Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 10

Author Topic: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer  (Read 20569 times)

contheman

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« on: May 04, 2015, 05:56:24 pm »

The Adventures of Lord Cikul Knifejoke
The Under Appreciated Anthropologist of Steel

I am currently a student of anthropology and I love Dwarf Fortress. Therefore, I have decided to combine the two and take all of you along for the journey of doing an ethnographic (socio-cultural) study of a group or site in the game. This will be my first time doing anything like this, but I have faith that this can become an interesting adventure.

It is up to you guys to vote for the parameters of the world in which the study takes place. I will most likely start as a human outsider with my own brew of attributes and skills (none of which will probably conducive to combat) in 40.24. You will vote where I initially go to study—this can be a study of any non-hostile species with spoken language in the game—after the world is generated. I will give you guys a week (until Monday 12:00 PM EST) to vote on a few basic parameters.

Parameters:
  • World Size (any)
  • Seeds (default or custom)
  • History (100+ years)
  • Number of Sites (any)
  • Beasts (any)
  • Savagery (any)
  • Mineral Occurrence (any)
  • Optional: any advanced parameter you might want me to use (i.e. 0 Bogeymen Types or 300 Volcanoes)

If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, don't hesitate to post below or message me.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I will be utilizing the following ethical guidelines given by the American Anthropologist Association. http://users.polisci.wisc.edu/schatzberg/ps919/AAA,%20Ethics,%202012.pdf

Entire journey so far:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: June 08, 2015, 12:41:56 pm by contheman »
Logged
-An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer-
The Adventures of Lord Cikul Knifejoke
The Under Appreciated Anthropologist of Steel
-A Fortress History-
The Founding of an Egypto-Dwarven Outpost
Life in Canyonfuture

Max™

  • Bay Watcher
  • [CULL:SQUARE]
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2015, 07:59:04 pm »

The parameters I posted in the what's going on thread which I used to generate that super steep conical mountain range also produce neat blends of clustered human/dorf/elf/goblin civs that mingle and war and have all sorts of interesting stuff taking place. I'm not even remotely surprised at this point to load up a new adventurer and find a dorf king chilling with a goblin baron, human champion, and a regular dorf duke.
Logged

contheman

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2015, 08:14:30 pm »

That sounds like a pretty good option for studying the effects of a unique geography on the people which live upon it.
Logged
-An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer-
The Adventures of Lord Cikul Knifejoke
The Under Appreciated Anthropologist of Steel
-A Fortress History-
The Founding of an Egypto-Dwarven Outpost
Life in Canyonfuture

Max™

  • Bay Watcher
  • [CULL:SQUARE]
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2015, 08:37:25 pm »

Good god, I exported the elevation map on one I made a little bit ago testing some mod stuff hoping I'd get another crazy steep peak.

So first, the packed in mishmash of civs and sites, this is after 46 years btw:


Then, look at the little sharp edged white spot in the upper left:


I'm gonna go poke around and see how crazy that thing looks in a bit, and then fling myself off of it and hope I can catch hold of a tree before I explode.

Code: [Select]
[WORLD_GEN]
[TITLE:SMALLPACKED]
[SEED:yXpKH1LGtcYdSueNESmx]
[HISTORY_SEED:ME4IVmg9XWGmnvwu55yo]
[NAME_SEED:ThDjR4HPMrAvI01dYTYM]
[CREATURE_SEED:lesQicXdVHFDkGkz6pbb]
[DIM:17:17]
[EMBARK_POINTS:1500]
[END_YEAR:175]
[BEAST_END_YEAR:150:15]
[REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY:1]
[CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:0]
[ELEVATION:90:400:3200:800]
[RAINFALL:10:85:101:101]
[TEMPERATURE:40:80:101:101]
[DRAINAGE:40:100:101:101]
[VOLCANISM:0:100:101:101]
[SAVAGERY:0:100:1600:1600]
[ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[RAIN_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[POLE:NONE]
[MINERAL_SCARCITY:500]
[MEGABEAST_CAP:5]
[SEMIMEGABEAST_CAP:3]
[TITAN_NUMBER:2]
[TITAN_ATTACK_TRIGGER:80:0:100000]
[DEMON_NUMBER:33]
[NIGHT_TROLL_NUMBER:0]
[BOGEYMAN_NUMBER:0]
[VAMPIRE_NUMBER:5]
[WEREBEAST_NUMBER:5]
[SECRET_NUMBER:11]
[REGIONAL_INTERACTION_NUMBER:5]
[DISTURBANCE_INTERACTION_NUMBER:5]
[EVIL_CLOUD_NUMBER:5]
[EVIL_RAIN_NUMBER:5]
[GENERATE_DIVINE_MATERIALS:1]
[GOOD_SQ_COUNTS:1:2:4]
[EVIL_SQ_COUNTS:1:2:4]
[PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:5]
[PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:2]
[COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:0]
[VOLCANO_MIN:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:16:0:0]
[EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:150]
[RIVER_MINS:0:0]
[PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:1]
[OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:1]
[SUBREGION_MAX:2500]
[CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:1]
[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MIN:95]
[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MAX:100]
[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MIN:0]
[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MAX:10]
[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MIN:0]
[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MAX:100]
[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:1]
[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_2:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_GROUND:15]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_1:5]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_2:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_3:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_4:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_5:2]
[LEVELS_AT_BOTTOM:1]
[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:1]
[CAVE_MAX_SIZE:5]
[MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:0]
[NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:3]
[ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:0]
[SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:2]
[TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:20]
[TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:15000]
[SITE_CAP:550]
[PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:1]
[ELEVATION_RANGES:0:0:0]
[RAIN_RANGES:0:0:0]
[DRAINAGE_RANGES:0:0:0]
[SAVAGERY_RANGES:0:0:0]
[VOLCANISM_RANGES:0:0:0]
I love the variations of these because they gen fast, tend to produce really crazy histories, and are just a lot of fun to roam around on while testing stuff out.

