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Author Topic: Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 2.21  (Read 10932 times)

squamous

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Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 2.21
« on: August 29, 2018, 02:05:01 am »

"...And lo! The dull red sun, though through countless millions of years shone its light upon our fair Earth, did succumb to age and wasting, its light dimming and fading as the descendents of Man sought succor in the depths of the world, chasms and canyons. Thus did the Days of Darkening come upon weary Mankind, forcing him ever deeper into the great Chasms opened up by the dying of the World. From Wisdom came Hubris as the sons of Man dealt and bargained with the Far Powers of the deepest space, and through their experiments unknowingly allowed the Powers of the Night entrance upon the Earth, long kept at bay by the electrically charged Atmosphere of the planet's exterior. Now the Dark Powers can at last Destroy and Devour the souls of the living, circling the magma-lit world like sharks of the Aether. Man hath sought safety and respite in the building of mighty Redoubts, city-fortresses dug deep into the Earth, protecting him from the Dark and its minions as they encroach deeper upon the boundaries of man. And lo! One by one do the flickering lights of the Redoubts go out, as the Night creeps in to feed upon what lives in an Earth beyond saving. This is the Terrible and Distant future of the Night Land, the inextricable End of Man's works and the quieting of his essence, as the Dark Ones feast upon their prey, as they always have, and always will. May the Powers of Good have Mercy on thy souls."
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What is the Night Land?

The Night Land takes the mechanics of dwarf fortress and combines them with the titular setting of the Night Land, a novel by William Hope Hodgeson. The story depicts a bleak future millions of years from now, where the sun has burnt itself out and most of the planet has become uninhabitable save for its darkest depths, which teem with degenerated abominations of fearful strength, size, and cruelty. There dwell the last millions of humanity, sheltered in an eight mile high Great Redoubt, containing over a hundred cities within, and without, the titanic and evil Dark Powers wait patiently for the Earth Current, the force which powers the barrier that keeps them at bay, to fail. And when that day comes, humanity will die by its own hand, as the citizens of the Great Redoubt commit mass suicide to avoid falling into the clutches of the Night, and having their very souls devoured by the spiritual predators within. This fate cannot be avoided, only delayed. This mod allows you to take part in that dark eternity, though I must clarify this is not a 1:1 reproduction, for obvious reasons. A few key changes have been made so as to make the setting 'playable' within the confines of the game. Consider it an alternate universe or something like that. For example, instead of a single Great Redoubt, the lands are dotted with countless lesser Redoubts, housing a few hundred humans each. Each a nation unto themselves, they must survive as best they can in a world that actively schemes to kill them. They are the recommended race to play in fortress mode. And secondly, this timeline of the Night Land is a slightly gentler one, in that leaving the protection of the Redoubts is no longer tantamount to suicide for all but the most epic of heroes, as it is in the original story. Aetherships, automobiles, biplanes, and motorbikes are all viable means of traveling through the blasted wastes, though they will only be found in the most advanced of civilizations. Be warned, however, and I cannot stress this enough, that this is still the Night Land. There are things in this mod that can instantly kill you the very moment you step into their line of sight. Things of this nature will, however, be heralded by strange sounds and other portents, warning you that such a deadly beast is in the area.  Should you encounter something suspicious in the Night Land, running away as fast as possible is probably your best choice. For those wishing to play as other factions beyond humanity, the option is available to play as one of the bestial mutant tribes, universally strong but also universally primitive, or the more advanced kingdoms of abhumans and lesser men, possessing levels of technology second only to true mankind. More detailed information on these races can be found on the mod page. Regardless of your choice, life will likely be short and unkind. Good luck.

NOTE: Abhumans are kind of wonky right now. Playing as metalworking civs is recommended until such a time as I am confident they will function as intended. That aside they are still technically playable, just missing some important gameplay mechanics while at the same time having access to things they should not. Possibly recommended if you like challenging yourself with a high mortality rate.

Download Link: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16239
Title music taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqU-15KonOk
Handy timeline chart from the extended universe: https://nightland.website/index.php/background/timeline
Special thanks to Vherid's Dark Sand color scheme.

