51436
DF Modding / Re: Modding AI
« on: June 14, 2012, 10:23:48 am »
There's a few tags (like LIKES_FIGHTING or NOFEAR) that modify a creature's behavior, and altering personality does some stuff, but that's about it.
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51437
DF Suggestions / Re: Dawrvern retirement
« on: June 14, 2012, 09:52:34 am »
I'm glad when people agree with me. It's such a nice change from my everyday life...
51438
DF Suggestions / Re: more versatile vermin
« on: June 14, 2012, 09:51:32 am »
Vermin do eat food--that's why everyone takes a male cat along, to put in their food stockpile.
That said, more diverse vermin would be nice, like if bats ate flies, or if vermin-sized snakes actively tried to eat eggs, or if birds made nests in trees (which could be raided by athletic or ingenious dwarves).
That said, more diverse vermin would be nice, like if bats ate flies, or if vermin-sized snakes actively tried to eat eggs, or if birds made nests in trees (which could be raided by athletic or ingenious dwarves).
51439
DF Suggestions / Re: Aquifers - a suggestion
« on: June 14, 2012, 09:48:25 am »
Maybe two versions could be released, one with the allegedly easy 4-GB RAM and the other with only 2? Kinda like how there's already soundless and stuff. Or maybe easy instructions on how to change it on the download page.
...Say, how do you figure out how much RAM your computer has if you don't know?
...Say, how do you figure out how much RAM your computer has if you don't know?
51440
DF Suggestions / Re: Imperative mode
« on: June 14, 2012, 09:39:02 am »
Why would it be "uselessly time-consuming"? Let's go over the ideas I had in my poorly-spoilered post ahead of yours, one by one, explaining why they are neither useless nor too time-consuming:
1. Having dwarves stand still.
This could be useful for a wide variety of things, from having militiadwarves not charge into combat without their comrades to getting a dwarf to not leave his safe, secure bunker. This would be simple; just disable all job-grabbing or meandering until the dwarf gets hungry or thirsty enough to need to stop.
2. Having dwarves go somewhere specific.
From a more accurate station order, to having the dwarf get to a safe, secure bunker rather than running willy-nilly about the surface, to to exploring the caverns with people that won't suicide-charge every troll or GCS they see, a "Go here!" order would have many uses. You could use the code for stationing military dwarves, or simply the normal pathfinding code.
3. Having dwarves do specific tasks.
This would allow you to A. choose to have the noob cook cook basic meals easily (and other situations where you want one, specific dwarf to do a task) and B. fiddle with the natural order dwarves to tasks in (e.g. getting engravers to engrave memorial slabs and not smooth your halls, or master masons to make statues, not walls). Yes, most of this can already be done by fiddling with burrows, labors, and such, but a more straightforward way to do this would be nice. Dwarves already pick jobs to do on their own; this would merely require that the player be able to take the "choose" step out of the next job the dwarf does.
4. Choosing materials for tasks
I know you can do this with stockpiles, but, again, a simpler, more...one-use way to do it would be nice, especially if you wanted to (for instance) make a statue out of an economic stone (i.e. hematite, for your militia commander) without risking having all of that stone being turned into blocks and mugs (i.e. depriving you of iron). It might be a bit harder, but as dwarves already choose materials for jobs, it seems like the interface would be the toughest thing. And an interface like that needs to be done, when adventurers can do reactions.
1. Having dwarves stand still.
This could be useful for a wide variety of things, from having militiadwarves not charge into combat without their comrades to getting a dwarf to not leave his safe, secure bunker. This would be simple; just disable all job-grabbing or meandering until the dwarf gets hungry or thirsty enough to need to stop.
2. Having dwarves go somewhere specific.
From a more accurate station order, to having the dwarf get to a safe, secure bunker rather than running willy-nilly about the surface, to to exploring the caverns with people that won't suicide-charge every troll or GCS they see, a "Go here!" order would have many uses. You could use the code for stationing military dwarves, or simply the normal pathfinding code.
