Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sukasa]

NOTE:  THIS IS BASED ON SOMEONE ELSE'S IDEA FROM THE FotF THREAD.

So, I was thinking about the ideas of Bells to control dwarven activities, and I came up with two suggestions, both of whom stemmed from posts in the FotF 2 thread.

The first is bells, and how they could be used to control dwarven activities in a given area.  So, the first thing that came up was 'strength' of bells, as explained below.

For example, I'll use three bells from my High School.  One is the warning bells for class, one is the be-in-class-bell, and one is the fire bell.

The warning bell works like this.  For most students, it signifies that they should finish up what they're doign and get to class (an assigned task of sorts).  I run the school's A/V technical crew, and when I"m busy with those matters, for example I ignore said bell.  This is an example of a low-priority bell, one that dwarves can be set to ignore for a given profession (such as military dwarves).

The Next kind of bell is the Be-In-Class bell.  This signifies that if you aren't in class, *GET THERE*.  However, for me, I handle it a little differently.  When I finish what I'm doing (such as connecting audio cables), I go to class, if only to tell the teacher where I am, although as a dwarf I might stay in class, to continue the analogy.

Thirdly, there's the fire bell.  At this point, who gives a sh*t if I"m connecting cables; Everybody drops what they're doing and evacuated the school.

I'm hoping that's clear enough to convey the idea of bells and tasks.  Now, when it comes to how bells react, I was thinking that they could have "affected areas" handled somewhat like rooms, where an area is set and only dwarves in that "room" can hear the bell.

Second up is the idea of 'Designated Areas'.  These are 'rooms' or square areas (set by the designation menu) that can react to triggers, or be referenced by Bells.  Some of the examples are:

code:

On Lever Pull
               Dwarves [Gather At|Avoid|Get Out Of+Avoid|Go To then go elsewhere from] {Area}.
               Dwarves [Ignore|Acknowledge] Items in {Area}
In Respect to Bells:
               Dwarves [Gather At|Avoid|Get Out Of+Avoid] {Area}
               Dwarves Perform {Task} At {Area}

As an example of two good uses for these:

If there's a fire, a dwarf pulls a lever.  Fire bells in the section ring, and dwarves evacuate the area and don't go in for the burning items.  Then, (as is already possible in the next version), waterfalls open up and grates open next to them, coating the rooms in an extinguishing mist.

On a second level pull (using a logic gate in the system), everything reverts to normal, the initial lever is cancelled, and the disabling lever is cancelled.

(Just like in real life, and if firedwarves get in you could use the second bell type, so that firedwarves can go in and fight the fires in addition to the sprikler systems, just like in real life!)

A second use would be

When either a lever is pulled, or say a timer trips, dwarves will go to an area, and, say, start planting crops or preparing to do so.

So...  Thoughts/Suggestions/additions?

Also again,

THIS IS BASED ON POSTS BY OTHER PEOPLE.  IT IS NOT AN ORIGINAL IDEA.  DO NOT CREDIT ME FOR IT.