Bay 12 Games Forum

Hey Meph, I'm going to add some tags to the inorganics.  (Magnetism and conductivity reaction classes.)  Are there any files that are likely to be changed in the next update, to ensure that there are no conflicts.

...Also, what happened to cryolite?

Quote from: IndigoFenix on February 10, 2014, 07:01:32 pm

Well.  This one's pretty experimental, but...

The 'Aerial Transport Device' lets gnomes fling items across the map.  Including themselves.

It's not exactly useful like this, but it sure is fun to play with!

How is it not useful? You finally created a device we can build proper projectile traps with.

Power.
Floor hatch above the workshop.
Dump lots of spears, stone or whatever on top of it.
Link hatch to pressure plate.

PROFIT

I managed to kill 4 of my gnomes just testing how it works. Best. Device. Ever.

Well, yes, there is that. 
I need to figure out why items don't seem to go the same distance as creatures even if they are given the same initial speed.  Ideally, you'd be able to test your trajectory by launching rocks or logs before you set it to start chucking gnomes or pets.  Not sure if item gravity works differently than creatures or if I just left out a number somewhere.

Hm... If you can make softer walls... Would it then possible to also make 'spiked walls'? Like default upright spears, just on walls... I'm just thinking how to improve the design of my minecart grinder even further. Or would it make a difference if remove the natural sand wall and replace it with some constructed welded wolfram wall?

Not spiked, but denser materials do more damage on collisions.  Apparently the game simulates collision damage by creating a 'block' of the material with a size based on the creature's size, then hitting the creature with it at the speed it was moving.  Damage is based on density.  So lightweight cushions do only a tiny bit of damage - and somewhat perplexingly, so does adamantine (apparently only density matters, not hardness - a bit unrealistic but that's just a quirk of the physics system).  To deal heavy damage, just make the floor/wall out of a really dense material, like lead or platinum.  Also, creatures weak against the material will take extra damage, so it might be worthwhile to incorporate shadesilver/moonsilver walls into your traps... extra damage against the relevant creatures, and silver is already a fairly dense material.

Updated construct-creature to allow itemcorpses made of the material used to create the creature.

Uh...
Is that even lua?

Anyone know how to use eventful.onUnitDeath?

I tried to use this very simple code to test it:

local eventful = require 'plugins.eventful'

eventful.enableEvent(eventful.eventType.UNIT_DEATH,5)

eventful.onUnitDeath=function(u)
local unit = u
print('unit died.')
end

But nothing happens.  I also tried putting the eventful.onUnitDeath inside a constantly repeating function, but still no effect.  Does anyone know of a script that uses this function?

So I'm playing with some ideas for a tech tree.  The question is, how far should gnomes be able to go with their technology?

What I'm thinking is that they shouldn't really be able to be 'dated' to any particular age of human history.  There should be some schizo tech going on here.  One logical thing to assume is that they should probably be far ahead with regards to any mining-related technology, and possibly a little behind with weaponry.

The major clincher here is electricity.  Should they be able to produce electricity?  What could it be used for without feeling too out-of-place (or more likely, just out of place enough)?

Experiments involving low current, high voltage electrostatic 'friction machines' (made of rapidly rotating glass and cloth) go back to the 1600s, and the first electricity-storing capacitors (made of glass jars and metal foil) were made around the 1700s.  The relationship between electricity and magnetism was discovered in the 1800s, which was also when the first electric dynamos were invented.  Even without a 'research' system (which I don't like very much), this progression could be more-or-less followed in a single gnome fortress: create an electrostatic generator using a powered workshop, use it to charge a capacitor, use the capacitor to create magnets in a forge or smelter, use the magnets to create a dynamo, create a generator using a dynamo, which can produce high-current electricity when powered by machinery.  Or hand-cranked for hand-held electric or electromagnetic tools and weapons.  Or used in an electrolytic cell that would allow them to extract aluminum from bauxite hundreds of years before anyone else figures it out and thereby become filthy rich?

Of course, maybe gnomes don't follow these rules.  What if they discovered high-voltage electric power, but never developed alternating current?  Maybe their connection to nature keeps them from making casual use of electric power, which is a highly wasteful energy source?  Or perhaps they just prefer clockpunk because it looks cool?

Just throwing ideas around.

Where can I find the code for your mechanical workshops?  I've been looking for those.