3. Having dwarves do specific tasks.
This would allow you to A. choose to have the noob cook cook basic meals easily (and other situations where you want one, specific dwarf to do a task) and B. fiddle with the natural order dwarves to tasks in (e.g. getting engravers to engrave memorial slabs and not smooth your halls, or master masons to make statues, not walls). Yes, most of this can already be done by fiddling with burrows, labors, and such, but a more straightforward way to do this would be nice. Dwarves already pick jobs to do on their own; this would merely require that the player be able to take the "choose" step out of the next job the dwarf does.
4. Choosing materials for tasks
I know you can do this with stockpiles, but, again, a simpler, more...one-use way to do it would be nice, especially if you wanted to (for instance) make a statue out of an economic stone (i.e. hematite, for your militia commander) without risking having all of that stone being turned into blocks and mugs (i.e. depriving you of iron). It might be a bit harder, but as dwarves already choose materials for jobs, it seems like the interface would be the toughest thing. And an interface like that needs to be done, when adventurers can do reactions.
51441
DF Suggestions / Re: Aquifers - a suggestion
« on: June 14, 2012, 08:49:40 am »Oh, I see. Currently the latter.Wait, hold on, I would have thought that groundwater would spread out to more or less wherever it could. Why shouldn't the aquifers spread to the map edges, barring impermeable rock or something in the way?They would. What I'm wondering is if the distribution of permeable/impermeable rock and soil is realistic. If you could "reveal" the area underneath a given stretch of land in the real world, would the water-bearing soil layers just go on homogeneously for miles? or would they be more broken up by other (possibly impermeable) types of earth?
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Pause: I suggested pretty much this a bit ago.Damn.
um...
Ok. I admit it: I only really skimmed a lot of this thread because it looked like the whole thing was just about the feasibility of building with an aquifer, which wasn't the topic I was interested in. I knew permeability had been mentioned, but I didn't see who first mentioned it. Looking back, I see it was in fact you, and you did in fact make most of my points already.
[/quote]
It's alright. Everyone makes mistakes; the important part is admitting yours. I know a lot of people who can't do that...
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Alright then, consider my previous post to be an elaboration on paragraph 5 of This excellent post by GreatWyrmGold which everybody should now go back and read if you haven't already.Alright, then. Thanks for the compliment.
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Everyone has their strengths. It's important to be able to listen to those whose strengths are your weaknesses.QuoteWhy not just every n(10^x-1) ticks, and have 0 be impermeable?Yeah, that would simplify things. My math intuition isn't great; It never even occurred to me to subtract 1 from x.
Wow, I'm really full of philosphical stuff today.
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This wasn't a critisism, merely an idea to help reduce FPS load. The idea is that fewer random numbers needed == less FPS drain.QuotePause: I think that, rather than having every tile checked for a chance like I suggesed above, every 6X6 or 12X12 tile should be checked every so often and have a chance to put a puddle there.Yeah... um... yeah...
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I don't. About all I know about computer speed is that fewer calculations == faster computations == higher FPS ==QuoteBy material. It's probably easier to remember.Oh, absolutely, each material should have a permeability defined in the raws. I was more speculating about the quickest way for the fluid simulation to *access* that number during gameplay.QuoteMaybe...no, if it's calculated at varying speed that won't work. I have no idea.I know right?
I'm really hoping there is a better way to do it than attaching a counter to each tile. If that were the case, then the extra overhead per map square probably wouldn't be worth the CPU cycles saved, but at the same time I would really hate for an aquifer to take up just as many cycles as a similar amount of freestanding water, despite flowing so much more slowly. I'm basically hoping someone with some crazy knowledge of optimizing C programs wanders in here at some point.
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Wow.some infoOh that is beautiful! And they come prepackaged with exponential values too! It looks like 4 bits per map square would get us all 13 of those values, with 3 left over for whatever we can think of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_conductivity#Ranges_of_values_for_natural_materials
that's basically a velocity value. The range is huge.
