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[malvado]

100% Tilesets.
Short version : Brain surgery due to glioma makes them the only viable option for me to play this game without having some sort of minor (visual ) seizure.

[Exlo]

Clearly, this represents six side-by-side wheelbarrows, as indicated by the right half of the icon.  The left half indicates they are carrying babies with hats in these wheelbarrows.

Presumably, they are lining up to dump them into the baby furnaces.

Aaaand sigged.

[Vanaheimer]

No, it actually *is* an issue with the ACSII. It isn't capable of giving me the information I need at a quick glance. Even you, an ASCII fan, could not tell me with just a glance at a character what it is.

Perhaps because you didn't place the location of the character in question.

Besides, that's completely unrelated to what you said. You said that you had to pause for a few seconds to realize your dwarves are in danger. That's unrelated to knowing what profession the darn dwarf is or what kind of creature the s is.

My tileset can.

I detect favoritism.

I know whether or not he is in danger, I don't know whether he is someone useless or whether I need militia there NOW. Very useful if you're facing threats from multiple directions.

[Tarran]

I know whether or not he is in danger, I don't know whether he is someone useless or whether I need militia there NOW.

Graphic Packs don't really help in that example. Remember, you can pause the game. From there, you can tell if the dwarf is 'useless' or not. ASCII is not hampered in any way for determining the profession of a dwarf when he's in danger.

[Deathworks]

Dear Vanaheimer,

Your example still does not float.

First of all, as I mentioned beforehand, there is no way to get your militia there NOW. Most probably, they are taking a break, getting a drink or fighting something on the wrong side of the map - even if they are in the mood to listen to your requests anyway.

Secondly, if I am confronted with a new, dangerous situation, I prefer to PAUSE the game anyway to get enough time to consider my options - like sending dwarves to burrows, or checking for dwarves that need immediate evacuation even if they are not directly next to a hostile.

Third, evaluating just by job is not necessarily a good strategy. That dwarf may be a lowly brewer, but unfortunately, he was good friends with most of your military. Or maybe with your hammerer. Too bad that his untimely death caused them to tantrum - while armed and dangerous...

Thus, I personally do not believe in quick acting at a glance in dwarf mode. The game is usually too complex and too nasty to forgive me if I try that. But that is just me.

Yours,
Deathworks

[cameron]

something for people to know, if it is just the squareness that is the issue and not an aesthetics thing, the game does come with a square ascii tileset, it's named curses_square_16x16 and is just the default tiles but stretched to a square

edit
obviously this has nothing to do with the graphical tiles

[Vanaheimer]

Deathworks:

Different play style here. I get an idea of what I'm facing, then act as soon as I can. As far as getting militia there quickly, they're usually where they need to be in a few seconds. Just because my fortress is under attack doesn't mean I'm not working on other things, production must go on...


Tarran:

Which is just more time wasted figuring things instead of acting. DF may be a game of patience in many cases, but that doesn't mean I can't act quickly :lol:

[Deathworks]

Dear Vanaheimer,

Deathworks:

Different play style here. I get an idea of what I'm facing, then act as soon as I can. As far as getting militia there quickly, they're usually where they need to be in a few seconds. Just because my fortress is under attack doesn't mean I'm not working on other things, production must go on...

I see.

How about we agree that the two of us have different playing styles and while ASCII does not respond to your needs, it fits in nicely with the needs I have? So, ASCII is no good for you but perfect for me?

Yours,
Deathworks

[Tarran]

Tarran:

Which is just more time wasted figuring things instead of acting. DF may be a game of patience in many cases, but that doesn't mean I can't act quickly :lol:

Okay. A statement once again unrelated to what you just said.

I'm giving up on this argument, honestly. I can't see where you're trying to go with your argument. You're repeatedly bouncing between an argument that ASCII takes longer to identify things--which is somewhat true--and as a result that has an actual effect on your ability to respond--which is not true because the game can be paused.

[Mike Mayday]

I love ASCII presentation in general, I've loved it in ADOM especially.
I dislike it in DF because the amount of content makes the ASCII display tiresome to read for me. Whereas in ADOM I immediately and effortlessly saw what's what, I need to focus to read the display in DF (or, in the case of creatures, use the looK command, which is an incredible drag because of the lack of mouse support). And I'd rather be focusing on a challenging gameplay than a challenging display.

But since DF lacks the former, I can easily understand why people have no problem with the latter (this is not meant as a snarky remark).

However if there was a quick mouse help function (a constantly present textbox displaying the name of what you're currently pointing at) I'd be willing to give it another try. As always, I admit that the interface is a much bigger problem than the graphics in DF.

And as a small addendum: I heartfully agree that "graphical" DF tilesets look utterly stupid. This is however caused by the minimal support for graphics. With full graphics support a good artist could really go to town on the game.

[zombie urist]

猫猫猫猫猫猫

I just see 6 cats. 

Biggest reasons I prefer ascii to graphics are that there is no lag time between release. I've never had a problem differentiating between letters for different animals.

[Mike Mayday]

I've never had a problem differentiating between letters for different animals.

How is that even possible when multiple creatures use the same colour+symbol combination?

[tfaal]

Yeah, after a recent crundle incident, I spent about ten minutes trying to get my military to kill what I later realized to be a kitten. Darn red lowercase 'c's.

[zombie urist]

I've never had a problem differentiating between letters for different animals.

How is that even possible when multiple creatures use the same colour+symbol combination?

A lot of it is context, based on the groupings of the animals and their behavior.

[ClawlessVictory]

I love the ASCII graphics, and with this game it's almost taken to an art form.  I wouldn't play it any other way.