HOW TO INSTALL:
Just download it, place the folder somewhere, and play it. This mod comes with its own .exe and everything, you do not need to copy and paste, drag and drop, or otherwise move any files around beyond the initial step. It works exactly like installing and playing the vanilla game.
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Changelog:


2.21
-Fix to the constant crop world rejections. This is a messy hotfix and the mod needs a big overhaul which I will do in the future but it should be easier to generate worlds now.

2.2 Changes:
-Updated to current DF version

2.1 Changes:
-Updated to current DF version

2.0 Changes:
-Updated to current DF version
-Removed capacity for language for certain abhumans, replacing it with utterances. As barely sapient beastmen I feel this will be fitting. The Rufous Men, Pale Men, and Riding Men will retain language as their cultures seem to be more sophisticated
-Manshonkin civilization renamed to Manshonyaggers
-Redoubt civs will just use Diskos (which have been buffed) and harquebuses now, as the other weapons were my own invention and ultimately not necessary
-Half-Men re-written to be more coherent, with most of them being lesser versions of proper abhuman races (smaller, capable of speech) with rarer, more intelligent mutants being found among them.
-Vehicles redone. Some abhumans of sufficient cunning will possess crude land vehicles while Redoubts make heavy use of airships (as canonically they did in the past).
-Worldgen rejections reduced

1.81 Changes:
-Harquebus bullets fixed

1.8 Changes:
-Many new monsters and creatures added.
-Machines and vehicles can be "butchered" and yield resources like metal blocks.
-Capacity for love removed from most Abhumans.
-New weapons, the mundane and great Harquebuses. bulky and costly to make but devastatingly lethal contraptions resembling rifles. Powered by the Earth Current, their bullets cleave through flesh like it was Sluren lard. In the true canon, such weapons are ineffective against the most devastating of the Dark Powers and would only make them angry, hastening humanity's doom. In this mod, that is not the case. Such devices will be found in the hands of most human civs along with the abhuman Half Men and the terrifyingly intelligent Kiln Giants.
-New civilization added, the Peaceful Ones. An offshoot of the Road Builders (and in the official canon what the Road Builders will become a few million years after their golden age), they are ruled by the supposedly wise and compassionate Cynosures, though these beings have also utterly forsaken their humanity in favor of benign apathy. Indeed, it was the experiments of the Cynosures that allowed the Pneumavores, soul eaters, to break through the atmosphere and doom the planet.
-The werebeast-style beings known as the Ridden have been altered to be a necromancer type instead as the transmission system won't work with them. The Ridden are now husks controlled by Pneumavores, who slay victims to grant their lesser kindred material bodies. Unlike the Saiitii Hosts, nothing of the original mind remains, only a cunning imitator. Also, the intelligent Ridden can Destroy souls if they get close enough, meaning, and I am putting this in all caps so it is noticed, THEY CAN INSTANTLY KILL ANYTHING IN MELEE RANGE. There is a short cooldown to this, but fight these foes with caution. Lesser animated corpse style Ridden should be easier to handle. These foes can serve as a stand-in for the House of Silence.
-New civilization, the Scyrrites. Some time circa 23 million years AD, a man known as Scyrr will embrace the dark powers and devise, or be gifted, a means to convert humans into things more fitting the cruel dominion of the Night Land. Though in the true timeline he will be overthrown, in this case the Scyrrites have taken hold and constructed redoubts of their own. This truly terrifying enemy combines the cunning and power of the Night Land with stolen metals and technology from humanity, making them a rare and cunning foe that must be stopped at all costs.
-New civilization, the Gnarled Men. Abhumans with large claws and knotted pink skin. Just another of many freaks with the power to tear a human limb from limb, but added nonetheless.
-Fun things added to the magma sea. One of the expanded universe stories notes that the deep portions of the earth have experienced a massive boom in biodiversity as many strange creatures evolve to thrive in boiling water and acidic seas at the darkest depths of the surviving oceans. So then I thought, what if there were creatures who also survived in the earth's mantle itself? And so now you can find giant fish with bones of silicone and boiling blood swimming in the deepest depths of the molten earth. Not all of them are confined to the magma, however.

