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Author Topic: Natural Disasters  (Read 552 times)

Potato9999

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Natural Disasters
« on: June 25, 2016, 09:54:38 am »

These would generally be more of a problem for fortresses rather than adventure, but it could still be entirely possible to stumble upon one in adventure mode.

They would be pretty rare in general, so don't count on one always happening in a game

Natural disasters would of course affect sieges as well, so depending on how well prepared you are a natural disaster could actually be a gift from the RNG

Hurricanes and Flash Floods

-Only appear in coastal or low-lying areas

-Mass flooding, storms

-Dwarves and animals can be swept away entirely, or drowned, by the rush of water

-Proper drainage would be essential, to prevent water from completely flooding the lower areas of your fortress.

Avalanches

-Only appears in more mountainous areas

-Rocks start sliding down from higher elevated areas, crushing all in their path

-Keep everyone inside

Volcanic Eruption

-Obviously only happens in areas close to a volcano

-Magma everywhere, torches everything it touches

-Extremely rare

-After the initial magma release, clouds of ash and soot cover the land and temporarily block out the sun, destroying outdoor crops

-These are extremely rare and also extremely devastating, but there needs to be some more risk with setting up a fortress by a volcano

Tsunamis/

-Also known as tidal waves

-Unlike hurricanes and flash floods, which are more like sustained flooding and giant storms, a tidal wave would be one enormous wave of water smashing into the coast

-Coastal areas only

-Still a potential for flooding

-Keep everyone inside, ensure proper drainage as well

Earthquakes

-Large breaks in the land, shifts, etc.

-Really a chance of happening anywhere

-Dwarves, animals, items, and even buildings could get thrown around by the shaking

Tornadoes

-Also called twisters and cyclones

-Rare chance of occuring anywhere

-Very high-speed windstorm capable of sucking just about anything up into the air.

-Keep all your dwarves inside and underground

Lightning Storms

-Not exactly a "natural disaster" but something that could be good to add

-Intense rainfall, high winds

-Small chance of lightning striking a random spot, could potentially take out a dwarf or an animal
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IndigoFenix

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Re: Natural Disasters
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2016, 01:41:40 pm »

This would be cool, although there'd be some technical difficulties involved.

Floods and volcanic eruptions would severely impact frame rates.

Earthquakes with sliding fault lines would be cool due to the nature of the game - you could end up with rooms or tunnels shifted out of alignment, sections of the cavern collapsing, tons of fun stuff.  Might cause problems with saving and loading, though, because of how location data is saved.  After the first quake, building the area from the seed would no longer be reliable.  Also players might not like their carefully designed fortress being thrown out of alignment because of random chance (Toady has stated the same issue when asked about tunneling invaders).

Lightning should certainly be in the game, it could have a tendency to strike the top of trees and start fires.

Button

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Re: Natural Disasters
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2016, 07:00:39 pm »

These would be fun.

As Toady doesn't half-ass world simulation, most of them would probably have to be done as part of a full-scale weather overhaul. Though I suppose avalanches could be a natural consequence of the exhaustible-sand update.
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