Oh hey, my first FotF-thread post, because i've got a few questions about modding and items built up:
1. Modded instruments can have a custom description, will it be possible for all items in the future?
2. In regards to Mythgen and items: Completely random worlds probably will have some bizarrely named equipment. How will it be communicated to the player that "zbfkl"s or whatever random jumbles of letters are infact, swords? This also extends to other things: As far as i know there isn't any indication in-game that a piece of armor is shaped, for example.
Are you sure this isn't the case already? The wiki seems not very clear on that.
The problem about "in the future" questions is that the answer will be "Probably yes.". Toady is pretty planned out, so I assume there won't be any reworks or modding expansions until after the magic update in 5 years.
I can't remember the last reply's content to this, but any suggestions in the correct subforum are helpful to the matter as currently its a continous problem so a well founded issue when additional effects are tied onto bizarre or poorly explained items by name, like a wand for instance for your question example.
I would personally wish the current music naming system was rescinded to a d_infig toggle (and some other things but that's my opinion) as it hasn't had any significant improvement input to clarifying the issue and modded staticname instruments didn't make it nessecary in the first place (even if a lack of variety and having to spend more time defining on entity.txt per civ like any other piece of furniture or tool if you wanted to give dwarves big organ pipes, elves little dainty string instruments and goblins some big leather drums and bone horns)
1. Will dogs ever be able to be used for herding or have any interactions involving herding?
Along with other things
2. like smelling for creatures/things &
3. possibly to assist in plant gathering
and hunting(in ways other than just attacking such as:
4.Retrieving the kill
5.finding prey without attacking)
or for activities like
6.scaring birds(filthy thieving Keas) away
Whether dogs recieve AI improvements is up in the air as nothing is really dedicated or thought about it right now unless Toady decides to do something between relevant updates, though you can feel free to share these in a suggestion thread which would be the better relevant idea since he reads atleast the outlying opening post of every one to mark down in notes for when the time is right.
Dogs are already helpful creatures in fortress mode, and for the next release you could have a pet dog as a adventurer too from the loadout to help you on your quest. Swapping out tags from other creatures where appropriate can expand what they can do currently though, like vermin hunting.
"Incidentally, Ashi's only involvement with Bunnygears was unleashing a werezebra on it, the current price of having a temple to profane. We'll improve this at a later date, he he he."
Does that mean new curses/blessings? :O
I doubt Toady would want to spoil the suprise of such a thing if it were true.
Interesting new devlog, i have two questions.
I haven't seen a megabeast ruler for a while in first or thirdhand accounts of game experience, but with things considered for the villian arc and the nessecary plotting of a demon or possibly cyclops (with intelligence and power tokens accounted)
will living in world religious icons of a cult have any importance to this new system, such as cyclops in power* building temples to themselves to expand influence or (followers/leaders/icons) somehow founding a mutual or one sided relationship with other related beings in spheres* (after plotting some intricate steps to the throne like extortion and kidnap to be thwarted by adventurers or just plain duffing up and routing a town before settling their own monsterous government for desperate people and worshippers to migrate to)
Question no #2,
i can't help but notice the parallel's to a Kruggsmash video in which he went over his mutual suprise how owl people migrated from the wild and joined one of his in world AI civilizations, with other factors like diety representation and relevant held beliefs* joining a civ that valued it and had a owlman faced god. Will factors like this reflect the outcome of how animal people are dispersed more actively?* (owls often being a subjective representation of knowledge, though there are some other cultural variations, like saying pigs or hogs are attached to greed and excess, jackals or vultures to death and decay if you wanted a animal-headed egyptian like pantheon.)
It seems a bit of a bandying into the Law & Property arc if you ask me, the same way we took a fancy to the hilllock arc early in a strange tangental way, though adding token spheres onto particular animal people/animals is painless to achieve for the relevant effect of generating dieties that look like a particular form like mentioned in the above citation.