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[Ai Shizuka]

FPS death

and

the third and fourth migrant waves. A player should be happy when migrants come, but 50 migrants in a single wave are simply no fun, especially so when 25 of them are children because the child cap only counts for births in the fortress.

I know how the population cap works (liason checks the population and tell home, but two migrant tsunami are already on the way) and I hate it with a fiery passion.

I play with pop cap 60 and child cap 2:2.
In my last fortress I tried to produce as little wealth as possible, but the first two hardcoded waves put me at 21 dwarves, enough for strange moods.
Metalsmith gets a fey mood and makes a golden throne, worth 90k bucks.
Result: in 5 seasons I have a fortress with 50 children and 54 adults. 44 dwarves over my cap, and child cap completely destroyed because migrant children ignore it.

I do understand the logic behind these mechanics, but that single third wave is often enough to abandon a fortress, unless I am very happy with the site. Not because I can't house/feed them. I just HATE having to find something to do for 50 dwarves at the same time.
So I'd like to get some kind of input on the wave sizes AND their profession. The fuck am I supposed to do with 8 fisherworkers and 4 potash makers?
At the very minimum, I think the size of any migrant wave should be hard-capped at a customizable percentage of the current population.



Also, but this is a minor gripe, the entire clothing/equipping system. I can't point at a single, specific element of it. It's just overall very sloppy and cumbersome.
But it's a part of the game I'm willing to deal with, because the other stuff is so awesome.

[Shadowclaimer]

-Package the game with a tileset, seriously I'd warrant to say 90% of your 90% you're turning away is solely the ASCII graphics. There's a difference between trying to maintain an image with the game and keep to its roots and denying players the choice without making them jump through hoops. Simply having Dwarf Fortress come in a graphical and non-graphical version would go MILES towards making it a more accessible game, I can seriously tell you straight up that 4/5 of my friends that don't play DF cite this as the reason.

-FPS death is getting worse each update it seems, I have a top of the line computer but I can't play larger than default embark locations anymore at all or else they lag me out after a few migrant waves.

-On that subject, for the love of God please drastically reduce migrant waves. I don't remember them ever being this bad, but honestly you shouldn't be getting more than a handful of dwarves each wave, it'd greatly increase the playtime of the game when you have to wait longer to build up a larger fort, this recent game I went from 15 dwarves to over 100 in such a short window of time and it instantly made the game boring. (Birth rates are also way too high). Finding something to do for 100+ dwarves just instantly kills the game's fun factor and makes each dwarf soooo unpersonal.

-As Ai said, the equipment system has too much detail to me, as cool as it is, its also very very overwhelming with worthless items. I'd rather a Goblin drop his armor and weapon and that's it rather than every sock he had on.

-When I started originally my biggest issue was Stone, and its still an overhanging issue, I have too much of it and usually of colors I hate. Letting us designate at a workshop which TYPE of stone to use would go MILES towards making the game more accessible (IE: I only want Brown Tables, I set Mason Workshop to Mudstone, BAM!, I want to consume all of my Microcline, I just simply set my Crafts shop to it and bam!)

[Robosaur]

The lack of user friendliness when assigning jobs to dwarves.

[Moonshadow101]

- FPS Death. Nothing more to say here, really. It's the one true killer of fortresses. And inevitable scourge that can be slowed down but never really stopped.

- Ai's point about the "Third and Fourth Migrant Waves." They're incredibly depressing. After the first two, I usually have my farm going, two military dwarves sparring, crafts going... and then the population of the fort suddenly increases by a factor of about 2-5. It's a staggering number of Dwarves to dump on me at once. And by the time I get a handle on all of it... another equally oversized wave comes. The fact that 0.34 almost entirely robbed these migrants of real skills, instead giving them all 1-3 predictable skills almost always at "adequate" level, certainly doesn't help.

[Gizogin]

For me, it's that the game is unfinished.  I hate the idea of having to restart a fortress when a new version comes out, even though it's been good recently about backwards-compatibility.

[orius]

-Package the game with a tileset, seriously I'd warrant to say 90% of your 90% you're turning away is solely the ASCII graphics. There's a difference between trying to maintain an image with the game and keep to its roots and denying players the choice without making them jump through hoops. Simply having Dwarf Fortress come in a graphical and non-graphical version would go MILES towards making it a more accessible game, I can seriously tell you straight up that 4/5 of my friends that don't play DF cite this as the reason.

