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[AceSV]

I love a good take-over-the-world game.  On the dev page, it looks like Toady is already gearing up for more army and foreign entanglement features.  As these are developed, it might be interesting to see Dwarf Fortress provide an Empire Mode to complement Fortress and Adventure Modes. 

In Empire Mode, you would be managing a nation rather than a single fortress.  You could try to raise an army and take over the world (I would) or simply fortify yourself against circumstance and try to run your country as long as possible.  This could be a very fun new way to enjoy the existing fantasy world simulation. 

Empire Mode would be more zoomed out than Fortress Mode.  Time should move faster, allowing you to play through several generations of emperors.  The various settlements under your leadership would be mostly autonomous, but you'd have the ability to order specific items from them, based on their natural resources and population.  For example, if the fortress Clamblight has magnetite and Roadfleck has marble and Orbflags has a legendary weaponsmith, you could order Clamblight and Roadfleck to prioritize mining magnetite and marble, ship those resources to Orbflags and then order Orbflags to produce steel weapons.  For there, you would send your armies to Orbflags to pick up steel weapons, or have Orbflags ship its steel weapons to fortresses in need of defense or fortresses where your armies are already stationed.  You might be able to zoom in on a particular fortress under you control either to take command of an industry to control your troops to break a siege or destroy a forgotten beast. 

You gain new fortresses by sending expeditions to build new colonies as you would in Fortress Mode, or by annexing existing fortresses.  There should be ways to annex fortresses other than force, such as by trading land or resources like the Louisiana Purchase, mergers like Scotland and England to become the United Kingdom, political marriage or political intrigue, like assassinating a ruler and installing your own puppet government.  There could be varying levels of annexation, for example think about Florida, Puerto Rico and Mexico.  Florida is completely annexed by the USA, Puerto Rico is partially annexed by the USA, Mexico is not annexed but very friendly to the USA.  Non-annexed entities can engage in trade, with the player setting prices and trade priorities for each fortress.  I'm thinking that the player can use this to try and monopolize certain resources and use high tariffs to economically conquer or control other entities. 

As in the real world, it should be difficult for a nation to stay in one piece for a long period of time.  There should be factors that allow annexed fortresses to try to secede or for your government or dynasty to collapse.  The thing about take-over-the-world games is that they are designed with a winning condition, and Dwarf Fortress should not have one.  Keeping an empire running should be a constant struggle, just like keeping a fortress running. 

[CaptainLambcake]

you can be an emperor in adventure mode

[Naryar]

This is planned already, IIRC.

Should be in adventure mode, though.

you can be an emperor in adventure mode

Emperor in name only.

[GoblinCookie]

There is no need for a separate mode.  What we need only to do is allow us to choose to play as a ruler and introduce a mechanism by which the player controls the civilization.  Similar to what is discussed in this thread of mine.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=148398.0

[Reelya]

Adding a new mode isn't the ideal solution. What should happen is the gradual alignment of systems within Fortress and Adventure mode (active world etc, visiting active fortresses, seamless switch from fortress to adventure etc), and adding rulership options that can be invoked from either mode but have the same effect.

[utunnels]

Well it could be great if you can send armies to take over another site in fortress mode.
It doesn't have to be too complex.

1) Make some squads, give them equipments
2) If possible, provide supplies, assign wagons or mules to carry them (or ignore this)
3) Choose a site from the civ list, or world map, order your army to attack

You don't need to control your army directly, but you need to give them orders like whether they should take over the site or kill everything on sight, whether they should fight to the last dorf or retreat if things go south.

I don't know if it is practicable to use the goblin logic, but it sounds good enough to me.

[Uzu Bash]

A lot of this could be doable in Fortress Mode if it could develop past the stage where micromanagement was required. After completing all structural and infrastructural development and setting up smart production and supply lines, it should all be able to take care of itself, even the placement of immigrants. About the stage when it's ready to switch to an economy is when you should be able to contend as a world power. 

[AceSV]

Sure you could do this as an extension of Fortress Mode, but I'm not convinced that you should.  Managing the city of Rome is one thing, managing the Roman Empire is another.  Rome might survive even if the Roman Empire collapses, or Rome might fall to the ground while the rest of the Empire remains to rebuild or revenge. 

