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[Ahra]

great, im gonna find the biggest mountain, jump down it with an enemy, kill him midair and pretending im riding his corpse down the mountain...

wait, can we use earth mages to create an pit under that unbreakable phalanx or shear of the top of something?

[Leatra]

Kinda surprising how many players want to jump off a cliff and land on a creature or something. Then again, maybe not. This is Bay12 after all!

Will there be something like DF's Arena to test the combat system and have fun?

[agertor]

Bringing up the subject of the community, how easy would it be to mod this game? Somewhere around DF level?

[Chronomancer]

Looks great. Can't wait to play it.

[agertor]

This reminds me of the serial killer roguelike hoax... I don't know why.

[Some1fromMKD]

And PLEASE make the game at least a bit moddable. I(and many others I presume) would want the game to get a bit more variety after playing for 16 hours a day. Not trying to offend or anything, but I don't think you can make every request of every player.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

great, im gonna find the biggest mountain, jump down it with an enemy, kill him midair and pretending im riding his corpse down the mountain...

wait, can we use earth mages to create an pit under that unbreakable phalanx or shear of the top of something?

Excellent! Potentially, but magic (in whatever form it takes, if any!) is still a long way off. That's the kind of thing I'd like magic to be able to do, though.

Kinda surprising how many players want to jump off a cliff and land on a creature or something. Then again, maybe not. This is Bay12 after all!

Will there be something like DF's Arena to test the combat system and have fun?

Haha; I'm not sure about an arena system, actually. It's not a priority, but I might add one in a later release. I don't want everything to become too transparent, but at the same time I recognize the use something like that would have. Additionally, since a lot of the game is exploring and discovering creatures - and since a lot of creatures stats will be randomized for each game - I'm reluctant to let you instantly spawn a Cyclops and have at it. On the other hand, the first alpha is going to have locating creatures vastly easier than in later, more advanced versions, so... maybe!

Bringing up the subject of the community, how easy would it be to mod this game? Somewhere around DF level?

And PLEASE make the game at least a bit moddable. I(and many others I presume) would want the game to get a bit more variety after playing for 16 hours a day. Not trying to offend or anything, but I don't think you can make every request of every player.

I'm afraid I have absolutely no plans to introduce modding. I'm very keen to take suggestions from players (hence this thread, and many have already been incorporated/been added to the long-term plan) but I don't plan to let people change things. No offense taken whatsoever, and I know you're right, and I can't possibly put in everything people want; at the same time, I know precisely the kind of theme/direction I want the game to take. Anything I feel 'should' be in the game I intend to put in (though it will take a while). Additionally, I don't want to make the game mechanics transparent in the way that modding would do, since a major theme is the unknown of the generated world. I also realize this will disappoint some people, and you have my apologies, but making it moddable would require a ton of effort on my part, and isn't something I'm keen on irrespective of the effort required.

also, I'm happy you'll be able to be some kind of stealthy dude. I'd like to manipulate a government, rather than just invade it. slowly force it into being what I want it to be, without force.
It'd make for an interesting game.

Yes, definitely. I have some fairly thought-out ideas for diplomacy, politics and similar and how those are going to work, and I very much want to let the player play a big role in that.

Looks great. Can't wait to play it.

Thanks! Just a couple of months left .

[NRDL]

What will be the Cassus Bellis available to civs to formally declare full scale war?  Will crusades be possible, against a hated civ or species?   

[Urist McDonalds]

Will elephants be used as war elephants?

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

you'd better include those Greek fire type units!

because medieval flamethrowers are fun!

also, sorry if it's been asked, and assuming you can make armour out of animal hides, if you made armour out of, say, a dragon's hide, would it be much tougher than that of a wolf or something? possibly being fireproof, too? (not necesarrily YOU being fireproof, just the armour)

Planning to! Yes, you'll be able to make some things from hides, and things like dragon scales will be much stronger than wolf hides. To be honest, 99% of hides will be far worse than even basic metal armor; it'll only be things like dragon scales which are really worth considering (unless you simply have *no* other way of getting any armor). Something like that may very well end-up fireproof; I'm working on the fire mechanics at the moment, though I suspect they are going to have to wait for alpha 0.0.2 or beyond, not 0.0.1...

What will be the Cassus Bellis available to civs to formally declare full scale war?  Will crusades be possible, against a hated civ or species?