You could steer new players towards the Lazy Newb Pack, it comes with some of the graphical sets and it can switch between sets easily.

-When I started originally my biggest issue was Stone, and its still an overhanging issue, I have too much of it and usually of colors I hate. Letting us designate at a workshop which TYPE of stone to use would go MILES towards making the game more accessible (IE: I only want Brown Tables, I set Mason Workshop to Mudstone, BAM!, I want to consume all of my Microcline, I just simply set my Crafts shop to it and bam!)

You can use DFHack to specify material types in jobs, particularly for stone.

[njero]

-When I started originally my biggest issue was Stone, and its still an overhanging issue, I have too much of it and usually of colors I hate. Letting us designate at a workshop which TYPE of stone to use would go MILES towards making the game more accessible (IE: I only want Brown Tables, I set Mason Workshop to Mudstone, BAM!, I want to consume all of my Microcline, I just simply set my Crafts shop to it and bam!)

You can use DFHack to specify material types in jobs, particularly for stone.

Does the new "give to workshop" for stockpiles not also address this?

[MrWiggles]

-Package the game with a tileset, seriously I'd warrant to say 90% of your 90% you're turning away is solely the ASCII graphics. There's a difference between trying to maintain an image with the game and keep to its roots and denying players the choice without making them jump through hoops. Simply having Dwarf Fortress come in a graphical and non-graphical version would go MILES towards making it a more accessible game, I can seriously tell you straight up that 4/5 of my friends that don't play DF cite this as the reason.

The ascii graphics aren't about 'maintaining an image'. Its about reducing workload. ToadOne and ThreeToe experience from their previous game, Slave to Armok, that adding graphics was really killing the games forward progress. So they went with Ascii to address this work load problem.

[Reudh]

It is as simple as asking permission from the tileset makers to send them in. They're already incorporated into unofficial releases.

[Bulwersator]

It is as simple as asking permission from the tileset makers to send them in. They're already incorporated into unofficial releases.

And delay releases as you wait for new graphics?

[Wimopy]

The number one reason that held me back was the incredibly complex material system --> finding veins, their names, what they are good for, etc.
A tutorial on basic fort layout and how to recognise different veins and such would be nice, something that tells people what their first few steps should be when starting... dunno, haven't checked that part of the wiki for a long time, maybe I should learn how to play for real some time soon...

I personally haven't had FPS problems, I started with a 5+ yr old comp, so I'm used to small embarks, but it would be nice to allow yourself to have a lot of space to expand.. I know that's probably not something that's possible to be fixed, but people should be warned.

Quick edit: I love the ASCII graphics and never changed them, it's the only way I know what's what.

[Urist_McArathos]

-When I started originally my biggest issue was Stone, and its still an overhanging issue, I have too much of it and usually of colors I hate. Letting us designate at a workshop which TYPE of stone to use would go MILES towards making the game more accessible (IE: I only want Brown Tables, I set Mason Workshop to Mudstone, BAM!, I want to consume all of my Microcline, I just simply set my Crafts shop to it and bam!)

You can use DFHack to specify material types in jobs, particularly for stone.

Does the new "give to workshop" for stockpiles not also address this?

It does for me; a few minutes of setup work (literally, just a couple minutes with the wiki's Page on Stone (which sorts them by color in a table at the bottom), then use the "Give to Workshop" function on a custom stockpile.  I have all grey tables and chairs in my dining room, white stone items in my barracks, and so on.  I have a junk stone stockpile set to take all the stone that doesn't fit my preferred colors, and it's set to give to my mechanics and crafts shops to chew through unwanted stone as crafts, mugs, pots, and mechanisms.

It is as simple as asking permission from the tileset makers to send them in. They're already incorporated into unofficial releases.

Actually, as Bulwersator pointed out, it's as "simple" as giving an early release of the new version to a graphics pack creator and waiting for them (on a volunteer basis) to completely update for the new version, then cross-referencing it to make sure there are no glitches (since it would become a part of the "official" game, ToadyOne would have a responsibility to ensure it works as intended before it can be released).  This of course doesn't address the issue of how to pick which graphics pack to use (even if you narrow it to the most popular, it's neck and neck between three or four).