1.71 Change:
-Quickfix, one type of monster didn't have the LARGE_ROAMING tag and wouldn't spawn, this has been changed. As always, let me know if you feel something is wrong or broken.

1.7 Changes:
-Poetry and music potential removed from most abhuman civs as such creatures hate those sorts of things.
-Pale Men added. Like Rufous Men in that they can work metal, but sneakier.
-Both of the above civs can use less complex vehicles now.
-New semimegabeast added, the Giant Thaumaturge. Focuses on full offense instead of Watcher-type tactics and has ab-natural psychic powers.
-Some new monsters added.

1.6 Changes:
-More ab-life added.
-Kiln Giants added. Only the size of an elephant, but possessed of a peculiar cunning, they form cruel societies of smiths and forges deep below the earth, pumping out crude but effective siege engines to bring ruin upon mankind.
-Fungal Things added. In ancient days, before the sun went out, there was known to be a particular breed of fungus that could infest and corrupt the minds of victims. Over time, it has evolved with the Night Land, and formed its own empire out of sculpted forests. Invader civ, not playable.
-All non-metalworking civs (aka primitive abhumans) are now item thieves, so as a human fort you won't get caravans from (most) abhuman civs. This is experimental and I may change it.
-Necromancers changed to Saiitii hosts. Saiitii is a sort of infectious aetheric fungus that can reanimate corpses into malevolent ghouls. A Saiitii host is one who has traded away their humanity to act as a conduit for Saiitii, and is given both immortality and vast legions of undead in return.
-Skincrawlers added. These are once-humans who have been murdered and flayed, their skin surgically grafted over an abhuman infiltrator. They function as vampires, but I intend to expand on them later.
-Good Powers added. In Evil areas, where Pneumavores are found, you have a rare chance of finding these beings. They will bless the worthy, or lucky, with temporary protection from soul Destruction and thus a mortal will gain the strength to kill the soul eating demons of those tainted lands, for a time.

1.5 Changes:
-Abhuman tiles overhauled, replaced with entirely new ones. Savage tribal types will no longer have soldier tiles. This change is necessary simply because there are so many of them, to the point that I'll eventually run out of tiles that link together in an understandable way to form the civilian/soldier duality, and so I'd rather just do away with that entirely.
-The Rufous Men, who are abhumans who work metal, though only iron and copper, and the Lopsided Men, who are mundane save for their much larger right arms, have been added.
-Many new forms of non-sentient ab-life have been added, including some new Pneumavores.
-Feral manshonyaggers will not spawn everywhere and murder everything.
-Good biomes reworked to resemble giant ruined cities. Manshonyaggers should now be found only in said biomes, and later other relics of prior ages may be found here.

