I’m working on a project to optimize FPS. (This post is too long, apologies in advance.)
In vanilla, it’s reported that the top three reasons for abandoning a fortress are
1) boredom
2) FPS death and
3) unexpected !FUN!
I’m thinking with Masterwork: boredom, not so much. There’s lots of neat stuff to figure out and Meph keeps uploading new versions with new stuff … but FPS is the trade-off and particularly so since many of us play on limited laptops. So I’ve been studying the FPS thing and while the Wiki pages are good, they maybe could be updated for MW. This isn’t far enough along to post as statistically valid but so far, Flow>Pathfinding>Stuff to count>Temp variations/Weather. If charted, Flow and Pathfinding would make up by far the largest slices of the pie. [I should probably stop here.
] What I’ve found so far:
Flow: MW takes care of most of the problem with Bloody Gems and magmabottles since there’s no longer any need for magma pumpstacks. I’d just figured out a workaround for that in 4th quarter 2012 when I found Masterwork. I may post it anyway on a vanilla thread. If water is needed from a cavern (obsidian, greedily going for that last tile of adamantine), a Dwarven Reactor can be set temporarily and then later deconstructed but gravity-fed dumps with floodgates work w/o the single-digit FPS penalty. A windmill on the surface will power a millstone so there’s no need for waterwheels (which do look impressive).
Pathfinding: For this, the Wiki pages are pretty good. A 2x2 embark is only 25% the area of a 4x4 and probably the single “best” plan (the trade-off is adamantine). Large open areas are best, hallways >2 wide. Stairways of >2 the reasons being, that half-step diagonal when one dorf passes another is counted and no two dorfs travel at the same speed, especially when hauling. Hauling jobs stack up and take precedence over everything else so multiple, close, dedicated stockpiles with plenty of wheelbarrows is the way to go. With bins. A Borg-like cube fortress is the best layout. Non-restricted animals should be limited to a few vermin catchers. Pots trump barrels, by a lot. Potash is very valuable. Unimportant areas can be zone restricted. Then, it’s how many dwarves to you really want? 140 is minimum for MountainHome. Breaching caverns should be delayed until the fortress is stable with a competent military since there will be more Stuff, more Pathfinding and more importantly, guaranteed sieges from large numbers of Antmen and such (and really, after the first learning fortress nobody plays with Invaders Off, do they?)
Stuff: not all stuff is the same for the counting algorithm. Trading away pretty much everything not needed is a good idea and something to do with Elves. Stuff in quantum stockpiles (TradeDepot, slag/garbage pits) doesn’t seem to count as much as stuff lying about or in standard stockpiles. When a caravan is sighted, it’s an opportunity to scour the surface for single bolts, teeth and parts – also easier on a 2x2 embark. Teeth and parts can be stockpiled next to a craftsdwarve’s workshop and consumed in useless decorations easier than trading.
Weather/Temp: since so many of the interesting things in MW are dependent upon Weather On, I’ve never played with it off. Wiki pages talk a lot about temperature variations but it’s insignificant. Even with an unexpected magma release (Banners of Heart succession game), the FPS hit only lasts two weeks of gametime, then it’s stable again (evaporation has no effect).
I've had a handful of thieves and kidnappers show up but surprisingly they were all fought off with the two tuskoxen that showed up with my embarkers. I'll need to keep those in mind for future fortresses.
Without a Danger Room, I look forward to the day my dorfs are soldiers equal to the TuskOxen.
