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[GreatWyrmGold]

As we all (should) know, human sites have been revamped and goblin sites are being revamped. This probably means that other races' sites will be worked on soon. Toady wants ginormous trees to go along with the new elven sites, so we're running out of time to discuss it.
This thread is intended to be a place where we can bounce around ideas about giant, multi-tile trees. To kick off discussion, I'll suggest some topics of conversation.

--How big should trees normally get? How tall, how wide? How much would savage/good/evil/benign regions or elven presence affect this?
--How fast should the trees grow? How much would this be affected by savage/good/evil/benign regions or elves?
--Should trees have corresponding roots? If so, would roots be a potential source of wood?
--How would tree-cutting work now?
--How would cutting into a tree affect it, and would this be a woodcutting or a mining job?
--How much could dwarves affect these processes, say via fertilization?
--Would these rules apply to cavern fungi, and how?

Don't feel limited by these questions. They're just ideas to spark yours.

[Monk321654]

As long as we can set up a method of dropping the trees onto intruders in spectacular bloody fashion, I'm good.

[NAV]

I want to make a dwarven treehouse.
How would trees react to magma?

[10ebbor10]

I want to make a dwarven treehouse.
How would trees react to magma?

Probably burn, but if they are wet enough, the water inside might spontanously evaporate, resulting in exploding trees and a small magma shower.

Something similair can happen when a rotten tree freezes.

[Deimos56]

How should trees grow? Should they do so in a gradual, 'block by block' manner with little limbs and stuff growing off the sides, or just spontaneously grow to full height like they do now?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Probably block-by-block.

[nanomage]

Toady would need a new tag system to describe the form of tree crown. Some trees, like savage highwoods, definitely should be able to be very high, tens of z-levels.
As for describing a particular tree's growth in the absence of things like soil nutrients and sunlight and other such stuuf, there remain three things to affect tree's growth:
Soil type - different tree would prefer different soils.
Precipitation rate.
Soil deepness - as the tree root burrows down into the soil, it acquires support and nutrients for the crown to grow higher and bigger. If the root hits the underground bedrock then the tree should probably stop growing up.

I think woocutting should remain woodcutting job but maybe it would work in a fasion more similar to mining.


EDIT: actually upon the seconf though, soil nutrients' levels could be introduced cheaply if they are attached to soil types instead of being actually calculated somehow.

[Michael]

Is anyone else not enthusiastic about multi-tile trees?

MTTs work beautifully in Minecraft, but under the current paradigms of the Dwarf Fortress interface, I expect that they will look rather uglier than the arrows, cardsuit and other symbols used at present.

[nanomage]

Is anyone else not enthusiastic about multi-tile trees?

MTTs work beautifully in Minecraft, but under the current paradigms of the Dwarf Fortress interface, I expect that they will look rather uglier than the arrows, cardsuit and other symbols used at present.

I think it's not really important how they look as long as it's clear and not confusing. Own players' imagination is what makes DF so addictive, I think.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Toady would need a new tag system to describe the form of tree crown. Some trees, like savage highwoods, definitely should be able to be very high, tens of z-levels.
As for describing a particular tree's growth in the absence of things like soil nutrients and sunlight and other such stuuf, there remain three things to affect tree's growth:
Soil type - different tree would prefer different soils.
Precipitation rate.
Soil deepness - as the tree root burrows down into the soil, it acquires support and nutrients for the crown to grow higher and bigger. If the root hits the underground bedrock then the tree should probably stop growing up.

...Yet another way one thing leads to another awesome feature.

Is anyone else not enthusiastic about multi-tile trees?

MTTs work beautifully in Minecraft, but under the current paradigms of the Dwarf Fortress interface, I expect that they will look rather uglier than the arrows, cardsuit and other symbols used at present.

I think it's not really important how they look as long as it's clear and not confusing. Own players' imagination is what makes DF so addictive, I think.

Well-put.

[My Name is Immaterial]

I have a few thoughts.
1. Leaves. Specifically, will we be able to trim leaves off, to create designs(topiary!), or to harvest resources, like dead branches or fruit.
2. Timber. From what I know of Toady, trees are going to fall down, and dwarves will not pay any attention. Unless all the logs drop in a neat pile, which I doubt. Don't do it.
Which leads me to
3. Cutting off parts of trees. Can we cut down half the tree, so we can leave parts? Also, will that affect tree growth?
4. Stumps. I think that tree stumps would be a nice aesthetic feature. That's me though.
5. Climbing. Give me it. I want to hide from the wolf pack in a tree. Gimme. I also want that goblin archer with no more arrows to get down and stop scaring my dwarves who just want to pick up socks from the dead. As I said, GIMME! I want so much.

[King Mir]

A climber tag would be nice. Elves and humans could climb trees, cliffs, and rough walls. Subterranean creatures could climb cave walls. And for some places in elf cities, rope ladders could be used. Dwarves would be unable to access most elven trees. Not that they'd want to anyway.

[nanomage]

A climber tag would be nice. Elves and humans could climb trees, cliffs, and rough walls. Subterranean creatures could climb cave walls. And for some places in elf cities, rope ladders could be used. Dwarves would be unable to access most elven trees. Not that they'd want to anyway.

Of course they'd want, that's how you kill elves!

[GreatWyrmGold]

A climber tag would be nice. Elves and humans could climb trees, cliffs, and rough walls. Subterranean creatures could climb cave walls. And for some places in elf cities, rope ladders could be used. Dwarves would be unable to access most elven trees. Not that they'd want to anyway.

I think a tag for spiders, geckos, etc, and a tag for creatures completely unable to climb would make more sense.

[King Mir]

A climber tag would be nice. Elves and humans could climb trees, cliffs, and rough walls. Subterranean creatures could climb cave walls. And for some places in elf cities, rope ladders could be used. Dwarves would be unable to access most elven trees. Not that they'd want to anyway.

Of course they'd want, that's how you kill elves!

No, no. You kill elves by building campfires around their trees. Much more efficient.

Or they could chop the trees down with the elves in em.