I would like to invite everyone who has a basic understanding of modding to come by and post his ideas about possible DFhack plugins. Lately there have been some changes that modders benefit from, the two plugins in question are the steam engine and spatter_add. Another one, autosyndrome, is in work, done by expwnent. Now, what could modders use most? What has always been your dream project, or what restrictions do you need to circumvent?
What I want to collect here are suggestions by modders, as well as feedback by dfhack programmers. What is possible, what is too much work... suggestions by programmers are also welcome. If you think you can write a certain plugin, but dont know how it should best be set up, post it here. Say: I could do this or that, dont know if anyone would need it. All ideas are welcome.
PLUGINS ALREADY DONE
Triggering of sieges, megabeasts, titans, fbs or ambushes
- Possible: YES
- Helps boring forts that receive no outside threats.
Runnings dfhack commands by reading out the gamelog
- Possible: YES
- For example a dwarf transforms into a new creature called "dwarf using elven magic to grow the crops" just for 1 tick.
- The gamelog shows this, and the plugin "grow" will automatically be activated.
- Allows for powerful magic
- Allows to run convenient plugins, like siren, directly by dwarves.
Notes: Expwnent already wrote a test-version of this once.
Coat items with materials, which affect the wearer
- Possible: YES
- Good for magical/cursed armors.
- Allows more advances weapons, that add interactions to the wearer.
- For example molotov-cocktails, or a dwarven flamethrower.
- Allows advances crafting system, use special reagents for special items.
- For example fire imp-items give fireball, dragon-items give firebreath, GCS-items give poison immunity.
Power-generating Workshop
- Possible: YES
- Steam Engine, needs fuel and water
- Produces power
- Gears can be connected to the workshop
Poison Coatings
- Possible: YES
- Coats weapons, ammo or traps
- Can use any material
- Enemies hit with coated material are affected with a syndrome
Autosyndrome
- Possible: YES
- Affects creatures inside a workshop area with a syndrome
- Replaces boiling rocks
PLUGINS THAT PROBABLY WONT WORK OR ARE A TON OF WORK
Creature creation
- Possible: PROBABLY NO
- Make new creatures in workshops. (Or other sources?)
- Should allow the creation of owned pets and/or new workers/civ-members.
- Currently only possible with an extreme workaround that spawns friendly or hostile creatures, no pets or civ members.
Targeting only worn clothing with a reaction
- Possible: PROBABLY NO
- Makes cleaning up worn clothing a lot easier
- Could be used for a "burn worn clothing" or "recycle thread from worn clothing" reaction.
SUGGESTED PLUGINS
Removal of vanilla DF jobs from unmoddable buildings
- Possible: YES
- Good for total conversions that need to get rid of dwarven/medieval/fantasy things.
- Good for people that want to revamp complete industries, for example farming/food industry.
Addition of custom jobs to vanilla buildings
- Possible: YES
- This allows giving useless or barely used buildings more jobs.
- Fore example woodburner or ashery.
Portal buildings. Enter building #1, worker is teleported to building #2
- Possible: YES
- Quickly travel across the map.
- Reinforcements for deep layers, like the circus.
- More tactics, ambush invasions yourself.
- Enter otherwise walled-off areas, without opening doors for enemies.
Ouside only buildings, like the windmill.
- Possible: YES
- For example special farms, or for total conversions using solar panels.
Cavern Embark
- Possible: YES
- Teleport starting group into the caverns, then run revflood.
- Wagon, pets and the 7 embark dwarves spawn in the first cavern instead of the surface.
Liquid generation by workshops
- Possible: YES
- Spawn water/magma on a nearby tile.
Power-dependent workshops, need power to run
- Possible: ?
- This allows more advances machines to be made.
- Finally draws more people to build machines/gears/axles.
Slavery aka Change civ/race alignement
- Possible: ?
- Turn captured invaders into civ-members or pets.
- This would allow more uses of cage-trap captured invaders.
Adding wear to armor and weapons
- Possible: ?
- Items get worn out by use.
Magma Aquifer
- Possible: ?
- Assign a magma-source to an inorganic material.
- Should work like an aquifer, but spawn magma instead.