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[WereDragon]

Dragons do not reach full size until they are 1000 years old, this i feel will be a bigger problem for the steam release.

As far as i can tell the default length of a world being generated is now 100 years. This means that a dragon, you know the legendary megabeast? Will only be half the size of a single elephant by the time the default time jump is over with. This is kind of pathetic given that its… a dragon. Its a baby at that point but its a legendary megabeast meant to take down your whole fort.

In other words the dragon megabeast is honestly really weak physically. I definitely am going to mod the game to change it for the steam release, but i think one of the four megabeasts should be their full size after all of world gen happens.

Tldr:
Dragons take 1000 years to age, and the new default history gen will only last 100, this will mean most dragons will be actually incredibly small comparatively and much weaker of a threat compared to the other megabeasts. as such i think they should age faster to make them as strong as a dragon should be

[Zhikse]

I mean, you're not wrong, dragons take so long to grow it's almost unfeasible for normal gameplay. but at the same time it feels right as a concept, having them take so long to become gargantuan in size.
I know there are creatures that can be older than worldgen and you can see this happen a lot in younger worlds, so maybe this can affect dragons too, although I have no idea if that's the case right now.

still, for the purposes of dragon breeding programs and such, it's a big issue, but considering you can fix it in a minute with just one change to the raws I'd say it's not the most pressing of matters.

[WereDragon]

I would definitely agree its not super pressing or anything. And im fine with an alternative like dragons starting at age 900 and being 1000 by the end of worldgen, or starting at 400 to be at least 500 by worldgen end.. I just thibk that dragons should be large enough to be dangerous physically along with their fire breath.

[Zhikse]

well... regardless of what age they might be at worldgen, there are two options available.

you can take the reasonable path and lower the age at which they reach adulthood, so they are fully grown shortly after those 100 years pass. sure, it's one of the great powers of the world reaching its full potential within the lifespan of your average dwarf but you get to see them in all their glory.

   or...

you can make adult dragons bigger. think about it, size only takes the values from the edges of a given age bracket, and smoothly transitions from one to another through that span of time. you could have a regular-sized dragon be in its first centuries, and grow to be several times larger as it reaches full maturity at the end of a millennium. if the bloody lizard manages to outlive entire civilizations it might as well have the presence to signify so.

may it usher forth the draconic age!

[Zhikse]

jokes aside, these kind of impossibly long-lived creatures do have a few issues when it comes to normal gameplay that aren't smoothed out as easily.

I think it's a shame how natural megabeast births are almost(?) impossible, and how they're vulnerable to being killed off regardless of player input on very long-lived worlds, making stable populations even harder to exist. rocs don't even need a thousand years to mature, they only take a couple of decades and they are still incredibly dependant on Dwarven Wildlife Restoration Programs to enjoy a continued existence.

maybe in the future the game could have the answers to these kinds of issues with megabeasts, being so rare and spread-out as they are. I'd love for some of them to be A Thing in the far reaches of the world, and a bit more available in regular gameplay. finding extremely old dragons doesn't have the same impact on stories if the age of the world means you can't find anything else to compare them to or viceversa.

[Putnam]

100-year-old dragons are already >40x as big as a dwarf; dralthas aren't exactly non-threatening, and the dragonfire makes dragons far more difficult to approach.

[ayy1337]

Could easily start a couple of them off at ages >500

[Shonai_Dweller]

Just thought I'd point out that in the current version of the game, megabeasts can be born in a time before time.
Quick glance at Legends viewer in my current word reveals Ustra Ivoryflares the Flickering. He was 206 years old in the year 0. Died in the year 130.

So....yeah, it's already a thing.


--edit
And a further dig reveals that my world has at least one living "ancient" dragon.
Faci Ivoryheart the Jade Wealths of Sizzling currently 366 years old. In my 175 year old world. Must go hunt her down...

[Eric Blank]

One thing ive done that partially alleviates this is add a third or fourth size tag between birth and age 1000


   [BODY_SIZE:0:0:6000]
   [BODY_SIZE:25:0:6000000]
   [BODY_SIZE:100:0:12500000]
   [BODY_SIZE:1000:0:25000000]

Here, by age 100, they will be at least 50% max size of 25m cc (12.5m cc). Theyll slowly grow up to the maximum size over the next 900 years. This will give you relatively massive and powerful dragons in the early game that still continue to get stronger over the course of history, and young dragons will quickly amp up to just under 25% their max size in the first 25 years.

[PlumpHelmetMan]

I personally think draconic growth rate is fine as it is. As Shonai says, most dragons already grow to adulthood in the "time before time" period preceding worldgen (which comprises, as far as I'm aware, a functionally-infinite amount of time), and taking centuries to reach full size gives dragons an appropriately mythic feel IMO.

[ayy1337]

Speaking of dragons taking a thousand years to reach full size.. Having a war dragon breeding program sounds quite fun and very dwarvish