1.4 Changes:
-Watchers and Fixed Giants added. The Watchers are, without question, very very dangerous and will absolutely murder most of the population in worldgen if you st the megabeast setting too high. Much like how they function in the book, Watchers cease movement upon encountering a settlement, besieging it. The power of the Watchers is in their size and terrible ab-natural abilities. Watchers will possess and assume control of all feral Night creatures that wander onto the map, allowing the Outer Powers to possess them and in this way, slowly build an army of augmented wildlife that it will constantly send at your fortress. In addition, it can dizzy and confuse soldiers using its psychic energies, and manifest spheres of flame to attack them directly. Watchers are essentially one-man invasions, capable of turning the very ecosystem into a weapon. Fixed Giants are semimegabeasts work the same, but lack the telepathic and fiery defenses of true Watchers.
-Manshonyaggers added. These are mechanical constructs dating back millions of years, with an inscrutable plan for humanity's future. They are cruel, patient, and often mad, though they are also by their nature tenuous allies to humanity, though they should not be trusted. Certain redoubts will be ruled by manshonyaggers and their nanotechne-enhanced human serfs, while others will use tame manshonyaggers as beasts of war. In addition, some larger ones are semimegabeasts, attacking abhuman settlements to protect mankind, or attacking human settlements to prune the weakness out of humanity. And of course, feral ones can be found roaming the Night Land as well. They are quite mad and should be fled from.
-Delver civilization added. They actually went extinct almost ten million years before the sun went out but I have added them in this mod because they are the closest one might come to proper Dwarves, which I'm sure you all will appreciate. They dwell in caves but have semi-modern technology, with the exception of air vehicles, as they despise the open sky.
-Abhuman civilization renamed to the Half Men for the sake of proper terminology. Abhuman is a catch-all term for ab-naturally mutated forms of life stemming from the human base. Most humanoid monsters present in this mod are abhuman, and the Half Men (formerly termed abhuman) are a single facet of that diverse group.
-Riding Men added. They are a tribe of abhumans that have domesticated a species of brute along with a breed of human slaves they use as food.
-Airships renamed to Aetherships.
-Silent Ones relocated from Good to Savage biomes, made rarer.
-Mechanical Knights replaced with Manshonyaggers as attack animals.
-Delvers, Road Makers, and Manshonyagger-owned humans will not be able to telepathically respond to the Master Word, but will not ping as ab-natural either.
-Humans were previously unable to develop skill due to a RAW mistake but this has been corrected.

1.3 Changes:
-Terrain hazards added. You will rarely find geysers of chemically-infused flame gouts bursting out of the ground in any plain-type biome. These can be detected by a dull roaring sound that echoes around them. They suffuse the surrounding air with toxic chemicals that bring debilitating effects. After exposure, finding somewhere safe and resting to recover from it is probably your best option. On the other hand, you can now also find small fire pits, glowing holes of smoke and lava, which will show up anywhere. Resting near these gives you a significant bonus to recuperation for a short while, allowing wounds to heal faster.
-More monsters added.
-New beast man civ added, the Tall Men. Not much different from the other brutes but they like to use bows.
-Cave-dwelling beast man civs should siege you earlier than normal invader civs, but I don't know how early. (testing and feedback on this feature would be very very appreciated pls)
-New metal added, Orichalc. Basically better than steel in every way. Only humans can make it.
-Humans now have innate skills in combat and military tactics. Justified as them being trained from birth.
-Shadow Men will now by default have 1 civ per world and should always be at war.
-Silent Ones will not kill each other. Reminder to read their description upon encountering them.
-Fish removed, as their kind have been extinct for millions of years.
-Tanks renamed to Ironclads
-A certain metal of great importance has been replaced with something more lore-friendly.
-Five percent of humans have the potential for strange moods.

1.2 Changes:
-New race added, the Shadow Men, like bestial brutes, but smaller and more cunning. Will dwell in dark fortresses and can work metal. I wanted a more traditional invader race to keep the world interesting. They are based off of the unnamed monsters that attacked the Road Builders prior to the sun winking out and the arrival of the Pneumavores.
-All domestic animals removed. Further research has revealed that such animals went extinct millions of years ago. Humanity as it is now is primarily vegetarian. Note that as of this update, Road Builders and true Humans that consume the flesh of creatures will become ill and feverish, due to the diseases contained within (eggs and cheeses are safe, though very rare to come by). Abhumans and Brutes suffer no such penalties, however.
-Adventurers can now create powdered water tablets in the brewing section of adventure mode crafts if they have a barrel, a reliable source of water, and time. To rehydrate the water, one needs a waterskin and one tablet, which is enough for three units of water. Very useful for traveling long distances, and also because you can't trust water to not be inhabited with something unpleasant. Technically only humans know how to make this stuff but I can't stop you from using it as other races so you do you.
-Slug size doubled.
-Additional tentacles added to Yellow Things.
-Some new creatures added.