Probably one value for "effectively impenetrable," one for "like open space," and one to stick on whichever end of the scale has a bigger gap between those extremes and the normal values. Or something like that.
I can't keep up with the discussion... the speed is too much for me ><. Well, okey, the truth are that I'm a bit rubbish at programming even if I might understand some of the underlying mechanics I usually wander away in speculations and whatnots.Hey, I'm none too good at computer programming either. I'm still sticking around. You know why? Well, in part because of the big, complex posts I made, but also in part because every debate needs someone who doesn't know enough to know that an idea is stupid, just in case it's not. Two is better than one. You can stay. Heck, maybe you'll even learn something!
Although I like to try to contribute to the discussion, really loves where this is going, I'm going to keep an eye on it instead and see if I can find away to contribute.
51442
DF Modding / Re: Community Mod
« on: June 13, 2012, 10:10:07 pm »
Neat.
...Say, how long is it until my turn?
...Say, how long is it until my turn?
51443
DF Suggestions / Re: Dawrvern retirement
« on: June 13, 2012, 09:33:31 pm »In the middle ages it was disease and famine that did alot of people in while they were young or getting on in years (probably around late 40s and up.) Hell even in the BC area of time if someone made it past early childhood they could live into thier 60s or older in some cases. Barring getting killed because you cut your hand or got a splinter. Or getting shot in the face, being stabbed, beaten to death, or killed in a job-related mishap.So...let's say that the realistic, midieval-era, maximum age barring luck, good or bad, is around 2/3 of the larger maxage (~80 for humans, ~110 for dwarves).
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Usually the starting 7 are in thier 60s to 80s, placing that as the dwarven middle aged. With my humans the average was 33 among the founders, with the oldest in his early 40s. As far as those swordmasters go I'm expecting old age to cause them to keel over any minute now.I'm sorry to hear about the swordmasters. May their deaths be swift and glorious. Andhoo...that means that, assuming the rules are tailored so that dwarves tend to keel over from some illness a few years after their 100th birthday, you've got around 20-40 years before you need to worry about sudden death, and probably at least a decade before they're severely impaired by age. They might start weak, but once A. worldgen accounts for these issues with elderly survival and B. Starting Seven Selection takes population ratios into account (ideally estimating on the lower end of average, since the elderly are less likely to uproot their lives), then you'll get to avoid most aging penalties most of the time for at least a few years, AND most people will get to see the aging mechanics in action before their fortresses implode in an orgy of fire and violence. Mostly win-win!
51444
DF Suggestions / Re: Cloth stockpile
« on: June 13, 2012, 09:17:31 pm »
I think he's pointing out that items not allowed in stockpiles will be stored anyways if they're already in a bin with allowable items, and thinking that bugfix == suggestion.
51445
DF Suggestions / Re: Dawrvern retirement
« on: June 13, 2012, 08:19:44 pm »Since I have a deep-seated respect for veterans..... I'd have to say Urist McHauler can go screw. I'd rather have my dwarves disturbed by my Militia Commander's laughter as he recounts that time he bisected two goblins and strangled a kobold while he bit its arm off.Anyone who can bisect multiple goblins while strangling a kobold and biting its arm off has my respect. Unless, of course, he was just telling a tall tale.
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And in DF, you gotta respect veterans. How the hell they managed to live to even become infirm enough to be more of a liability would be a stunning achievment. Although a super active dwarf, like a solider or mason who has to lug heavy stones around constantly probably wouldn't have too many issues in the DF world.Unless they got old war wounds or whatever from their years of stressful work.
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I've got a married couple of humans who're in keel over dead territory (mid 80s!) who chopped a goblin siege to ribbons. With freaking copper swords no less. Hell they weren't bugged in the slightest when a ghost scared a 16 year to death in front of them.That...is the kind of thing that should be fixed. Few medieval people reached 80, let alone were in goblin-chopping shape at that point.
