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[cochramd]

A humanoid is shaped roughly like a cone

Not healthy ones.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

While I agree with your statement, the picture you supplied is not in fact a human, sir.  It is an octopus.

Actually, it is a mutant.

[GoblinCookie]

This is Dwarf Fortress. Critters that couldn't possibly exist, exist. And that's OK.

Take rocs, for example. IRL, birds can't fly above a weight of 40 lbs or so, because either their wing muscles get too heavy for their leg muscles to support, or their leg muscles are too heavy for their wing muscles to lift. (Pterosaurs overcame this limit by walking/launching using their wings, which meant their flight muscles could do double duty, but that's not consistent with the avian body plan.)

But giant birds are cool, so we have giant birds.

If you wonder how the creatures work, and other science facts, just repeat to yourself: "it's just a game. I should really just relax."

You contradict yourself there Bumber.  Nothing inherantly about being a bird keeps our rocs from being able to do things the pterosaur way, not that the flight physics are exactly realistic as they presently stand anyway; given the lack of detail in the actual body plan for all we know that is how rocs take off. 

[Dirst]

(snip)

You contradict yourself there Bumber.  Nothing inherantly about being a bird keeps our rocs from being able to do things the pterosaur way, not that the flight physics are exactly realistic as they presently stand anyway; given the lack of detail in the actual body plan for all we know that is how rocs take off.

That's Button, not Bumber.  You can tell by the lack of a beanie cap.

Pterosaurs weren't as big as rocs either.  DF is at its core a fantasy game, not a science fiction game.  It needs a certain level of internal consistency to be accessible to players, but it doesn't actually need to make sense.

[Button]

This is Dwarf Fortress. Critters that couldn't possibly exist, exist. And that's OK.

Take rocs, for example. IRL, birds can't fly above a weight of 40 lbs or so, because either their wing muscles get too heavy for their leg muscles to support, or their leg muscles are too heavy for their wing muscles to lift. (Pterosaurs overcame this limit by walking/launching using their wings, which meant their flight muscles could do double duty, but that's not consistent with the avian body plan.)

But giant birds are cool, so we have giant birds.

If you wonder how the creatures work, and other science facts, just repeat to yourself: "it's just a game. I should really just relax."

You contradict yourself there Bumber.  Nothing inherantly about being a bird keeps our rocs from being able to do things the pterosaur way, not that the flight physics are exactly realistic as they presently stand anyway; given the lack of detail in the actual body plan for all we know that is how rocs take off.

As Dirst notes, I'm Button.

If rocs obeyed the laws of physics, the fact that rocs have feathered wings would keep them from doing it the pterosaur way. It would require the roc to walk on its wings, which would damage its feathers. Damaged feathers create a ton of drag. Un-feathered surfaces on feathered wings would also create a ton of drag.

Even positing a vertebrate flier optimized for taking off at a relatively immense weight, there is an upper bound beyond which the muscles required for takeoff are too heavy to lift themselves. I don't know exactly where that limit is, but I suspect it's no larger than a bull elephant.

Which is why it's a good thing that DF critters don't need to obey the laws of physics!

[Vuohijumala]

I've been wondering about this same question myself too. I read this thread through, and now my brain hurts. I'd just like to write every possible equation on a piece of paper, burn it, and then cast the remaining pile of ash into the deepest possible abyss in existence. Then pour magma and water all over the place.

Maybe I am just too dumb.