1.1 Changes:
-Scorpions are of intended size.
-Clouds of sand and sulfur will not spam pausing and recentering.
-Bestial Men can be appointed to positions.
-Appropriate pet value added to spider crabs.
-Cave civs no longer have language

1.0 Changes:
-Night Land released.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2022, 02:11:43 pm by squamous »
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squamous

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.0
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2018, 02:05:28 am »

The Races of the Night Lands:

Humans: Even after untold millions of years, mankind stands steadfast against the forces of the Dark, though time has changed them greatly. Stalwart and noble, far more so than the men of the past, they are to a man brave and kind, though perhaps there may be those tempted off the righteous path. They fortify themselves in protected fortresses, standing tall and proud in the black Night. But should the Redoubts fall, all within are doomed to death, or worse. And in most chasms of the world, the Redoubts do often wink out, one by one, through the passing of the ages. They are a dying race, unfit for the present and worse for the future. Yet they cling on. They are the most technologically advanced of the races, with wondrous weapons such as the Diskos, and magnificent vehicles such as the aethership and the ironclad, along with many others. Furthermore, they are the only race that can make steel and orichalc. However, they have weak constitutions compared to most beings of the Night Land, and cannot consume the tainted meat of anything found there without feeling feverish and nauseated. Humans value each other greatly, and each loss of them is a staggering blow to their kindred. Act with caution and prudence when leading these tenacious folk, lest they crumble in the face of grief. Despite the weakness of kindness, humans are typically possessing great intelligence and wisdom, along with the warrior spirit of old giving them strength to fight as if in a trance. Truly though, the true weakness of this breed is their low number and small stature. Should these be overcome, man might expand through the night once more. As adventurers, they have the innate ability to telepathically keep in contact with one another through the use of an encoded Master Word, which also guards their minds against the presence of the Dark Powers. A human will always sense the presence of Night Land monsters when they draw near, so it is rare to surprise him. Humans are also universally equipped with a Suicide Capsule. Biting down on this will grant a relatively swift death should Destruction of the spirit be an imminent threat. If your comrade is in mortal danger, as well, pay him his respects and end him rightly, before the Powers of the Night can find him themselves.

Manshonkin: Though many redoubts use the Manshonyagger machines as beasts of war, there are some redoubts where these machines have become the masters, ruling over their flocks of humans like shepherds keeping sheep, genetically pruning and directing them to some unknown end. Patient and cruel, the Manshonyaggers yet still remain tenuous allies against the powers of the night, though in the end whatever goal they have in mind for humanity is still held at paramount. Manshonyagger civilizations are as advanced as normal redoubts, the only difference is that they are ruled by machines instead of men, and have a more martial and stern culture. Playing a Manshonkin civ gives one access to a great deal of offensive power, that being the intelligent Manshonyaggers themselves, who are more than capable of defeating most of the monsters of the Night Land save for the most powerful or numerous.

Scyrrites: Despite the defences of the Redoubts there was one man who circumvented them. Who went out into the night and came back human and yet still changed, having learned terrible truths and maddening lies at the hands of the Night and had carved them into his very flesh. Accepted at first, that changed when he and his cohorts began to carve that same message into the flesh of others, and even now did they exist, driven back though they were. These false humans, descendants of the damned and marked by scar patterns that blossom like ripe and rotten flowers when a Scyrrite comes of age. With all the power and knowledge of the True Men the Scyrrites wage wars of extermination and enslavement from their own redoubts corrupted towards the Night. To rule these maddened souls is to control the dark mirror of the True Men, equal in knowledge and cunning but in thrall to the Night. It goes without saying that for those who oppose the Dark Powers, it is the Scyrrites who may become a most fearsome foe.

