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[Trappington]

My first post ever on bay12forums and I'm posting about trees.    Darn, I knew that trading and being friendly with those elves would affect me somehow, I just never imagined this...

Anyway, one thing that I have been thinking about is how there seems to be no mechanic for old trees dying and falling over of their own accord in fortress or adventure mode.  I think that some sort of mechanic that caused old trees to fall over after a period of time would make the game slightly more interesting, as it would add to the look of the landscape.  The rate or age at which trees fall could be slightly random, and based on the dampness of the biome and wind-speeds.  After the trees have fallen, including trees felled by a woodcutter, the logs would start to rot over time and gradually go from wood to rotten wood to mulch to humus, with the rate of rot based on what type of wood it is.

Another optional feature that could be added would be the possibility for trees to damage buildings or constructions if they fall on top of them, or injure dwarves in the way.  I'm not sure of all of the features necessary for this sort of thing are currently in the game, but if they are or are added later, it could add tangible benefit to having a skilled wood cutter.  Wood cutters would automatically attempt to fell a tree away from the nearest construction or building and would have a chance to fell it in a different direction based on their skill level.

[NullForceOmega]

I think this sounds like a solid suggestion (congrats on your first post, btw.)  Unfortunately it is not likely to make it in for some time, as DF will need much better methods of handling cave-ins (and therefore falling 'constructions'), among other things, before it could be fully implemented.  I'll still lend my post to supporting the idea, as I'd love to see the in-game results.

[vjmdhzgr]

I think this is a nice suggestion, but I think that the type of tree should also factor into how old it gets before falling over. From what I can find the shortest lived tree is at 116 years, while the longest lived ones could probably be infinitely old. Looking up this information now kind of makes me think that maybe the type of tree isn't important because it's hundreds of years either way, but maybe the age of trees could be randomized like the age of members of a civilization that were born before zero so that some trees could be close to dying already? It would also let you end up with trees older than civilization if you could ever test the age of trees maybe with DFhack? I don't know about this addition anymore.

Turns out there are trees that live 10-20 years so apparently the source I found just didn't mention really short lived trees for some reason. So that would result in trees dying from just being too old as well. I think this would probably be a better feature to add if more complex weather is added so if there's ever a lightning storm or really high winds you'd actually see trees falling over a lot as opposed to maybe one a year or something.

[Trappington]

I think this sounds like a solid suggestion (congrats on your first post, btw.)  Unfortunately it is not likely to make it in for some time, as DF will need much better methods of handling cave-ins (and therefore falling 'constructions'), among other things, before it could be fully implemented.  I'll still lend my post to supporting the idea, as I'd love to see the in-game results.

Thanks for the helpful comments.  I know that cave-ins aren't fully implemented yet, but when they are I think this could help make fortress maintenance a bit more interesting.  You would probably want to keep the area cleared of trees around your fort so as to prevent any damage from wood-cutting/windfall.  In addition, you would have to either cut small amounts of wood continuously to keep it from rotting away before you used it, or you would have to stockpile it in a dry area with a stone floor to prevent rotting.

I think this is a nice suggestion, but I think that the type of tree should also factor into how old it gets before falling over. From what I can find the shortest lived tree is at 116 years, while the longest lived ones could probably be infinitely old. Looking up this information now kind of makes me think that maybe the type of tree isn't important because it's hundreds of years either way, but maybe the age of trees could be randomized like the age of members of a civilization that were born before zero so that some trees could be close to dying already? It would also let you end up with trees older than civilization if you could ever test the age of trees maybe with DFhack? I don't know about this addition anymore.

Turns out there are trees that live 10-20 years so apparently the source I found just didn't mention really short lived trees for some reason. So that would result in trees dying from just being too old as well. I think this would probably be a better feature to add if more complex weather is added so if there's ever a lightning storm or really high winds you'd actually see trees falling over a lot as opposed to maybe one a year or something.

You have a good point that most trees live for quite some time before dying.  On the other hand, it only takes a few years in DF time for trees to mature to the point of getting wood out of them, so I think a shorter time frame for a tree dying would still fit with the game's relative rate of time passage.

[Niyazov]

Trees could also get struck by lightning and even catch fire, and appropriate regions could get strong storms that blow debris around and occasionally knock trees down.

[Trappington]

Trees could also get struck by lightning and even catch fire, and appropriate regions could get strong storms that blow debris around and occasionally knock trees down.

Good point.  This sort of thing would certainly make weather more interesting if the two could be integrated.