Bay 12 Games Forum

Where do I put these? Which file?

Sorry for being less experienced 

In order of listing:

plant_standard.txt
material_template_standard.txt
reaction_other.txt
entity_default.txt (somewhere under the entry [ENTITY:MOUNTAIN], should be the first entry in an unmodded file)

I could package them into custom files that you just drag-and-drop if you like and if IT permits it.

Do they... eat these cigars?

From a technical standpoint, yes.  Unfortunately, this is an engine limitation.  However, simply watching them, you shouldn't really notice a difference.

Well done, IT.

That's good. I also think that viewing it as a reward of luck works out nicely. I guess it's more of a reward for long-lived forts? I'm pretty sure we've all felt that moment in a vanilla game where it feels like there's nothing to really look forward to other than the next forgotten beast.

Having played a lot of Fortress Defense, I highly doubt you will get bored.  Having three new races of ramped-up difficulty attacking you in addition to the goblins will keep you quite busy, and if you ever do manage to get tired, there's always the option of megaprojects.  Once tech tree concepts are added, that will be yet another thing to work for.  To be honest, the only thing you have to fear is the inevitable FPS death, which is a problem you're going to find in any version of the game, modded or not.

Also, if you advance the tech tree, it opens up the possibilities for epic adventures and discoveries in abandoned forts in adventure mode.  Fighting your way through the ancient halls of your ancestors, hoping to find one of the relics they left behind - the entire story behind which you have influenced and witnessed firsthand.

Signing off for now to get some sleep.  Expect me to leak a few sprites over the next few days up to the release of v0.11.

This is what I have drawn up for a "tech tree" sort of thing that works with the current system.

A theoretical creature (let's call it a "wingerot") wanders into the caverns and into your fortress.  Your dwarves kill it, and it drops an item on death - which could be an item named a "wingerot's mechanical wing" (note that this is an item (probably a toy for technical reasons), not a body part).  After obtaining five wingerot wings, you will have the required reagents for a new alchemical reaction - let's call it "wingerot research."  This reaction takes the five wingerot wings and produces another otherwise unavailable item, which, for the sake of argument, I will call "advanced fabrication blueprints."  This item is then used to build a new workshop, with its associated reactions.

In this way, it is possible to restrict the construction of a building until certain conditions are met - in this case, the slaying of five wingerots, though other ideas are also possible.  Since the building cannot be constructed without the necessary item(s), the reactions associated with that building are "locked" until your civilization is able to finish construction.  This is the essence of the "tech tree" concept using the current engine.  The reactions are never actually locked, but require special materials to create the building that makes them possible.  It is even possible for one of these reactions to replicate the necessary material for the building, allowing you to build as many workshop as you wish after "unlocking" one.

I am, personally, excited about the possibilities of this concept.  This process could be used to justify advanced mechanics and technological advances that would break the game if available from the start of a fortress, but can genuinely enhance the experience as a fort ages.  A siege could be fought off with current technologies, or weathered in hopes of a game-changing technical advancement with this system.  For example, the killing of a megabeast could not only prove a historic event, but could leave behind an item that could be used to build a workshop that can fabricate a new type of weapon inspired by the beast itself.  Obviously, this weapon will still be available in moods, but will not be there to create at will until the megabeast is slain and the workshop built from its unique drop.  With the sheer volume of mood weapons already added, the probability of getting this specific weapon without finishing the prerequisite is both extremely low and inconsequential.

Sentinel core research uses this concept in the current mod, but produces a one-time result rather than a product that can be used for a workshop.

I would like some feedback here, as this idea may be a bit polarizing.  Some people may see this idea the way I do, as potential for a deeper experience, but others may feel that the restriction on production until a condition is met is frustrating.  Obviously, this is not the intention.  I am a bit concerned also about the effect that adding a lot more permitted reactions and associated "technical advancement" items will have on mandates, though this should be easily averted by wisely choosing your mayor and nobility.

I figure that I should explain why I voted like I did.

Alchemy, Mythical minerals... we have that stuff in spades.  Every second mod that I install, I have to edit their interpretation of, say, Mithril to work with the 1000 others that I have installed already.  All kinds of different mods do it.

But none of them so far have done anything with tinkering and artificting.  Which is very unfortunate, because that always seemed way more dwarfy than alchemy.  Bells, whistles, knobs and gears.  Mechanisms.  These are the things that spark the dwarven imagination, not sorcery and potions.

My intentions for metals were, at first, threefold.

1) To bridge the power gap between steel and adamantine
2) To make combat metals of varying strength available in different ways
3) To introduce new options for blunt weapons, including an "endgame" blunt metal.

I feel that I have accomplished these goals with the metals already included.  For this reason, I feel that introducing more metals to the same effect would be confusing and counter-productive.  There is a point at which variety becomes overbearing, and I'd rather not find out where that point is.  The reason this is even included in the poll is to see how others feel about the way I have gone about it.

This leaves two more possible purposes for metals in the current game.

1) Economic metals.  Even though these have not been explicitly addressed, the combat metals have provided a number of high-value options for furniture and crafts.  White gold is being included as another option for incresing value in v0.11.

2) Metals with unorthodox roles (i.e. alchemy).  Like yourself, I feel that this is the most exciting - and, ironically, least explored - possible area of elaboration.   Judging from preliminary poll results, I feel like this is a logical next step.

Also, like yourself, I feel that the concept of machinery and tinkering is a theme that should be developed on.  Other mods have included metals such as enchanted forms of steel or more complicated or magic-infused alloys for combat.  While I acknowledge that some of these mods do an excellent job, I feel that the concept itself is a bit of a cop-out.  Enchantment can be used to justify anything, and is only used very sparingly in the vanilla game.  I feel that invention, mechanisms, and tinkering are a much more interesting option for expansion.

I've been getting voidwalker thieves, but somehow I don't think that's what you mean by feedback on voidwalkers.

Out of curiosity, did you get a look at the equipment?  I would like some sort of confirmation that the "conjure voidshard" reaction is working for the AI.  A single weapon or piece of equipment would be all I need to see.

I suppose you could think of the implications of what a telepathic race means.

But I think it would be more fun to make a psionic race, generally with a range of mental powers, not just mind reading (which would be pointless anyways because Dwarves are already psychically able to know there is an unclaimed sock around all the way across the world).

So what would Psionics be able to do?

Pyrokinesis could be a fire breathing thing.
Telekinesis could allow them to be fliers.
Telepathy and Psychometry would make them trap avoiders, and better at combat since they can see what you're planning on doing next.

The list goes on an on.  Basically, Deon has done just this very thing with Illithids, to deadly affect.

How I wish you could put a [FLIER] tag on an item...

I also discovered that the bucket component of alchemy labs will degrade over time - which kind of surprised me, because I didn't even know buckets COULD degrade over time.  The problem seems to only apply to wooden buckets.  If the bucket gets too damaged, the workshop deconstructs itself.  I have no idea why this happens, but using metal buckets seems to solve the problem.  I guess the hazardous radiation blasts have a negative effect on the cell walls of the wood.

This should be fixed now.  Disastrous conflagrations may still damage the buckets, but other byproducts will not.