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[GreatWyrmGold]

Ah, another list of little ideas...

Fortress/Interface: New cancel messages
Dwarf cancels job: Retrieving wounded.

Dwarves don't cancel jobs to retrieve wounded--do you think they should?

They don't?

Nope, Retrieve Wounded is a completely separate job from anything else. It's got a little line under the Healthcare section of v-p-l.

Fortress: Option to have dwarves drop hauling item when running to burrow
In case they need to get back to the fortress quickly to avoid getting caught outside in a siege, there should be an option to have dwarves drop an item they're hauling to increase speed.

I've seen varied behavior. Normally they do drop stuff they're hauling when interrupted (including once in the bottom of a river I was slowly draining), but apparently not always. Obviously, when the thing they're hauling is something like an artifact axe, or a big stack of meat and the pursuer is a vulture, you want the dwarf to keep hold of it. Either greater intelligence or some kind of menu (maybe under 'o'rders, maybe under 'h'auling) where dwarves are told what to hold onto and what to drop when interrupted would be needed.

I've never seen them actually drop something when fleeing from a siege. And as for the menu thing, that's why I specified "have an OPTION to".

Well, about the "Option" thing, dwarves aren't too god when they have "options," now are they? A bit of player control is preferable to dwarves deciding if that lasher is dangerous enough to drop the item or if the plump helmets (7) or what-have-you are important enough to keep, ignoring that they're probably light enough to not make a difference.

[leafbarrett]

Fortress: Option to have dwarves drop hauling item when running to burrow
In case they need to get back to the fortress quickly to avoid getting caught outside in a siege, there should be an option to have dwarves drop an item they're hauling to increase speed.

I've seen varied behavior. Normally they do drop stuff they're hauling when interrupted (including once in the bottom of a river I was slowly draining), but apparently not always. Obviously, when the thing they're hauling is something like an artifact axe, or a big stack of meat and the pursuer is a vulture, you want the dwarf to keep hold of it. Either greater intelligence or some kind of menu (maybe under 'o'rders, maybe under 'h'auling) where dwarves are told what to hold onto and what to drop when interrupted would be needed.

I've never seen them actually drop something when fleeing from a siege. And as for the menu thing, that's why I specified "have an OPTION to".

Well, about the "Option" thing, dwarves aren't too god when they have "options," now are they? A bit of player control is preferable to dwarves deciding if that lasher is dangerous enough to drop the item or if the plump helmets (7) or what-have-you are important enough to keep, ignoring that they're probably light enough to not make a difference.

Er, sorry, that's what I meant. ^^; Make it so that the player can choose if the dwarf drops the stuff or not.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Fortress: Option to have dwarves drop hauling item when running to burrow
In case they need to get back to the fortress quickly to avoid getting caught outside in a siege, there should be an option to have dwarves drop an item they're hauling to increase speed.

I've seen varied behavior. Normally they do drop stuff they're hauling when interrupted (including once in the bottom of a river I was slowly draining), but apparently not always. Obviously, when the thing they're hauling is something like an artifact axe, or a big stack of meat and the pursuer is a vulture, you want the dwarf to keep hold of it. Either greater intelligence or some kind of menu (maybe under 'o'rders, maybe under 'h'auling) where dwarves are told what to hold onto and what to drop when interrupted would be needed.

I've never seen them actually drop something when fleeing from a siege. And as for the menu thing, that's why I specified "have an OPTION to".

Well, about the "Option" thing, dwarves aren't too god when they have "options," now are they? A bit of player control is preferable to dwarves deciding if that lasher is dangerous enough to drop the item or if the plump helmets (7) or what-have-you are important enough to keep, ignoring that they're probably light enough to not make a difference.

Er, sorry, that's what I meant. ^^; Make it so that the player can choose if the dwarf drops the stuff or not.

Well, hacing to choose every time a dwarf is interrupted if Urist drops the item or not would be tedious and likelt immersion-breaking; that's why I advised a menu.

[MrWiggles]

leafbarret seem to think the game really some how knows intention vs. circumstance. I think leafbarrett would like it only to work, verse invaders, but dorfs run away from stuff all the time though. (Which will hopefully be changing soon.)

[leafbarrett]

Combat/Fortress: Weapons with multiple skills
Such as a combination pick/hammer¹, or even better, a combination hammer/pick/axe².

Spoiler: 1 (click to show/hide)

Simply called a pick hammer

Spoiler: 2 (click to show/hide)

The Zaghnal

I didn't get a chance to adequately explain, as I had to rush off to class. What I'm talking about isn't just cobbling together random weapon parts together. I'm talking about a system similar to the ranged weapon/melee weapon skill split used by, say, crossbows, where you can define an attack to use a different skill (such as the handle attack of an axe using the spear skill, maybe?). This would, however, also allow for the capability for multipurpose tools, as described above by the Zaghnal (which, by the way, is the dwarfiest weapon I've ever seen - mine, smash things, and piss off the elves all with the same weapon).

leafbarret seem to think the game really some how kniws intention vs. circumstance. I think leafbarrett would like it only to work, verse invaders, but dorfs run away from stuff all the time though. (Which will hopefully be changing soon.)

...? Can you rephrase the bolded part? I'm not entirely sure what you're saying. And regarding the game knowing circumstance vs intent, I know the AI can't really know what exactly you're trying to do, but having finer control over their actions would still be nice.