For me, it's that the game is unfinished.  I hate the idea of having to restart a fortress when a new version comes out, even though it's been good recently about backwards-compatibility.

This one actually hurts a lot; Toady has been GREAT about avoiding save-breaking changes recently, but it is frustrating even when there aren't save breaks.  I remember when the new livestock system was implemented (can't remember the version, but I believe it introduced beekeeping and eggs), I had to gen a new world to use those features and new jobs, even though it wasn't required to use my old save (I just wouldn't have eggs or bees).

I find myself waiting until a round of bugfixing is completely over before genning a world, mainly in the hopes that Toady WILL take months or more to release another content update, so I don't feel like I'm abandoning a fort just after it got started to enjoy the latest content.  There's really nothing that can be done about this, sadly.  The game isn't done, the new content is pretty much always exciting, and the alternative is to wait two decades or so until 1.0 is released before downloading an update.

[MrWiggles]

It is as simple as asking permission from the tileset makers to send them in. They're already incorporated into unofficial releases.

Its as simple as ToadyOne not liking to work with anyone.

[Shadowclaimer]

-Package the game with a tileset, seriously I'd warrant to say 90% of your 90% you're turning away is solely the ASCII graphics. There's a difference between trying to maintain an image with the game and keep to its roots and denying players the choice without making them jump through hoops. Simply having Dwarf Fortress come in a graphical and non-graphical version would go MILES towards making it a more accessible game, I can seriously tell you straight up that 4/5 of my friends that don't play DF cite this as the reason.

The ascii graphics aren't about 'maintaining an image'. Its about reducing workload. ToadOne and ThreeToe experience from their previous game, Slave to Armok, that adding graphics was really killing the games forward progress. So they went with Ascii to address this work load problem.

That's fine, they don't have to touch the graphics, there's plenty of people in this community who would gladly submit tilework for an update in a heartbeat.

And for those saying it would delay progress, its as simple as releasing what they need tiles for a week ahead of release and they'd be done by SOMEONE.

As for DFHack, that's awesome to know, but DFHack isn't part of the main game. (Although I'll use this feature now that I know it!)

The question was what turns players off the game, and truthfully that's a good start.

[MrWiggles]

-Package the game with a tileset, seriously I'd warrant to say 90% of your 90% you're turning away is solely the ASCII graphics. There's a difference between trying to maintain an image with the game and keep to its roots and denying players the choice without making them jump through hoops. Simply having Dwarf Fortress come in a graphical and non-graphical version would go MILES towards making it a more accessible game, I can seriously tell you straight up that 4/5 of my friends that don't play DF cite this as the reason.

The ascii graphics aren't about 'maintaining an image'. Its about reducing workload. ToadOne and ThreeToe experience from their previous game, Slave to Armok, that adding graphics was really killing the games forward progress. So they went with Ascii to address this work load problem.

That's fine, they don't have to touch the graphics, there's plenty of people in this community who would gladly submit tilework for an update in a heartbeat.

And for those saying it would delay progress, its as simple as releasing what they need tiles for a week ahead of release and they'd be done by SOMEONE.

There still the issue of the fact that ToadyOne doesn't like working with other folks. He even stated that he doesnt like to program with his own brother. 

As for just tossing request into the wild, thats not a perfect solution. You'll probably get a mismash quilt thing going which will look cruddy and there issue of what to do with multiple submission for the same item and there the issue of what to do when there is no submission for the new item. There also the fact that ToadyOne & ThreeToe aren't a 100 percent transparent with their developments. They've been known to allow for surprises in new releases. So now you'll have these potencial surprises in this mishmash quilt of spirites that'll look really out of  place being just Ascii.

None of these problems are impossible to solve, but they do make ToadyOne and ThreeToe having to with the community/someone for a release, which ToadyOne for sure doesn't like to do. That personal preference is paramount.

Whereas, how the current model works with tilesets being worked on autonomously seems to be pretty functional. ToadyOne doesn't have to rely on anyone else, and gets to work in his own time frame.