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[Tonto]

I have spent my afternoon working on a proposition for the suggestions board in regards to water conservation in DF. After looking over an old geology book of mine, I think I may have some ideas that could add both realism and gameplay value. However, I don't want to put lots of time into something that may be infeasible. I may decide to not post/propose anything if my plan is too unrealistic from a design perspective. So, before I move forward with my idea, I feel it's a good idea ask the community at large a few questions.

First, has Toady stated any overarching goals to revamp how water is handled in rivers and aquifers? Is there already a defined plan on how to create a limited supply of water in aquifers, or to integrate rivers, streams, and aquifers in a more realistic manner?

Are there any stated long term goals that might undo or greatly improve upon the designs of water bodies that are in DF?

Finally, is Worldgen becoming something that is set in stone?  That is to say, being that DF is both random and data-driven, is adding a new component (that would approximate water flows) to it just asking for too much?

I understand these questions are best answered by Toady, but I'm sure that the community can answer at least some parts of these questions. So far I have made a few simple text searches of the "Dev Next" and I have yet so see anything that describes what I'm thinking of. I have also checked out some of the suggestions on the board, and none that I have seen describe what I am thinking of. Any help in answering or refining these questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Footkerchief]

First, has Toady stated any overarching goals to revamp how water is handled in rivers and aquifers? Is there already a defined plan on how to create a limited supply of water in aquifers, or to integrate rivers, streams, and aquifers in a more realistic manner?

He hasn't directly stated anything I could find along those lines.  However, it's a good bet that he would like to make aquifers more realistic -- they, like many other parts of DF, are frequently referred to as a "placeholder," "garbage," etc.

Are there any stated long term goals that might undo or greatly improve upon the designs of water bodies that are in DF?

Here are some watery dev goals, found by Ctrl+F'ing (minds out of the gutter please) the dev_single page for "water."

# WORLD GENERATION PARAMETERS: [...] The world could be generated completely underwater or with no water at all. [...]

# Req521, WATERY RAMPS, (Future): Rivers and pools need ramps for the most part, so you can move in and out of them. Seashores too.

# Req525, MORE RIVERS, (Future): Sometimes vast high-rain areas on the world map aren't drained, which is strange. The water systems could be underground, but there should be some in-game explanation.

# Bloat17, UNDERWATER DUNGEONS, (Future): There should be undersea dungeons, swimming and diving. The liquid doesn't have to be water, especially in bad bad places. Ice could also be involved, and grottos open to air. Moats could use some of this. If the elves conquer your fortress they could turn it into a nature preserve of some kind.

# Bloat284, RIVER ROCKS, (Future): The way river flows are calculated, the water won't currently make little white waves against boulder tiles in the middle of the water.

# Bloat328, IMPROVED SEASHORES, (Future): Coastal biome designations, grabs, gulls, washed up jelly fish, ability to skillfully build sand castles in wet sand which can be worn down by waves, shells, washed up objects from distance civilizations that are on the body of water, seaweed, tidepools with anenomes, driftwood interactions.

Finally, is Worldgen becoming something that is set in stone?  That is to say, being that DF is both random and data-driven, is adding a new component (that would approximate water flows) to it just asking for too much?

Not at all.  Worldgen is still very much in flux, and a great many dev goals will require sweeping worldgen changes.

If you have some specific and well-informed ideas on how to improve water stuff, definitely consider posting a suggestion about it.

[Tonto]

Thanks for the answers - I missed the dev_single entirely.  I think I will go ahead with making my suggestion after I have more fully worked out the details.  Thanks again.