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[Valtam]

I guess the larger questions are: what do sites revolve around besides being gathering spots for NPCs? Any location with a market of sorts, or a tavern has a reason for being as there's clearly either industry present/a focal point. Will NPCs be seen "at work"? Hunters never hunt, farmers are never in the fields, etc.

Are there any plans to diversify the human seat of power in a hamlet? Instead of just meadhalls, will there be manors, or other structures? Tangentially related, will we be able to mod the term of description for such structures?

The game doesn't have the robust economy/property framework to justify the presence of many sites for reasons other than "we can build them", even though the economy is coded inside the game. Stones, metals, climate, trade nodes, population and natural features influence the existence of these sites, but some of those factors are currently so abstracted and out of play that we barely notice them. As soon as the pertinent updates roll out (along with the scenario embark) then we'll see more plausible reasons for sites to exist within a certain world. However, that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Same with the NPCs question, it has been stated that the eventual goal is to simulate a living, breathing world just like a world-wide functioning fortress, and DF has taken steps toward that direction, with bandits harassing and stealing money (albeit in a rather hilarious way), soldiers patrolling and adventurers doing their stuff during their "important missions". As you have been reading these FotF, expect to see more of that with the next update. As magic and magical artifacts make their slow and steady appearance, they will surely flip the rulebook regarding power structures, and even if they're not editable in the RAWs I think their random nature would be enough until we can fiddle with them.

(Sorry, I have no idea about the ambush/stealth stuff you mentioned and reading through your posts, it seems you have a better understanding of those features than me. A question definitely better suited for Toady himself)

As for the seats of power, the answer is "yes, no timeline yet" We only have meadhalls at the moment because those are the only meaningful interactions developed yet. With future releases we might expect to have influential churches or guilds that provide a similar function, and possibly a proper graphical representation of the different factions that may vie for power in a single site, but only time will tell.

When the myth update deals with the origins of the races, will there be any sort of like potentially semi-divine "first dwarves" or "golden age humans" like sort of the primogenitors of the particular races, who could get sung about for their role in history/cosmogony in songs and depicted in art and stuff?

The few things that have been revealed so far regarding the Myth Generation seem to imply the possibility of what you're asking about, although Toady hasn't mentioned their gameplay impact yet, and I'm afraid it won't be gamechanging during this pass. It is likely we won't be firsthand witnesses of the world creation, although the described events will surely influence what kind of materials and spoilers we find within a given world, and just like that, we will certainly be able to sing about cosmic eggs, divine serpents, spoiler metals and such, or even find physical evidence of these.

[LordBaal]

"yes, no timeline yet" should be shortened to ynty given how often is used here.

Edit: stupid auto correct

[MrWiggles]

"yes, no timeline yet" should be shortened to y tu given how often is used here.

Questions are kind of a trap for a game like DF. With its expansive scope, most things are going to be in in some fashion. The issue is that for newer and new folks, it takes a bit to figure out how to ask questions. The question that get more verbose answers are those that are directly about whats been or being worked on now. The Brothers dont seem to much planning beyond an outline for anything they arent currently working on.

[Inarius]

Yes. actually, we should limit the questions to the current development or the immediate future...

[Shonai_Dweller]

We could write a Fotf FAQ that no-one would read. That would be fun! For a start, how about:

1) Why is xyz bugged?
Complex bugs will be fixed when that part of the game is being worked on. Simple stuff may (or may not) get looked after initial release of a new version (but crash bugs get priority and time might run out).

2) Why don't you (insert suggestion here)?
Please use the suggestion board. Even though Toady replies here, it's pretty much impossible to keep track of where the suggestions are in this thread.

3) How are you going to implement (insert item from dev list scheduled for 10-20 years in the future here)?
No idea. Will happen eventually though.

Anything else?

