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[GreatWyrmGold]

Earlier this evening, for reasons which I have forgotten, I was imagining a tag which would turn one material into another after a time. It evolved into this idea:

[DECAY:(transformed material):(transformed material):X:(released material):(released material)]

I had some ideas of additional complications, but this is the simplest idea and seems like it could easily capture all the needed effects.

How the Tag Works:
There are six parts, which we will examine individually:
DECAY--Identifies the tag as the "Decay" tag.
(transformed material):(transformed material)--A material tag which identify the substance that the original material becomes. "NONE:NONE" would make it vanish.
X--A number. It controls how long the material takes to decay. It could be measured in days, steps, or some other unit; maybe an X:Y thing, for a minimum and maximum time taken, would be better.
(released material):(released material)--The gas released by the decay, if any. "NONE:NONE" (or just NONE?) would make it not release anything.

How It Might Work:
Whenever an item is created, if it is of a decaying material, it has its "decay timer" started, determined by X. When this timer runs out, the object is replaced with an identical one made of the "transformed material". Decorations, coverings, and such are unaffected, although such things should probably decay as well. At this point, a given quantity of a fog made of the released material is, um, released.
Miasma would need to be made into a material as well. Still, this should be a fairly minor issue given the number of other hardcoded materials.
It should probably go without saying, but artifacts would not be affected by decay.

Obvious Uses:
Rotting: Should be obvious.
Rusting/Tarnishing Metals: Simply make "Rusty Iron," "Tarnished Copper," etc, and have the metals become the rusty/tarnished version. Perhaps you could go further to represent further levels of oxidation (Iron to Rusty Iron to Very Rusty Iron to Rust, say), but this might be a bit silly.
Rotten Wood: Current rotting is far to fast for wood. If we could make wood turn into rotten wood in a few years, instead of having it rot to nothingness in a few months while releasing an awful stench, wood would become all the more realistic.
Vanishing Blood: Unless contaminants didn't properly decay, of course.
Delayed-Use Gases: Mostly for modders. Basically, a reaction could create an item which would decay into a cloud of gas of some kind. Heck, all kinds of things could be done by modders!

Why Bother?
It allows malleability in the system, and includes another feature long awaited into the mix. Not to mention that it would be another excellent tool for modders.


This isn't a suggestion I expect to be added soon, but a system like this could improve DF greatly.

[Putnam]

Representing further tarnishing would be a real simple:

In iron, have [DECAY:INORGANIC:RUSTY_IRON_1:33600:NONE:NONE]

In RUSTY_IRON_1, have [DECAY:INORGANIC:RUSTY_IRON_2:33600:NONE:NONE]

And so on, up to, say, RUST.

[Slayerhero90]

I like this idea.

[Silverionmox]

Good idea.

[dwarfhoplite]

I'm all for degrading items. We really need an item sink.

[Slayerhero90]

Hmm. Maybe storing items in bins could slow the decay?

[Manveru Taurënér]

Hmm. Maybe storing items in bins could slow the decay?

Indeed, and possibly have maintenance work such as polishing or sharpening restore it to a set number depending on the skill of the dwarf ^^

[GreatWyrmGold]

Representing further tarnishing would be a real simple:

In iron, have [DECAY:INORGANIC:RUSTY_IRON_1:33600:NONE:NONE]

In RUSTY_IRON_1, have [DECAY:INORGANIC:RUSTY_IRON_2:33600:NONE:NONE]

And so on, up to, say, RUST.

Obviously. The question isn't if it was possible, it's if it was worth it.

Hmm. Maybe storing items in bins could slow the decay?

Ah, right, things which can vary rate of decay...

Hmm. Maybe storing items in bins could slow the decay?

Indeed, and possibly have maintenance work such as polishing or sharpening restore it to a set number depending on the skill of the dwarf ^^

...or even reverse it.

Those would need to be separate tags, along with tags for determining if vermin accelerate decay, how being stockpiled would affect it, etc. Or maybe it could be another argument at the end of the tag...

[Slayerhero90]

Artifact bins would completely halt decay.

[Tacyn]

Another use could be to make booze more realistic.
Depending in the type of Alcohol, the drink would have to stay in a barrel before turning into actual booze.

[Putnam]

And we could have wine that turns to vinegar after too long.

[helmacon]

so could you have, say, a tissue that decays into itself and thereby regenerates periodically? I could have fun with that, i could have lots of fun....

[King Mir]

Problem with this is it's not AI aware. If you want rust, it would be better if dwarves and npcs would somehow think of their items as rusty in much the same way they do with clothing. Juice to brandy or wine to vinegar might work, but you would want to make sure that towns know how to keep stocks of vanishing food correctly, and food that's indirectly produced. General rot should generate miasma, with all the unhappy thoughts that go with it.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Problem with this is it's not AI aware. If you want rust, it would be better if dwarves and npcs would somehow think of their items as rusty in much the same way they do with clothing. Juice to brandy or wine to vinegar might work, but you would want to make sure that towns know how to keep stocks of vanishing food correctly, and food that's indirectly produced. General rot should generate miasma, with all the unhappy thoughts that go with it.

As to the first, presumably dwarves would discard rusty in favor of new weapons in the same way they discard copper in favor of steel weapons (namely, in theory...).
As to the second, point taken, but it strikes me that dealing with wine turning into vinegar could use code similar or identical to code for using food rotting.

[Urist Mc Dwarf]

also, if we coulld get salt, which would need to be implemented for food rot to work right, than we could salt food.