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[Dirst]

I've decided to core-dump several ideas here rather than pollute the forum with multiple new threads, especially since I know each of these things has been discussed before (at least a little bit).  The text isn't showing up quite the way I want it, but hopefully it's decipherable.

Any links that I missed to previous discussion on the topics would be appreciated, and of course fire away at the merits (technical or Dwarfiness) of the ideas here.

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Keys

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=115254

The idea of keys has come up in multiple threads applied to locking doors.  There are two main objections:
1. Door keys would proliferate, causing FPS issues similar to coins ("pocket lint" problem)
2. The pathing code doesn't seem to be able to handle some-Dwarves-can-pass-but-not-others ("pathing" problem)

It is also suggested that putting an access list on the door would be an elegant solution to the pocket lint problem but leave the pathing problem.

Either or both of these could be overcome eventually with Moore's Law, but anyway it is not what I am suggesting.

I am suggesting a container (chest seems the dwarfiest) that can be locked.  If adding a lock to an existing container is too complex to code well (and I suspect it is), the alternative is a new container such as a "lockbox."

The lockbox would be either (chest + mechanism) -> (lockbox + key) or (chest + lock&key) -> (lockbox + key).  I'm envisioning a lock&key item made at a mechanic's workshop like a mechanism but metal-only.

Placing an item into or removing an item from a lockbox requires the Dwarf to have a key (or lockpicking skill...).

A lockbox would mildly slow down a Kobold thief.  Mostly it would provide a dwarfier way of forbidding something.

7777777
7777777
77+++77
77+Æ+77
77+++77
7777777
7777777
  ╞═╡


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Hearth/Fireplace

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=46184.msg914907
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=69453.msg1680410

This is another idea that got kicked around a lot a few years ago, and it actually exists in some mods.  A hearth or fireplace would be a one-tile building/construction that can start a fire given a unit of wood or fuel.

The hearth should be able to cook Simple Meals, but in Fortress mode it mostly serves to raise the value of a dining room.  In Adverturer mode these things should be in residences and give the character access to fire should he/she need it.

In either mode, it'd be nice to have it affect the surrounding temperature.  Not recommended inside glaciers.


♥


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Secret Doors

www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=27207.msg327671
www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121538.msg3942012


This is in essence just a regular door, but with the invisibility of a trap.

Option 1: Make it from a boulder for a "rough wall" look and from a block for a "smoothed wall" look.
Option 2: Force the player to plan ahead... secret doors can only be carved out of native stone.

If someone sees a Secret Door in use, he/she knows it is there... similar to how intelligent creatures avoid known traps. ("Speak friend and enter.")

It should not be possible to make a Secret Door that matches soil surroundings.  If secret doors can be built (rather than carved in-situ) then an option for a wooden secret door should exist as well.

Here is an example of a poorly-hidden secret door made of the wrong material, mostly so that those of you without TRAPAVOID tags can actually see it:


═════
+++++
═╦═╦═
 ║+║


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Pit Trap

Although a pit trap can already be built with a retractible bridge and a pressure plate, this is just a compact one-tile version.  Should probably be remote-controllable by a typical trigger as well.

One neat feature would be to deactivate it (and thus not reveal its presence) if there is solid wall below it.  This only matters if the area below it is mobile (see below) or you plan to mine out soil tunnels really fast during a siege.

^

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Mobile Walls

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=23799.msg263225

This is an idea that is definitely already on the table, so this more of an idea on how to do it.

I think the simplest method is to just glue blocks together using a Construction menu (choose to connect any combination of N/S/E/W/U/D) and leave them at the mercy of minecart physics.  Powered rollers would be the most reliable way to move things around.

This lets the community apply all of the minecart ‼SCIENCE‼ immediately to moving segments.  Would love to see the ability to join across z-levels and the ability to carve fortifications into moving segments.

The typical penalty for conflicting/invalid movements (deconstructing the whole damn thing) should keep this Fun.  Toady also needs to work out a character's reaction to having the ground move under him/her/it.

