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[flieroflight]

so the idea i had is to see if size of creature affects speed at which they fall. to do this, a set of 1x1x1 pits over a hatch cover or drawbridge. the plan is to place varying cretures, from crundles to elves ito them, retract them all a once and use inividual fram play to detect which one hits first.

[Intro1827]

Don't use a drawbridge, it'll make them fall randomly. I think the best way to test this would be via manual pitting, rather than lever-activated

[Sphalerite]

I've tested this.  All creatures and objects fall at a constant rate.  I think it's 1 level per 6 clock ticks, but I'd have to re-check that experiment.  Water and magma, meanwhile, fall at a slower, semi-random rate.  And cave-ins are effectively instantaneous.

[Quietust]

Water and magma, meanwhile, fall at a slower, semi-random rate.

I did some testing on this earlier, and water/magma falling works in a 16-step timer during which every tile will fall downward exactly one in some deterministic order (which repeats across a 16x16 tile grid). The order changes during each 16-step period (seems to flip horizontally and/or vertically), so it's possible for a few tiles to appear to fall more quickly than others. I observed one such order and recorded it here - the "0" tiles fell on the first step, "1" on the second step, and so on, with "E" on the 15th stepand "F" on the 16th step.

[Telgin]

I would have been pretty surprised if heavier things fell faster than lighter ones, considering how it works in reality.  Yeah, I know some stuff in DF is pretty crazy, but that seems like it would be something Toady would get right.

[Sphalerite]

I don't know if its so much something that Toady got right, as it being easier to program everything to fall at the same rate and not check the weight of each object.  Note that in DF objects fall at a completely constant speed, with no acceleration and no attempt to model air resistance.

The pattern that falling water takes, on the other hand, is just bizarre.  Clearly there's a mathematical pattern determining the order, but other than that I don't know why Toady decided to make water fall on its own pattern instead of at the same speed everything else falls.

[Itnetlolor]

You can always use the DF Arena mode to do these experiments by turn-ticking. Provided it's possible. Just count the amount of turns that pass upon impact.