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Author Topic: [47.05] "Age of Civilizations: Rituals" - 6 Playable Civilizations  (Read 3916 times)

PossessedLemon

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Age of Civilizations: Rituals
by TwinCrows/PossessedLemon

In the ancient times, Gods and Demons created races now long forgotten. It was an age of great diversity, where many civilizations rose and fell. Each with its own strengths, its own weaknesses. It was an age of trading, sieges, and grand fortresses. It was an Age of Civilizations.

Download here: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16178

I've enriched each race with a full personality, government structure, religious spheres, languages, plus physical/mental attribute ranges. My races are fully-defined, up-to-date with the current version of DF, and each presents a fresh play style.

Feel free to pick and choose — there's no requirement to use them all! Just use the files for the ones you want. I play with them all, but at world generation use 'High' setting for number of civilizations, to ensure each one spawns at least once.

☼ Rituals ☼
Rituals are thematic, supernatural features that add depth to the civilizations.

So far the Hefflings and Morks have them! See the Heffling and Mork sections for more details.

|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|

The Age of Plenty (Summer 2022)
This season brings a trio of races around the theme of 'bounty'. They provide fun play styles driven by their modest strengths and weaknesses.

Gnim
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Heffling (*updated in 3.0*)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Boarth (*updated in 2.0*)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

... and their Pets!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|

The Age of Savagery (Autumn 2022)
This season brings a trio of races themed after 'savagery'. They have unique play styles driven by their lack of access to key technologies. They have impressive natural attributes and feature alternative play styles.

Morks (*updated in 2.1 & 3.0*)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Jotnar
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Khantaur
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

... and their Pets!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|

Coming in the future...

Everything's delayed by 1 season while I migrate to the Steam Workshop!

The Age of Empires (Spring 2022)
  • Zaurians (Lizardmen)
  • Khemkaj (Beetle people)
  • Delves (Dark Elves)
Pets: Fat Newts, Riding Lizards, Silk Hatchers

The Age of Rebirth (Summer 2023)
  • Myce (Mice people)
  • Dendron (Tree people)
  • Fribbit (Frog people)
Pets: Unknown

The Age of Wealth (Autumn 2023)
  • Olifant (Elephant people)
  • Nemiad (Serpent people)
  • Unknown
Pets: Unknown

The Age of Death (Winter 2023)
  • Gnorr (Undead hyena people)
  • Unknown
  • Unknown
Pets: Hagwigs

|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|X|x|

Installation
Download here: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16178

Requires DFHack for certain Scripts. If you don't have DFHack, some Rituals may not work properly.

1. Extract the .7z file into '/DwarfFortress/', so that the files copy into both 'raw' and 'dfhack-config.
2. Generate a new world, and you will begin to see these Civilizations!

Author's Notes
I intend to revisit my mod, so please do give me any bug reports you might have. I'll come back here and read over them, before I release the next batch of Civilizations. I have many of the upcoming civilizations already on my computer, and am play testing and improving them.

I mod many games from Skyrim, to Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, to Dwarf Fortress. If you'd like to support my modding endeavours, you can do so at Patreon.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2022, 09:55:27 pm by PossessedLemon »
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Atkana

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Re: [47.05] "Age of Civilizations" - 6 Playable, Unique Civilizations
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2022, 04:50:43 am »

You might want to review the game's errorlog.txt, as there are a few errors noted there for this mod.

PossessedLemon

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Re: [47.05] "Age of Civilizations" - 6 Playable, Unique Civilizations
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2022, 05:46:41 pm »

You might want to review the game's errorlog.txt, as there are a few errors noted there for this mod.

Thanks for that Atkana. I've just released version 2.3 which includes a fix for every error message. Enjoy!

I'm looking forward to releasing the next batch of 3 civilizations in November or December. The winter release will surely come before or shortly after the DF Steam release, and will include civilizations themed after 'Empire'. These are civilizations with complex castes and governments.

Age of Empires (Winter 2022)

Zaurians
The Zaurians are lizard-folk known for their zealotry, with an empire composed of the holy union of two castes: The Zards and the Zaurians. Those who are born small are called 'Zards', and move more quickly and are fairly intelligent. Those who are born large are called 'Zaurians', large and powerful brutes who tend towards military service and mining. On auspicious occasions, ones named 'Chosen' are born. The Chosen can live for a very long time, and grow to immense size. The upper echelons of Zaurian government are made up only of Chosen.

