Print

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

[GreatWyrmGold]

You mentioned goblins not eating in one of your replies. Or something like that, it was in the beginning of the post. Anyways, I and some other people are having a minor and not quite off-topic debate about if goblins are given NO_EAT to keep them alive in worldgen or if they're supposed to not eat. Are goblins supposed to eat or not?

[King Mir]

You mentioned goblins not eating in one of your replies. Or something like that, it was in the beginning of the post. Anyways, I and some other people are having a minor and not quite off-topic debate about if goblins are given NO_EAT to keep them alive in worldgen or if they're supposed to not eat. Are goblins supposed to eat or not?

The cause of this rumor is that Kobold's used to not survive more than 4 years in world gen, untill Toady fixed that bug. Many players then modded kobolds to have NO_EAT as a work around, including I think the Lazy Noob Pack, though the official version had them dieing out.

Goblins were, however, fully intended to have NO_EAT. If you want Toady's authoritative answer instead of mine, however, put your question in lime green.

[WillowLuman]

For that matter, has he said if kobolds get the ability to steal food to feed themselves, or do they just get farms now?

[iceball3]

I think goblins just preform photosynthesis. Their skin color, yea.

[WillowLuman]

But they're grey...

[Rose]

More efficient.

[Trif]

You mentioned goblins not eating in one of your replies. Or something like that, it was in the beginning of the post. Anyways, I and some other people are having a minor and not quite off-topic debate about if goblins are given NO_EAT to keep them alive in worldgen or if they're supposed to not eat. Are goblins supposed to eat or not?

Toady do you mean Goblins don't need to eat in any future update or that Goblins won't need to eat until you can get it working properly?

Toady: Could you clairify a bit on the "Goblins don't need to eat" bit? Just curious how that's going to play out and what the reasoning behind it is (from a world lore perspective). Also, even if goblins don't eat what about any other future carnivorous civs? Wolfmen or the like? Do you see yourself adding in herding-based civilizations to accommodate that? Even in our history we have examples of very successful civilizations that did very little actual farming and mostly just herded animals around. The Mongols are probably the best example of that.

In any future update.  I know a few people were dismissive of our decision and called it a cop out, but we thought about these situations (including the Mongols) and rejected them.  Goblins that herd meat animals are insufficiently scary to us.  Goblins that die exclusively violent deaths in great numbers in a potentially vegetationless wasteland are better, and we want to explore a wider variety of possibilities than humans allow -- humans can be Mongols, because the Mongols were human, and we hope to support some human variety eventually.  There are beak dog considerations, etc., but those aren't fundamental -- wrangling some critters isn't as image-shattering as having large herds of meat animals ranging over grasslands with goblin ranchers.

[misko27]

But what's the in-game explanation? It's not like a bug or unfinished feature that can be ignored for now, that's a fully intended thing.

[iceball3]

But what's the in-game explanation? It's not like a bug or unfinished feature that can be ignored for now, that's a fully intended thing.

Photosynthesis!

[Buttery_Mess]

I always assume that all cavern plants and NO_EAT critters just absorb the evil that radiates from the planet core. That's why goblins have glowing red eyes. Kobolds have glowing yellow eyes because they feed off evil but they aren't particularly evil.

[hops]

The *Obsidian Curragh* has ceased to float.  Interrupted by ~Physics~.

The Embark has been struck down!

Nethercap would work, no?

[King Mir]

But what's the in-game explanation? It's not like a bug or unfinished feature that can be ignored for now, that's a fully intended thing.

"Magic"

Conservation of energy is for science nerds, not dwarf fortress. 

[WillowLuman]

I have a feeling one day it will be for Dwarf Fortress, for many here ARE science nerds.

[monk12]

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."

A favorite quote of mine, and one I hold in my head whenever doing anything in depth with magic. I'm hoping goblins do get a more official in-game explanation for their lack of eating, though I seem to remember he mentioned something along those lines at some point...

[King Mir]

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."

Great Webcomic.

A favorite quote of mine, and one I hold in my head whenever doing anything in depth with magic. I'm hoping goblins do get a more official in-game explanation for their lack of eating, though I seem to remember he mentioned something along those lines at some point...

You might trying asking about it for DF Talk. However, Toady approach is generally to add cool mechanics, and not worry too much about how the magic works.