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Have few types but with many possible functions for each.  The simpler option

38 (42.2%)

Have many different types that each takes a particular input, for long assembly lines

29 (32.2%)

Have many types, allow using the wrong ones, but using them correctly lets the items have quality levels

23 (25.6%)

Total Members Voted: 69

[Meph]

Pathfinding for flying civ-members is more than broken. The AI wouldnt know what to do with it.

What about gnomes who are in 'balloons' as look outs?

You build it, then the gnome automatically rises say, 6 z-layers up, and holds position. Is that sort of thing possible? Or making a flying creature that does that?

no and no. ^^

But I can see a "gnomish oculus" that can detect hidden ambushers. Because they can be targetted with interactions... it could affect everything in line of sight for 30 tiles or so and gives a combat-log message like: "The oculus feels a nearby goblin". You wouldnt know the exact location, but you would know that there is something...

[IndigoFenix]

Riding flying animals doesn't work either.  They do have clockwork birds though.

They have a conversion chamber that replaces their limbs with metal (or wooden) clockwork equivalents, or a more advanced process that fuses their skin with a metal exoskeleton as well.  Both of these 'clockborgs' are full civ members though, so it's less a punishment and more a medical procedure for injured gnomes.  I could give them a mindless robot conversion as well, but dwarves already have golems and it doesn't really seem like gnomish style.

I'm considering making them vegetarian (refusing to use animal products) but this might make gameplay too difficult, so maybe they'll have the 'self defense' excuse like elves.  They will be at peace with wildlife though.

[shadowclasper]

Okay... the occulus sounds good.

Okay... the Gnomes seem to focus on lots of hiding and killing enemies before they even know they're there.

Is there some kind of, I dunno, way to build hidden tunnel entrances? Doors that enemies have trouble seeing? The idea I'm seeing with gnomes is that they have complex reactions that take a lot of stuff to build, but super simplify things once they have them done.

Secondly, I think they'd work by having combos. So before you could build say the weather control station, you'd have to 'invent' it from taking 'studies' of two other work shops (which in turn were taken from studies of two other work shops, and in turn from studies of two other work shops, and so on and so forth) until you got to that reaction.

A study would be a specific type of reaction. Similar to the architect's action when setting up a place to be built. They go in and they occupy the building, it can't be used while a study is ongoing. The study is studying every aspect of the building. Once done, it produces a [Workshop Name Study].

Two studies from different buildings are brought together to help invent a new building. Sometimes they don't produce any new workshops.

See how this would give gnomes their own unique way to work their way up the tech tree.

Now, anyway. The idea is that as you work your way up the tech tree, you get bigger bang for your buck. But buildings higher up the tech tree are more and more expensive to build. Rather than magic you have stuff that produces cool effects. Like generates and hurls magma (magma cannon), or acts as a water generator, or a contanminent mister.

A big thing for a lot of their traps and creatures should be some kind of 'hidden' skill. Like how magic users can cloak themselves. (If this can be applied to door ways and stuff, all for the best).

Gnomes should have shit armor, but freaking scary weapons that are almost certain to kill or maim on the first hit, but take a long time to reload or between shots. Weapons meant to be used from ambush or for hit and run attacks.

edit: Another thing would be some kind of, I dunno, hunting blind. A type of fortification that's hidden and so you can build without having to channel infront of it to shoot out of. The idea would be to conform as much to the landscape as possible.

[Meph]

Enemy AI, and therefore hidden ojects, cant be done.

The studies and designs, those can be done. But in the end its all up to IndigoFenix to decide what he wants or not.

[shadowclasper]

well I guess thematically it has to be done with upright bridges and bolt holes.

[IndigoFenix]

I haven't started on a real tech tree or research system, but it certainly is a good idea.

Right now what I have is the following:

Tinker's workbench - for making clockwork parts, most notably clockwork brains, which require glass.
Gadgeteer's Workshop - for making small items or equipment that grants a special effect.  Gnomes use itemsyndrome A LOT.  Most of these increase one stat while reducing another.  They are also quite weird.  Examples include cuckoo clock hats (creativity up, empathy down) magnifying visor (spatial sense up, focus down), and rollerskates (speed up, agility and kinesthetic sense down).
Artificer's Workshop - makes larger armor and weapons, also granting special effects.  Clockwork, steam, and power armor increase endurance, agility and strength respectively.  They can also make some cool weapons like drills and versatile omniweapons (basically a Swiss army knife for combat).  You can also make and attach certain specialty weapons to automatons and create artificial limbs and exoskeletons for the conversion chamber.
Automaton Crafter's Workbench: Creates small automatons froma metal and clockwork.  There are a lot of these.  The construction and repair system still needs balancing.  Automatons take a lot of metal to build but can be repaired by simply replacing their internal clockwork.
Automaton Body Shop: Basically the same, but for larger automatons.
Conversion Chamber - Converts gnomes to clockborgs and repairs them when wounded (clockwork parts will not heal naturally).
Unraveling Machine: Turns clothing back into thread.  Gnome enemies will drop a lot of items too big for gnomes to use so this will be a good addition for them.  Also...step 3, profit

[Meph]

That sounds like a lot already. What is the next plan?