Here are two different methods for sliding a segment East and West:

     │
╞═■■■■╤╤╤═╡   These rollers set to move EAST when powered
╞═■■■■╤╤╤═╡   These rollers set to move WEST when powered
     │

  │   │
╞■■╤╤╤╤╡      Western 3 rollers move EAST when powered, Eastern 3 rollers move WEST when powered.


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Worm Gear

Another way to get thing moving would be to use worm gears.  Since axles don't rotate in any particular direction right now, the mechanism at the end of the driving axle needs to designate a direction it moves across the worm gear sections.

The mass of the moving section (including its own axels and/or worm gears) figures into the power needed to move it.

This section of wall (with a fortification carved in the middle) will slide north to seal off an entryway.  The spin of the North-South axle is ignored by the mobile wall.

╥
║         Tracks
║
■
╬         Mobile wall section
■
│
↕───      Will move the assembly SOUTH when powered
↕
↕───      Will move the assembly NORTH when powered
↕
↕
↕
│


──↔↔↔↔──  What an East-West worm gear looks like.

   9      What a vertical worm gear looks like.

A particularly Dwarfy use for vertical worm gears would be to lift a mobile section like an elevator.

Top view of the elevator.  The mobile section has an implied floor, upon which levers are placed to control which axle is moving the segment.  There is no need for these levers to be on the vehicle itself, but it might make the dwarves feel better to have the illusion of control.  Engaging both levers are the same time would lead to Fun.

To prevent the whole thing from pancaking on the ceiling when it reaches the top, use a segment of vertical axle at the top so it no longer provides power.  Ditto for the bottom segment of the down-driving gear.  Or you can put your trust in Urist McOperator's timing skills.  The choice is yours.

 Z+1

++++++
+++ò9+
++++++
++++++
+9ò+++
++++++

 Z+0

■■■■■■
■■■■9■
■■■■■■
■■■■■■
■9■■■■
■■■■■■

Conveniently, ↕ nor ↔ nor 9 has any meaning in the game (other than the last showing up in text).

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Dialog

I saw this on Ars Technica and thought that it might be worth looking at for ideas.  Of course this appeared after Toady did all that work on dialog and lying.

The research paper is a working paper from an Artificial Intelligence lab in Europe.  Ignoring the implementation details, the state-space concept is what I think would be useful for pulling dialog completely into game time.

I also think it'd be awe-inspiring if a character could be in more than one conversation simultaneously, such as the audience members of an announcement making snide comments to one another.  Or the shopkeeper's daughter running up and asking him for a biscuit.  Of course the in-world mothers with multiple children will hate Toady for this upgrade, but you can't please everyone.


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Fonts

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=136332.0

Speaking of dialog, I'm also incorporating my previous suggestion on tilesets for text, just to keep everything in one place.

I apologize if this has been suggested before, but the keywords are just too common to search properly.

One of the upcoming features I read about was separating the font from the graphics tilesets, and that is a great idea.  I think Toady can go one step further and allow several fonts with very little additional effort.

The planned feature, as I understand it, would have something like text.png and graphics.png as two distinct tilesets.  Why not also allow for specific tilesets designated inside language files?  Then we could have a runic-looking Dwarf language tileset (font), a frilly Elf language tileset, a serif Human tileset and something ugly for the Goblin tileset (like Comic Sans).  Languages from mods can include their own fonts as desired, or pick one of the basic ones.  The vanilla version of the game just needs a single tileset to act as a fallback in case specific ones are missing.

[smjjames]

In no particular order:

Wormgears: Just use a gear assembly, they are omnidirectional. Being able to control the direction that the power is going would definetly be good, but requires a different way of controlling than the on/off of levers and pressure plates.

Dialog: Like procedural dialog? Theres tons more dialog in the next version though.

Mobile walls: Moving fortress parts (like moving walls powered by pistons) are a future goal, but that is a LONG ways off.

