Bay 12 Games Forum

Use magic on the big one whilst hefting my staff and preparing to smack it on the head.

Incremental tinkering is a bit of a vague term...

If you're tweaking each little bit a little whenever you need to to keep the shiny bit of UI functioning (as opposed to redesigning it each time), you end up with something...well, something roughly analogous to the human body, with its recurrent larengial nerve and its poorly-placed prostate and the eye and all of those issues which make Creationists squirm. In my humble opinion, it would be better to keep a minimalistic UI shell over the innards of DF until said innards have finished their development, rather than have an overcomplicated bunch of UI or a lot of time spent on UI which we don't really need to play DF.

Obviously, once the game is built, whatever interface is there can be carefully deconstructed and a new one which fits quite well constructed, but this takes time and forces tinkering with new features, and so should probably be delayed until the innards are finished.

Well, perhaps that was phrased poorly...

Mining shouldn't be too easy, but likewise it shouldn't be too hard. That's what I was saying. Above all, it should be easy on the CPU and not require too much micromanagement to dig a tunnel.

My biggest problem isn't the magic systems suggested, or how they're copied off of real-world religious practices, or how some of those practices are being taken from Hollywood's interpretation, but rather the implication that magic type is determined by race.

Don't get me wrong; elves probably wouldn't be pyromancers, and dwarves wouldn't get a lot of use from magic which involved shaping living trees. Certainly, the type of magical techniques, traditions, and spells--schools of magic, if you will--should be based on culture, and culture on race, but if an Elfton 1 is more like Dwarfhall than Elfton 2, Elfton 1's magic should be more like Dwarfhall's than Elfton 2's. The most important aspects, like how communal or individualistic the people are, and how much risk is acceptable, are also those which are unsimulated. Still, once they are, and once culture varies by entity rather than race, culture will need to be the deciding factor.

More importantly, though, is the role of individuals in magic. Elfton 2's elves might come up with a kind of magic which channels power from benevolent spirits to shift the world slightly, but if there's an unusually ambitious or impatient or whatever elf, said elf should be able and willing to go to Dwarfhall to learn how to store energy in gems and use it later to perform mighty feats, and then (ideally) combine the two and create a new school of magic which blends the practices of the two. All of this was started by one unusual individual, whose individual personality was the most important aspect in the new paradigm in magic.

In short, if you're looking at this from the point of view of the race, you're not looking closely enough.

1 sounds like a simple way to limit dwarven stupidity. 2 is a bit more involved, but makes sense.

Why would we do this? Multiplayer is the only concievable reason I can think of for internet use in DF, and there's plenty of reasons against that...

While creatures that feed off of emotions have a strong place in fantasy lore and literature, I'm not sure how one would properly implement them in a game like DF, aside from giving them NO_EAT and emotion-eating flavor. Certainly not at this point in the game.

On one hand, mining needs work. Lots of it. It's a central part of DF, what with the D's making F's, but as it is it's too simple/easy. On the other hand, it it's too hard/complex, proper fortresses will be stifled.

Something like this could be done, but at least one and ideally both of the following would happen as well:
1. Tag-team Mining. A miner, an engraver, and possibly a loader take a pick and a minecart (plus whatever tools engravers need at this point) and head to the mining site. The dwarves and minecart all share a somewhat squashed tile next to the mined tile. When the tile is dug, it has a track carved into it and any stone within it is moved to the minecart. Then, the dwarves move the minecart and start all over. Once the minecart is full, the team will break up and a hauler (or the loader) empties the minecart in the appropriate stockpile(s). Of course, this would need to be a special designation, likely one designated like carving tracks currently is. It's something that should probably be done eventually, anyways.
2. Excavation. One can designate to dig without getting stone. A bit hacky, and suggested a lot before, but in this case it would be a simple, acceptable way to deal with the problems.