Delves
The Delves are elves cursed by fate. Like goblins, they are ruled by a demon (the Darkest King) who may be slain, and afterwards replaced by one favoured by the Dark Seer. The Dark Seer is a role that can only be filled by a female Delf. (I have seen Gnims become the Darkest King after being enslaved, and befriending the Dark Seer. Quite an interesting system!) The Delves spread across the seas very quickly, and often establish slave pits on the coastlines of multiple continents.

Khemkaj
The Khemkaj are a peculiar civilization borne of the deserts. Legend tells of a romance between a human woman and a beetle-man. During a dust storm with such ferocity to scour skin from bone, both took refuge in a cave. The beetle-man went out, and returned with a shell polished so smoothly it shone like gold. All females of the Khemkaj are born as seemingly ordinary human women, but the men are instead born with semi-metallic chitin rather than skin. As such, the men are powerful defenders with natural armor equivalent to bronze.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2022, 05:54:17 pm by PossessedLemon »
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brushapocalypse

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Re: [47.05] "Age of Civilizations" - 6 Playable, Unique Civilizations
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2022, 03:17:00 pm »

This mod looks very interesting! I'll definitely give it a download and see what fun I can make out of it. Looking forward to the next batch of civilizations!

Edit: Just a heads up, it looks like there's still some problems. It seems like in the course of fixing the previous set of errors, you actually duplicated some of the raws! This wasn't difficult for me to delete the bugged extras once I realized what was up, but it'd still be good to fix in the download. I'd also recommend doing a little more playtesting before releasing future updates. I've found just opening the testing arena and checking if anything shows up in the errorlog is a great way of quickly making sure everything is in order :) (at least when it comes to the simple stuff like mislabeled body parts, more esoteric glitches may take more extensive gameplay to notice.)
« Last Edit: November 02, 2022, 03:59:05 pm by brushapocalypse »
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PossessedLemon

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Re: [47.05] "Age of Civilizations" - 6 Playable, Unique Civilizations
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2022, 04:13:56 pm »

Thanks, I appreciate the interest and feedback! That last bug simply came up from the way I packaged the files, so it slipped past my testing. I've just uploaded version 2.4 which fixes that, by removing the duplicate 'body_centaur' file.

I have some exciting news for the mod! I've put in a dozen hours to learn how to use DFHack scripts to add custom 'Syndromes' to the units. If you haven't heard of Syndromes, they are the game's way of causing effects such as poison bites, or happiness from being misted by waterfalls. With my new Rituals framework, I will be adding more depth to each civilization's unique theme!

Rituals Plan

This will be a mid-season update, coming before winter.

Hefflings will get some 'music' themed rituals, which affect the emotions and attributes of nearby Hefflings! My first successful prototype is the 'Jolly ditty', which uses the Sing skill and can be played at a new 'Music Stand' building. Upon completion, all Hefflings within a range of 12 tiles gain a 'Feeling jolly due to hearing a jolly ditty' thought. I'm glad to say you can queue Rituals up in the Job manager, so if you want to have 1 ritual performed every day, or depending on other job manager conditions, this will be possible.



I also plan to add some more Heffling rituals before releasing this first batch, such as songs that boost attributes, movement speed, and more. I want to create gameplay where you can 'bless' your units with civilization-themed rituals before sending them out to battle, or use these rituals throughout your fortress for a variety of reasons.

This will go a long way to creating more diversity between my civilizations and vanilla Dwarf Fortress. For example, I want to make my Delves (Dark Elves) especially depressed, which may include some new emotions given by syndromes, and ways to counteract low emotions (eg. human sacrifice). Likewise, I want to make my Morks more violent and cause more in-fighting, and this is all possible through syndromes.

I'm really excited about this! Rituals & Syndromes adds another dimension for me to further define these civilizations!
« Last Edit: November 04, 2022, 05:20:08 pm by PossessedLemon »
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PossessedLemon

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Re: [47.05] "Age of Civilizations" - 6 Playable, Unique Civilizations
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2022, 05:50:36 pm »

Introducing an mid-season expansion...

