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[Mephansteras]

Had this idea reading the thread about strange moods.

Mechanical constructs like traps, waterwheels, pumps, and whatnot should have a quality to them. Why does every watermill produce 100 power? It seems strange that they are so consistent.

So, here is my thought. Three things should go into the quality of constructs:

1) Design. Anything that requires an architect to design should end up with a quality of the design. This would give us an incentive to have actual trained architects.

2) Materials. Any materials that have quality, like pipes or mechanisms, should be factored into this. Better parts make for a better machine.

3) Skill of those building the item. You can have a great design and good parts, but lousy workmanship can ruin anything. Conversely, I've seen talented people do some impressive stuff with a mediocre design and cheap parts. Again, this would give you an advantage to having a skilled mason or carpenter building things instead of some stupid peasant. They're fine for stacking stone walls, but shouldn't be given tasks that require actual skill.

The end result could be an averaged quality level. So if you started with a -design- (120), +materials+ (140), and basic construction (100) you'd end up with a -watermill- that pumps out 120 power instead of 100. Maybe pumps could use less power if they have a higher quality, traps could jam less or have an accuracy improvement. The power usage for things would probably need to be tweaked upwards to make this work, but I think that pumps use too little power as it is anyway.

Oh, and raising bridges could fling things further! A masterwork bridge with masterwork mechanisms hurling goblins off the screen would be awesome!

Hmm. Some workshops require architecture as well. Maybe those could follow this same pattern? Giving maybe a speed boost to the dwarves working in it? "Efficiency of design" or whatnot? Maybe even a quality boost, if the materials used in the construction were better. Say, stone blocks instead of rough stone. Again, things would probably need to be rebalanced to compensate, but I know workshops have lots of ideas about how to improve them floating around as it is. They would probably also give better thoughts about work. Maybe even allow for decorating buildings to improve good thoughts more? You could get a *<<+mason's workshop+>>* decorated with images of mountains in exceptionally worked Silver or something.

This would allow for some pretty cool strange moods. So let's say your architect goes into a strange mood. He demands that something requiring an architect be designated for building that needs to be designed (assuming one isn't already). He then runs off and spends a while designing it. Maybe even commandeering the appropriate types of materials to keep that aspect in place. He could also go off and grab a dwarf with the appropriate skill to build it, assuming he doesn't have it already. Have him grab the dwarf with the highest skill in the fort, to ensure that the object is made up to his standards. Maybe he fails if no suitable skilled dwarf is available?

And a mason or carpenter who goes into a strange mood may want to build something really impressive. So he demands, say, a workshop to be designed. Maybe grabbing the forts resident architect once it's been designated to actually do the design. He then runs around getting the right materials and gets to work. Imagine getting an Artifact Magma Forge!

Thoughts?


[Edited to add in strange mood effects]

[Derakon]

I actually think that the architecture skill, as it currently stands, is not valuable to the game. It's hard to train, and very rarely used, and if you want to have a trained architect (as opposed to just turning on architecture for everyone), then you have a bottleneck in your construction projects. This is especially true when architecture also involves carrying materials to the construction site. Masterfully-designed stone roads are a pain to make.

If architecture is going to matter more, then it needs to be better thought-out. Here's an alternative: architects make blueprints; blueprints are used to make constructions. Then the architect's job becomes one of going to an office and working for a bit to come up with a design for a Trade Depot, say; once he's done, any dwarf with appropriate construction skills (masonry, metalworking, carpentry, as appropriate for the materials) can make a trade depot. The game would track the best-quality blueprints you've ever come up with, and that would determine what quality modifier you get from making the buildings.

This does have the side-effect that once you have a masterful support blueprint, every support you build is masterfully-designed, though.

[winner]

I'd think that blueprints would be one use. When designing you have to take the environment and surrounding terrain into account.

[Techhead]

If better architects affect the quality of windmills and water-wheels, I wouldn't mind at all.

[Dae]

Buildings currently HAVE qualities. Only they aren't shown. I remember myself being quite surprised when I saw that one of my dwarves built a masterful Archery target.

Then no other masterful whatever. Must've been lucky.

[korora]

This does have the side-effect that once you have a masterful support blueprint, every support you build is masterfully-designed, though.

Not if the person building it is low-skilled.  I like the blueprint idea, but I think it could (and should) mesh with the OP's idea about averaging quality levels across the designer, materials, and builder.

[Idiom]

The blueprints is a neat idea. A new commodity. Would you then be able to rely on an external architect, importing blueprints?

[Jamuk]

The problem I see is that an architect only designs the building, why force them to be the hauler for all of the items?  If they just went over and planned it, there would be no problem.  But only the architect hauls any of the materials which slows down construction greatly.  An architect would be more realistic if instead of hauling all the items, using an architect allowed any dwarf to do the hauling.  The architect figures out what is needed for the building and the others go get it.