I missed the blue whales, not sure what the second point is about, thought I fixed the earthenware thing so idk why it didn't work, will look into that, I am unsure how much of the clay-making process is hardcoded so I've mostly left it alone for now, pet values are overwritten by the one below it so that's not really a problem but it is messy I will admit, and the last issue is partially intended because they are meant to be big races. That said, NPCs simply don't dual-wield ever unless the player forces them so it's a moot point.
I do enjoy Nihei though.
I didn't know that about dual-wielding. I guess it only affects shield use then? I agree, not a big deal.
Second point was just that I thought Blue Whales might not actually spawn in game given their tags, but I had yet to start a dolphin-uplift fort. I don't see them in the 2.66 raws, so I guess it doesn't matter for now.
So about the pottery, I did notice the changes, and I like the new names. More fitting, I think.
My note was about the soil input and pottery output being strange, though nothing is broken that I've seen.
I don't know for certain what you intend with clay-type materials but here is what you had in 2.61:
plastic refuse
OR -> earthenware [INORGANIC:CERAMIC_EARTHENWARE]
tar clay
industrial runoff -> stoneware [INORGANIC:CERAMIC_STONEWARE]
-nothing- -> plastic [INORGANIC:CERAMIC_PLASTIC]
-nothing- -> porcelain [INORGANIC:CERAMIC_PORCELAIN]
In 2.66:
plastic refuse
OR -> recycled plastic [INORGANIC:CERAMIC_EARTHENWARE]
tar clay
industrial runoff -> recycled slag [INORGANIC:CERAMIC_STONEWARE]
-nothing- -> porcelain [INORGANIC:CERAMIC_PORCELAIN]
It just seemed weird, at first, that tar clay and plastic garbage have the same out put, but then I realized that the 'kiln' might be doing more than a typical kiln and petrochemical refinement might be going on. Maybe?
On the other hand though, atypical of plastics, the recycled plastic leaks liquid and cannot be used to store any liquid (and possibly any food) unless it is glazed. I suppose this could signify that it is just really crappy plastic that needs extra post-processing but then the glazing options should probably be changed as the only two available are ash and tin glaze which would not be effective on most plastics currently in use today. Maybe create a new reaction for plastic glazing using more harvested plastic refuse? Like applying a second coat?
On the other hand, if that's not what you want, you can just remove the [ABSORPTION:10] and [DISPLAY_UNGLAZED] tags from the recycled plastic and it should hold liquids, no problem.
I tend to use a lot of pots for food storage, so it is a matter near and dear to me. Sorry if I'm being weird about it.
I do like the idea of a plastic glaze though, maybe not for the recycled plastic but for the recycled slag. You know, give it a plastic coating to make it food safe. Sounds neat to me.
Also, have you considered making any of the stones kilnable/glassable? Sort of like kaolinite or rock crystal in the base game. I think plastiglass and crystalline glass are prime for it. Plastiglass could make superior vessels, like the vats on the utility worm backs. And crystalline glass could make very expensive glassware items.
Another thought I had, with nothing to do with pottery, is about the base game's animal-man mechanics. With the descriptions of the nanomutants talking about how they are failed attempts to create more-or-less humans adapted to life in the wasteland and now with the clone creatures being the same but biological rather than nano-mechanical, I thought you might be able to use that mechanic to make small tribal groups of nanomutants or failed clones that represent limited strains of their kinds that have achieved a rudimentary sapience and formed a loose society and, like the base game, wander about the surface or camp out in the upper caverns. They would be rare, I suppose, but it would be interesting. And creepy. What do you think?
EDIT: Looked up glazing in depth. It turns out ash glazing IS one of those hard-coded things like you mentioned, but tin-glazing is not and, furthermore, actually require cassiterite and not tin, so we in the far future can't do that anyway. However, it might be possible to re-work tin glaze to be plastic coating.