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Bah, I'm ranting. A slow physical stat decline for dwarves in thier 130s on would probably be good to simulate it (dwarves can live between 150 and 175, barring "fun.") since earrlier would hurt your starters a little bit if it were in thier 70s or 80s, since that's middleaged for dwarves. Comparitivly, humans got a max of 120, also barring battledeaths or other things and thier middle aged is of course at late 20s to early 40s (one of my founders was 28, the oldest was 43.)Hm...Well, first off, I wouldn't put the start of modern human middle age until the late 30s, but if dwarves would start in their middle age, it might get...complex. I think someone should look up just how long people lived in the real-world middle ages, then we can compare it to the DF!human maxage, and compare those figures to dwarven maxage to estimate a good age for (normal) dwarves to tend to die at. Legendary and military dwarves should have some kind of trait to boost lifespan; maybe legendary dwarves should get lower penalties based on the number of legendary skills they have, and military skills should train physical aributes enough to help really strong dwarves stave off the effects of old age. Ideally, kills would provide enough of a boost to skill or something so that your dwarves that kill a hundred goblins also get to live longer.
Ah, Corai, you're always so...amusing.-Snip-Humans-Retire into a form of nobility.
Elves-Lay down near a tree and slit there throat once unable to work, letting the tree feast on the nutrient filled corpse.
Dwarves-WORK UNTIL DEATH.
Kobolds-Nom nom yummy old guy.
Goblin-Nom nom yummy old guy.
Thats how I think retirement should work.
-snip-I love it so much when people start arguing and realise they were in agreement all along. The last part, at least.
Ah. I get what you mean now, and I agree.
51446
DF Suggestions / Re: Assorted suggestions (mainly AI, interface, and combat)
« on: June 13, 2012, 07:14:27 pm »
Either you have really unlucky dwarves, or I have really lucky dwarves. Or maybe there's a mod involved. Probably one of the first, though. (Or maybe cave-in dust was involved? That stuff throws dwarves into walls like a bronze colossus who doesn't feel like breaking all of the dwarf's bones first.
Let's get back on topic. If dwarves are dying from one-z-level falls, the falls need to be toned down. Something like the old system, where only falls greater than a z-level do nothing. Then, we can hack at the problem of dwarves inadvertantly murdering each other. (Which would be neat, come to think of it--that is, if dwarves had a better idea of cause and effect, and prosecuted dwarves who channeled holes under their friends' feet, leading to their death, as murderers.) And...um...let's hear your thoughts about my thoughts about your other ideas.
Let's get back on topic. If dwarves are dying from one-z-level falls, the falls need to be toned down. Something like the old system, where only falls greater than a z-level do nothing. Then, we can hack at the problem of dwarves inadvertantly murdering each other. (Which would be neat, come to think of it--that is, if dwarves had a better idea of cause and effect, and prosecuted dwarves who channeled holes under their friends' feet, leading to their death, as murderers.) And...um...let's hear your thoughts about my thoughts about your other ideas.
51447
DF Suggestions / Re: Imperative mode
« on: June 13, 2012, 05:06:34 pm »
I think the idea was to be able to give more exact directions. For instance, ones that can be derived from Mudstone's posts:
[spoiler]
The ability to tell dwarves to stand still.
The ability to tell non-military dwarves to go somewhere without giving them a job there.
The ability to tell specific dwarves to do specfic tasks.
The ability to have these tasks done with specific materials (if appropriate).
[/quote]
These sound reasonable, and as long as you can tell any dwarf to do any job and so forth, it seems like it would be versaile enough to accomplish most of the non-movement tasks. Maybe this could be achieved through the 'j'obs menu--take a job and assign materials (if not already chosen, like with 'b'uilding stuff), and assign a dwarf, who will take the job once he's done his current job and, if needed, takes care of bodily needs. Add in a better ability to cancel dwarves' current jobs and the ability to somehow take jobs that don't show up in the jobs menu, like mining and trading at the depot, and we've got everything.
[spoiler]
The ability to tell dwarves to stand still.
The ability to tell non-military dwarves to go somewhere without giving them a job there.
