Hmm, guys, I just had a new idea that I think is pretty cool, but let me know how you feel. It's a shame I didn't think of this when I started this thread.
Extending the standard DF palette. Okay, you can't really do that, but what you can do is repurpose some of the color IDs entirely. Normally color schemes/mods don't do that, but since we don't have to worry about compatibility with vanilla, we could. Now would be a good time to get it started. Note when reading the following that you CAN use colors independently of brightness values (just type in 8 when you mean 7 and brightness 1).
I'm not a color designer but here's my suggestion.
Abused the wiki page's preview facility to make this quickly. Sorry.
=== Current ===
{| style="margin: 0 auto; border-spacing: 0"
|-
| style="vertical-align: top; padding: 0" |
{| style="text-align: center; border-spacing: 0 1px; margin: 0 auto; background: black; border-left: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black"
|- style="background: #fff"
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 3em" | Col.
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 3em" | Bri.
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 9em" | Name
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|0:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Black
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|1:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Blue
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|2:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 2
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Green
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|3:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 3
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Cyan
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|4:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 4
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Red
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|5:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 5
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Magenta
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|6:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 6
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Brown
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|7:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 7
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Light grey
|}
| style="vertical-align: top; padding: 0" |
{| style="text-align: center; border-spacing: 0 1px; margin: 0 auto; background: black; border-left: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black"
|- style="background: #fff"
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 3em" | Col.
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 3em" | Bri.
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 9em" | Name
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|0:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Dark grey
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|1:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Light blue
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|2:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 2
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Light green
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|3:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 3
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Light cyan
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|4:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 4
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Light red
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|5:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 5
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Light magenta
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|6:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 6
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Yellow
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|7:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 7
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | White
|}
|}
=== Proposed ===
{| style="margin: 0 auto; border-spacing: 0"
|-
| style="vertical-align: top; padding: 0" |
{| style="text-align: center; border-spacing: 0 1px; margin: 0 auto; background: black; border-left: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black"
|- style="background: #fff"
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 3em" | Col.
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 3em" | Bri.
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 9em" | Name
|- style="color: white; background: {{fgcolor|0:0}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Black
|- style="color: white; background: #8fbc8f"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | DarkSeaGreen
|- style="color: white; background: #228b22"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 2
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | ForestGreen
|- style="color: white; background: #708090"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 3
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Slate
|- style="color: white; background: #FF8C00"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 4
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Orange
|- style="color: white; background: #8b008b"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 5
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Magenta4
|- style="color: white; background: #8b7355"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 6
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | BurlyWood4
|- style="color: black; background: #F5DEB3"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 7
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Wheat
|}
| style="vertical-align: top; padding: 0" |
{| style="text-align: center; border-spacing: 0 1px; margin: 0 auto; background: black; border-left: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black"
|- style="background: #fff"
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 3em" | Col.
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 3em" | Bri.
! style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; width: 9em" | Name
|- style="color: black; background: #C0C0C0"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 0
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Silver
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|1:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Blue
|- style="color: black; background: #7cfc00"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 2
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | LawnGreen
|- style="color: black; background: #ffd700"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 3
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Gold
|- style="color: black; background: #ee0000"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 4
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Red
|- style="color: black; background: #ffb6c1"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 5
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | LightPink
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|6:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 6
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | Yellow
|- style="color: black; background: {{fgcolor|7:1}}"
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 7
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em" | 1
| style="padding: 0.15em 0.4em; text-align: left" | White
|}
|}
Justification:
What do we look at by far most of the time in the game? What are we most frustrated by that we don't have many colors for when modding? (okay, just speaking for myself. Still) Answer:
1. Stone and metal
2. Vegetation
3. Wood
Keeping that in mind, do we really need two kinds of cyan, two kinds of purple, two kinds of blue and two kinds of red to make up 50% of our color set? IMHO, no. We could use one blue, one red (tinted slightly better for use in blood and meat), one purple and no cyan.
This frees up many colors for use. In the above set we have many more colors I feel are more suitable to making vegetation, stones, wood and metal. Of course this was just a quick mock up without much deep thought.
Your thoughts?