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[Lord Nightmare]

A real, natural nuclear reactor formed at Oklo in Gabon, Africa, about 1.7 billion years ago. http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0010.shtml  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor  
http://www.npp.hu/tortenelem/foldreaktor-e.htm
This could happen in DF if a large deposit of pitchblende occurs in an aquifer. should create steam as it reacts, and if you mine into it you get burned by steam and radiation.

LN

[ January 28, 2008: Message edited by: Lord Nightmare ]

[umiman]

I'll bet there'll be tonnes of people proclaiming how this would be a waste of time or how Toady shouldn't bother with something that wouldn't make a difference.

But... c'mon! Nuclear dwarves baby!

[Capntastic]

The Sun is also a nuclear reactor and Toady's already added that in.  When will you people be satisfied!   :p

[Nate879]

If you implement this, don't forget to add "radiation sickness".  This would cause dwarves that come into contact with radiation to become very ill several years later.

[Kagus]

And, in severe cases, grow extra beards.

[Impending Doom]

Whaddaya mean severe? The beardier, the better!

[Squeegy]

code:

Dwarfy McDwarf
head
head
upper body
lower body
right upper arm
left upper arm
right lower arm
left lower arm
...

[Furious Fish]

I think you mean:

code:

Dwarfy McDwarf
head
head
upper body
lower body
upper beard
lower beard
right upper beard
left upper beard
right lower beard
left lower beard
...

[Cosmonot]

quote:Originally posted by umiman:
<STRONG>I'll bet there'll be tonnes of people proclaiming how this would be a waste of time or how Toady shouldn't bother with something that wouldn't make a difference.

But... c'mon! Nuclear dwarves baby!</STRONG>

Considering that there's only one on Earth, and a Dwarf Fortress world is smaller than the UK, most players would probably never encounter one of these unless they are altered to occur much more frequently.

And if someone did encounter one, there's not a lot you can do with it. It would make your dwarves sick, and they probably wouldn't be able to protect themselves from the effects or use it for anything they couldn't do with water and magma.

Which is not to say that weird poisonous/mutagenic substances aren't cool, just that this one is either impractical or implausible.

[Kagus]

I still want a post-apocalyptic Dwarf Fortress mod...  Make your own vault to dwell in, or form a group called "The Cousinhood of Copper".

Then, you could have as many mutants wandering around abandoned nuclear power plants as you could ever desire...

mmm...  mutants....

[Lord Nightmare]

Cosmonot: Two. there was a smaller one somewhere in colorado. And there are probably more that haven't been found, under the ocean perhaps.

As for their purpose: they're an intermittent source of heat/steam, which may be pipable later (overland heating perhaps) along with water. The steam isn't exactly healthy, but unhealthy things haven't stopped dwarves before. It would be similar to thermal-feature geysers in its steam source, except in places where there are not thermal features. As suggested, it would probably also be somewhat rare, only appearing when a large enough cluster of pitchblende intersects an aquifer.

LN

[ January 29, 2008: Message edited by: Lord Nightmare ]

[Draco18s]

Also: why is everyone so keen on zero-generation mutations?  What purpose does it serve?

[Dwarfaholic]

Pur-pose?

What is this strange word?

All I know of is "Fun" and "Ways to die".

[Cosmonot]

quote:Originally posted by Lord Nightmare:
<STRONG>Cosmonot: Two. there was a smaller one somewhere in colorado. And there are probably more that haven't been found, under the ocean perhaps.

As for their purpose: they're an intermittent source of heat/steam, which may be pipable later (overland heating perhaps) along with water. The steam isn't exactly healthy, but unhealthy things haven't stopped dwarves before. It would be similar to thermal-feature geysers in its steam source, except in places where there are not thermal features. As suggested, it would probably also be somewhat rare, only appearing when a large enough cluster of pitchblende intersects an aquifer.

LN

[ January 29, 2008: Message edited by: Lord Nightmare ]</STRONG>

That's two, then. Since dwarves likely cannot build Fortresses in the middle of the ocean, I doubt anything hidden there counts. Magma and water still provide essentially the same utility without requiring adding the feature; in my opinion, if special, ultra-rare geographical features are implemented they should probably have more of an impact on your fortress.

[Tacroy]

quote: Magma and water still provide essentially the same utility without requiring adding the feature...

Well not really; at the moment, since magma plumes don't regenerate, you can't make steam in a renewable manner. It would be nice to have ancillary heat sources for messing around with in any case.

Besides, it doesn't have to be rare. Perhaps demon pits are surrounded by radioactive materials? That would explain why they're so cranky.

In any case, they're not called bloats for no reason.