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yes

88 (66.2%)

no

7 (5.3%)

not really but whatever

15 (11.3%)

I guess so

12 (9%)

I don't know

11 (8.3%)

Total Members Voted: 132

[GreatWyrmGold]

Actually, at 35-40 feet, a bronze colossus would only be about four z-levels tall.

[smirk]

Heh, fair. Something else, then. Giant Giraffe-Men? =P

[misko27]

Actually, at 35-40 feet, a bronze colossus would only be about four z-levels tall.

A giant then. A sperm whale. A Dragon. Pick one.

[smirk]

Hmm. Looking through the dev page, I can't actually find anything relating to multi-tile creature plans. Anyone happen to remember when (if) Toady mentioned it? Probably one of the DFTalks; I'll go have a browse through transcripts.

[MrWiggles]

Its been discussed in Dwarf Talks and in the FotF thread. Probably on the old dev goal list.

[smirk]

Ah, here we go:

So that means ... it'll be interesting to see if, when we do the multi-tile rewrite, if that gives us further horrible ideas for deadly plants, deadly multi-tile giant trees, because the main problem with multi-tile creatures is the path finding, right? So, if you don't have to worry about the path finding because it's a plant - you know, and assuming it's not a walking plant, which it could be, but ... - if you have a giant multi-tile tree, the giant multi-tile tree can be like a dungeon of death itself by doing evil giant deadly plant things over multiple tiles and stuff so I think that sounds lot of fun, doesn't it ... or you just kind of die, I don't know if that's fun, but that's okay ...

He refers to "the multi-tile rewrite" and is lumping creatures and plants together at least a bit, so I'll take a wild leap and hope that multi-tile creatures won't be too far off. Based on two passing sentences from a year ago =D

[GreatWyrmGold]

It'll happen.
Eventually.

[Courtesy Arloban]

Might be easier to implement with a creature graphics file that has a larger tile.  Instead of a bunch of E's you have a rather large E, or a graphical tile of an elephant, that takes up more space than usual.

[Mr S]

I'm putting my vote down as "Yes", but with the caveat of "Not any time soon".  By which I mean whenever Toady can make a solid implementation of it, in a way that works with his mechanics, I'll be excited to see it.  And kill it.  With Magma.

I'm seeing some kind of balancing issues coming to the forefront when talking about choke points and the like.  I actually think that is what SHOULD be one of the advantages of the Dwarf Fortress from the very beginning, that it will be difficult if not impossible for large creatures to effectively fight in the fortress.  And when in the open, larger creatures may have the upper hand.  What keeps you from completely turtling?  Well, apart from the fact that it's no !Fun!, you'd still need to deal with Caravans, and Caravans will need more than one Z of height to drive a wagon into.  So, at least 2 Z channels as far as your Trade Depot.  Strictly speculation, mind you.

[Trickman]

*is kinda surprised nobody mentioned this*

I mean: It turns, it moves, it works. What could be so wrong about making more stuff 2x2 or 3x3?

[brainfreez]

It will be a little more jarring now, but nothing we can't quickly get used to. And multi-tile creatures will be far too complex a thing to take care of in this release. Take, for example, the Bronze Colossus: Thing's gotta be at least 5z tall, right? So how is it gonna move? Will it just be a 5z-4x4 column? How is turning gonna work? DF recognizes 8 directions, so how do we save body part spatial relationships when it turns by 45 degrees? Or falls over? If it's got a 2- or 3-tile reach, should we be able to see its legs or arms move? And how do you make all that info easily RAW-compatible for people modding in their own creatures? Not to mention procedurally generated things like Forgotten Beasts.

I'm confident that Toady can do it, but multi-tile trees aren't much of a first step in that direction.

Bronze collossusses should destroy walls and tress or pick up trees and throw them at walls to destroy them .

[Loud Whispers]

*is kinda surprised nobody mentioned this*

I mean: It turns, it moves, it works. What could be so wrong about making more stuff 2x2 or 3x3?

It also no clips and often sets itself on fire

Still, multiple tile sponge reefs...

[vadia]

*is kinda surprised nobody mentioned this*

I mean: It turns, it moves, it works. What could be so wrong about making more stuff 2x2 or 3x3?

I don't like how it blinks in and out of existance, but I'll admit that it doesn't SEEM to cause any problems(other than the ninja'd that I haven't seen happen).  I'd fear that if you have like 20 multi-tile creatures they'd lag the game somewhat, and find other problems.

[DG]

Just chiming in to say that having small entrances to keep out big things that would kill you if they could reach you is a perfectly reasonable and time-honoured defence strategy. It's neither a reason not to have large creatures, or a reason to make small entrances useless in keeping out big things.

[pixl97]

What would happen if you have a baby creature trapped in a tiny space and let him grow? Strawberry jam? Exploding walls?