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Author Topic: Looking for thoughts / where to go from here  (Read 631 times)

Evaris

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Looking for thoughts / where to go from here
« on: May 30, 2014, 12:20:49 pm »

So I decided to add a few things to DF to try to get a bit more use out of a few materials that otherwise just didn't do enough in my opinion.  But I am looking for help on a few bits, as well as ideas of what to add and change from here;

Changes Part 1A: Pottery Glazes [Inorganic Other RAW]
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
First up:  Uranium glaze, from Pitcheblende.  Figured I'd give it the use as suggested in the RAWs as-is,
Next; Celadon Glaze, from hematite.  A traditional Chinese glaze from iron oxide. 
Lastly; Smalt Glaze, from Cobaltite.  A blue glaze known from antiquity and very often found on porcelain, very popular and generally speaking tends to make some of the most valuable pottery, hence the increased value over the other metal glazes.

Changes Part 1B: Yellowcake [Inorganic Other]
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Well, I figured I'd add in the ability to make non-enriched cast uranium for the sake of slow-mo armor and trolltastic hammers,  given the process of making (non-enriched) uranium does not involve electricity to my knowledge, I do know it takes an intermediary step between pitchblende and uranium... thus you get uranium oxide AKA yellowcake powder. 

Changes Part 2:  Smelter
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So first up as bits, Cupronickel.  A Chinese alloy from the 11th century on, it wasn't rediscovered by western civilizations for... quite a while.  (17-18th century, shortly after nickel was realized to be a thing on it's own... dwarves already know about nickel so that's not an issue)  It is however, heavily corrosion resistant, stronger than bronze or pure iron (but weaker than steel), and has a nice silvery-white color to it.  The most common blends are 55-45 and 70-30 copper-nickel content, and I went with the latter as it is significantly stronger of a material. 

Then we have Uranium.  As things are explained above.  I used tungsten values for strength since it's hugely impact resistant in cast form (as used in tank armor.)  However, I could not find actual values for most of it... so help would be wonderful.

Changes Part 3: Yellowcake from a kiln [reactions other]
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
So there's your yellowcake at a kiln.  Also, when getting yellowcake out of pitchblende, you also get lead as a byproduct, so there you go. 

Changes part 3: Minerals [Inorganic_stone_mineral]
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
1.  Hematite - change to allow for glazing of pottery with it.
2.  Galena - changed to allow for use of making crystal glass... I wanted to add a "leaded glass" option, but I wasn't quite sure how to go about that so... yeah.  If anyone knows how to make regular lead be used instead of a mineral that would be great.  Also I simply could not find glass in the RAWs to add in leaded glass as a separate category so... if anyone knows how to help there that would be awesome.
3.  Cobaltite - changed to allow for glazing of pottery with it, and you can make cobolt metal now.  Cobolt (pure) is very similar in terms of material properties to iron, being slightly more impact resistant, far more heat resistant, and slightly less shear resistant.  Smelting cobaltite actually gets you an alloy which is ~10% iron, and ~5-8% nickel,  but as I couldn't find the information on that, I just went with the material properties of pure cobalt.  (Cobalt-iron-nickel alloys do exist, however usually in carbide forms.  Most often they're used in diver knives modernly.)
4.  Pitchblende - changes for uranium / yellowcake and glazing. 
5.  Borax - it's one of the more commonly used flux materials... so I figured why not in DF?
6.  Orthoclase and Microcline - both are types of Feldspar, which is used for making porcelain (albeit more rarely than kaolinite) ... so as the above, why not in DF?
7.  Ilmenite - it is possible to get iron out of ilmenite ore, though the titanium often gets in the way, leading to high failure rates with traditional smelting techniques.  But I figure it should at least be an option to try. 

Changes Part 4: Stone.  [Inorganic_stone_layer]
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well I figured as flint is a form of chert, and it can be used in much the same way as obsidian, I'd toss this in as an option.  Have fun with that. 

Changes part 5: Metals
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1.  Brass - used by Romans for swords and knives on rare occasions.  So it's an option, at least somewhat better than copper for blades and armor. 
2.  Electrum - Well... we have silver hammers, but I do see gold as being too soft on it's own.  Thus I figured Electrum would be an option for you who want to make a really heavy hammer.
3.  Sterling silver - It's stronger than silver... so I let it be used to make weapons as well.
4.  Rose Gold - As with Electrum, but with copper instead. 
5.  Uranium - should be self explanatory, as above, I'm using material properties of tungsten given we're talking armor.  (though weight/density values are valid for uranium-238.)
6.  Cupronickel - as stated in the smelter bit, Stronger than bronze/iron but weaker than steel.  A nice option if you happen to have nickel on your map but no iron.  (or no flux.)
7.  Cobalt - As explained under cobaltite.  As it's similar to iron, it gives you another option for a mid-range metal, and likely will be a nice thing to see as an option in a highly volcanic site. 

Changes Part 6A: Weapons
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
6B: Ammo
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1.  Short sword - most imagery I see tends to be a finely tapered point, which makes sense for piercing armor.  So I gave the stab attack a finer point to get through armor, but not as fine as a spear or dagger.
2.  Rapier - Made it basically a short spear stat wise (which it is if you think about it..)   
3.  Throwing Knife sheath - For throwing knives...  subpar ranged weapon, but better than a blowgun.  Rule of cool.
5.  Club - simple wooden cludgel. 
6.  Throwing knives... as expected, ammo for the throwing knife sheath.

Changes part 7:  [Entity_default]
A: Dwarves

So I added the ability to make yellowcake, uranium, and cupronickel for the dwarves.  I Gave them flails and morningstars as they're 'dwarfy' in my opinion.  I gave them chausse and short skirts because... long socks and short skirts. 

Part B:  Humans


Gave them Rapiers and the uncommon throwing knife. 

C:  Goblins, Kobolds, and animal people

Goblins and animal-people get clubs, and kobolds get throwing knives. 

Changes part 8:  Fish [creature_small_riverlake]
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Get annoyed by fisherdwarves running out of fish to catch?  Well I do... so I increased the vermin fish population by...... a lot. 


So thoughts?  What should I change and what should I add?  Also sorry about not including the entity file information... kinda exceeding character length as it is.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2014, 12:25:21 pm by Evaris »
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Meph

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Re: Looking for thoughts / where to go from here
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2014, 01:46:42 pm »

Glass is hardcoded, but you can make fake-glass. Just make a metal and call it "leaded glass" and follow it up with your own custom reactions to make "leaded glass item/portal/window". In theory you can do anything you could do with glass.
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Evaris

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Re: Looking for thoughts / where to go from here
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2014, 04:56:05 pm »

Well Galena isn't working for crystal glass... so I'm guessing it needs to be a gem?

Might there be a way to make a reaction to turn lead bars into a gem perhaps?  Not quite sure how I'd type that out.
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Evaris

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Re: Looking for thoughts / where to go from here
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2014, 05:50:38 pm »

Anyhow the general idea I have is "variety is the spice of life"  within the constraints of the game, setting, etc.  I want it to feel like the same game, just give more options for doing things and how to do them, within what makes sense, that is. 

so things like turning peat into fuel and using quarry bushes are viable.  Other playable races, new mechanics, magic, etc, not so much where I"m going, though I do think I'll add a couple more invading races once I get the rest of the bits out... but that's what I'm thinking of right now.

Just need more ideas. 
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