Toady One, can we have confirmation that siegers, aside from generals, will now come from the worldgen population rather than generated in the new version? There seems to be some confusion about whether or not that actually happens in the next version.
This ties directly into Manveru Taurënérs question.
Even if the goblins in the siege aren't directly related, seeing the corpses of comrades should have an effect now, maybe.
In one siege, when the siege had technically ended, there was this one goblin who decided to just charge right in anyway, but as soon as he saw the bodies in the traps, he was like 'oh shi...' and ran off.
Toady has stated that one of the fun things of having realized sites is that you can follow on the (abstract) trails of your enemies, claiming vengeance upon a fallen fort or something like that. So yes, the same purple-haired guys that jumped over the moat and broke your dwarves' spines are the ones coming from existing dark fortresses and, presumably, you can go there as an adventurer and pay them a visit.
Will kobold thieves now come from worldgen rather than being randomly generated as I think they are?
This might only happen if kobold sites are still on track for this release (haven't heard of them in a while, so it's doubtful). Taking into reason the existence of other
(edit) sites, it would be reasonable to have them as well appearing from the historic pool. Always wanted to meet those legendary thieves that have been harassing markets since day 1, and maybe be able to locate the runt that stole the artifacts from the aforementioned fallen fortress.
With starting scenario's giving more purpose to forts, do you plan to expand the impact/role of the Expedition Leader etc? What do you think of manifesting fort mode players in the game world? After all, isn't a nature spirit just an Elvish equivalent of a Fortress Mode Player? As the world gets more detailed, things like unfortunate accidents(in their current form) will become more glaring and immersion breaking, but they're still too much fun/useful/difficult to get rid of. I know there are plans to eventually have adventurers gloriously, mortally and unomnisciently rule forts and so on, but it seems too important to reserve for that mode. Given that we currently play as Armok, perhaps players could be gods, though whether you'd only have influence in your sphere of control and/or competing with other gods would complicate matters. Could the game simply attempt to justify your actions in game, and let you see if you're happy with it?
I've read that once starting scenarios get introduced, there will be a way to build a fortress with a group different from the ethereal Seven. Maybe a military expedition to the grim desert of horrors will have a different reason, ammount of dwarves and equipment than the few chubby guys willing to dig and frolick around the inner kingdom's lake, and their leaders will be suited to such tasks.
Aknowledging the presence of players hasn't been planned nor stated, and well, it just has to retain some elements of playability that make sense in the universe. It's planned to have gods as separate critters and entities, and maybe they'll enter the scene as soon as planes/4D make it to the game.
Nobody will say at any point "We're going to war against Aa's worshippers, because their god is an asshole covered in Cheetos and shame, plunging his minions from towers 120 stories high", but even unfortunate accidents will have their consequences covered in the deep, complex system, if they don't already have. Limiting the scope of what we can do would widely cut the appeal of this game. The personality rewrite is something I'm looking forward to experiment with, perhaps some kind of situations are easier or nearly impossible for certain individuals, but beyond that, I'm just as happy to have science and interactive simulation.