There is a complex answer to that question I don't want to give away fully, but here's a bit on it . I have planned out a fairly complex system of justifications/descriptions for war and a variety of ways in which wars will come across. Crusades, civil wars, wars for territory, resources, revenge, and anything else; I have a system of 'properties', effectively, lined up that wars can have, and different combinations will produce different kinds of war, different public perceptions of wars, etc. The greater the justifications as perceived by those being recruited, the greater their default morale will be. You (and CPUs declaring war) will have to effectively 'put together' a a convincing package/reason for a campaign; obviously if your empire is being attacked itself, no reason is really needed, but if you are the attacker, one will be; of course, that's not to say that money/fear can't do some of the talking. If you persuade your people a war is just, they'll be more likely to go along with it than a king who declares war simply because, say, he once lost his crown in enemy territory and really wants to get it back...

Will elephants be used as war elephants?

IIRC, yus.

and, IIRC, they will be able to run amok at some point, should they get frightened.

Yes, and indeed, they will be very powerful units to mount soldiers on, but risky if they get panicked.

And, finally, a blog entry after the two week hiatus, including a gif animation of world generation, something I've wanted to put in for some time. http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2012/05/07/map-generation-redux/

[varsovie]

you'd better include those Greek fire type units!

because medieval flamethrowers are fun!

also, sorry if it's been asked, and assuming you can make armour out of animal hides, if you made armour out of, say, a dragon's hide, would it be much tougher than that of a wolf or something? possibly being fireproof, too? (not necesarrily YOU being fireproof, just the armour)

Planning to! Yes, you'll be able to make some things from hides, and things like dragon scales will be much stronger than wolf hides. To be honest, 99% of hides will be far worse than even basic metal armor; it'll only be things like dragon scales which are really worth considering (unless you simply have *no* other way of getting any armor). Something like that may very well end-up fireproof; I'm working on the fire mechanics at the moment, though I suspect they are going to have to wait for alpha 0.0.2 or beyond, not 0.0.1...

What about archer/peltast/assassin (light units)? Will they still benefit more from Steel than hide/leather? Don't you have a weight/encumbrance system?

[NRDL]

How will strategic information work?  Will spies be available? 

[agertor]

That's too bad about the modding thing. However if I may ask since I've been following this along for a bit now. Why do you not have your own forums? Just wondering.

As well second question, assuming you cut off resources, could we starve/dehydrate out our enemies through sieges? I would like to think so if we ourselves are susceptible to it, that everyone else would be as well, it will also add to their routine of the day to go get food and water.

edit: Also temperature, I'd like to assume deserts make you thirsty quicker and polar caps pretty much freeze you til you are dead. Anything about how temperature will affect the adventurer?

[Some1fromMKD]

The mountains in the world generation seem too much as straight lines leading north-south or east-west. Can you fix that? And also how big is the world in square kilometers?

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

What about archer/peltast/assassin (light units)? Will they still benefit more from Steel than hide/leather? Don't you have a weight/encumbrance system?

Yes, there is a (basic, for now) weight system, and the more you have, the slightly slower you are. I intend to put in some bonuses for certain types of armor, though, to make assassins etc more viable!

How will strategic information work?  Will spies be available?

It will be dependent on your knowledge of other empires; both facts and rumours (which, of course, might be facts themselves) will be at your disposal, along with the ability to send scouts, etc. I think spying and espionage would be a wonderful facet to implement, and I really want to - again, of course, a potential direction for the player, too.

That's too bad about the modding thing. However if I may ask since I've been following this along for a bit now. Why do you not have your own forums? Just wondering.

As well second question, assuming you cut off resources, could we starve/dehydrate out our enemies through sieges? I would like to think so if we ourselves are susceptible to it, that everyone else would be as well, it will also add to their routine of the day to go get food and water.

edit: Also temperature, I'd like to assume deserts make you thirsty quicker and polar caps pretty much freeze you til you are dead. Anything about how temperature will affect the adventurer?

I haven't put up my own forums since it isn't out yet! Once I put out the first alpha in two months or whatever, I might put up my own forum then, though I suspect it will initially be mostly a location for bug reporting . Yes, I definitely want you to be able to do that to enemies, and they'll be attempting the same. Different biomes do indeed have different ambient temperatures which will affect you and all creatures. It will be particularly pronounced for ones that exist in certain biomes - Cyclopes from the desert will really struggle in polar regions far more than you, while the inverse will also be true...

The mountains in the world generation seem too much as straight lines leading north-south or east-west. Can you fix that? And also how big is the world in square kilometers?

I do see what you mean; I'll try and add in a little more variation. Re: size, that's a tough question to answer. In terms of grid squares the player walks around on (i.e. not the world map) it is 40,000 x 40,000 square across (each world map square is 200x200). I'd say each square is probably more than a square metre, maybe two or three. There isn't an exact measurement, but it's certainly 80km+ along a side, I'd say.