[AceSV]

Another twist might be to allow the player to play as a bandit group, necromancer, sorcerer or cult (based on the future religion system). 

The way this might work is you select an existing leader when you start the game and play as that dynasty, rather than making your own.  If you want to make your own, you would play Adventure or Fortress mode first and then take over their position. 

[Arx]

This is more-or-less planned, I think. The military arc will cetainly include the ability to send out armies to raid sites and such, and I imagine that will expand.

[Niddhoger]

Yeah, Toady has already talked about being more interactive with your surrounding sites in Fortress Mode.  He specifically mentioned interacting with the various hill/deep dorf settlements.  It would be a nice change of pace to actually siege the goblins for a change, though! Yet... some goblin sites have thousands of enemies... there should be a better cap on those sites >.> Since goblins are immortal, there isn't a good cap on their populations.  Sure, they murder each other and constantly go to war, but these don't seem to be enough.

[Urist McGoombaBrother]

I do like the general idea of having more control on a global way. But I don't think introducing an entirely new game mode is the ideal way to go. I do think it might be better to integrate it into fortress mode. Let's say, first you have to become the Mountainhome. And once you became the capital of Dwarven Culture, you gain indirect control over the other dwarven fortresses all over the world as well. That means you are then allowed to dictate mandates to specific fortresses like Fortress A has to produce 50 Units of Steel and ship it to Fortress B to equip their fine Squads of Hammerers, you wanted them to set up. Fortress C has access to all kind of exotic fruits and you request them to ship it to the capital. Fortress B, D and E are requested to send out their troops to conquer that mages tower constantly bothering you with invasions. etc. Of course as long as you aren't the capital, you very likely will get some requests to fulfill as well. And when you refuse to do so, the royal army might knock on your door. The same way as you can treat rebels. Also interesting will be to introduce districts. So in large worlds, you wouldn't be confronted with the situation to suddenly give orders to 100 or more fortresses. E.g. once you reach status of a county, you get control over a handful of neighbouring provinces. And when you reach status of mountainhome, you get control over the counties, which then autonomous command their provinces according to the instructions you give to them.

For comparison, probably somehow similar to the Command Structure in Hearts of Iron 3 with Theater - Army Group - Army - Corps - Division - Brigade. You could structure the provinces as you like and control everything on army group level, with everything below acting autonomous or micromangement even each single brigade (fort) on your own.

[GoblinCookie]

I do like the general idea of having more control on a global way. But I don't think introducing an entirely new game mode is the ideal way to go. I do think it might be better to integrate it into fortress mode. Let's say, first you have to become the Mountainhome. And once you became the capital of Dwarven Culture, you gain indirect control over the other dwarven fortresses all over the world as well. That means you are then allowed to dictate mandates to specific fortresses like Fortress A has to produce 50 Units of Steel and ship it to Fortress B to equip their fine Squads of Hammerers, you wanted them to set up. Fortress C has access to all kind of exotic fruits and you request them to ship it to the capital. Fortress B, D and E are requested to send out their troops to conquer that mages tower constantly bothering you with invasions. etc. Of course as long as you aren't the capital, you very likely will get some requests to fulfill as well. And when you refuse to do so, the royal army might knock on your door. The same way as you can treat rebels. Also interesting will be to introduce districts. So in large worlds, you wouldn't be confronted with the situation to suddenly give orders to 100 or more fortresses. E.g. once you reach status of a county, you get control over a handful of neighbouring provinces. And when you reach status of mountainhome, you get control over the counties, which then autonomous command their provinces according to the instructions you give to them.

For comparison, probably somehow similar to the Command Structure in Hearts of Iron 3 with Theater - Army Group - Army - Corps - Division - Brigade. You could structure the provinces as you like and control everything on army group level, with everything below acting autonomous or micromangement even each single brigade (fort) on your own.

Should we not be subject to AI control on that basis until we become the Mountainhome?  Should we also not replace the present wealth based system of promotion with a system of central government favour based upon how reliably you execute their commands. 

[TheHossofMoss]

Sounds pretty cool to me!

[Voidlord]

If toady does that, you should have to take siege engines with you, to bring down walls...