The ability to tell specific dwarves to do specfic tasks.
The ability to have these tasks done with specific materials (if appropriate).
[/quote]
These sound reasonable, and as long as you can tell any dwarf to do any job and so forth, it seems like it would be versaile enough to accomplish most of the non-movement tasks. Maybe this could be achieved through the 'j'obs menu--take a job and assign materials (if not already chosen, like with 'b'uilding stuff), and assign a dwarf, who will take the job once he's done his current job and, if needed, takes care of bodily needs. Add in a better ability to cancel dwarves' current jobs and the ability to somehow take jobs that don't show up in the jobs menu, like mining and trading at the depot, and we've got everything.
51448
DF Suggestions / Re: Assorted suggestions (mainly AI, interface, and combat)
« on: June 13, 2012, 04:34:32 pm »
For me, falling one z-level results in bruises, if the damage isn't deflected by clothes. What version are you using? Are you sure they're falling ONLY one z-level? Are they moving horizontally, too? (Skidding can be lethal.)
51449
DF Community Games & Stories / Re: Demonslaughter - Bloodline Game
« on: June 13, 2012, 04:14:59 pm »
What's a bloodline game, exactly? Is it like a succession game?
51450
DF Community Games & Stories / Re: Zonnish, "Helmtrades," a Community High-Security Prison
« on: June 13, 2012, 04:09:45 pm »
Sorry for not updating for a couple days, I was waiting for a good breaking point. Then I realised there was an obvious one. Then I added a paragraph of time to keep from ending on a sad note.
I almost forgot to mention, I have recently been elected mayor!
For now, the goblin thieves have been stripped and are in a cage in the dining room. People like to toss them scraps of food and plump helmet skins and stuff, or to toss little pebbles at them. Especially Manorgloves. She claims to be ecstatic and not mind that her baby was snatched, but I know that, deep down, she hates every snatcher for what they did to her.
On the 5th of Hematite, another snatcher got caught. That gives us two females and a less-unhappy-looking male goblin. However, we need more cages. A lot more. I order another carpenter's workshop built, and have a random ranger assigned to carpentry duty. I also locate a couple other dwarves and move them to woodcutting and mining.
On the 8th, I see a giant snail. I decide that I want to enjoy some giant snail stew now that we're out of giant slug slurry. Embarrassingly, the militia is outrun by the snail. After some glancing and sometimes wounding blows by a rookie speardwarf, the snail is chased into a trap. Since giant snails can't be bred, likely have short lifespans, and remind me too much of the slug incident, I'm not having it tamed. However, a couple of people, notably Splint, have advised using the crowpeople as live training. I'll have a room just for that purpose set up ASAP.
On the 20th, a monument was engraved for the late Shem. It was made out of microcline, blue as the water which slew him, engraved with the words:
“In memory of Shem Athelarak,
Born 90,
Drowned in the year 128.
Loving father and husband.
United with billon.”
This is shortly followed by a mica memorial slab for Lokum the beekeeper, and identified the likliest cause of death...
“In memory of Lokum Vudtharfath,
Born 86,
Succumbed to infection in the year 128.
Devoted mother and wife,
At one with microcline.”
(Maybe those two slabs should have been switched?)
...and a granite slab, reminiscent of the chunk of granite which provided the fatal wound (same boulder, I believe), for Townbud, our first artificer and a great (if foolish) miner. Her slab reads:
“In memory of Uzol Amostenshal,
Born 91,
Bled to death, slain with granite in the year 128.
Creator of The Rumored Wills,
Loving Wife.”
These slabs are being erected around the fortress: Shem's near our fishing hole, Townbud's in the dining hall, and the beekeeper's on the spot where he died.
Speaking of death, of the 27th, a kobold thief revealed itself by stabbing Broken in the head. Broken did not survive the brainectomy, and so we gave the kobold the title of Charmshameful. All the militia might of Zonnish was sent against this beast. Sadly, only a couple of marksdwarves (one of who didn't even have a crossbow!), so aside from a couple of clumsy shots from the recruit that couldn't kill the kobold if it had a deathwish, the murderer and thief got away unopposed.
