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[Toady One]

The only obstacle here code-wise is that sites are stored with an x/y region coordinate, which was a very old decision predating almost everything, so it's kind of entrenched.  Everything else concerning seamlessness as it regards this issue is already in (as you can see from, say, the detailed map export, though there are still some minor problems with blockiness).

The issue isn't really a troubling one for fort mode since it can already handle other world map squares (you'll have other-world-square biomes spilling in from the edges if you make an edge site selection, and it can handle their corresponding vegetation/critters/etc. fine).  It is sort of pervasive through world generation and travel and other places though.  I found "st->x" and "site(s)->x" around 100 times in the code, and I'm sure generalizing a few of those would be a real headache.

It's definitely something we want to do though.  The sprawl around large cities will seem artificially constrained without letting them slip by the borders, for instance, although in that case perhaps the whole site notion is antiquated.

[jaked122]

OMG. EPIPHANY.

DF NEEDS MAGMA RIVERS.

NOW.

No.
Magma Oceans.

Magma oceans are likely to show up in the next version, much more likely than magma rivers.

Will other underground features use these caves as a framework?  Will cave rivers run through it with subterranean pools forming lakes?  What will actually differentiate these from the actual surface?

More to the point though, with this underground revamp, is there any plans with getting rid of the bizarre beginnings for cave rivers, so that they don't appear out of nothingness?

We were planning to run rivers this time around, but it's something of a hassle, so there aren't actually any flowing underground rivers yet.  They aren't essential for most things, as the giant lakes will provide infinite water from edges, but it'll be nice to put them in.  Not sure I'll have time.  Regarding the rivers appearing out of nothingness, it's kind of a tricky question, as rivers can be sourced by many different tiny water flows slowly building up as things go downhill, many of them just absorbed water in the ground.  Nothingness isn't all that different from that, especially if we don't want to put slight aquifer water everywhere that kind of forms into neglible trickles or something, as mining would then be a great hassle any time you also wanted to have a river starting up.  Real world examples of underground rivers sources (sources as in the beginning of a river, not a reference, though I guess that's an inadvertent pun) that are more interesting or modellable are welcome.

Also, underground lakes etc. will cross map edges all over the place in the next version.  They're too big not to.  So that feasibility concern is moot.

Urist cancels build magma smelter high-tide

[HandOfCode]

Back on topic, just how would this be handled, on the embark screen?  Does anyone have any ideas how it would be presented?

Well I don't really care too much about still having static embark screens (or at least static "default" screens such as the current ones but you can move them after using something like the place finder)

[haywire]

Sweet, 4 possible HFS for one fort!   

[Enzo]

Sweet, 4 possible HFS for one fort!  

I like the way you think.

[Fossaman]

Presumably there will be a few limitations on that sort of thing; right now it's one HFS per world map square in mountain regions; if there are no longer world map squares, you need to have something like 'HFS no closer together than x squares' instead. Same goes for chasms and underground water, I suppose, although the other underground stuff will probably supersede that.

I'm curious...what becomes the limiting factor for fortress site size? Will there be one? Will the fortress 'capital' site have a max size, and the player can expand the fortress through outlying settlements? Or will sites be permitted to be as large as the player's computer can handle?

Off topic: The word thing. 'Magma duct' is an acceptable usage. Duct is a word on it's own; it doesn't need aqua propping up it's front end (although it's infinitely cooler if there's tape propping up the back). So a magma duct is just a duct for magma.

Anyway, I happen to think Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary puts it best, when it comes to English:

Let's get this straight, although I speak English, I'm not its biggest fan. What we have here is a language that began as a bad habit shared by Norman soldiers and Saxon barmaids who discovered that if they shared that habit they could share other things. Then the island empire they populated went all imperial and the bad habit was exported to at least four other continents. Then their colonies compounded the problem by revolting and splintering the language, and then insisting on the right to absorb other cultures ad hoc and ad nauseum (but not ad-free, unless you subscribe.)

But it works, and it's great for puns. So hey, whatever.

[HandOfCode]

Off topic: The word thing. 'Magma duct' is an acceptable usage. Duct is a word on it's own; it doesn't need aqua propping up it's front end (although it's infinitely cooler if there's tape propping up the back). So a magma duct is just a duct for magma.

Duct tape?

Max size would be limited by the power of your computer

[ephrion]

English needs to make it's own words sometime instead of ripping off every other language.  The Englishman that made this language is like the Dr. Frankenstein of languages, seriously.

Welcome to basically every language on Earth

[waldo]

wow, semantics, grammar, latin, lava rivers, lava lakes, and all in one great suggestion that makes the most sense... this might just be the most epic suggestion i've seen...

[chucks]

Nope, sorry.  "GET OFF MY LAWN!!!" is the most epic suggestion ever.

[Omnibus]

English needs to make its own words sometime instead of ripping off every other language.  The Englishman that made this language is like the Dr. Frankenstein of languages, seriously.

Back on topic, just how would this be handled, on the embark screen?  Does anyone have any ideas how it would be presented?

It's time for my favorite quote about English: "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." --James D. Nicoll

[LegoLord]

Yup.  I was thinking the same thing.  That said, more languages have contributed components to English than any other language.  Romance languages are based almost entirely on Latin, for example, with relatively few words from other languages.

I now need to search "get off my lawn" for this subforum.  I can't imagine how it'll beat this, which means it must be awesome.
Edit:  All I found was a movie of a hydra getting shot in general discussion.