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Author Topic: How important are neighbors at embark?  (Read 1286 times)

Afghani84

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How important are neighbors at embark?
« on: February 09, 2015, 05:07:29 pm »

I am planning a new fortress and looking for a good spot for it right now. The thing is that some good spots don't list all civs as neighbors (although there is a direct connection). So my question is this:

Imagine the world as one huge lump of land. Dwarves, elves, humans, goblins and kobolds can easily reach each other if they travel. Now my embark sometimes excludes a certain civ as my "neighbor" although they are in the list if I just move 2-3 tiles in a certain direction. But what if I want that spot where humans are just outta reach? Does that mean they're too far away to send military troops? What about caravans? Will I not see them at all or just less frequently?
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Naryar

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2015, 05:08:56 pm »

It's all or nothing. If you don't have a civ on your Neighbors screen when you embark, then they will not come at all to your fort.

So yes, neighbors are very important at embark.

Well that depends on your tastes for trading and fighting. I don't care for humans coming to my fort because their caravans don't bring good stuff and I never attack them either (Elves are another story...), so I just ignore them.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2015, 05:17:58 pm by Naryar »
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Afghani84

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2015, 05:22:17 pm »

Hmm...that seems pretty stupid to me. That means that if you want all of the civs as part of your game, you have to pick a spot right in the middle between them. With a coastal embark, for example, you lose 2-3 civs every time. That narrows down your embark options quite significantly. I think the game should just check whether there is a land connection between two civs and that should be enough.

Btw...is there any way to check whether kobolds are counted as my neighbors for a specific embark location?
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Naryar

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2015, 06:18:11 pm »

You mean you have issues with not having all the other civs in a standard game ?

Hell I play with a good 15-20 different entities (fortress defense) and I have most of them.

Then again the more civilizations option in advanced worldgen should help you.

Sadrice

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2015, 07:16:07 pm »

More civs will help, and lowering the map size helps too.  In a pocket world, you can't really not be neighbors (and they save and load very quickly), but you might have some civs going extinct.  Smaller is a good size. Large enough to have some choice of sites and civs survive reasonably well, small enough that you're usually neighbors with everyone.
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utunnels

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2015, 07:52:04 pm »

Hmm...that seems pretty stupid to me. That means that if you want all of the civs as part of your game, you have to pick a spot right in the middle between them. With a coastal embark, for example, you lose 2-3 civs every time. That narrows down your embark options quite significantly. I think the game should just check whether there is a land connection between two civs and that should be enough.

Btw...is there any way to check whether kobolds are counted as my neighbors for a specific embark location?

Well maybe a large world is about the size of our Earth. People didn't just travel from Siberia to Africa on foot those days.
I wonder if there's a way to scatter the populations. I prefer to generate worlds with lots of sites but relatively smaller populations.
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Aslandus

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2015, 08:47:40 pm »

Well, it's possible that the civ will create a new outpost within range of your fortress if you wait long enough, but I wouldn't count on it. I got a goblin siege after about eight years after embarking in an area with no goblin neighbors...

Afghani84

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2015, 09:33:54 pm »

thanks for all the replies. I just want to repeat the second question again...maybe someone knows something about it:

how do I see whether I have kobolds as neighbors at embark? dfhack?
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MrRoboto75

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2015, 09:55:54 pm »

There is no way to see kobolds on the embark screen, at least without some mod or external tool.

In my experience, kobolds aren't really all that uncommon to find though.  They can settle near anywhere, but favor surface caves.
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§k

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #9 on: February 10, 2015, 01:36:47 am »

I haven't seen a world(small, ~100 years, mostly) where kobold extinct or live in isolated region.

The problem with the recent versions is that they almost never show up.
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Sadrice

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2015, 04:40:06 am »

I don't think I've had a 40.x world (mostly smaller, 125 yr history) where kobold thieves haven't shown up, usually in abundance.
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Badger Storm

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2015, 08:37:47 am »

I've been seeing them within the first year.  Just had one this morning, emphasis on the past tense.
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Button

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Re: How important are neighbors at embark?
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2015, 09:31:00 am »

If you know where you want to embark and can remember it, you can exit out to Legends mode and check out Maps. Find the kobold civ nearest your embark spot, then go the latest year available and see if it still exists, and how close it is to your embark spot.

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