The whole fortress weeps for Broken. He had several friends, incuding most of the children and us Starting Seven. And, moreover, Broken's skilled care saved more than one of us. BerserkNINJA, in particular, was rescued from the brink of death by Broken's medicine. A cook, who likes helping others, has been chosen as the new head medic.
Shortly thereafter, a prisoner decided to try and traverse the flooded corridor between the river and the aquifer. This met with limited success; sadly, the prisoner did not drown.
-----
So...want a new dwarf? Name a specific unclaimed dwarf mentioned or request a profession(s) or something. I'm already an update ahead, so don't expect to see things immediately.
I almost forgot to mention, I have recently been elected mayor!
For now, the goblin thieves have been stripped and are in a cage in the dining room. People like to toss them scraps of food and plump helmet skins and stuff, or to toss little pebbles at them. Especially Manorgloves. She claims to be ecstatic and not mind that her baby was snatched, but I know that, deep down, she hates every snatcher for what they did to her.
On the 5th of Hematite, another snatcher got caught. That gives us two females and a less-unhappy-looking male goblin. However, we need more cages. A lot more. I order another carpenter's workshop built, and have a random ranger assigned to carpentry duty. I also locate a couple other dwarves and move them to woodcutting and mining.
On the 8th, I see a giant snail. I decide that I want to enjoy some giant snail stew now that we're out of giant slug slurry. Embarrassingly, the militia is outrun by the snail. After some glancing and sometimes wounding blows by a rookie speardwarf, the snail is chased into a trap. Since giant snails can't be bred, likely have short lifespans, and remind me too much of the slug incident, I'm not having it tamed. However, a couple of people, notably Splint, have advised using the crowpeople as live training. I'll have a room just for that purpose set up ASAP.
On the 20th, a monument was engraved for the late Shem. It was made out of microcline, blue as the water which slew him, engraved with the words:
“In memory of Shem Athelarak,
Born 90,
Drowned in the year 128.
Loving father and husband.
United with billon.”
This is shortly followed by a mica memorial slab for Lokum the beekeeper, and identified the likliest cause of death...
“In memory of Lokum Vudtharfath,
Born 86,
Succumbed to infection in the year 128.
Devoted mother and wife,
At one with microcline.”
(Maybe those two slabs should have been switched?)
...and a granite slab, reminiscent of the chunk of granite which provided the fatal wound (same boulder, I believe), for Townbud, our first artificer and a great (if foolish) miner. Her slab reads:
“In memory of Uzol Amostenshal,
Born 91,
Bled to death, slain with granite in the year 128.
Creator of The Rumored Wills,
Loving Wife.”
These slabs are being erected around the fortress: Shem's near our fishing hole, Townbud's in the dining hall, and the beekeeper's on the spot where he died.
Speaking of death, of the 27th, a kobold thief revealed itself by stabbing Broken in the head. Broken did not survive the brainectomy, and so we gave the kobold the title of Charmshameful. All the militia might of Zonnish was sent against this beast. Sadly, only a couple of marksdwarves (one of who didn't even have a crossbow!), so aside from a couple of clumsy shots from the recruit that couldn't kill the kobold if it had a deathwish, the murderer and thief got away unopposed.
The whole fortress weeps for Broken. He had several friends, incuding most of the children and us Starting Seven. And, moreover, Broken's skilled care saved more than one of us. BerserkNINJA, in particular, was rescued from the brink of death by Broken's medicine. A cook, who likes helping others, has been chosen as the new head medic.
Shortly thereafter, a prisoner decided to try and traverse the flooded corridor between the river and the aquifer. This met with limited success; sadly, the prisoner did not drown.
-----
So...want a new dwarf? Name a specific unclaimed dwarf mentioned or request a profession(s) or something. I'm already an update ahead, so don't expect to see things immediately.