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[Doc_LaKock]

After lurking the Wiki and forums for many a week since .31, I am quite confused about the direction that Fortress Mode is heading.
There are gaps within the everyday fort such as the lack of economy, nobles not showing up, and wagons not entering with traders. Other than that, however, Dwarf Fortress Mode is a solid experience.

I have played quite a few fortresses, love the game, and fully support Toady... But I cannot help but wonder why the military was so well improved upon, and Fortress mode got one step closer to running without a hitch, and yet some essential aspects of dwarven society such as the economy, tax collector, hammerer, dungeon master, and so on are still missing. This essentially dwarfs (pun intended) the potential of any fort that a player attempts to make, as it can never truly develop into a society.  What the player ends up with is basically a bunch of dwarfs living in an area with none of the depth that 40d gave it past that point with the economy... It almost feels like .31 has downgraded from that.

I suppose my question(s) is:
Have the developers stated why it is essential to make additions to Adventure mode while Fortress mode (what one would expect to be the main mode played by fans) is being left without so many features?
When can we expect the economy changes to arrive and give Dwarf Fortress those wide open doors that it has the potential to?

Thank you very much for your responses, it was just something that I was confused about while picturing my magma forge workers having a payroll.

[squeakyReaper]

Next, caravans will be coming in - a very economic feature.  I'm sure more trade and economic based considerations are being dealt with now.  The problem with the dungeon masters, etc. is that...  well, in my opinion, not many people enjoyed them.  Even just having mandating nobles around is annoying.  I'm sure nobility, and the economy, will have careful tinkering with later - something The Toady One doesn't have time to deal with at the moment without half-heartingly shoving it out.

[twilightdusk]

My understanding is that Fortress mode is a hell of a lot more finished than Adventure mode is, so he's focusing on Adventure mode for a bit so that people who like that mode can enjoy it more. The dev log on the main site has been alluding to many things that will affect Fortress mode more directly than Adventurer mode though.

[Don Blake]

Wait, dungeon masters don't show up anymore?  How will I tame my giant bats so I can use them for hunting?

[twilightdusk]

Wait, dungeon masters don't show up anymore?  How will I tame my giant bats so I can use them for hunting?

modding. You can edit the raws to make the Dungeon Master appointed by the Expedition Leader, or (if you want to have to work a little for him) the Mayor.

[Vercingetorix]

I personally think it's because implementing those features in Adventure Mode is necessary for implementing them in Fortress Mode, at least if we want those features to actually impact the ongoing growth/development of conditions throughout the world rather than stopping at the fortress' borders (and vice versa).  Getting those things to work in Adventure Mode is a necessary infrastructural step for making them work in Fortress Mode.

Or, alternatively, Toady's simply putting more Adventure Mode things in now in order to balance out the amount of development dedicated to each mode.

[leftycook]

I started playing after most of the nobles were disabled from arriving, so i've never had a dungeon master or the like. a baron is as far as i've got. Although this guy does have a point, it was a choice between bug fix or additional content. by fixing military and not adding new things in, people would complain about no new content. if done the other way, people would ask why new things are being brought in when there are bugs needing fixing.

although never having had many nobles, i would like them brought in, to give me some lategame goals.

[slothen]

nobles are a great way to keep dwarven justice a relevant part of the game.  Despite them being annoying, they do add some flavor.

[MrWiggles]

After lurking the Wiki and forums for many a week since .31, I am quite confused about the direction that Fortress Mode is heading.
There are gaps within the everyday fort such as the lack of economy, nobles not showing up, and wagons not entering with traders. Other than that, however, Dwarf Fortress Mode is a solid experience.

I have played quite a few fortresses, love the game, and fully support Toady... But I cannot help but wonder why the military was so well improved upon, and Fortress mode got one step closer to running without a hitch, and yet some essential aspects of dwarven society such as the economy, tax collector, hammerer, dungeon master, and so on are still missing. This essentially dwarfs (pun intended) the potential of any fort that a player attempts to make, as it can never truly develop into a society.  What the player ends up with is basically a bunch of dwarfs living in an area with none of the depth that 40d gave it past that point with the economy... It almost feels like .31 has downgraded from that.

I suppose my question(s) is:
Have the developers stated why it is essential to make additions to Adventure mode while Fortress mode (what one would expect to be the main mode played by fans) is being left without so many features?
When can we expect the economy changes to arrive and give Dwarf Fortress those wide open doors that it has the potential to?

Thank you very much for your responses, it was just something that I was confused about while picturing my magma forge workers having a payroll.

Dwarf Fortress is more then just Fort Mode. Adventure Mode and Fort Mode are suppose to be equally viable means to play the game.

Adventure mode has been getting no love for a long bit, and was way over due for some expansion. Even while Toady is doing Adventure Mode centric stuff, Fort mode still doens't get left out completely. Bug fixes that come with each release affect both modes, as well as some new things in Fortmode. Such as new livestock for Fortmode, that came from a consequence of fleshing out the economic models of the world, which will be most felt (probably) in Adventure mode.

The .31 release saw a great many things change behind the scenes, including reworking how the nobles function and them getting moved to the RAWS. Therefore some things are going to straggle being reimplemented into the new system. I suspect the nobles won't get really put back into the game until things like Guilds are reintroduced. Nobles, as of the popular opinion of the forum, were broken in the 40d release.

As for how Toady and co are going about developing the game, he does keep a rather open dialogue through the Dev Dairy and the Future of the Fortress thread on the forum, wherein he answers questions presented to him in info dumps every now and then. Of course there is the Dwarf Talk Pod Cast.

Currently Toady is developing in the game, in what is known as Arcs. The foundation set for the two present arcs, the Economic Arc and the Military arc were set the .31 release, and has become stable enough really consider moving onward with it.

.19 is going to be seeing the a good start for the Economy Arc, then we'll get some hefty bug fixes, and be moving onto Military Arc.

The Military Arc is going to be quite deponent on local populations and their local resources. Which before, wasn't really being tracked at all by the game. When sieges come, the gobbo were just poofed at the edge of the map, along with their equipment with very loose ties to their local resources.

This means that sites need to have growing towns, and towns which can trade resources with each other. Which, is coming with the Economic Arc.
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Also, it sounds like you aren't aware of the Dev Dairy, the Future of the Fortress thread or the Podcast.