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[FantasticDorf]

Like the title implies for the basis of this suggestion, a proposed tag : [ALTITUDE:Height Value X] determines the recommended height at which a creature is egible to spawn in and preferably leave, leaving is less important as long as its the medium (water, land access, air, cavern entrance) that they generally entered and are comfortable with though the will go through the most preferable exit.

For birds like fliers, this would determine the recommended set z level height at which they spawn, with some birds being closer to the treeline and others being high soarers like albatrosses & eagles. This should hopefully streamline spawning and hunting attempts by dwarves, and help create predictable patterns that may make 'flight path traps' a little easier. A blob of ravens blocking spawns at 30 z in the air randomly rising and lowering in the map is not good when instead they can stay comfortable at a idling altitude then make a plan to leave at a exitpoint clearly.

• Pest & vermin birds will often fly closer to the ground, making them easier to pick off with a crossbow, and birds may have a altitude low enough to leave directly at ground level and naturally stay and linger on the ground/trees relative to surroundings, say if a eagle perches on a high mountain for instance in its z level range.

• Fish that spawn in water can also be given negative altitudes for deep sea monsters like giant squid, like birds this streamlines their exit points & should reign in behaviour of bobbing around by making them prefer to mingle naturally at a certain depth so they can move directionally on a X plane rather than Y through multiple z levels.

Anything that does not have a [ALTITUDE] tag is counted as exempt from it, and additional exceptions like [ALTITUDE_EXEMPTION:BIOME] for yeti's to not require to be a minimum height of 20-50 z levels high as a biome in a glacier compared to a mountain for a practical example. Creatures who can't find map conditions fitting the [ALTITUDE] they need will be much sparser in their respective biome.

This system is not meant to replace subterrenean biome listings but may prove interesting for putting power in the player's hands to change the egible spawning positions.

[bloop_bleep]

Currently I think the available airspace in an embark map is too small in order to model this realistically. Most birds fly under 500 feet, while some vultures can fly as high as 30,000 feet.

[FantasticDorf]

Currently I think the available airspace in an embark map is too small in order to model this realistically. Most birds fly under 500 feet, while some vultures can fly as high as 30,000 feet.

Valid observation, but height isn't nessecarily proportionate. Z levels are much taller than they really are and game logic would also factor to making the most balanced mix of pseudo-realism that is at least believable, if anything wasn't to the player's tastes they would have the nessecary RAW token to fix the issue.

I forget the exact formula for height of terrain features unfortunately, i think someone calculated it somewhere on the forum. Sky airspace streches infinitely but isn't very commonly used because of factors like difficulty building above-ground, materials & possibly outside temperature if it gets colder further up (needs clarification)

Easy way to replicate this claim is to just cycle upward z levels as far as you can go.

[bloop_bleep]

Actually, sky space is limited to a certain z-level above the very bottom of the world. (That means that higher terrain will, in fact, have less airspace.) If you press '<' enough times in any fort map you will reach the top of the world (indicated when the z-level indicator in the top-right corner stops increasing.)

[FantasticDorf]

Actually, sky space is limited to a certain z-level above the very bottom of the world. (That means that higher terrain will, in fact, have less airspace.) If you press '<' enough times in any fort map you will reach the top of the world (indicated when the z-level indicator in the top-right corner stops increasing.)

Ah i see what you mean, relative to the ground i think, but like i said previously it is to my understanding infinite. To that means to a end you could simply store the altitude of creatures above what you can view and load in in a way similar to revealing the caverns where they aren't recognised until you actively meet their visible z level and then be able to track them.

For example, a mountain's natural features would raise elevation enough that you might be able to see a eagle. Compared to a flat embark where you would need to build a tower for the explicit purpose, the further upward you climb, the more bird spawns you might see.

[PatrikLundell]

I believe there's a world gen parameter that sets the embark's height above the ground (defaults to 15, I think, but some set it lower), and I believe there's an "infinite sky" DFHack thingy that extends the embark upwards in some fashion (I haven't used it, so I don't know the details).
Also, note that the current maps (as opposed to what it will be when magic land forms etc. have transformed it) have an air biome which buggily is the biome of the world tile to the NW of the embark, rather than that of the embark's world tile (or extensions upwards of the normal biome boundaries).

[GoblinCookie]

Currently I think the available airspace in an embark map is too small in order to model this realistically. Most birds fly under 500 feet, while some vultures can fly as high as 30,000 feet.

I don't really care though if it realistic given the amount of sky, I just want my birds in the sky!