[Random_Dragon]

Don't forget:

4) Plz, no scorpionposts. Giant desert scorpions will probably be added back in eventually. Or they might go the way of underground demon fortresses despite being far more trivial to put back in. We'll see, or not. o3o

[iquare]

With implementation of dwarven raids, will we see humans, goblins and elves sending their small raids to player's fortress?

[Shonai_Dweller]

Since it's now possible to provoke wars just by having squads cause trouble, can an adventurer and his friends now provoke a war too by indulging in adventurer-like shenanigans?

[DVNO]

'adventurer-like shenanigans'

"Aw man so sorry I just accidentally your whole race and vibrant culture into extinction Bro! Ha ha! Holy shit! Yo, beer me with the fermented blood of this guy's kid, companion slave! Watch me drink it in front of him! Whatever, he won't start a war or noth'in!"
 

[Shonai_Dweller]

I guess squads following artifact trails will get there eventually, but will we also be able to select adventurer camps as targets of raids?
Lots of Fun opportunities for Succession Worlds in the next version.

[FantasticDorf]

I guess ill put my neck out and ask some questions

"If at a time where personal mounts are added to the game will you refactor how armies & expeditions travel around, given that horseback & flying in mean terms is significantly faster and less tiring than little dwarf legs running at the same pace"

Dwarves on donkeyback going at a reliable and sustainable pace, cramming biscuits into a feedbag. Might also be relevant to how fast elf invasions might be if they are too nimble to catch (unless they accidentally slow themselves down with giant snails) that and on the back of birds/bats/dragons it might be significantly easier to cross water & terrain

> curiously enough, giant bats are common enough for goblins, maybe in the future we won't be safe over water in isolated island landmasses if the distance can be crossed with boats, amphibious creatures & flying mounts.

"In the current format, do expeditions have 'leaders' akin to military captains or do they just function as co-operative party?"

Asking in regard to thoughts about whether appointing a particular kind of expedition leader (a smooth talker, or a keen spotter for watching out for danger while travelling) would have had any impact or if dwarves would individually cite their own skills to combat a task to the best of their abilities.

[Syndic]

With all the fun new features, I sometimes get tempted to play again - until I remember that I can never play a truly long-running fort because I refuse to make my dwarves live like paupers or throw away useful ressources, the two ways to prevent FPS death to "too many calculations running over too many items". With that in mind, my question would be:

Are there ever going to be improvements to combat the FPS death that claims all forts eventually? And if so, when do you see yourself doing that?

[Witty]

How will our dwarves treat rescued children? Will they be adopted as fort citizens, or be treated more as visitors? If the rescued child is still an infant, will anyone care for them?

[Rockphed]

How will our dwarves treat rescued children? Will they be adopted as fort citizens, or be treated more as visitors? If the rescued child is still an infant, will anyone care for them?

I suspect that the "nobody cares for infants dropped by their mothers" bug will continue to be the leading cause of child death.

[FantasticDorf]

How will our dwarves treat rescued children? Will they be adopted as fort citizens, or be treated more as visitors? If the rescued child is still an infant, will anyone care for them?

I suspect that the "nobody cares for infants dropped by their mothers" bug will continue to be the leading cause of child death.

There are plenty of nursery/childcare suggestions on the forums along those lines, maybe someone might just adopt them (loves families, not married or inclined enough to have one already)

Lets hope we can de-convert them from goblin values by the time they reach adulthood so we don't accidentally harbor anti-government schemists. Unless the player DOES want to create a fortress of dwarves with extreme power goals to blitz the rest of the continent.

Are there ever going to be improvements to combat the FPS death that claims all forts eventually? And if so, when do you see yourself doing that?

With a broad technical question like this, a concise answer is unlikely, there are already ways of reducing FPS by both making your map smaller and having less objects & moving parts. Toady has already expressed in the past some ways to clear up clutter that doesn't degrade as such to create objects such as item pile tiles in order to alter the nature of quantum stockpiles and of course upgrades on how to run the inner code smoother over time, such as how the jump from 32 to 64 bit was a large undertaking on top of the additional features coming to the game.