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[Sadrice]

Vegetable oil, pitch, and animal fat were much more commonly used than petroleum, and it wasn't heated to boiling (it would ignite first).  This was somewhat infrequently used, as that much oil or fat was very expensive.

[Graknorke]

Wouldn't boiling water be much easier AND more true to actual history?

Water dosen't tend to stay boiling, it turns to steam (which also need working on). and we have had boiling oil for hundreds of years (you literally just scope it up from the marsh and put it in a pot heated by a fire).

I'm pretty sure I read something about boiling tar being somewhat exaggerated nowadays and they often couldn't because of the high temperatures. Scalding water was a lot easier to heat to boiling temperatures, still did significant harm to anyone who got hit by it, and generally in more plentiful supply.
Stephen Fry probably said it too. HE IS NEVER WRONG.

[Loud Whispers]

You know, in a high fantasy game like DF, "chemistry" usually means "alchemy", and that, in turn, often means "potions of make my hands catch on fire so when I punch people, they catch fire".  People tend to look forward to that sort of stuff. 

I accidentally
*Hick*
barrel full of
*Hick*
And now it's phosphorous

[Graknorke]

You know, in a high fantasy game like DF, "chemistry" usually means "alchemy", and that, in turn, often means "potions of make my hands catch on fire so when I punch people, they catch fire".  People tend to look forward to that sort of stuff. 

I accidentally
*Hick*
barrel full of
*Hick*
And now it's phosphorous

Well, that would explain where it goes.

[Sadrice]

Wouldn't boiling water be much easier AND more true to actual history?

Water dosen't tend to stay boiling, it turns to steam (which also need working on). and we have had boiling oil for hundreds of years (you literally just scope it up from the marsh and put it in a pot heated by a fire).

I'm pretty sure I read something about boiling tar being somewhat exaggerated nowadays and they often couldn't because of the high temperatures. Scalding water was a lot easier to heat to boiling temperatures, still did significant harm to anyone who got hit by it, and generally in more plentiful supply.
Stephen Fry probably said it too. HE IS NEVER WRONG.

They did not heat oil to boiling.  It would burst into flames long before that happened, and it is difficult to get it that hot anyways.  That is in no way a good reason to use water, since there's no good reason for it to be boiling anyways.  You can heat oil to much higher temperatures than water without it boiling, and it would be a more effective weapon.  However, water is a lot cheaper than oil, so I suspect it was used more.

[Loud Whispers]

Wouldn't boiling water be much easier AND more true to actual history?

Water dosen't tend to stay boiling, it turns to steam (which also need working on). and we have had boiling oil for hundreds of years (you literally just scope it up from the marsh and put it in a pot heated by a fire).

I'm pretty sure I read something about boiling tar being somewhat exaggerated nowadays and they often couldn't because of the high temperatures. Scalding water was a lot easier to heat to boiling temperatures, still did significant harm to anyone who got hit by it, and generally in more plentiful supply.
Stephen Fry probably said it too. HE IS NEVER WRONG.

They did not heat oil to boiling.  It would burst into flames long before that happened, and it is difficult to get it that hot anyways.  That is in no way a good reason to use water, since there's no good reason for it to be boiling anyways.  You can heat oil to much higher temperatures than water without it boiling, and it would be a more effective weapon.  However, water is a lot cheaper than oil, so I suspect it was used more.

Roman defence of a Persian outpost, the defenders poured boiling soup on the invaders. Delicious.

[Graknorke]

I was talking more about how people always talk about boiling oil.
Nobody would ever find it practical to boil oil in a medieval environment. If anything were to be boiled, it would be water.

[Naryar]

I'm fine with oil, natural gas, naphta weapons, Greek fire (hell yeah) and antique stuff like that, as well as primitive uses of gunpowder, but advanced uses are just plain ridiculous unless you are making total conversions.

[Loud Whispers]

Although liquid items rolling down ramps like their solid counterparts would be amazing.

[Sadrice]

Are you implying liquids don't currently flow downhill?

[Putnam]

Liquid items.

[M_So]

I stopped reading the OP when he said PVC armor.... Ether way when I think of oil in dwarf fortress I think fuel, one bucket per furnace action, can't be used in the making of steel, does not evaporate blah blah blah simple. Maybe have it show up in small pools on the surface (50 units or less) to help people with forging rather then praying for coal or burning down a forest. Larger pool underground, could lead to fun if you also have a aquifer, just simple.

I also really liked the idea for boiling oil.

[drvoke]

I don't care for the ideas involving organic chemistry or using crude oil to power anything (via an interaction compound or whatever), but I am in favor of anything that makes mining more dangerous for dwarfs.  Pressurized oil deposits that can contaminate your dwarfs, drown them, and/or make them sick is a great idea.  Having oil-contaminated objects elves burn longer might be an interesting effect, but I don't know if that's really how crude oil works.

[Vherid]

I don't care for the ideas involving organic chemistry or using crude oil to power anything (via an interaction compound or whatever), but I am in favor of anything that makes mining more dangerous for dwarfs.  Pressurized oil deposits that can contaminate your dwarfs, drown them, and/or make them sick is a great idea.  Having oil-contaminated objects elves burn longer might be an interesting effect, but I don't know if that's really how crude oil works.

I'm pretty sure that's how it works, oil burns really hot, and really slow.

[Friendstrange]

Rather than dinosaur fossil oil wouldnt Forgotten Beasts fossil oil be more accurate? And if we are to acknowledge the existence of a pre-history before year 1 (which we seem to do), would we be able to play caveman dwarfs at some point in the far future? Of course, this could also be the time the gods are genned.

And if we are able to play caveman dwarfs, will we also be able to play bronze age, nomad age, roman age, helenic age, dark age (current), reinassance age dwarfs? (you know, bigger world changes other than the "there are more or less of x civilization" we currently have.

Vegetable oil (other than rock nut oil) and animal fat fuel implementation would be more plausible imo, but I would wholy welcome stuff like brine, asphalt, tar, kerosene, alembics, kerosene lamps/oil lamps (for human use of course) if given a practical use. We already have the unused "alchemy" labor after all. And if whe get something like a philosopher´s stone from it, all the better.