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[LumenPlacidum]

We have cave-ins that generate a vast quantity of rock dust which currently knocks whatever it encompasses unconscious.  We have many minerals, some of which are highly toxic.  Toady is incorporating poisonous materials into the next version.  We have players who are just demented enough to take advantage of it.

I think it would be awesome if being in the collapse dust cloud in an area with a toxic stone generated toxic clouds, where each breathing creature that was in the debris gets exposed to the toxin of the stone material once.  This would allow some extra fort defenses that can go horribly wrong (the DF seal of approval if ever there was one).

Thoughts and opinions?

[LegoLord]

Hey, we're not demented!  We just, you know, don't like setbacks (hammerer . . . )

Awesome idea though.  It think it might already be on the list of things for the next version though.  I'll have to check.

[Pilsu]

On such a short time scale, it wouldn't matter the least

[LumenPlacidum]

On such a short time scale, it wouldn't matter the least

What, the short and sudden exposure to and inhalation of particles of an arsenic compound?  Even if the danger is minimal; even if it's going to be so easily resisted that it will only rarely cause a problem, that will just make it into one of those awesome things that ends up in the list of "things you just discovered about DF" in the future.  It's the little things that make DF really charming.  The little things like a painful death as the alveoli of your lungs react to arsenic, cyanide, and uranium.   

[G-Flex]

On such a short time scale, it wouldn't matter the least

You could say the same about dwarves having kids; it takes 12 years for them to grow up, so why bother?

The only reason it "doesn't matter" is because the game is damn near forced to a shorter timescale than it should ideally have. Dwarf Fortress just doesn't yet have enough outside-of-fortress interaction for long-term fortresses to really have many long-term goals except for the most insane of megaconstructions. Due to this and some other quirks (such as the ridiculously high skill gain rate, especially for children and their social skills for instance), there's just not much of a reason to play a multigenerational fortress.

Now, since multigenerational fortresses are IDEALLY a good thing, and will be at some point in the future, I don't see why long-term poisoning is such a bad idea. Hell, if it could somehow be incorporated into worldgen, that would make it useful in the shorter term, but I'm not sure how it could be.

And yeah, a lot of poisoning wouldn't manifest only after decades; some environmental hazards could harm you over much shorter periods of time, especially if the harm involved is lesser and there's a LOT of exposure going on.

This is easily combined with two other suggestions I've made/seen:

• More toxins! Some of this seems to be going in slowly, but I'd love asbestos and mercury to be in the game, especially since asbestos is damn useful as well.
• Mining should create dust. Maybe you create less if you're a better miner, but hey, splitting cinnabar into chunks and moving it around should make at least some environmental hazard.

[ZeroGravitas]

On such a short time scale, it wouldn't matter the least

You could say the same about dwarves having kids; it takes 12 years for them to grow up, so why bother?

The only reason it "doesn't matter" is because the game is damn near forced to a shorter timescale than it should ideally have. Dwarf Fortress just doesn't yet have enough outside-of-fortress interaction for long-term fortresses to really have many long-term goals except for the most insane of megaconstructions. Due to this and some other quirks (such as the ridiculously high skill gain rate, especially for children and their social skills for instance), there's just not much of a reason to play a multigenerational fortress.

Now, since multigenerational fortresses are IDEALLY a good thing, and will be at some point in the future, I don't see why long-term poisoning is such a bad idea. Hell, if it could somehow be incorporated into worldgen, that would make it useful in the shorter term, but I'm not sure how it could be.

And yeah, a lot of poisoning wouldn't manifest only after decades; some environmental hazards could harm you over much shorter periods of time, especially if the harm involved is lesser and there's a LOT of exposure going on.

This is easily combined with two other suggestions I've made/seen:

• More toxins! Some of this seems to be going in slowly, but I'd love asbestos and mercury to be in the game, especially since asbestos is damn useful as well.
• Mining should create dust. Maybe you create less if you're a better miner, but hey, splitting cinnabar into chunks and moving it around should make at least some environmental hazard.

You people have no idea what you are asking for with this. To do be done properly, the entire game as you know it would be change. It would become EPA Fortress. It would not be fun at all.

[Footkerchief]

^^^ Can you explain why the "entire game" would have to be changed, and how you think it would affect gameplay?

[G-Flex]

Those issues would be much lesser if you factor in the "dwarves should be naturally resistant to certain hazards" suggestion.

Besides, the most dangerous stuff would be much more OBVIOUSLY dangerous and quite specific, such as realgar, cinnabar, and lead. It wouldn't be terribly hard to be careful around such few things.

It's not like I'm suggesting every single dwarf who inhales cave dust should suffer silicosis right away; dwarves themselves should probably be damn near immune to such common mineral-related ailments, and I'd be happy with just an unhappy thought if a random passer-by gets hit with dust, which is mostly true now.

[Footkerchief]

Besides, the most dangerous stuff would be much more OBVIOUSLY dangerous and quite specific, such as realgar, cinnabar, and lead. It wouldn't be terribly hard to be careful around such few things.

The game could even help you out by sticking "Warning: this mineral may pose hazards to your dwarves!" onto the usual "You have struck Galena!" message.

[G-Flex]

Ideally, the game will have more ingame help in the future.

Right now, it already tells you what you can do with economic stone; that should be expanded upon. A looooot.

[ZeroGravitas]

^^^ Can you explain why the "entire game" would have to be changed, and how you think it would affect gameplay?

Yes, I'll  do it later  today. It'll take a bit of a long post I need to set aside some t ime.

[Nesoo]

This is why dwarves have beards: they filter out the dust!

[LegacyCWAL]

Come to think of it, Dwarves do seem to suffer many of the effects of lead poisoning already...

[LegoLord]

It should probably be mentioned that just because a mineral compound has a toxic ion in it, that does not mean that the mineral will be toxic itself.  Take barium sulfate for example.  Ba⁺² ions are toxic, yet barium sulfate is not toxic because barium sulfate is not soluble in water, and will pass right through the body's systems; in fact, it is eaten to improve X-rays of certain parts of the digestive track.

[G-Flex]

That depends on method of ingestion. Also, fat-soluble things would be bad too.

For instance, drinking a little bit of mercury usually doesn't do much of anything to you. However, INHALING the vapor is a terrible idea, as it gets absorbed fairly readily into your bloodstream that way. No digestive system necessary.