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Author Topic: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite  (Read 1920 times)

Heliomance

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Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« on: February 10, 2010, 11:07:18 am »

The info in it is inaccurate. I've changed a bit, but more work needs doing.

I accidentally dropped an entirely unskilled swimmer into a river. And because I wanted to use him, I watched what happened. He sat where he was, not moving, but not drowning, while his swimming skill slowly went up. As soon as he hit novice, he started moving. He swam to the edge of the river, and pulled himself out even though there was no stairway or ramp there. I'm pretty sure that in the current version it's actually impossible to drown while you have air in the tile above you, and novice or better swimmers can swim absolutely fine.
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Retro

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2010, 12:02:34 pm »

The info in it is inaccurate. I've changed a bit, but more work needs doing.

I'm pretty sure that in the current version it's actually impossible to drown while you have air in the tile above you, and novice or better swimmers can swim absolutely fine.

If that were true I'd have a lot less dead dwarves. You might want to go bring it up on the wiki page's discussion area rather than making the changes immediately; I imagine someone might revert (at least some of) your stuff if it hasn't been discussed.

Loyal

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2010, 12:40:47 pm »

Also, adventurers without the swimming skill will happily (?) drown in any sufficiently deep water, air or no air.
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o_O[WTFace]

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2010, 03:38:55 pm »

I think with decent stats you gain swimming faster then you gain tiredness, at least for long enough to escape.  Also it might be important that rivers aren't very deep, and don't dump water on your swimmers head. 
« Last Edit: February 10, 2010, 03:41:44 pm by o_O[WTFace] »
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wagawaga

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2010, 11:31:45 am »

I had a dwarf drown in a 7/7 filled channel, he had never touched water before.

He was dropped from a single z-level above.

I think it's different if a dwarf falls into water or if water just rushes towards him (the "panic" thing that is said on the wiki).
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Heliomance

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2010, 12:18:27 pm »

This dwarf fell from 2 z-levels above. Looking at Dwarf Therapist, though, his 14 toughness probably had something to do with it.

OTOH, the early history of my fortress was plagued by tantrum spirals, and I had several melancholy dwarves try to commit suicide by jumping into ponds. They all died of thirst, and there's no way their stats were that silly.
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Raphite1

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2010, 02:14:47 pm »

I had a military dwarf chase a kobold into a 7/7 murky pool, where the (uninjured, but toughness of only 0-2) dwarf drowned nearly instantly.

Heliomance

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2010, 02:38:36 pm »

Hmm, it seems experimentation is in order. In this fort, I've not lost a single dwarf to drowning, but loads of them have fallen in the river at one point or another.
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Duuvian

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2010, 09:00:31 pm »

OTOH, the early history of my fortress was plagued by tantrum spirals, and I had several melancholy dwarves try to commit suicide by jumping into ponds. They all died of thirst, and there's no way their stats were that silly.
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The Architect

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Re: Swimmer wiki page needs a rewrite
« Reply #9 on: February 11, 2010, 09:05:59 pm »

They usually just need a path to exit, and they'll be fine. Dwarves will fall 3 z-levels deep in water and climb out, given no averse current and an available staircase. They need a reason to leave the current as well or they'll just chill helplessly.

I find the main dangers are wounded dwarves being dragged/dropped in, and the player not being aware of or prepared for a dwarf's predicament.
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