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Author Topic: Fortress Preludes  (Read 571 times)

Sky-Streamer

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Fortress Preludes
« on: December 21, 2020, 08:42:12 am »

I think that the current beginning of a fortress is a bit... bland. You have no idea where your fortress' wagon and people start from, you have no idea how you got your resources, or any of that stuff. So, I'd like to give this idea; the idea of a Prelude/Beginning to the fortress crew's setout.

First, you choose the typical resources/dwarves and location of the fortress, like normal. Then you choose the fortress, mountainhome, hamlet or other such structure that your wagon will start from. After this, you start in that starting location, with a new message;

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The player then is in charge of the Expedition Leader on the outskirts of town, where the Wagon is situated. The wagon, at this moment, will be completely empty. Some of the dwarves may be nearby, but not all of them. This is because they are preparing for the journey, collecting their belongings, and saying goodbye to their loved ones.

The player then has three days to either talk to their fellow dwarves, or gather extra supplies for the journey to the mountainhome. Once the three days pass, the dwarves will all be collected together at the wagon; with more possessions.
Each dwarf will have brought some personal items and placed them within the wagon. These items depend on the dwarf and their main job; For example, A hunter may bring a quiver, extra arrows, or a crossbow. A bard may bring an instrument.

Then, you have to travel. You and your party will have to travel to the mountainhomes, or the nearest fortress connected to the mountainhomes, and move to the trade depot. From there, your materials will be supplied, and you have to load it all up to your wagon. You can choose to stay for a few days, or get a move on to your fortress' site. Once you start moving, you must protect your dwarves from animals, feed them, and give them drinks. You'll need to prepare - not just for the fortress itself - but for the journey to it. As you travel, you can pick up even more resources, but the wagon will keep going unless you stop the animals. You can also fast travel with the wagon, but this makes you miss out on extra resources.

When you finally arrive at your site, the wagon stops, the screen fades to black, and the default 'Strike the Earth!' message appears. You are then able to do what you'd like in normal fortress mode.

How is this idea?
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Nordlicht

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Re: Fortress Preludes
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2020, 09:12:11 am »

If it's optional, yes. Else it sounds like forced Adventure mode for those who want to play Fortress mode only. Although as far as I know  starting from Adventure mode is planned anyway.
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JAL28

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Re: Fortress Preludes
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2021, 02:52:55 am »

It seems pretty good on the surface, but once you look deeper a few fallacies do appear in it.

Firstly, what about embark points? Are these going to be removed entirely or reworked? Because it seems that you can grab whatever with basically zero limits minus the amount of days. And seeing as one will likely be able to grab whatever they need long before 3 days arises(if this is like adventurer mode) it would mean that a player would have to do a lot of micromanaging, running around finding things etc. which is pretty annoying.

Also, having to go to the mountainhomes/starting out in any fortress is going to be very, VERY painful. This is as unless your mountain home has a low population, it is likely that thousands of dwarves and their animals will turn your game into a slideshow, basically making it impossible for all but the most patient to actually get to fortress mode, or using a young world where there aren’t enough creatures to lag the game severely.

Do you get to plot the journey of the wagon yourself or is it AI-determined? Because the wagon may very well cross into a reanimating evil biome or past some hostile sites where it would be swiftly cut down, basically ending the player’s journey unnecessarily.

Still it is a pretty good idea.
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