Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[DG]

This is a minor (some might say trifling) suggestion but I've decided to put it out there on the off chance that it's little work and no-one can see a down side.

I spend ridiculous amounts of time on the embark screen (I cant tell you what the short cut keys for abandoning and restarting a game are off the top of my head only because I now have muscle memory and don't need to think about it anymore) and it would help me a little if when assigning skill points to dwarves their names would change colour according to their main profession (the same colour the little smiley faces become when you actually start playing in fort mode).

[Revanchist]

That would save players like me a lot of hassle.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Meh. Given how easily it can change and how often the profession relates to the actual work being done...

I suppose it would be helpful, but at this stage in the game is it worth the time?

[Revanchist]

We're... talking about the Pre-Settlement, right? When you assign points to the starting dwarves?

[DG]

Yep Rev, before the "Strike the earth!" info screen.

I know it wouldn't be much use to many people, GWG, but for crazy OCD players like myself (and maybe Rev) it'd be nice to have. Just nice, not a game changer. I don't expect Toady to drop what he's currently doing or even make plans to do it, but maybe in a few years time if he's passing through related code he might recall the gist of the idea. Years ago I suggested that the lettering of cloth items in menus be the colour that the cloth item is dyed. That post didn't get one reply and I didn't expect it to (much like the OP here), but it doesn't mean that it wont see the light of day in years to come.

I'll save my real game-changer-suggestions-wishlist-that-would-be-so-good-they'd-make-me-cry for when Toady is actually doing something related to embarking or worldgen.

[crazysheep]

What would determine "main profession"? Say you assign a peasant enough points such that he has novice masonry and novice mechanics. Which takes precedence?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Same as now. I think mason.

[DG]

Yes, no different to how the game decides to show it post-embark, just that you get to see it pre-embark.

[Starver]

I'm a bit OCD about getting "the right dwarf to the right job" (or at least making sure the entirely wrong dwarf doesn't get it, with reference to their attributes).  I tend to go down the list orderly, in and out of checking attributes to see if anything's outstanding, and then go by (extremely short-term) memory about what job-sets I've already set, and whether or not the dwarf concerned has their full initial complement of assignment points still.

The colouring would add something, I suppose.  Although if (frexample) I'd planned a farmer and a brewer (as separate people) it wouldn't give any more of a necessary hint than without, as to which of the two I had not yet assigned.  Perhaps actually go the whole hog and make "Urist McUrist, Brewer"[1], dynamically changing as appropriate to the current job (with similar precedence rules for drawn 'first-place' options, as mentioned).


[1] Does that show for you?  Couldn't find the right word-colour for agricultural half-yellow, so used the 12-bit/3h notation.  Might not work on all browsers, even if this does.

[AutomataKittay]

I think this would be a nice small touch, even if most players don't notices or care

[nomad_delta]

It's not built in to DF, but I currently use Dwarf Therapist to accomplish what I think you're trying to do here:

In the pre-embark screen while assigning skills to my starting seven, I use Dwarf Therapist to assign "Custom Professions" to each dwarf as I decide what skills to give them and what they're going to be...  this takes effect immediately even in the embark screen, so that dwarf will show as "Miner" or "Stoneworker" or "Minion" or whatever profession name I assign via DT rather than "Peasant".

On a related note, if you haven't already tried Splinterz' branch of DwarfTherapist, I'd suggest checking it out: http://code.google.com/r/splintermind-attributes/

He's added a whole new set of screens that use a dwarf's attributes to determine/display suitability for various roles/professions, which is incredibly helpful when choosing roles for your starting 7, among other things.

--nomad_delta

[Revanchist]

Although it is an external utility, right? Also, Starver has a point, several of the topics are broad, and, say, a military expedition to reclaim a fort would have no benefit, whereas the profession displaying beforehand could save even more hassle.