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Author Topic: What do I need to know about the new version  (Read 1225 times)

GhostDwemer

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What do I need to know about the new version
« on: September 18, 2016, 11:29:25 pm »

Old hand with DF, just getting back into it after a couple of years without playing. The new version seems pretty cool! I've got my dining room set up as a tavern, with mugs, a bar, a separate dining area, and some rental bedrooms. Both dwarven and human visitors have come to carouse. Made a few instruments, wow, the custom instrument system is nice. Listened in on a few performances, and the custom music and poetry system is super detailed!

My fortress is in its second year, no attacks or thieving kobolds yet. I've got some iron weapons and armor and am about ready to start a squad, for now I've got some decent traps and an ultra cheezy edge-isolated underground depot using raised bridges, I remember that the wagons won't path over traps anymore... So... what else do I need to know about the new version? What good are libraries? Is it like Masterwork and you can raise stats? I just bought some books from the humans. What do I need to do to write my own? How important are the tavern keeper and performer? What criteria should I use to pick them? Thanks in advance for any advice, DF forums are one of the best things about this game!
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PatrikLundell

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Re: What do I need to know about the new version
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2016, 07:22:00 am »

I'd recommend stating what your "old" references version is in order for people to guess what you know.

Libraries don't do much in practical terms, although it's said book contents can shift values (someone wanted to promote a clothes less fortress by using books about the value of shamelessness). Research is currently just flavor. Reading books satisfies the need for introspection, though. As I haven't used Masterworks I can't comment on any similarities.
To write books you need blank quires and one or more scholars appointed to the library (visitors can also write books). Scribes copy books, but don't write originals. I'd recommend checking what's on the wiki, though.

Tavern keepers and performers are indistinguishable in practice. They push booze down peoples' throats which increases the frequency of lethal "non lethal" bar room brawls without justice involvement, as well as death by vomit suffocation. They also get visitors, including vampires and goblins, to drink (with goblins having a higher alcohol poisoning death rate than dwarves). If you want to keep as many alive as possible, but still have a tavern keeper, you should probably go for slow, lazy, deeply religious (spending a lot of time in temples), unhelpful, ... If you want to kill as many as possible you should probably go for the opposite. Tavern keepers and performers perform about as much as any idle dorf.

Visitors are new, and can petition for residency. Mercs will never go further and can only be used in military squads led by a citizen. Other petitioners can petition again for full citizenship (I'm not sure they'll ever stay as residents without petitioning without a bug preventing them). When they become citizens they're completely equal to your dorfs in terms of control, etc. Thus, a naturalized performer can lead a merc squad. It's not uncommon for visitors to be cursed (I've never seen a lycanthrope one, though, but others have). If you manage to get petitions from couples you can get children who're also full citizens, for a truly multi racial fortress. Performance troupes are a pain, since there's no info on which visitors a troupe contain, and troupes usually contain members not present. When a troupe petitions you get them as a bag of unknown individuals, give only the troupe name. I don't think anyone knows what happens if a troupe member happen to arrive later, though.
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GhostDwemer

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Re: What do I need to know about the new version
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2016, 01:11:54 pm »

Thanks for the reply, Patrik! My old versions include 34.11 back to 28.something.something. Dwarves can die of alcohol poisoning now?!? Hehehe.
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Fleeting Frames

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Re: What do I need to know about the new version
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2016, 02:45:15 pm »

This question has been asked a lot before :v Here, a reply I did for someone who played in 40.24

Here, threads in DFFD helps

Talk to me about 0.43

Haven't played in a while. How should I utilize writing/inns?

Research: Scrolls vs. Codices and other Library Information

DF v.43 Work orders questions and suggestions

Fire spreading through walls?

Three features/bugs:

A (kludgey) workaround for the disappearing caravan bug

Reanimated head skin == fort death

Sudden FPS drop?
Also bunch of adv mode construction stuff.

Of course, it is a lot. Mind, this isn't all. But the game has gone through like 11 versions since then.

GhostDwemer

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Re: What do I need to know about the new version
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2016, 04:06:06 pm »

I figured there must be some "tell me about the new version" threads, thanks! I shall peruse them diligently.
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GhostDwemer

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Re: What do I need to know about the new version
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2016, 04:58:36 pm »

Okay, another quick question... if one of my little idiots bites a werewarthog, will he get infected? The idiot, I mean, the werewarthog is dead now. I had forgotten just how great this game can be, hehe.
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Fleeting Frames

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Re: What do I need to know about the new version
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2016, 05:12:58 pm »

No, it has to be the other way around.

PatrikLundell

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Re: What do I need to know about the new version
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2016, 01:26:39 am »

As Fleeting Frames said, the were has to make a bite that draws blood. Were blood is not infectious, so the pathogen is probably in the saliva.
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feelotraveller

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Re: What do I need to know about the new version
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2016, 06:44:27 am »

Thanks for the reply, Patrik! My old versions include 34.11 back to 28.something.something. Dwarves can die of alcohol poisoning now?!? Hehehe.

Worth looking at some of the changes which happened in the 40.xx series too.

Multi-tile tress make woodgathering ridiculously easy by comparison to 34 and earlier.  Many more crops but mechanics the same, except for fruit/nuts which can be gathered in zones.  Sieges, when they happen, come from actual creatures in the world rather than being conjured from thin air.  Animals/dwarfs now have sexual orientations form same-sex bonds and/or not procreate.  Probably a bunch of other stuff too...  Having a quick look tthrough the release notes (handily collected on the wiki) would probably turn up a few more.  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Release_information
« Last Edit: September 20, 2016, 06:47:44 am by feelotraveller »
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