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[dwarf_reform]

I've been slowly going insane that there are no explosives in vanilla DF, although application and devious use of said explosives seems very dwarfly to me.. Was wondering if I could get some mighty info:

*Has Toady ever given an opinion on the addition of explosives, for good or bad?

*Are there any mods that have honest functional multi z-level explosions?

*Is there some technical problem with how DF handles things internally preventing it (assuming there are no successful mods)?

The only keg that could potentially rival a keg of booze is a metal keg packed with black powder.. and, after all, you're not truly drunk unless you mishandle explosives while hammered.. Thanks in advance for any future enlightenment!

[Putnam]

1.

I guess you could make ... if there's ever some kind of gunpowder explosive I guess you could just stick a bunch of uranium on an explosive and have a really bad dirty bomb. But who knows? I think what I've said before is [that] gunpowder is probably something that's not going to be necessarily in the vanilla Dwarf Fortress, but it's something that I'd probably support for modders. But things like electricity and steam power are less likely to be supported. Although lightning is lightning, lightning's a different matter.

2. No, that's not really feasible
3. Yes, there simply is no such thing as an explosion in Dwarf Fortress.

[dwarf_reform]

These are dark days indeed I was hoping there was some reaction somewhere (with a flammable mineral being submerged in magma, something..) that resembled an explosion.. I'm assuming if it hasn't already been modded by now then it can't be at all.. which would make Toady's condoning it for modding somewhat difficult, I'd think

Also uranium is at least twice as crazy as what I was thinking, which was: add some saltpeter/sulpher to make generic gunpowder with, use metal pots or barrels as bomb containers ((theoretically stronger explosion based on size of container)), add a cloth wick/fuse soaked in fat or tallow if you wanted to be fancy, toss in some lever-based detonation, call it done)

It'd be hard to code, I suppose, especially if you wanted a realistic shockwave effect that would push things away from the explosion center and damage entities properly (from concussion, shrapnel, potential fire, impact from being propelled into things).. And then one realism calls for another, concerning flammable or explosive materials being exposed to fire or magma (which would probably cause explosions/cave-ins underground upon arrival on new maps)..

Still, I'd have too much fun blasting things if it ever became a reality :| Just pen/pasture the 100 excess cats flooding your fort into a tiny room and then detonate a small bomb on them Some high-heat non-explosive bombs would be great, too, for areas where you don't want any solid blocks destroyed (in this instance it'd just bake the cats).. Then you could add a 'char' effect that blackened exploded or burned stone surfaces.. Okay, I've got to stop, bahahaha.. Tis good to dream, though.. Toady is apparently a fan of lightning, at least :>

[smakemupagus]

*Are there any mods that have honest functional multi z-level explosions?

I was hoping there was some reaction somewhere (with a flammable mineral being submerged in magma, something..) that resembled an explosion..

Ah, well these are two separate questions.  There is no atmosphere so there are no "honest" explosions especially not in any kind of multi z level sense.  But are a number of features, variations on the breath attacks to create various effects that "resemble" an explosion.  Fireball for a fireball, undirected dust for a shockwave, liquid glob for incendiaries, solid glob for shrapnel, etc. and various modders use them of course. Giving these effects to an immobile pet creature is sort of like a landmine or bomb barrel.  Using Putnam's projectileExpansion or itemSyndrome DFHack script you can make something sort of like a grenade or a (suicidal) sapper's charge.

Spoiler: sapper's satchel (click to show/hide)

[dwarf_reform]

Sounds like all those reactions cobbled together and fired off at once (with appropriate fire-and-smoke theme) would be a decent explosion, even if it couldn't destroy tiles.. Now I'm wishing for realistic acid (that can pool up to 7/7 depth) that dissolves reasonable materials at the cost of 1 depth-unit per thing melted..

Just seems necessary for true, smoldering !!SCIENCE!! Wikipedia says gunpowder warfare started in China with the invention of the flamethrower (10th century, the land mine in the 13th century).. While opinions always vary, I don't see (DF)dwarves as employers of flamethrowers or firearms, even still have reservations when I consider a metal pirate-style cannon as a catapult replacement once catapults fire naturally (multi-z-level arcs).. But explosives.. I'd like to post an "Is the use of explosives dwarfly?" type thread, but I'm not sure it'd be very productive :>

[Dirst]

Now I'm wishing for realistic acid (that can pool up to 7/7 depth) that dissolves reasonable materials at the cost of 1 depth-unit per thing melted.

Unfortunately, there are only two actual fluids that can accumulate depth on a tile: water and magma.  Other liquids can only fill containers or make puddles.

Every possible interaction between water, magma, floors, walls and containers has been hardcoded.  Arbitrary fluids would be awesome, but are a long way off awaiting a chemistry re-write.

You can, however, make a reaction that turns a container of acid into an "acid bomb" of some sort.

[smakemupagus]

But explosives.. I'd like to post an "Is the use of explosives dwarfly?" type thread, but I'm not sure it'd be very productive :>

You're probably not going to get a lot of strong opinions either way on the modding forum, where people are up for whatever if you want to find people who take a stance to strongly agree or disagree with the idea, search the suggestions forum for "gunpowder" etc.

[GavJ]

Is there some technical reason? No. DF already does parabolic arcs for all kinds of stuff, even dozens of things at a time, see minecart shotguns. An explosion is peanuts to convert over to.

But yes, I think Toady would have to be the one to do it anyway.

[Meph]

IndigoFenix made a script once that changes tiles to open space, all the way down to hell. (was a bit overkill)

But I'm sure that in theory it could be changed to change all tiles in a specific radius, lets say 5 tiles. Then you get your explosion. It could also add a velocity to each creature in that range, resulting in flying creatures that slam into things. He also wrote a script for that, "slam".

Both together would make a mean explosion, especially if you mix it with some smoke effect, which is easily done.