Bay 12 Games Forum

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it'd make me angry too, if I had a plan that involved a certain situation, yet it didn't arise

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Here's a totally random thought: What if "fortress mode" were integrated with "Adventure" mode...and you could recruit people from Adventure mode, find a suitable site and colonize it, then switching you over to fortress mode?

Then add a new profession: "Surveyor" that would allow you to have an idea of what the insides of the mountain looked like? Players could choose whether to invest in it, or not.

I'm not sure I follow why, out of a strip of mountain range twenty squares long, only one or two are considered "suitable" for a fortress. Maybe do away with fixed sites, and allow a player to build anywhere he wants. He just has to wander the map looking for a place "suitable" by his own criteria, all while his food stores are diminishing. The sooner you settle, the easier it will be, but the more you search, the more chances you'll have to find the type of site you're looking for.

Bucket Man

So, I just started a new game...

Maybe fifteen minutes in, still tunneling out the initial tunnel to the river, when I see the following:

"Rogthirkuk cancels eat: interupted by racoon."

Hmm. Annoying racoons. I ignore it and go back to business.

"Foegirbag cancels drink: interupted by racoons."

At this point I start wondering what kind of racoon this is. I mean...why exactly do dwarves stop drinking because there's a racoon half a map away? Is it an undead racoon? Then, over the next minute my screen erupted with dozen interupts, as three racoons descend on my camp, and the dwarves panic. Everyone stops what they're doing to run around in terrified little circles.

This, of course, amuses the racoons to no end, and they give up on the food they came for to chase the dwarves around for a good laugh.

"Gebugbuh cancels tunnel: interupted by racoon"
"Foegirbag cancels gather wood: interupted by racoon"
"Hebeyuk cancels pregnancy: interupted by racoon"
"Foegirbag cancels the cancellation process: interuped by racoon"

Pages and pages of cancellations. Ordinarily when a racoon whows up I just ignore him and the cancellations, he steals some food or a silk handbag or something, and he's on his way. Not this time. Minutes and minutes of racoon interuptions. Eventually they did lose interest in in dwarves and made for the food.  And, how ravenous they were! Not one piece of food stolen...not even one piece of food stolen each, but over the next three or four minutes, TEN PIECES of food were stolen! I really don't know what happened. Whether it was three racoons each coming back for several trips, or whether they were going home and telling their buddies to come play, but I never saw more than three at a time. By the tenth piece of food stolen, though, I was starting to realize that the racoons weren't merely a nuisance.

They were evil.

So, I rallied my forces for our final stand near the furniture stockpile...and, what a glorious battle it was! How proud I was of my dwarves as they courageously held their formation despite only outnumbering the viscious racoons a little over two to one.

Indeed, it was a proud day for dwarves everywhere, and not a single racoon was left standing. Ever shall we remember the Battle of the Furniture Stockpile, the dread day that the Evil Racoons of Death were finally laid to rest.

Bucket Man

[ March 07, 2007: Message edited by: LordBucket ]

[ March 07, 2007: Message edited by: LordBucket ]

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how could Toady make us, the players, care genuinely about the consequences of our actions and for that to make a difference in the Story

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The only way I can think of is to start pulling heartstrings. If he shows cutscenes of dwarves being hammered along with soundtracks of screaming...some people might choose not to even if it had gameplay benefits. And others might choose it even if it had penalties. Maybe the border colors of the screen could become more blood-red as you start being more evil. Maybe diplomats and merchants could start calling you "noble lord" or "horrid defiler" as you developed an alignment. Dwarf children is evil fortress could prefer to play in the rubbish pile and with dwarven bones and skulls. In good fortresses they'd play with the kittens. No actual "benefit" either way, but a lot of people would have preference for the characterization.

[ October 24, 2007: Message edited by: LordBucket ]

If you defeat the demon with an adventurer, can you then reclaim the fortress without having to worry about another too-deep compulsory-ending?

Rev 13: 17-18
  "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

My favorite explanation is that it's a reference to the guard bars in UPC codes.

If you look at the UPC code on anything you buy, you'll see a pair of thin lines in the middle and on either side. These lines correspond to a "6" in the code, when that six appears on the right side of the code. Since codes may be read in either direction, they designed left and right differently. A 6 to the left of the middle looks different than a 6 to the right of the middle. But, that matches the mark that appears on the "right" hand. The way a scanner reads the code, there is extra "white space" necessary to construct a six, but if you visually look at it, you wouldn't notice the difference. Also interesting is the name of the original creator of the system, George Joseph Laurer: His first, middle and last names all have six letters in them.