Half Men: When the Road Builders finally gave up their great quest in the face of the consuming Night, not all fled to the Redoubts. Some stayed in the Night and mixed with beasts and Dark Powers, mutating and changing into a myriad of gruesome and powerful forms. And while many became the mindless beasts and brutes we fear today, some still clung to their humanity, just enough that they walk a delicate balance between the natural and the ab-natural. These are the Half Men, a motley mix of the strange and uncanny, possessing the spark of human intellect but too far removed to truly considered human, as they lack both the common phrenology of that of man and do not have the Master Word writ into their twisted genes. Half Men come in forms large and small, weak and powerful, encompassing the many nightmares plagued upon mankind since their first huddlings around fading campfires. However, that same spark does give them hope of change, though rare be it to happen. Half Men have no innate goodness to them, but some say it can be learned by them. A hard task to be sure, considering the brutality of their nations, forged out of strength and fear, perhaps by need or perhaps by degeneracy. While despotic, the Half Man kingdoms are fairly advanced, containing some of the lesser vehicles and war machines used by human civilization, always second-rate but deadly and useful nonetheless. Often will they force tribute from the other abhuman tribes with these tools along with their metal-forged weapons. To rule a clan of Half Men is to take the role of a paranoid, vicious, and hungry polity, ever-seeking for more resources and prey-folk to exert your will upon.

Abhumans: Lowest and most common of the thinking races are the notorious and bestial abhuman tribes. Not one is smaller than two men together, and each have a great and primal strength to them. Lucky indeed for the other races that the Bestial Men are slow learners, and couple that with an inability to work more than wood and stone. Carnivores all, as well, their lack of agriculture prevents a boom of population that would end pure Human and offshoot alike. The greatest and most prolific of breeds in the Night Land are the Humped Men, the Squat Men, the Gnarled Men, the Brute Men, the Shaggy Men, the Tall Men, the Riding Men, the Wolf Men, the Lopsided Men, the Pale Men and the Rufous Men. Most notable of these tribes are the Wolf Men, with their uncanny cunning, the Riding Men, who have domesticated a species of brute into a terrifying war beast, and have done the same to purer humans to create a race of cattle, and the Rufous Men and Pale Men, who have both learned to work copper and iron, and maintain crude machines. To lead a horde of Abhumans is to preside over brutish rabble, barely capable of civilization. Weapons may not even be needed, sheer strength being enough to win the day. Though still, one should keep in mind that against the other races besides their own kin, they would be hard-pressed to stand a fair chance without a good plan of battle, for even the thickest hide cannot stop the bite of an iron blade.

Road Builders: While most of this ancient and venerable race, the great ancestors of the current mankind, did die out or warp into the Abhuman kind, there were a few who did not, who clung on to humanity even in the corruptive influence of the Night. But still one must remember, it was the pride and vanity of the Road Builders that did bring the encroachment of the Night upon earth, millions of years earlier than it would have following the natural order of things. The Road Builders are a lesser breed of man from that which currently exists, weaker and less strong-minded than those who dwell in the Redoubts, but they are human all the same, though bereft of telepathy and the Master Word, and thus greatly vulnerable to the Dark Powers. In the face of this, the Road Builder peoples seek comfort in lies and the material, pursuing commerce and trade with the Dark and Good races alike, ever scheming to stay in the good graces of all while truly following neither. For this reason the Road Builders are used often as intermediaries between Human and Abhuman peoples, should the need arise for such congress, though in truth they are trusted by neither side. To be a Road Builder is a miserable existence wrapped in false delusions of safety, convinced it will not be they who are targeted by the Night, no, it must be someone else. It will always be someone else. Thus their sanity is maintained. Those who seek to lead the Road Builders to glory will find that they too possess the secrets of metalworking, and a mastery of vehicles like that of the Half Men, but not so advanced as true humans. However, like true humans they are weak of stomach and tend to dislike the flesh of the Night creatures, preferring a herbivorous existence. And so they keep no animals and furthermore tend not to use animal products such as leather, using only cloth and metal for coverings. Physically, they may well be one of the weakest of the Night Lands denizens, and certainly the weakest of the thinking races. To rule the Road Builders is to build a delicate balance of allies and networks that cushion you from harm, hoping against hope that you will last through the endless Dark.

