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[SlipshodDorf]

Ok, despite the subject title, this has no relevance to eating younglings, so let's just get that out of the way beforehand.

Suggestion #1: Water Desalinization/Purification workshop:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Basically, you need a source of water underneath, and it converts source water into barrels of water (add some number here, such as 10 units). You would need some wood or coke to perform the action, and possibly later on this could be used in brewing (Instead of needing an empty barrel, you would need a barrel of water).

I only suggest this because stagnant water sources shouldn't be as effective as they are, particularly murky pools and such tend to lead to sickness (hence why animals tend to not drink from them). This is of course likely an unreasonable suggestion at the current time, but may be something to think about further down the line.

Suggestion #2: Refuse to Compost workshop:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Basically, an alternative to potash, where you use Refuse items, mash them up, add a bucket of water, and viola, you got a stinky mess of plant food. It could also cause miasma if stored indoors. This could put to use a lot of rotted or random parts of things that have no current use, and maybe even allow extraction of things like bones from parts in the process.

Suggestion #3: Designating Social Events:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here, i'm thinking that with a bit of planning (organizer), your dwarfs can throw planned parties and events, which would have various effects .

Think of a viewing party (for the aesthetic types. Needs quality statues, artworks, etc. could increase the chance of strange moods next season) , a feast (to bring the community together for a nice meal. Drains food/drink supplies in the process. Needs a sufficiently spaced dining room/area. Makes everyone happy, but slower for a short time), a traditional mourning (people gather to celebrate the dead. could help lower the penalty from having people die. Increases death tolerances, or possibly an increase in possessed moods chance for the next season), or a festival ( Consumes Food, Drink, holds games[think dwarf tag, drinking contests, Archery target shooting, Sparring matches, smithing contests, and assorted other things], and gives item rewards that can be selected to dwarfs that win the games. Makes your entire fortress happier for a long time).

Suggestion #4: Offsite hunting/fishing parties:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As it implies, you can send groups off and they come back with whatever they can find after a little while. You may end up losing dwarfs in the process, but you aren't totally reliant on localized sources, and they may just bring back some interesting kills, or even perhaps enemies in pursuit of them.

I've tried my best to use the search function and didn't find all of what i've suggested, but i've also included some repeated suggestions for the off chance it's the first time someone has actually read it.

Feel free to pick at these, point out any of the concepts that may be flawed, or need refining etc.

[GaxkangtheUnbound]

I wholeheartedly agree with every proposal.
Especially the offsite hunting/fishing parties

[FreakyCheeseMan]

So, in an ideal world, I agree with all of these- they'd add value to the game.
That being said...

#1 Causes significantly increased difficulty, esp. given problems moving water manually.

#2 May be difficult to program, given the somewhat complicated nature of the process in question, and might make things a bit too easy- there'd be no reason to use the difficult-to-make fertilizer anymore.

#3 Could be a programming and logisitcal nightmare, in addition to adding a lot of complexity to the game, and going against the general feeling- you rarely sechedule "events" in DF, you assign tasks.

#4 Would be cool, but very difficult to program at the moment, breaches the so-far perfect rule of "everything on-site", and frankly, I don't know how many players would be willing to send dwarves to die outside of their control for an unknown quantity of meat. Now, if hunters could bring back live animals...

However, #4 is close to some planned development arc, where you can send soldiers off-site for assorted battles.

[PhilbertFlange]

I have to say that #3 is probably my favourite. It could probably be coded in as a high priority job for each dwarf, which results in a good thought different from the "satisfied at work" thought. For large festivals, I would make it so it requires a 3 month waiting period (i.e. you designated it 3 months from current time) so that people couldn't use it to instantly curb tantrum spirals.

[Coidzure Dreams]

#2 May be difficult to program, given the somewhat complicated nature of the process in question, and might make things a bit too easy- there'd be no reason to use the difficult-to-make fertilizer anymore.

Well, you'd have to make potash in order to make pearlash still, IIRC.  Glassworks were never my strongsuit.  I still agree with the point where these would be adding to the game rather than bogging it down is still pretty distant.

I'm most in favor of #3 (though I imagine this isn't going to even be possible to be contemplated until we start going into the dwarven culture and music and such) and I see #4 as a natural relative/consequence of the off-site war activity.