I have made a couple of changes to gobs to remove the likes site: dark fortresses, and use evil animals, to keep populations per site more reasonable than the crazy 8k+ stuff you get by default, so these aren't ideal for fort mode where you wanna make a goblin meat grinder, but you can actually roam around in these sites with normal fps so it's worth it.

They do tend to burn out after a couple hundred years though, and sometimes you get necromancer runaways that end up with like 11 total civilized world population or something, but I suppose that could be fun too!
Logged

contheman

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2015, 08:45:11 pm »

I put your parameters into my world gen file, anticipating that I will probably get the best results from your suggestion.
I love hunting necromancers, but I usually end up part of the zombie horde after disposing of two dozen undead goblins and humans. Necromancers are a bit more tricky than they used to be. As a scrawny peasant, I think I'll try to avoid getting too close to them.
Logged
-An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer-
The Adventures of Lord Cikul Knifejoke
The Under Appreciated Anthropologist of Steel
-A Fortress History-
The Founding of an Egypto-Dwarven Outpost
Life in Canyonfuture

Max™

  • Bay Watcher
  • [CULL:SQUARE]
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2015, 10:32:04 pm »

Yeah, they're not the end all be all for some things but while sometimes I like to roam across a big huge map seeing what is there, there's still so much to see and do on just a little packed 17x17 that I keep going back to those, and periodically 33x33's with similar parameters but bumped up to flesh out the pops and sites accordingly.
Logged

contheman

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #6 on: May 04, 2015, 10:50:39 pm »

Yeah, they're not the end all be all for some things but while sometimes I like to roam across a big huge map seeing what is there, there's still so much to see and do on just a little packed 17x17 that I keep going back to those, and periodically 33x33's with similar parameters but bumped up to flesh out the pops and sites accordingly.
True, there is no end all be all for individual worlds. That is why I put it to a vote as to where the adventure happens.
Logged
-An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer-
The Adventures of Lord Cikul Knifejoke
The Under Appreciated Anthropologist of Steel
-A Fortress History-
The Founding of an Egypto-Dwarven Outpost
Life in Canyonfuture

Max™

  • Bay Watcher
  • [CULL:SQUARE]
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2015, 11:35:03 pm »

I think the part that would frustrate me more if I tried to do this as an end to itself (I kinda do study the various folks and history and families and conflicts and such but it's all amateur and just sort of as I encounter it) is things like the time I walked in on a counter-insurrection where a sacked fortress with a goblin government put in place was busily running around killing them all, as I phrased it "yakety saxing around" I think, and after it all played out and stopped I remembered I had seen the message "the king retches" a few times.

I went and found him, a goblin, interesting but not that odd with these little densely packed worlds, the civ itself had a former king who is currently a necromancer, but that isn't even the interesting thing, the goblin's name is what caught my attention: Liceva.

I still can't figure out who to talk to or where to look to determine why that goblin who ended up ruling a dorf civ has an elf language name, though "Legendary Punchtruths" might have been what got him the job in the first place due to awesomeness.
Logged

Amperzand

  • Bay Watcher
  • Knight of Cerebus
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2015, 01:26:03 am »

This all sounds kind of awesome, and I support Max's worldgen. PTW.
Logged
Muh FG--OOC Thread
Quote from: smirk
Quote from: Shadowlord
Is there a word that combines comedy with tragedy and farce?
Heiterverzweiflung. Not a legit German word so much as something a friend and I made up in German class once. "Carefree despair". When life is so fucked that you can't stop laughing.
http://www.collinsdictionary.com

contheman

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2015, 08:35:18 am »

I get what you're saying Max. The task will be formidable and possibly dangerous, but I think it will be fun and exciting.
What do you guys think of weekly journals of the study from the perspective of the adventurer?
Logged
-An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer-
The Adventures of Lord Cikul Knifejoke
The Under Appreciated Anthropologist of Steel
-A Fortress History-
The Founding of an Egypto-Dwarven Outpost
Life in Canyonfuture

mangulwort

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2015, 10:42:12 am »

I wish to see how kobolds live in caves!
Logged

contheman

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2015, 11:00:46 am »

I wish to see how kobolds live in caves!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that kobolds are generally hostile to everyone and don't have spoken language.
Logged
-An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer-
The Adventures of Lord Cikul Knifejoke
The Under Appreciated Anthropologist of Steel
-A Fortress History-
The Founding of an Egypto-Dwarven Outpost
Life in Canyonfuture

Max™

  • Bay Watcher
  • [CULL:SQUARE]
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #12 on: May 05, 2015, 11:50:50 am »

Yup, that puts a damper there with the utterances and such.
Logged

callisto8413

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #13 on: May 05, 2015, 02:46:19 pm »

Post To Watch.  This sounds very interesting.  Don't die.   ;)
Logged
The most EVIL creature in Dwarf Fortress!

contheman

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer
« Reply #14 on: May 05, 2015, 03:49:52 pm »

Post To Watch.  This sounds very interesting.  Don't die.   ;)
I'll try my best, but this is Dwarf Fortress. If the initial adventurer does die, then another brave anthropological adventurer will venture forth to investigate the whereabouts of his missing comrade.
Logged
-An Anthropological Study as an Adventurer-
The Adventures of Lord Cikul Knifejoke
The Under Appreciated Anthropologist of Steel
-A Fortress History-
The Founding of an Egypto-Dwarven Outpost
Life in Canyonfuture
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 10