Peaceful Ones: The road builders hide and scheme and lie as they do, fallen and weak as they are. But not all of them. Some seek another succor, that of blind obedience and ignorant peace. It is those who created the Cynosures in ancient times before the sun went out, and it is the ancestors of those fools who continue to persist. In their desire for peace they turn their head from suffering. Instead of resistance there is acceptance. They offer tribute to the Night to be left alone, or rather eaten last, ignoring that the day will come in favor of the blissful present. The Cynosures present themselves as beyond human wisdom, but many say they are beyond humanity entirely, not fit to rule those who truly think and feel in ways that can be understood.  Darker rumors still say it was the Cynosures who foolishly allowed the Pneumavores to enter the world and doom mankind. To control the Peaceful Ones is to rule over apathy. The Cynosures ensure in their wisdom that they are not questioned and that no one dissents, sheep for the slaughter. Pay tribute to your dark masters and you may yet be spared.

Delvers: Many though this sub-breed of human to be extinct, but against all odds these pale, pathetic things, like maggots in the earth, dug deep enough to hide from the terrors of the Night. Weak and lost, they dare not leave the caves they call home for any but the most urgent reasons, having fashioned them into things somewhat like the redoubts of true Man. Nor do they take to the sky in aetherships or planes, fearing the openness of such places. They live in fear and paranoia, hoping to wait out the end that will never come, while the monsters of the Night slowly circle, waiting for an opening. Truthfully, the Delvers are kind people, wishing only for peace and to be left alone. But it is this that makes them weak, and slowly but surely will spell their doom as the Night Land turns on them. To play Delvers is to be like as children among wolves. Hopelessly outmatched and surely doomed.

Kiln Giants: The Giants of the Kilns are a low and cunning folk, but not the mad brutes so many believe them to be. The cunning of the Giants is such that they can construct complex bunkers and powerful war engines to bring woe upon the agents of Man. Coupled with their prodigious strength and it is no wonder that they and their savage kin dominate the Night. With hammer, anvil, and cannon the Kiln Giants ever labor to undermine the civilized races, ever scheming to do further harm in their own cruel ways. And if they are not stopped, they will surely someday stamp out all traces of light and hope in this dismal realm. To control the Kiln Giants is to become fury itself, a horde of elephantine beasts at your beck and call. But be wary, for even giants cannot last through eternity or against infinity, and to overextend yourself will lead to a death by a thousand cuts as all free men band against you.

Shadow Men (Not Playable): In ancient days, when the sun still shone down enough to illuminate the world, the Road Builders had constructed great open cities in the parts of chasms that could catch the glimmering red light. Over time their decadence did lead to their ruin, as was told, and they found themselves besieged by the forced of the Night. In the end, mankind prevailed under the guidance of a legendary hero-king, and drove the beasts back. But now in the end of all things, the Shadow Men who once so threatened man have returned to torment him, squatting in the ancient, ruined cities of the Road Builders, now worn and decayed but still filled with the technologies of that ancient empire. With this combined with their metal-working abilities, the Shadow Men once more threaten the world.

Fungal Things (Not Playable): As with the Shadow Men, the Fungal Things are an ancient evil lasting as far back as the sunlit days. Descended from a great Mother Fungus, they devoured and took the shape of men, hiding in shadow as they learned the arts of killing and planning from fast mammal-life. From this they prospered and built strange, twisted homes in malformed forests. Using their witless but towering Mothers and Fathers, the Fungal things breed quickly and spread like a plague, a veritable avatar of entropy and decay that seek to consume what little life remains in the Night Land. only the most skilled or well-armed can hope to fight off this rapidly proliferating threat.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2019, 01:52:44 am by squamous »
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squamous

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.0
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2018, 02:05:54 am »

Images of the Night Land:







« Last Edit: August 29, 2018, 04:37:48 pm by squamous »
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UristMcTurtle

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.2
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2018, 06:58:53 am »

Man...This is amazing.

If there's something good about Colonialism, was the fact that the mod uses a totally new setting; this other one do the same, but even better with the detail of the eternal night (im the terrain of the df modding posibilities). The atmosphere is really, really good, and i'm having a epic adventure right now. You are very good in this.

Now, the only thing that i found buggy or weird until now is the fact that the silent ones always turn on each other, which is good for my adventurer, but bad for the spirit of the world. Is really funny see a group of them in the ground with rotting bodyparts thanks to they frozen-heart syndrome.

