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Author Topic: Legends mode improvments  (Read 2220 times)

Wedolko

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Legends mode improvments
« on: May 27, 2016, 06:27:09 pm »

I'm sorry if something like this has been suggested or if it's already been announced as a coming update, but I couldn't find anything.

The legends browser is kind of a pain in the ass, especially if you generated a long history. In order to find anything you have to know the name of it, and names in Dwarf Fortress can be hard to remember due to there random nature. So what I would like to suggest is a new filter that can separate different kinds of historical points:
Historical figures could be filtered by race and occupation. (I.E I want to see only dragons, or necromancer kings, or certain animal-person heros)
Civilizations/other groups could be filtered by type, civilization, dead/alive status, and race.
Sites could be filtered by Civilization, race and dead/alive status.
Art could be filtered by site, civilization, and race.
Structures could be filtered by type
And finally events could be filtered by race, site, and figure

I don't know how hard it would be to implement something like this, but I hope you'll take my suggestion into consideration.

EDIT: Also! Making legends mode available while I have a fortress running, I have scholars researching something called "the warded lock" and I want to know what it is!
« Last Edit: May 27, 2016, 07:06:59 pm by Wedolko »
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Witty

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2016, 09:47:50 am »

Legends Viewer, friend.

And DFhack's open-legends command lets you look at legends during fort play.

You can get more detailed view on what a scholar is pondering by hitting j while highlighting them in the units screen. You likely won't find any info on the warded lock in Legends mode, since it's actually a real thing.

All that being said, Toady might possibly do a minor overhaul of Legends mode for the myth generator update. But that's just me guessing.
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2016, 04:21:37 pm »

Legends mode is a long term work in progress that hasn't had much love lately. This, like pretty much everything else in the game, isn't the final intended form. DF gets around that right now by making a lot if the data exportable so you can use it in utilities like Legends Viewer.

Dfhack expands on that by grabbing less exportable data and by offering openlegends (which hopefully doesn't cause the world to collapse, unleashing hell any more).

It'd be nice if the presumed Legends mode updates to include mythgen content will encourage Toady to putting some extra development work into the rest of it.

Legends Viewer is excellent, but you start to spot serious errors in history after you use it for a while and end up having to cross reference with real Legends Mode anyhow.

DF doesn't seem to mind too much if you have two versions running at once. I often do that with one version for checking Legends and the other to play.
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Wedolko

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2016, 08:16:28 pm »

Legends Viewer, friend.

And DFhack's open-legends command lets you look at legends during fort play.

You can get more detailed view on what a scholar is pondering by hitting j while highlighting them in the units screen. You likely won't find any info on the warded lock in Legends mode, since it's actually a real thing.

All that being said, Toady might possibly do a minor overhaul of Legends mode for the myth generator update. But that's just me guessing.
Thank you for showing me this my man, very useful. However I still think the games legends mode could be improved so people don't need 3rd party programs.
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2016, 10:56:17 pm »

Legends Viewer, friend.

And DFhack's open-legends command lets you look at legends during fort play.

You can get more detailed view on what a scholar is pondering by hitting j while highlighting them in the units screen. You likely won't find any info on the warded lock in Legends mode, since it's actually a real thing.

All that being said, Toady might possibly do a minor overhaul of Legends mode for the myth generator update. But that's just me guessing.
Thank you for showing me this my man, very useful. However I still think the games legends mode could be improved so people don't need 3rd party programs.
When you have one guy working to a 20-30 year game design plan, it can seem like some things 'should have been done better' whereas they're actually just 'planned for update in summer 2019'.
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Adam Mantine

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2016, 01:51:37 pm »

I'd love to be able to filter the list by race.

Also by both translated AND untranslated name
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Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2016, 08:50:44 pm »

However I still think [the game] could be improved so people don't need 3rd party programs.

Welcome to the fora! It seems you are new, so I will introduce you to a tendency that may seem strange to outsiders. Basically, in the suggestions forum at least, suggestions that are already implemented with third-party systems tend to be... looked down upon? Seen as second-class or irrelevant suggestions?

Why is this? It's because almost everyone uses some kind of third-party system or mod, whether it's the Starter Pack, Therapist, Stonesense, Armok Vision, Masterwork, Modest Mod, or a complete rehaul. There's not honestly a pressing need to have something implemented that's already done just fine by DFHack. If you want it, download DFHack. It's faster than waiting for Toady. :P

Now, there are quite a few vanilla purists (bah :P), but generally the already-implemented suggestions are put on the back burner compared to hardcoded changes, simply because they benefit people the most. (At least, that's what I've seen.) When the game is much further along, these might be implemented, but not yet.

Another way of looking at the trend is that most suggestion-makers are looking for a way to do something, don't see it in the game, and want to do it (like you!). Frequently, newbies don't realize that third-party systems are almost necessary for many people's playstyles, and don't look through the mods and utilities for what they want. Saying "It's in DFHack" is just a shortened way of letting them know that what they want does in fact exist.

((Correct me if I've gotten anything wrong, fellow forumites, this is just the impression I've gotten.))
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2016, 10:14:19 pm »

However, just because one or two ignorant forumites might respond 'oh, useless suggestion - Dfhack does that already' before your thread plummets off the front page, doesn't mean you shouldn't post. The suggestion thread is read by Toady and that's all that really counts.

Having said that, a lot of third party utilities implement stuff that's already planned for a future release because, as the last post said, that's much faster than waiting for Toady.

This means that your thread will be bashed by both mod fanatics (who use DFhack) and vanilla purists (who know the planning notes and everything Toady's ever said off by heart).

There's 10 years worth of suggestions on these boards. And a mass of development notes linked to at the top of the page. Use the search function and if an idea that's planned seems interesting but you feel could be much more interesting. Go ahead, necro that suggestion and state your case.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2016, 10:16:21 pm by Shonai_Dweller »
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Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2016, 09:54:11 am »

However, just because one or two ignorant forumites might respond 'oh, useless suggestion - Dfhack does that already' before your thread plummets off the front page, doesn't mean you shouldn't post. The suggestion thread is read by Toady and that's all that really counts.

I'm not sure if that's trying to insult me or not. Should I be offended?
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...Simplification leaves us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes...
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2016, 10:09:27 pm »

However, just because one or two ignorant forumites might respond 'oh, useless suggestion - Dfhack does that already' before your thread plummets off the front page, doesn't mean you shouldn't post. The suggestion thread is read by Toady and that's all that really counts.

I'm not sure if that's trying to insult me or not. Should I be offended?
No. I guess if anyone, I was insulting those who would dismiss a good suggestion with 'Dfhack does that already' as though that's the final answer and is going to somehow be of help to DF's development (as opposed to offering advice 'in the meantime, DFhack offers a workaround' which is fine of course).

I thought you were pointing out that you noticed a trend of people doing that. I'm not sure I agree, but in case there are people like that, I was just saying, don't let it get you down.
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Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Legends mode improvments
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2016, 10:18:09 pm »

Oh, okay. I myself have frequently stated "DFHack does it," but that's rarely a reason on its own to dismiss a suggestion.

I'm awful with nonconcrete language, so I wasn't sure if you were sneakily referring to me. It's kind of like a paranoid blind man waving his cane around, really. :P
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Quote from: King James Programming
...Simplification leaves us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes...
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Sigtext!