[Pilsu]

It's unlikely you'd lose dwarves if the hunting party was efficiently organized. But either way, should accidents claim lives or limbs or ambushers drive them back home, the player should be able to retrieve the bodies and equipment later should they still remain. Burial being what it is, I would prefer to find at least enough remains to have something to put into the casket. There should be at least some bones and other assorted scraps left even if the elves or wildlife got to them. In case of accidents they should be brought back along with their kills. If one of the hunters has medical experience or an equivalent order to at least try, they could come back with some basic care applied. It'd be very unlikely for hunters to ever stumble into ambushers either way. Skilled hunters just might come back with some notable kills and loot instead. Mind you, you need to be able to tell the hunters to avoid confrontations. While it makes for good stories for them to tell in the dining room, I might prefer to not risk their lives over it. I suppose personality should play a part since they're out of my jurisdiction. No matter how foolhardy a dwarf might be, the rest of the team would likely talk them out of it if they're more reasonable. No one's going to take on an ambush party alone. The complexity can get out of hand pretty quickly though when we start exploring the possible reactions of individual dwarves and groups. Angry dwarves insisting the rest of the team go after the ambushers that killed Cog and whatnot.


I'm not entirely sold on parties causing strange moods. It quickly becomes a way to game the system instead of way of setting up a harvest festival. Not sure I care much for remembrance of the dead being done for +1 happiness either. Funeral services mitigate the trauma associated with death, visiting the grave or remembering the person should be flavor thing, even a cause for minor or even major bad thoughts for dwarves with appropriate personalities. Possessions following such a remembrance day is alright, though such artifacts shouldn't count towards any limits. Mind you, any possessions should be done by the souls of dead relatives, not just randomly generated. If skill level ever becomes a factor in making artifacts, that might reduce the pool of applicable souls further. Then again, I personally think possessions are a way of finishing one's life's work sort of deal, not sure what they actually represent.


These are all pretty good really. Mind you, if we start needing fuel just to have safe drinking water, we need to be able to use branches, garbage, etcetera in addition to normal wood products. An entire tree's worth of wood probably shouldn't be necessary just to sterilize a little bit of water. Better fuel management in general seems like it'd be nice to have. Would facilitate cooking improvements as well.

[tsen]

One *could* use glass equipment, a heat source, polished metal/glass mirrors to purify water via condensation. It just wouldn't be terribly efficient.

[SlipshodDorf]

the idea behind the Artistic party to strange mood connection was nothing more then a minor temporary chance increase, i was thinking something like from 1% chance to 3% to trigger for participants (i.e. they become inspired from the boost of aesthetic knowledge). Something akin to seeing a beautiful painting, and suddenly getting an idea to make one yourself.

The fueled water system isn't too unreasonable (IMO), i mean considering how much fuel you get from alternative sources like coal and lignite. Wood does scale down a lot when you make charcoal out of it anyways during the process. I wasn't particularly thinking along the lines of 1/7, whereas my first thought before editing it was to make barrels of which equal 7/7 per task.

A little extra clarification on #3, i meant it more as a scheduled thing, somewhat how you do with the new military (where they have orders for each particular month and the like). Granted, this is a pipedream at best, it would be nice for dwarfs to have a cultural system involved so they feel a little less like machinated golems or clockworks that occasionally break down and go on rampant killing sprees. My own personal image of dwarfs show them honoring the dead, particularly those who fall in glorious battle, or perhaps even religious based events (something similar to Easter, but perhaps in the name of Armok?).

The hunting idea does need a bit of refining, and yeah, they should drag back fallen comrades in lieu of meat if there are some (and perhaps if the whole party dies, the few 'survivors' die shortly after making it back to the fortress).


My only other suggestion, has something to do with the way Prisons/Prisoners interact, and had something involving issuing a "take prisoner" order rather then just a kill order which would cause your military/fortress guard or whatnot to aim for non-vital spots, or perhaps use nets/ropes/blunt weaponry to disable, tie up, and imprison the target. Some could go willingly if they feel there isn't a use in fighting back, and of course some would be too stubborn and resist to the death if they have to. This would mostly be of use only against people who 'will' become an issue (like strange moods you can't satiate), to gather information about enemies via torture, intimidation, or what have you(something to add to military stuff way on down the line), and of course, screwing with elves/humans/etc just for the hell of it.


Anything else i've in mind isn't even a remote possibility, and is absurd to the point of booze fueled dwarf jetpacks, magma catapults, or golems/homunculi/zombies powered by the souls of fallen dwarfs for the purposes of cannon fodder, haulers, or teachers in rare circumstances.