☼ Age of Civilizations 3.0: Rituals! ☼
(*Requires DFHack*)

Download at DF File Depot

Rituals is a budding new feature for Age of Civilizations. Over time, I will be adding thematic Rituals to the civilizations.

The first two civilizations to get Rituals are the Hefflings and Morks!

Heffling Rituals
The Hefflings are known across the realms for their musical talents. They now have a selection of rollicking tunes which cause nearby Hefflings to gain syndromes, and which can be played at the new Music Stand building.
  • Jolly Ditty - Gain a major 'Jolly' thought, boosting their morale.
  • Quick Ditty - Gain a minor 'Excitement' thought, and move 20% faster.
  • Battle Ditty - Gain a minor 'Eagerness' thought, and boost all physical attributes by 20%.
  • Enlightening Ditty - Gain a minor 'Delight' thought, and boost all mental attributes by 20%.
Heffling halls are places of vibrant music, where residents work alongside musical accompaniment. Each song's effect wears off after two days. Consider assigning a daily Ditty through the job manager, and placing Music Stands at strategic locations.

(Music has a range of 8x8x4, and only affects Hefflings.)

Mork Rituals
The Mork have a lust for combat and excitement that must be sated! They now have a natural syndrome which causes them to need to fulfill their bloodlust each season, or become morose. If they go for too long, they will then become wrathfully erratic and likely to start a fight with those nearby!
  • Gratifying Bloodlust - When in combat, gain a moderate 'Satisfaction' thought.
  • Latent Bloodlust - When it has been 1 season since gratifying bloodlust, gain a moderate 'Boredom' thought and suppress mental attributes by 20%.
  • Ravening Bloodlust - When it has been 2 seasons since gratifying bloodlust, gain a severe 'Wrath' thought and gain Erratic behavior.
Mork fortresses are places of war, where battle and excitement are as essential as food and drink. Consider building a coliseum, assigning Morks to hunting duty, or other means of thrills!

(Bloodlust also affects Morks who live in foreign fortresses. Bloodlust does not begin until a Mork experiences combat for the first time, so migrants and children will not get it immediately.)
« Last Edit: December 02, 2022, 06:47:20 pm by PossessedLemon »
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PossessedLemon

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Re: [47.05] "Age of Civilizations: Rituals" - 6 Playable Civilizations
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2022, 09:53:34 pm »

Regarding the DF Steam Release:

I'll be getting my hands on my copy soon. My plan afterwards is to reverse-engineer any differences between version 47 and version 50 (Steam) of Dwarf Fortress, including any new civilization settings available. Soon after, I'll be releasing each civilization as its own independent file! I hope to see you over on the Steam Workshop.

However, I jumped the gun with Rituals. I don't know how long it will be before DFHack gets updated, and a lot of my ideas for Rituals do involve DFHack scripting. So I'll have to reign it back a bit, and get back to the basics for the Steam Release. Luckily, the vast majority (95%+) of this mod doesn't use anything outside of the base game, so it should be an easy migration. Mork bloodlust can transfer easily, but Heffling music will have to remain behind.

I think I will spend the Winter migrating, and so all the future seasons will be delayed by 1. Therefore I foresee Spring will be the 'Age of Empires', including the Delf, Zaurian, and Khemkaj!
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PossessedLemon

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Re: [47.05] "Age of Civilizations: Rituals" - 6 Playable Civilizations
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2023, 11:35:14 pm »

I'm very glad to be able to post an update here. I've just released the first graphics-enhanced civilization from my series for the Steam version!

\

Download it here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2951896649

I commissioned my girlfriend for the art, and it exceeded my expectations tremendously! There's something special about a characterful art piece like this to really bring the Boarth to life.

The pixel art I did myself, by editing the default Boar Man graphic to add some color variation and tusks. The clothing and armor was the most laborious part, and I used the 'Orc civilization' mod by Random as a template, because the Boarths have similar body shapes to Orcs. That helped immensely.

At first I was hesitant to learn how to do the graphics, as it's 'yet another thing' to learn. But once I started to discover how to edit the sprite sheets in an efficient way, it went quickly. Seeing them with graphics in-game was well worth the effort!



I'm intending to do my Gnomes next, but I'm awaiting the Child and Baby graphics update from the official Dwarf Fortress team, which should happen within the month. I already have art for the Gnomes, but I'll crank out the pixel art based on the official Dwarven child graphics.
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