In a relate note, the monster civs should not be hostile to any other race, or at least humans? My character is already the thane of a wolfman, and everyone else in the hamlet seems pretty friendly with him.

Anyway, good job.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2018, 08:24:34 am by UristMcTurtle »
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squamous

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.2
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2018, 05:57:37 pm »

Man...This is amazing.

If there's something good about Colonialism, was the fact that the mod uses a totally new setting; this other one do the same, but even better with the detail of the eternal night (im the terrain of the df modding posibilities). The atmosphere is really, really good, and i'm having a epic adventure right now. You are very good in this.

Now, the only thing that i found buggy or weird until now is the fact that the silent ones always turn on each other, which is good for my adventurer, but bad for the spirit of the world. Is really funny see a group of them in the ground with rotting bodyparts thanks to they frozen-heart syndrome.

In a relate note, the monster civs should not be hostile to any other race, or at least humans? My character is already the thane of a wolfman, and everyone else in the hamlet seems pretty friendly with him.

Anyway, good job.

Good to know you like it, I'll fix the Silent One bug very soon. As for the monsters, its a difficult issue. Essentially if I make them hostile then they'll cause lots of chaos if they somehow manage to migrate to another civ, because then they will start attacking everyone as soon as you spawn into that area, which just creates a mess. I've tried to fix this by having cave-dwelling abhuman civs that will just steal things, but I think I'll make them an invader civ as well.

EDIT: For anyone currently reading this, the issues above have been dealt with.
« Last Edit: September 01, 2018, 10:24:16 am by squamous »
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Altivera

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.7
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2018, 05:16:06 pm »

So what's the purpose of the advanced world gen parameters you made for this mod? For me the ones you made are generating a lot of world rejections. The message I got from them was there was too many subregions being added. I wanna know if I'm missing on anything if I use basic world gen since I got a world generated with very few rejections using it.
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squamous

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.7
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2018, 05:25:39 pm »

So what's the purpose of the advanced world gen parameters you made for this mod? For me the ones you made are generating a lot of world rejections. The message I got from them was there was too many subregions being added. I wanna know if I'm missing on anything if I use basic world gen since I got a world generated with very few rejections using it.

They usually work for me, maybe its just a matter of getting lucky? The advanced worldgen parameters were created to bring the world as close to the ideal approximation of the canonical Night Land as possible, so
-lots of volcanos
-scattered, tribal civs with few sites
-no werebeasts or vampires as those did not exist in the setting
-other things I forgot

it isn't strictly necessary to use them so feel free to just use the default settings if you wish.
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squamous

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.8
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2019, 02:12:20 am »

Bumping because of a significant update, for those interested.
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Urist McSadist

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.81
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2019, 06:57:20 am »

Do vehicles do anything?
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squamous

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.81
« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2019, 12:53:31 pm »

Do vehicles do anything?

Enemies will ride in them during sieges but besides that they don't do much. They were made pre-emptively for the mount (villains) update.
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Metaltooth

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.81
« Reply #11 on: January 27, 2019, 09:08:20 am »

Would it be possible to make vehicles have no sex to make it feel a tiny bit more realistic?
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squamous

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.81
« Reply #12 on: January 27, 2019, 11:56:40 am »

Would it be possible to make vehicles have no sex to make it feel a tiny bit more realistic?

I'll fix it in the next update.
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justaguy3

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.81
« Reply #13 on: July 19, 2019, 12:18:24 am »

Hi! I just downloaded the newest version of this mod, and it seems that none of the playable races in the world have been human, despite the fact that there are human fortresses/hillocks.

Is this a bug?
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squamous

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Re: [44.12] Dwarf Fortress: The Night Land 1.81
« Reply #14 on: July 19, 2019, 07:31:22 am »

Hi! I just downloaded the newest version of this mod, and it seems that none of the playable races in the world have been human, despite the fact that there are human fortresses/hillocks.

Is this a bug?

It could be that all the humans in that world are extinct.
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