Pit Traps: Again, mobile fortress parts, and what you are describing isn't a whole lot different from using a retracting bridge.

Secret Doors: Sounds more like an adventurer mode thing.

Keys: I do NOT want to keep track of the keys for each dwarfs bedroom

[Dirst]

Wormgears: Just use a gear assembly, they are omnidirectional. Being able to control the direction that the power is going would definetly be good, but requires a different way of controlling than the on/off of levers and pressure plates.

Omnidirectional gear assemblies ares actually a limitation at times, as you mentioned.  The idea of the wormgear is to get around the need for complicated controls like multi-setting levers.  A particular drive gear (constructed from a mechanism) will push a wormgear segment in a pre-defined direction whenever it is powered.  It doesn't push an axle segment, but it won't hurt the axle either.  The number of consecutive wormgear sections determines just how far the thing will move.  As in the examples, you'll typically need two drive gears to get useful movement.

This does have some limited usefulness before moving sections, though I can't think of anything that couldn't be accomplished with enough gear assemblies and levers.  Maybe wormgears will make dwarfputing more efficient by letting designers literally move gear assemblies around.  The only reason to implement this before moving sections would be to do movables in baby steps.

Dialog: Like procedural dialog? Theres tons more dialog in the next version though.

And I mentioned the unfortunate timing here.  I don't know what the new DF dialog system looks like, but there appear to be discrete types of conversations and discrete steps in a robbery, either of which could be the beginning of a state-space model.  Mine was a very under-the-hood kind of suggestion about building a single framework for all dialog to mitigate complexity down the line.

Mobile walls: Moving fortress parts (like moving walls powered by pistons) are a future goal, but that is a LONG ways off.

Which is why I said it was more about discussing how to do it, not whether it's a good idea (Toady seems won over by the concept).

Pit Traps: Again, mobile fortress parts, and what you are describing isn't a whole lot different from using a retracting bridge.

It doesn't require moving fortress parts, the area underneath could easily be permanent open space.  The only difference from the retracting bridge is that it piles all of the components in one tile (and the option of making it inoperative if there is solid ground under it).

Secret Doors: Sounds more like an adventurer mode thing.

Toady spends a lot of time on adverturer mode things, but it does have fortress uses beyond aesthetics.  A building-destroyer has to see the door before it can destroy the door...

Keys: I do NOT want to keep track of the keys for each dwarfs bedroom

That is the pocket lint problem, which doesn't apply to the lockbox idea (unless you make a lockbox for every Dwarf, then that's you're own fault).

[BoredVirulence]

I'd like to see secret doors, and pit traps.

Pit traps, as a single hidden unit rather than a contraption involving bridges, timing, and pressure plates would be nice. Instead of hoping my quarry is moving at a speed my bridges can cope with, it's pretty much guaranteed to pit a non-trap avoid creature. Of course, it would have to have some sort of "cooldown" to prevent a single pit from stopping an army of goblins, but that can all be worked out.

Secret doors are a great idea. The only problem I could think would be the fact that they are destructible, but only when observed. Not sure how that would be implemented. Personally, I'd like to see the door itself have some controls for path finding, such as allowing only certain dwarves through (through burrow settings or whatever), or various weights to path finding o that it could be set to be used as a last resort. Personally, I prefer to use doors for defense anywhere except my main gate, and in a lot of cases I would love having a backup set of secret doors.

The lockbox I think could simply be a setting on the chest. Only the owner can open it, unless lockpicking skill or whatever. Until we have a functioning lockpicking skill the tag for opening locked doors would suffice. It would also be neat if its quality determined how easily it is broken. A tantrumming dwarf could break open a crappy wooden chest. A masterwork bronze (because bronze is dwarfiest) chest might be invulnerable even to trolls. Of course, that would come later as well. Until then the same rules for doors could work, wooden chests break like wooden doors, stone or metal chests (coffers) break like stone or metal doors.