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[i2amroy]

I'm very interested in the basic physics at work here, and if it's going to make any difference in how falling objects behave.  At the moment, Dwarf Fortress does not model the acceleration of gravity at all.  Falling objects fall at a constant speed, no matter how far they have fallen.  Flying objects move in a straight line at a constant speed, until they run out of momentum, at which point they stop dead and then fall straight down.

If flying mine carts actually do move in parabolic arcs, it implies that Toady is finally coding in some notion of gravitational acceleration.  I'll be curious to see if this also applies to the behavior of falling objects, or objects flung by a bridge, or if minecarts and only minecarts will behave with new physics.

The dev log says:

but you may well see parabolic unit paths when creatures are unfortunate enough to take flight without wings.

So it's certainly possible that we could see it affect creatures as well, but at the moment it's unknown whether Toady actually got around to coding it or not.

[Kogut]

What If calculating the trajectories kill the fps?

I think this is probably the most important question asked in all 51 pages:p

Parabolic arcs, possibly gravity calculation... Toady didn't say anything about it, but since he doesn't actually play DF, only short debug sessions he said...

It is impossible to make it noticeable, not with game iterating over every single item on the map. And constant gravity field results in extremely easy equations.

[RedKing]

What If calculating the trajectories kill the fps?

I think this is probably the most important question asked in all 51 pages:p

Parabolic arcs, possibly gravity calculation... Toady didn't say anything about it, but since he doesn't actually play DF, only short debug sessions he said...

It is impossible to make it noticeable, not with game iterating over every single item on the map. And constant gravity field results in extremely easy equations.

Obviously, the answer is to begin simulating local gravity fluctuations and/or simulate gravity effects from each individual item based on mass. Computers are getting faster, there *has* to be a way to kill FPS. The little-known fact is that DF is actually a government project designed to hamper any rogue malicious AIs that arise.

"Sir, SkyNET has taken over all the defenses! Its intelligence is increasing geometrically!"
"Quick, contact Agent Toad. Have him upload the new beta build."
"Okay, that did it. It says it needs five years to sort these 20,000 socks based on a desirability matrix for 200 dwarves."

[Ace_Warbringer]

X m2 by time right? so now we'll possibly (in the future) have varying gravitational fields.

that slade boulder looks a lot hevier now.   

[i2amroy]

X m2 by time right? so now we'll possibly (in the future) have varying gravitational fields.

that slade boulder looks a lot hevier now.   

Well somebody did figure out over in the adamantine science thread that if you were standing on the surface of the DF world you could actually feel the mass of slade at the bottom of the map. It wouldn't be much heavier then the weight of a dime or so, but it would actually be noticeable.

[Mrhappyface]

How many ramps are needed to give a cart enough speed to collide 2 half critical masses into chain reaction?

The uranium minecart strikes the uranium minecart!
Urist McOppenheimer has become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.


Now I'm picturing a wide hallway about 3 or 4 Z-levels high, with ramps on either side up to the ceiling. Build several tracks across it, and you have a halfpipe for the Dwarven Olympics. Or a deathtrap for invaders as minecarts whiz back and forth in front of them. Either/or.

I want to see what happens if you split an adamantine molecule.

[Deviled]

How many ramps are needed to give a cart enough speed to collide 2 half critical masses into chain reaction?

The uranium minecart strikes the uranium minecart!
Urist McOppenheimer has become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.


Now I'm picturing a wide hallway about 3 or 4 Z-levels high, with ramps on either side up to the ceiling. Build several tracks across it, and you have a halfpipe for the Dwarven Olympics. Or a deathtrap for invaders as minecarts whiz back and forth in front of them. Either/or.

I want to see what happens if you split an adamantine molecule.

You create the Bay12 Forums.

[Psieye]

so now we'll possibly (in the future) have varying gravitational fields.

I think Toady already discussed that as a possible effect when the Magic arc begins. He never stated when it would begin though, we only know he's on the Caravan arc and has Army arc once that's clear.

[FearfulJesuit]

Is he really, though? I mean, we were supposed to be on the Caravan Arc, and then DF2010 happened.

[Jacob/Lee]

Girlinhat is going to find a way to spawn another legend using minecarts, I bet you all 5 candy swords.

[Girlinhat]

Spawn another legend?  What came previously?

[Psieye]

Is he really, though? I mean, we were supposed to be on the Caravan Arc, and then DF2010 happened.

DF2012 happened, which definitely is the start of the Caravan arc. Yes a whole bunch of other things came in through tangents, but the core of "economics is now in worldgen" was achieved. DF2010 was about revamping the underground and the big materials rewrite, again with a bunch of other things coming in like the military interface.

[Jacob/Lee]

Spawn another legend?  What came previously?

Dwarven "child care."

[Castamere]

I wonder if you can run the carts off the map with useless stuff in it
Or unload them off the map, if the unloading station is positioned that way on the edge
It would make atom smashers redundand

I imagine that it would be pretty FPS friendly

[Kaos]

I wonder if you can run the carts off the map with useless stuff in it
Or unload them off the map, if the unloading station is positioned that way on the edge
It would make atom smashers redundand

I imagine that it would be pretty FPS friendly

My guess it's going to behave like other projectiles (bolts), when shot to the map edge it will hit an invisible wall and fall on the edge tiles. Don't think they'll let you set up anything beyond the map borders.

I set a hauler to ride a minecart to its next stop. That happened to take the dwarf down eight ramps and then up a launch ramp into an open cavern. High up in the cavern there was a wide ledge and on the ledge there was a goblin, chilling out right where I had created it. I activated the dwarf's squad, and he had just enough hang-time at the top of the flight arc to get a punch in. The goblin struck back but the dwarf jumped on to the ledge, where they continued to fight as the cart fell down into the darkness. It'll be interesting to see the new contenders for "worst dodge decision" that come out of this, before I tackle that problem, but overall the item riding system seems to be functioning. As we continue to iron out issues there, it might also let caged creatures interact more with their environment later on.

am I understanding this right?

the dwarf rode the cart down 8 ramps, then it went up on another ramp, shooting them on a parabolic trajectory, at some point in that flying trajectory the cart, with the dwarf on, got close by a ridge with a goblin on it, the dwarf, while flying on the mine cart, punched the standby goblin, the goblin punched back and the dwarf dodged the blow mid-air, jumping out the mine-cart, only to fall on the same ridge the goblin was standing on, and kept fighting the goblin there, while the, now empty, mine-cart continued it's trajectory.... 

If my English skills didn't failed me, that's just awesome!!!