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[SQman]

So I've been reading Syrupleaf lately and that made me wonder: how many major features were cut/simplified since the earlier versions? I've played maybe since late 2012 and never got to see any of that myself.

-Of course we have the economy removed for being completely dysfunctional, which I'm glad I haven't experienced.
-There were chunks of creatures made by biting off a part of creature's body. That was removed for being pain in the butt to clean and possibly causing FPS drops, wasn't it?
-Nobles some of which served absolutely no purpose, and some doing things that can now be done without them. Philosophers were completely useless and so would be tax collectors without economy, so removing them was reasonable.
-Sending enemies flying - that may be just a physics tweak, but it completely changed many aspect of combat. Wrestlers are no longer spectacular or even useful, a goblin won't fly after being hit with a hammer, especially alive, and we don't see invaders smashing against walls.
-Mandates and demands - I've seen a mayor requesting a green glass window once in my 3 years playing history, but in old playthroughs I've seen people complaining about dwarves demanding things like these constantly. Also, dwarves used to mandate making objects from certain materials, but now they just want their socks made out of anything. What was the reason behind these I wonder.
-Nonexistent treants. Why the hell were they removed if they didn't exist anyway?
-Natural armor and HP system from very early versions were obviously got rid of for realism. Not a simplification, but a massive change.
-Narrow clothes on goblins was a thing.
-Some clownish constructions in candy deposits and non-random clowns.

So are there any more big things that were removed?

[BlackFlyme]

Don't know about chunks, but it may have had something to do with the changes to how combat and bodies worked.

Nobles were usually removed due to being useless or irrelevant due to certain changes in how the game worked or because they were for features that weren't fully implemented yet.

It is still possible to send enemies flying, it just takes a lot more force than it used to. It was just a result of combat being tweaked to be more realistic.

Mandates and demands were changed so that nobles would stop requesting things that were impossible to make, such as stone beds or gem clothing.

Treants/animated trees were likely removed due to some sort of bug or glitchiness, though I do not know much beyond old videos of elves animating trees during sieges. They never made it out of pre-release gameplay.

Narrow/wide clothes were before creatures and sizes were changed, and now whether a type of clothing fits or not depends on how close the two races are in size.

Non-random special creatures were removed once randomized ones were added. Though it is not completely clear by the special constructions were removed, they may be added again at a later date. Last I remember, Toady said he didn't quite know what he was going to with them at this time.

[Blastbeard]

There's actually some bodygloss tags in the raws that probably would have been used for those treants.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

[BODYGLOSS:TRUNK:body:trunk:bodies:trunks]

[BODYGLOSS:BRANCH_ARM:arm:branch:arms:branches]

[BODYGLOSS:LEG_STUMP:leg:stump:legs:stumps]

[BODYGLOSS:ROOTS_FOOT:foot:roots:feet:roots]

If I had to guess, treants would have creatures elves bring into existence by using an interaction on trees, using a basic humanoid body made of the appropriate wood with the gloss added in to make it more treelike. Despite sounding like it would have been more trouble than it's worth to make work, the idea of fighting the current version's multi-tile trees come to life both fascinates and horrifies me.

[Zuglarkun]

-Mandates and demands - I've seen a mayor requesting a green glass window once in my 3 years playing history, but in old playthroughs I've seen people complaining about dwarves demanding things like these constantly. Also, dwarves used to mandate making objects from certain materials, but now they just want their socks made out of anything. What was the reason behind these I wonder.

Mandates and demands were changed so that nobles would stop requesting things that were impossible to make, such as stone beds or gem clothing.

FTFY.

Jut to clarify, these are still in the game. At least in the form of demands anyway, which have nary any consequences from not meeting them other than a bad thought from the noble in question at the state of demands. I haven't seen my nobles mandating stuff made from specific materials though.

Spoiler: Here's an example from my fort, current version - 40.24 (click to show/hide)

[Witty]

Back in the day, any room that was 7x7 or larger needed supports, or the whole thing would collapse

Nowadays you can build whole forts from sand layers, without any consequences...

[vjmdhzgr]

You can currently bite off limbs and such from a creature, maybe biting off chunks of them was replaced with that?

[Vattic]

Flowing underground rivers were removed when the caverns were added. Back in the 2D days the dwarves were like Nile farmers utilising the regular underground river floods. They would also sometimes get swept off downstream.

The new caverns also meant the end of the old chasms and bottomless pits. You still get pit like features connecting the layers in the new caverns, but there is something undeniably cool about a bottomless pit. In the 2D versions there was even a magma river/flow deep into the mountain which you needed steel to bridge. Magma pipes didn't used to be uniform vertically like they are now which meant many layers would have shelves around the edges.

One neat thing about the underground features I mentioned above is that they used to spawn creatures (in 2D versions). So if you dumped stuff in the chasm you'd get raided by underground animal men on mounts with blowguns; You could stop them by filling the chasm with lava. The river would spawn frog men and other watery creatures (they'd spawn from wells too). The lava flow would do similar, but with lava themed creatures.

Spoiler: HFS, best discovered for yourself in game. (click to show/hide)

Back in the 3D versions before the spires we had veins containing chambers. They would be themed after one of the three demon types: frog demon (lots of mud), spirit of fire (ashes) or tentacle demon (depraved engravings, caged humanoids, white/yellow/brown filth).

[Bouchart]

Combat worked differently in earlier versions.  If I remember correctly, chunks were created when a creature took heavy biting damage from a wild animal.  I don't believe you could sever limbs back then.

Also, aqueducts and the pantsless Dungeon Master that would allow you to make electrum.  And back then, striking adamantium would begin a counter that could cause the game to randomly end.

[Argonnek]

In previous versions, striking HFS would make you a mountainhome, regardless of wealth, power, existing infrastructure, or sanity. Are you just a hole in the ground that dug too deep? TOO BAD! The monarch has arrived!

[qorthos]

I do miss the chasms, underground magma pools, lakes and wutnot from 2D and 40d.  Those were lots of fun.  The new underground can be interesting, but I like it less.

[tonnot98]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'd love to see underground spires and adamantium deposits that contain demons again.

Who wouldn't want a chance to save a captive giant tiger that's had it's skin peeled off by some tentacle demon?

[Witty]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'd love to see underground spires and adamantium deposits that contain demons again.

Who wouldn't want a chance to save a captive giant tiger that's had it's skin peeled off by some tentacle demon?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I probably want the return of this feature more than any other. The new HFS is just so dull and bland.

[vjmdhzgr]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'd love to see underground spires and adamantium deposits that contain demons again.

Who wouldn't want a chance to save a captive giant tiger that's had it's skin peeled off by some tentacle demon?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Adamantine still contains demons. Though I do agree I don't know why Toady just removed those underground shrine things with the swords those were cool.

[Chevaleresse]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'd love to see underground spires and adamantium deposits that contain demons again.

Who wouldn't want a chance to save a captive giant tiger that's had it's skin peeled off by some tentacle demon?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Adamantine still contains demons. Though I do agree I don't know why Toady just removed those underground shrine things with the swords those were cool.

Those structures were not removed intentionally, iirc. We can probably expect them back eventually.

[varnish]

I really do miss the useless nobles. The philosopher and tax collector might not have done much that wasn't harmful, but they were a nice little touch of personality.