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Author Topic: Choosing some basic ways to generate a world aren't working as expected.  (Read 1075 times)

lorenmj

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I don't like playing with certain elements in the game, so I thought I was removing them by removing the possibility of them being generated, however, it has *odd* results. Which I think might be unintended.

By way of duplicating this predicament:
I'm trying to generate a world/worlds that do not contain any lichs. In fact, I'd like to completely remove undead, demons, bogeymen and a few other baddies.

I would think that this might cause a human to think this way:
Well.. since I will never find the secrets to life and death I may as well get on to other things. In fact, perhaps I could dabble in some local politics or get married or have some children..

But, nope, this seems to be happening:
I am a human and love magic - which for some reason doesn't exist - and I can't figure out why. So I will spend my life researching and hoping to uncover the secrets of life and death. I get all the way there, but I just keep failing. How can I spend my life more meaningfully?

Any chance we could 'fix' this to work in the latter way? As in, move on to something else since those types of things don't exist in the universe, rather than pretending they still exist and wasting time trying? Just a thought for those of us who like to remove certain non-preferred types of creatures to play with.

It seems to work with creature generation just fine. I get plenty of cyclops and copper golems which result in lots of the normal *fun* which is fantastic, but these humans do not seem to understand this universe I'm trying to build.
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Cathar

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You mean humans keep being afraid of death and keep looking for ways to avoid it even when such a way doesn't exist? This is a problem how?
Also you're posting in the wrong place, you mean to go to the modding forum
« Last Edit: June 16, 2020, 03:24:15 pm by Cathar »
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lorenmj

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As to the wrong forum, this is not a mod..

You can choose the options I am describing without a modification. In fact, I would think it should work in vanilla.
Choose generate a new world then in the options remove necromancy and the other things I described. Generate the world, go for at least as long as it might take a human to explore life and death which they invariably will (irritating humans) but they will always fail. Actually, I think they succeed, but then it is taken away.

As to your insisting that humans be allowed to do what they do in DF..

I would expect humans to be more ambitious about other things, rather than impossible things. It is not possible for humans to live forever in the real world, I'm just asking that idea be modeled. I don't think you constantly explore ways of not dying just because it is impossible for you to live forever without divine intervention.

Thank you for the reply.
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Loam

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As to the wrong forum, this is not a mod..
Well, it's not a community game or story either. You'll get more help in the modding board, because that's where the people who know how to manipulate the game's systems hang out.

So, unless I'm mistaken, your problem is that humans (and other mortals, like dwarves) continue to become "obsessed with their own mortality and seek to extend their life by any means" despite their being no actual ways to immortality. I'll just offer my thoughts:
   1) I don't think this is as big a problem as you're making it out to be. AFAIK being obsessed with mortality doesn't interfere with them doing other things or pursuing other goals (such as "dabbling in local politics" or "getting married and having children"). As it stands, it's more or less just a flavorful way of getting people to learn secrets. So if it bothers you that much I think you can just ignore it, because it doesn't really affect the world in a meaningful way.
   2) To expand on Cathar's comment: in real life humans have often - pretty much always - sought for ways to extend their lives through magic: alchemy, searching for the fountain of youth, etc. etc. And they did these things despite the fact that, as you say, "it is not possible for humans to live forever in the real world." But they didn't know that. Similarly, your DF world may not have any actual secrets of life and death - but your humans don't know that. So, to be honest, your situation actually sounds extremely realistic.
   3):
Quote
these humans do not seem to understand this universe I'm trying to build.
Welcome to DF modding/worldgenning. The game will fight you at every turn. The more specific you want a world to turn out, the more hardship and suffering you'll have to endure to make it do so. And some things just aren't possible -- this may be one of them. A lot of stuff is simply hard-coded and can't be altered, and mortal races seeking secrets of life and death might be one of those things. But, as I said above, I don't think it really interferes with much, so my advice is just to ignore it. However, do ask the modding board, since they're likely to know more.

Also, are you running any mods on this world? I ask because "copper golems" are not a vanilla creature. If you are, it's best to tell people that up front, as sometimes it's the mod causing trouble, not DF itself.
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Thob Goes to the Surface (Adventure Mode story, in progress)

lorenmj

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I could have sword I fought a copper golem. Anyway, I could be wrong on that. My point was that things are still *fun* without zombies and necromancers.

Your point is taken, if mods are the people with he answers I will take my question there.

And to your point, I have been ignoring it up to this point, but it apparently bothered me enough to finally make a post about it. You are welcome to duplicate my setup and take a look at a legends world to see what I mean. Just go to design a world and remove demons, necromancers, bogeymen and were* things.

Your legends stories should also fill with humans reaching the pinnacle of their knowledge only to find they've graduated from a school that doesn't exist.

Thank you for your patience and the suggestions.
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