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Author Topic: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape  (Read 1265 times)

Bohandas

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Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« on: June 04, 2012, 12:43:51 pm »

Just had an idea, there should be a creature tag to allow creatures to escape from cages. This could essentially be an intermediate between TRAPAVOID creatures and regular creatures. The creature would be mostly immune to cage traps, but still vulnerable to attack traps (stone fall traps, weapon traps, etc.)

EDIT:
This would represent creatures small enough to squeeze between bars, amorphous enough to ooze around them, which possess the ability to pick the locks on their cages, or which possess supernatural abilities that prevent them from being confined.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 06:50:56 pm by Bohandas »
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Uristocrat

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2012, 03:51:46 pm »

Just had an idea, there should be a creature tag to allow creatures to escape from cages. This could essentially be an intermediate between TRAPAVOID creatures and regular creatures. The creature would be mostly immune to cage traps, but still vulnerable to attack traps (stone fall traps, weapon traps, etc.)

Ideally, they would have to break out of cages rather than being immune.  So metal cages would suddenly become necessary and goblin terrariums might backfire.
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King Mir

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2012, 04:59:08 pm »

Wooden cages and terrariums can be broken. Wood and metal cages can be squeezed through by small or incorporeal creatures. Which behaviour would [CAGEAVOID] represent?

Uristocrat

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2012, 05:12:29 pm »

Wooden cages and terrariums can be broken. Wood and metal cages can be squeezed through by small or incorporeal creatures. Which behaviour would [CAGEAVOID] represent?

See, now that is some great thinking about how to differentiate the cage types.

It would be totally hilarious if you could cage ghostly/incorporeal critters in glass cages.  I get Ghost Busters vibes just thinking about it.
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GreatWyrmGold

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2012, 05:31:08 pm »

Wood cages could also be squeezed through, although they're the easiest to make (except on tree-deprived, sandy maps with magma).

I think this should be more of a quality of all creatures, although some creatures would be able to escape cages even if they're too weak or big to escape normally.
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King Mir

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2012, 05:35:13 pm »

But how would it work physically? It's better not to put in features that don't physically make sense.

Uristocrat

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2012, 05:50:12 pm »

But how would it work physically? It's better not to put in features that don't physically make sense.

How do you mean?  It's not hard to imagine a dragon busting out of a wooden cage.  Nor is it hard to imagine a hammergoblin shattering a terrarium.

Or do you mean ghostly creatures?  Those pretty much defy physics already....
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You could have berries on the rocks and the dwarves would say it was "berry gneiss."
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King Mir

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2012, 05:57:09 pm »

That comment was mostly toward GreatWyrmGold, and also the OP, who were proposing a tag, without explaining what it represents. Creatures breaking cages is a physical explanation, so that checks out. But that would suggest that it should not be based on a tag, but on the strength of the creature. If the creature is strong enough to bend the material the cage is made out of, it should break out, probably breaking the cage in the process.

Bohandas

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2012, 06:24:13 pm »

Wooden cages and terrariums can be broken. Wood and metal cages can be squeezed through by small or incorporeal creatures. Which behaviour would [CAGEAVOID] represent?

CAGEAVOID would be for squeezing through (or around, in the case of amorphous creatures) bars and/or supernatural escape abilities and/or picking the locks on cage doors.

If bursting cages were implemented, and that's a good idea too, it probably wouldn't necessarily need a new token; attempts to bend/break bars could be resolved by rolling attacks against a bodypart-like stand-in bar of the appropriate material. This could also work for breaking through grates*

But how would it work physically? It's better not to put in features that don't physically make sense.

Since we all know necromancy and bogeymon have such a sound grounding in physics...

But seriously, a lot of creatures are clearly small enough to squeeze through most bars, we might as well be able to tag them as such, the same goes for amorphous creatures that can ooze around bars. But its not only good for that; We DO already have a tag for picking the locks on regular doors, why not one for the locks on cages too.


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*On that note, related idea: GRATEBYPASS token for creatures that can squeeze through grates
« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 06:44:21 pm by Bohandas »
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King Mir

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2012, 06:31:10 pm »

But then it shouldn't work against terrariums. . .

Bohandas

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2012, 06:34:30 pm »

But then it shouldn't work against terrariums. . .

Agreed.

Ultimately, if this is implemented, it would be good to be able to make either solid or barred cages of any material (solid metal and wood cages would take an extra unit of resources, but not be able to be escaped from [except by breaking them if that is implemented too; and they would be a bit harder to break as well])
« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 06:48:22 pm by Bohandas »
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King Mir

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #11 on: June 04, 2012, 07:31:44 pm »

No, I don't like that because then, if there are enough resources, only solid cages would ever be used. I suppose you could make metal cages barred only, and then have wooden crates and cages as two separate objects. . . 

Bohandas

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #12 on: June 04, 2012, 07:57:27 pm »

No, I don't like that because then, if there are enough resources, only solid cages would ever be used. I suppose you could make metal cages barred only, and then have wooden crates and cages as two separate objects. . .
Many would argue that making ONLY solid cages, if said cages cost extra, would be a waste of logs and metal that could be better used making weapons. Your fort would have to be at a very significant stage of development for there to be "enough resources". The way that I play, I need those logs for charcoal, beds, and spiked wooden balls.
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Uristocrat

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #13 on: June 05, 2012, 02:42:28 pm »

No, I don't like that because then, if there are enough resources, only solid cages would ever be used. I suppose you could make metal cages barred only, and then have wooden crates and cages as two separate objects. . .
Many would argue that making ONLY solid cages, if said cages cost extra, would be a waste of logs and metal that could be better used making weapons. Your fort would have to be at a very significant stage of development for there to be "enough resources". The way that I play, I need those logs for charcoal, beds, and spiked wooden balls.

For me, though, that would be only beds (use spiked green glass balls & get your glass via magma).  I have to admit that I like the idea that you can't just do everything with everything, but have to make tradeoffs when you design your cage trap setup.
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Carp McDwarfEater

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Re: Suggestion for new creature behavior - Cage Escape
« Reply #14 on: June 05, 2012, 04:26:08 pm »

Air wouldn't be able to get through a completly solid cage(unless there are opening, which could potentially be escaped through by a small creature or made larger by strong creatures) so the tradeoff cojld be that conventional cages are much better if you want whatever they catch to stay alive.
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