Toady said in the Devlog that he was planning on implementing a method of allowing time to pass quickly in adventure mode. I was thinking about how he could do this and I came up with and idea that could be useful in both playable modes. The Calendar is a screen showing past and upcoming events that relate to your fortress and adventurer. This screen could take the form of a list or a monthly calendar with boxes for days, its appearance could be perhaps selectable by the player. The calendar should be accessible from or part of the status screen in both modes.
In Fortress Mode:
-The Calendar keeps a chronicle of past fortress events, and perhaps hotlinks to the descriptions of engravings and objects that depict them.
-Keeps Track of attacks on the fortress and displays a rough estimate on the earliest plausible date that the next siege/ambush could arrive. This estimate is based on distance to the closest hostile military site, population of that site, outcome of the most recent battle, and known attributes/accomplishments of the enemy leader(s). The Militia Leader, Lieutenant, General, or Captain of the Guard can make this perdiction and add it to the calender at his/her office.
-Upon arriving at the fortress traders add their intended departure date to the calendar. Upon Leaving they add their next arrival date to the calendar. Outside events usually cause the traders to miss their scheduled date by a week or so.
-Informs the player of planned parties a month or so in advance
-Informs the player of important upcoming events in the lives of his/her dwarfs. (Weddings, Births, Notable birthdays, Notable Wedding Anniversary's
-Works with the military interface to allow scheduling by the day instead of the month.
-A dwarf with an office and decent hunting skills can predict with some accuracy the arrival of various animal packs/herds/ect.
-A dwarf with an office and decent fishing skills can predict with some accuracy where and when the various types of fish can be caught around the fortress. He can also predict with some accuracy when the water will freeze and thaw.
-A dwarf with an office and decent animal care taking skills can predict the due date of pregnant animals in the fortress. Said dwarf can also predict and add to the calendar the date at which a young animal reaches full maturity.
-A dwarf with woodcutting skills and an office can be asked to calculate the number of mature trees in and around your fortress on a given date based on the presence of saplings and current woodcutting orders.
-A dwarf with herbalist skills and an office can be asked to predict the number of harvest-able bushes in and around your fortress on a given date based on fortress terrain/biome and current gathering jobs.
-The start and end dates of noble mandates are kept track of.
-The start and end dates of prison terms are kept track of.
-The bookeeper will attempt from time to time to project the date that the fortress will run out of food/drink/raw materials based on current population size and job orders.
-Dwarfs involved in manager created job orders or responsible for noble creation mandates will post their intended break time and party attendance on the calendar.
In Adventure Mode:
-The Calendar Keeps track of planted crops.
-Keeps track of any trade Caravan the adventurer is scheduled to lead.
-When talking about local areas NPC's should state the tentative time of year that rare or dangerous animals can be found 'roaming freely' in certain locals. This is added to the calendar.
-Keeps track of injuries and syndromes sustained by the adventurer and his/her party, and the amount of time needed to recover or perish from them.
-Keeps track of term of imprisonment should the player surrender to a foe.
-When talking to a fisherman the player can ask when the local water is expected to freeze over. This is added to the calendar.
-Keeps track of the time and cost of mercenaries should Toady choose to add such a thing.
-Keeps track of adventurer/companion pregnancy should Toady choose to add such a thing.
-When in a very safe position, such as a play built building or the keep of a very friendly fortress the player can fastfoward time to any given date in the future. This can be used to rest off injuries, wait for crops, or allow a child the player is fond of to grow up.
-When skipping time with the calendar world history runs. Control returns to the player early if history puts the character in a sticky situation. The amount of trouble your character can get into is for the most part related to the amount of time you are skipping. If waiting a week or two for crops to grow your character may have to drive off the wolves from his livestock. If skipping several decades to outlive an enemy it would be impolite to kill your character may get bored and choose to partake in massive military campaigns against hostile civilizations.
-If your attempt to skip time is interrupted the player should be prompted with the option to resume time skipping the next time he safely enters the travel screen.
-After time skipping concludes the character is always placed in the same location in which he started time skipping.
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Topic: Calendar Screen (Read 824 times)