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[Fenrir]

Quite some time ago, someone proposed the creation of an Underdark mod. The problem was the fact that we couldn't make the entire world underground. I think we can.

Suppose that we created the Underdark creatures and races and generated a pocket world. It would have to be a pocket world to make plausible the endeavour I'm about to present. Could we then use Fortress Mode to dig the Underdark ourselves?

There's the matter of the civilsations not appearing underground, but we could embark on top of their cities. All found indoors would be promptly sealed inside, and the rest would be slaughtered. Then we could open up a tunnel to the Underdark in the floors. If that wouldn't work, perhaps they could be caged and released into our Underdark cities.

This would indeed be a massive task, and require much aid from the Dwarf Companion. I present this to you because I've never played Dungeons and Dragons, and I know not what to add to the mod. I think this would be best done by the community as one person would likely grow weary of such an undertaking, and it would lead to more interesting designs if more people dug the Underdark.

Is this plausible?

[Impending Doom]

One important oversight: all tiles up to 2 squares in from the edge of a map cannot be dug, built on, or altered in any way, making connections between the sections of the Underdark impossible.

[Cles]

One important oversight: all tiles up to 2 squares in from the edge of a map cannot be dug, built on, or altered in any way, making connections between the sections of the Underdark impossible.

Poop.

[daemoria]

that is not entierly true. you can use the embark anywhere app to overlap your previous fortress, thus creating a seem-less Underdark.

You can find the utility on the utility page in the DF wiki.

[Impending Doom]

True, but this only works with forts within the same world tile. To my knowledge, you cannot currently embark to a site that straddles two or more tiles on the world map.

Don't get me wrong, I'd be absolutely thrilled to see a project like this, I just don't see how it's possible at present.

[Earthquake Damage]

The TileTool for Gibbed's DF Tweak utility (check the DF wiki for details) can adjust those edge tiles for you.  If you can't designate them for digging outright with it, you can at the very least transform the a wall into cavern floor.

[Erom]

If nothing else, even just doing this on one large embark fortress and hollowing out a mountain for later exploration in adventure mode would be pretty awesome.

[Fenrir]

Yes, this would require the aid of several utilites.

If memory serves, there was once an "adventurer's park" being built, and that fell apart. This is a similar but much bigger project, so if it is to succeed, we would have to be very strict with time-limits on mining overseers. Failure to meet deadlines would result in you being instantly skipped to keep the project going. Perhaps we could permit the submission of an unfinished dig so someone else could continue on their turn.

I also think that planning the Underdark beforehand would be of great assistance. If sections were preplanned by the community, we might be able to just use the Auto-Designation utility, thereby negating the need for multiple people to participate in the actual digging, but still giving everyone a say in the design.

I've not read Toady's dev notes recently, so I would like to check to see when the next update may come, and if there are any save-breaking updates coming. It wouldn't be good to start something like this, only to discover that the next version won't support it.

[Vicomt]

I've not read Toady's dev notes recently, so I would like to check to see when the next update may come, and if there are any save-breaking updates coming. It wouldn't be good to start something like this, only to discover that the next version won't support it.

The next version is a while away (I think the current estimates are march-may 2009) and will completely break save compatibility, so yeah, you might want to get some planning done, but hang fire on the construction.

[Fenrir]

Will the utilities still work after the next release?

[Vicomt]

unknown.