Should I make you a little title picture and the basic manual with this?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I also found this one, by a romanian deviant-artist. I could ask for permission.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Cross-the-Artificer-174180950

[IndigoFenix]

Next will probably be the beginning of a magic system.  I've been focusing on their tech but these gnomes are going to be a little bit two-sided in terms of their theme: industrious and steampunky, sure, but they are also very much in tune with their forest friends... even being a little bit animalish themselves (they regularly scratch and bite in combat, for example).  There is quite a touch of silliness to them too, with their clockwork animals and crazy headwear.  They are both tinker gnomes and forest gnomes...maybe even a little bit of garden gnome as well  

[arcturusthelesser]

Pathfinding for flying civ-members is more than broken. The AI wouldnt know what to do with it.

What about gnomes who are in 'balloons' as look outs?

You build it, then the gnome automatically rises say, 6 z-layers up, and holds position. Is that sort of thing possible? Or making a flying creature that does that?

no and no. ^^

But I can see a "gnomish oculus" that can detect hidden ambushers. Because they can be targetted with interactions... it could affect everything in line of sight for 30 tiles or so and gives a combat-log message like: "The oculus feels a nearby goblin". You wouldnt know the exact location, but you would know that there is something...

What if it were made to be something like a midair minecart? All possible routes would be entirely user-defined, so the pathfinding wouldn't be an issue (I think). You create 'flight plans' explicitly stating where takeoff and landing happen, as well as altitude changes etc. Even if they weren't usable in combat (though getting into a dogfight with a roc would be ridiculously dwarfy gnomy?) it would still be useful for getting civ-members from place to place. It'd also be good for picking up migrants or, more notably, caravans, and spiriting them away if you're under siege.

[Meph]

If you have silly, good-aligned nature magic, please make Gnomes bake Gingerbread Men in the kitchen. Needs flour and whatever you want for magic, and spawns one [CREATURE:GINGERBREAD_MAN]. Maybe for cheap scouting.

[Teneb]

Random thought, but what about making gnomes [GOOD]? So far there are a lot of evil and neutral races, but no (or almost) good ones.

On gingerbread men: make them work like the plump helmet men, possibly turning against their bakers.

[Meph]

Elves and Gnomes as good civs would fit nicely.

Dwarves and Orcs are neutral.

Goblins and Warlocks are evil.

Kobolds... well. They just do whatever they can to survive. ^^

[arcturusthelesser]

non-Taiga clans don't really count as neutral. They're bigger gobbos in pretty much every respect.

[shadowclasper]

Next will probably be the beginning of a magic system.  I've been focusing on their tech but these gnomes are going to be a little bit two-sided in terms of their theme: industrious and steampunky, sure, but they are also very much in tune with their forest friends... even being a little bit animalish themselves (they regularly scratch and bite in combat, for example).  There is quite a touch of silliness to them too, with their clockwork animals and crazy headwear.  They are both tinker gnomes and forest gnomes...maybe even a little bit of garden gnome as well

I'm imagining them less as steam punk and more as gear punk. They use very eco friendly ways of gaining power. One of the things that would be REALLY cool is a power generator that gains more power the more trees that are within it's range. The reason? It's drawing power from them swaying in the wind. It doesn't generate a LOT of power, but it's very cheap and tons of them could be deployed. Maybe make it something that's 'carved' from an existing boulder on the surface? Like an engrave reaction? I'm not sure that would work so well, but it'd certainly be a cool way of representing them placing hidden power sources on the surface (it'd be a construction, so immune to building destroyers?) what do you guys think?

My idea is that the Gnomes are very much 'friendly with nature', not ever thinking of killing animals. They eventually get high level machinery that produces food from seeds very quickly. Make it so they can only dig soil, not rock, and most of their machines early on can be built with just wood and clay (Ceramics are insanely strong guys). Eventually they'd get ways of digging into rock, but that's mid game. Also a way of piercing aquifer easily as another form of tech (perhaps something that just sucks away water entirely without displacing it? A reverse aquifer powered device that endless sucks in water?)

They shouldn't have anything that burns or create smokes. They'd have pressure based smithies, compressing and cutting up and smelting through mechanical force, but never by burning something and polluting the air. I'd imagine they'd have some crazy powerful 'fuck the world' magma based devices, but any time they're used they'd create a major bad thought in every member of the fortress.

Castes for Gnomes?
-Gearbrains: very good at mechanisms
-Rangers: Survival focused, best warriors but think snipers and guerilla fighters, Any melee they have should work pretty much on the ambush principle (if there is a way to apply the ambush skill to fighting sentient invaders?)
-Farmers: Work at breeding of plants. Perhaps Gnomes have some kind of mechanical farm that lets them 'grow' things like metals?

[Meph]

Bad thoughts for magma workshops cant be done. Diggin soil and rock independantly cant be done. Power from trees cant be done. So.. ehm... yeah. 

IndigoFenix: Here, I made a template for the manual. It doesnt have to be super detailed, but it would be nice if it fits the design of the others. Just have a look at the kobold/orc manual for other setups. Its easiest to edit it with Dreamweaver. You move the gnome_manual.html to the main folder to the other manual files. The gnome_repository goes into the Masterwork Dwarf Fortress folder, next to the other repository folders. Let me know if its ok, or if you want something changed.

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=8303