[Starver]

Combat/Fortress: Weapons with multiple skills
Such as a combination pick/hammer¹, or even better, a combination hammer/pick/axe².

Sounds quite similar to the idea covered by that of having potentially novel intermixes of weapon-parts.  Different handle, connector and, head-types, amongst other things, that could produce a glove-ended, chain-connected flying three-bladed axe-head.  But I could see the heads being able to have bladed, blunt, pointy, spiky, serrated, etc, on either side of the head's T, as well as possibly something jutting out colinear with the shaft...

(Of course, we'd need the "Build-A-Better-Battleweapon" adaptable template system to be implemented.)

[leafbarrett]

I didn't get a chance to adequately explain, as I had to rush off to class. What I'm talking about isn't just cobbling together random weapon parts together. I'm talking about a system similar to the ranged weapon/melee weapon skill split used by, say, crossbows, where you can define an attack to use a different skill (such as the handle attack of an axe using the spear skill, maybe?). This would, however, also allow for the capability for multipurpose tools, as described above by the Zaghnal (which, by the way, is the dwarfiest weapon I've ever seen - mine, smash things, and piss off the elves all with the same weapon).

[crazysheep]

leafbarret seem to think the game really some how kniws intention vs. circumstance. I think leafbarrett would like it only to work, verse invaders, but dorfs run away from stuff all the time though. (Which will hopefully be changing soon.)

...? Can you rephrase the bolded part? I'm not entirely sure what you're saying. And regarding the game knowing circumstance vs intent, I know the AI can't really know what exactly you're trying to do, but having finer control over their actions would still be nice.

If I understand what he's saying, he means that you want your dwarves to be able to drop whatever they're hauling and get back into the fortress when a siege turns up (hence "work against invaders"). He then goes on to point out that dwarves run away from almost everything.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The biggest problem with having dwarves only drop what they're hauling for invaders (assuming that they can do so intelligently) is probably elephants. Unless giant badgers are bigger.

I like the idea of being able to assign different skills to different attacks--say, axing someone with the blade is axedwarf, smacking them with the flat is macedwarf.

[MrWiggles]

leafbarret seem to think the game really some how kniws intention vs. circumstance. I think leafbarrett would like it only to work, verse invaders, but dorfs run away from stuff all the time though. (Which will hopefully be changing soon.)

...? Can you rephrase the bolded part? I'm not entirely sure what you're saying. And regarding the game knowing circumstance vs intent, I know the AI can't really know what exactly you're trying to do, but having finer control over their actions would still be nice.

If I understand what he's saying, he means that you want your dwarves to be able to drop whatever they're hauling and get back into the fortress when a siege turns up (hence "work against invaders"). He then goes on to point out that dwarves run away from almost everything.

Yea.

[leafbarrett]

Okay. That's true, but they run away while still dragging that lump of rock or whatever around with them, do they not? At least, that's what's happened in my experience.

General: Magic ideas
Now, I'm not suggesting that magic should be put in - Toady's already got that on the planned list, I know that for a fact. I do have some ideas for how magic could work, and for magic abilities as well. I just need to get my shit together and make cohesive ideas instead of rambling. From here on, all ideas regarding magic will be tagged with Magic:.

[loose nut]

AI/Combat: Backup weapons for marksdwarves
As the wiki states: "Although it sounds like a cool idea, equipping a marksdwarf with a backup shortsword just in case doesn't often work, as dwarves are just as quick to run up their foes and start bashing them with a crossbow as they are to draw their swords and do it properly." This seems exceptionally silly to me. I propose that the AI be modified so that if the dwarf has another weapon equipped alongside a crossbow, and they run out of ammo, they switch to the other weapon.

I'd like backup weapons to be generally implemented. This would restore the old .40d function of carrying a backup weapon in case your first one is dropped or stuck in an enemy, allow dwarves to switch if they discover that their primary weapon is ineffective against a foe, and most importantly, when combined with forgeable throwing weapons, allow me to build a force of dwarven legionnaires!

[GreatWyrmGold]

AI/Combat: Backup weapons for marksdwarves
As the wiki states: "Although it sounds like a cool idea, equipping a marksdwarf with a backup shortsword just in case doesn't often work, as dwarves are just as quick to run up their foes and start bashing them with a crossbow as they are to draw their swords and do it properly." This seems exceptionally silly to me. I propose that the AI be modified so that if the dwarf has another weapon equipped alongside a crossbow, and they run out of ammo, they switch to the other weapon.

I'd like backup weapons to be generally implemented. This would restore the old .40d function of carrying a backup weapon in case your first one is dropped or stuck in an enemy, allow dwarves to switch if they discover that their primary weapon is ineffective against a foe, and most importantly, when combined with forgeable throwing weapons, allow me to build a force of dwarven legionnaires!

Yeah, stuff like this would be nice. I'm trying to think of non-marksdwarf situations where that would be useful...once reach and/or brakable weapons get implemented, I guess.

[leafbarrett]

Magic: Fire magic doesn't light the whole world on fire, at least not accidentally
It took all of 2 seconds with exploring fire usage via modding to find out that it is very easy to start a fire that will pretty much scorch the entire landscape. This would make fire magic extremely impractical if such a thing is implemented. What I'm suggesting is a way to control what your fire magic targets, at least to an extent. Now if you WANT to turn the whole map surface into a !!desert!!, then that's another story...