:19 pm »
I think what people are getting at when the mention powered minecarts is something similar to what rollercoasters use. In DF terms, this would be a windmill, waterwheel, or even some kind of turny-spinny thing turned by animals or Dwarves(I forget what those are called) powering a system of ropes or more likely chains connected to hooks on the carts.

A good example of this system that has been used a lot in reality would be to use a system of chains(or ropes) and winches to pull carts up an incline, then letting gravity take them back down.

Say you're building some kind of mega-construction on the surface, but your (stone of choice) deposits are deep underground. You set up a waterwheel 'power-station' on the surface, and connect it to a line of minecarts. System pulls carts loaded with stone to surface, and gravity takes carts loaded with food and booze down to the miners.

This would also allow a player to use minecarts to move large amounts of material long distances without relying on Dwarf-power, animal power, or dangerous(and sometimes impractical) gravity-based setups.


All of that said, when I first read the DevBlog mentioning minecarts, my mind was filled with 'OhmygodOhmygodOhmygodOhmygod', in the Space-Core's voice, of course. 

Edit: Langdon beat me to it.

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DF Suggestions / Re: More Rock carving options Inlays and Separate designations for Art and History
« on: December 16, 2011, 05:12:22 pm »
Two great ideas.

For the inlays bit, I'd suggest that making the inlays be tied to whatever skill one would associate with the material: Carpenters do wooden inlays, Masons do stone, ect.

A hypothetical inlay system could also be tied to a system for reinforcing walls, for when the goblins start bringing siege equipment, and when structural integrity becomes a factor again. (This is a smooth granite wall, masterfully reinforced with *steel struts*.)

On the separate designations for decorative/historical engravings, I'd also be interesting to have the option to be specific with what we want engraved. Military history on one wall, political on another, culture on another, ect. On the decorative front, this could be used to keep angsty engravers from carving their worst nightmares into the walls of the fortress. Of course, if you don't specify, the dwarf will just engrave whatever.

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DF General Discussion / Re: What turns you off about DF?
« on: December 16, 2011, 03:49:11 pm »
The biggest stumbling blocks for me when it comes to me are:

 The UI. It's almost impenetrable. I've played DF off-and-on for about two years now, and I still barely understand some parts of it.

To lesser extent: Lack of Automation. Eg, 'If booze amount is less than X: Create y brewing jobs ' 'Notify if amount of stored food is less than x'

One of the biggest things in the automation department would be for the game to auto-task dwarves who've been idle for an extended period. Lot's of chopping or mining jobs piled up? That soaper who's been standing around the meeting hall for three months should try to find an axe or pick and go help out. Another thing here would be for dwarves to atleast try to defend themselves using whatever is at hand, instead of just mindlessly fleeing until they're killed, die of dehydration, or escape(could see unarmed civilian dwarves throwing rocks or using other improvised weapons)

Bit of a tangent off that: Have things like dwarves finding something to do instead of standing around, or defending themselves in a pinch be tied to their personality. A lazy dwarf might never bother to find something to do, a cowardly dwarf would attempt to hide or flee, rather than try to defend itself.

Of course, not done properly, implementing this sort of thing would just make the UI even more complex.


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